The Girl of Fire & Thorns

So this is what I decided to go with. I've been meaning to read this since I picked it up for our library last spring, but I didn't get to it before school ended for the summer. It seemed like a good way to return to YA and happening upon this interview with author Rae Carson about the sequel (which comes out in 2 days!) on the same day I started reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns seemed like a good omen.

Anyway, I flew through the 400+ pages in 3 days (if I hadn't had to go to class yesterday, I would have finished it then, guaranteed). The book is set in what seems to be a parallel world with some connection to our own. My guess is that it takes place far in the future, following an apocalypse that brought our world to an end. A small number of people were saved from this apocalypse (by God, who seems similar but not identical to the God worshiped by Christians) and transported to this new world, where two large nations, Joya d'Arena and Invierne, are facing off for control of this world. The eponymous girl is Elisa, younger princess of one of Joya d'Arena's allies and bearer of the Godstone, a gift bestowed on one person every hundred years or so that marks them as one who will perform some great service.

The book begins with sixteen-year-old Elisa preparing for her wedding to Alejandro, king of Joya d'Arena, who has agreed to marry her in exchange for military support in the coming war with Invierne. Elisa is my favorite thing about this book, and the reason I'll probably read the sequel. I haven't seen a character like her in YA lit before. The obvious characters to compare her with are the stars of other recent post-apocalyptic stories - Tris Prior (Divergent), Lena Haloway (Delirium), and of course, Katniss Everdeen (do I even need to say this? from The Hunger Games). Character-wise, she is probably the most similar to Lena - she is timid, devout, and completely unsure of her own abilities. Appearance-wise, she is entirely unique.  Where Tris, Lena, and Katniss are all short and slight (but in good shape), Elisa is fairly tall and, when we meet her, overweight. She talks about food a lot and it's clear that those around her underestimate her (and she underestimates herself) because she's fat. She's an easy character to relate to, starting with her disappointment when she realizes that her beautiful wedding gown is beautiful because it's a few sizes too small. And because of this, I really rooted for her as she began to find her footing as a leader. The first-person narrative added to this, because it gave voice to her inner monologue - Elisa is constantly having to talk herself into being assertive, often worrying that people will see through the confidence she is projecting to the fear that lies just underneath.

My hope for the sequel is that Elisa remains as likable as she is in the first book and that Carson indulges in a little more world-building. I was happy that the focus in the first book was more on character-building, but I would love to know more about Invierne and the Perditos, as well as previous bearers of the Godstone. Elisa mentions more than once her suspicion that some previous bearers came from Invierne and I have to assume that she's right (and that Carson was setting up a look back at the history of Elisa's world and possibly even an explanation of what really brought Elisa's people to this world).