I did my first ever series review on the Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson!

I’ve had The Girl of Fire and Thorns on my bookshelf since last summer. I bought it because I had heard great things about it so Raquel and I added it to our YA Fantasy Sendoff challenge we did. I finally picked up TGOFAT because I am trying to get my TBR pile down and read the books I already own before I purchase more. (HA! I just keep buying and adding to the TBR pile!)

I finished this series in less than a week.  That should tell you how much I enjoyed it. It follows Elisa as she is married off as a political pawn to a neighboring kingdom and how she rises to the challenges she faces. All while being a bearer of the Godstone which ordains her to have some divine destiny.

Things I loved about the series:

• Elisa isn’t your usual protagonist. She is explicitly called fat in the first book and struggles with her self image. Some of those moments really got me.
• The balance of religion, fantasy, and romance.
• Elisa’s maturity through the series. At the start, she is naive, timid, and has a low self image. As the series progresses you see Elisa grow and change into her new roles. I was incredibly impressed and excited about how Rae Carson developed Elisa.
• Hector. Seriously. I absolutely loved his character.
• Elisa’s friends and comrades.
• The way Rae Carson attacks image and self esteem. There’s a quote at the end of The Bitter Kingdom  that stood out to me and I was so happy to hear (read) it.

Things I didn’t love about the series:

• It frustrated me with how easily the conflict would get resolved at times.  You spend all this time building it for it to crest and then it’s just easily settled. It felt rushed at times.
• The emphasis on the food. It got a bit tedious at times for it to constantly be described.
• Elisa’s stubbornness.

My favorite book was The Bitter Kingdom, followed buy The Crown of Embers, then ending with The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  It was definitely one of those series that the books just get better and better.  I really enjoyed the series  and would recommend it to a friend.  It was a different niche of fantasy that I had not really read before.  Now, can I have some more Hector?

All together I give the Fire and Thorns series 4/5 stars. It’s on my definite recommend list, and I’ll probably give it another read in the future.

Have you read it? If so what were your thoughts?