Carson, Rae: The Girl of Fire and Thorns
The Girl of Fire and Thorns (2011)
Written by: Rae Carson
Genre: YA/Epic Fantasy
Pages: 424 (Hardcover)
Series: Book One (The Fire and Thorns Trilogy)
Why I Read It: When I first heard about this book, I was rather indifferent. For most of the year, I felt like YA had really let me down, and I was tired of reading the same kind of story over and over, and I was making a conscious effort to hold off buying YA novels until I'd gotten more than enough reviews under my belt to make an informed decisions. However, Rae Carson's husband is C.C. Finlay, and while I've read nothing of his but a few short stories, I know he's a solid writer, and it makes sense that his wife would be a solid writer too, if only because even if she were the worst writer in the world by herself, she'd have him to brainstorm with, him to critique her, him to help with editing. And mind you, I'm not saying that's the case: I'm just saying that's the worst-case scenario, and there's a good chance that Carson's debut would still be a good book. So between that and enough positive reviews, I stuck it on my wishlist for the the holidays, and lo and behold, received it as a Christmas gift. After flaming out with Julie Cross' Tempest, I was looking forward to this.
The premise: ganked from publisher's website: Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king-a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Oh, yay. I'm sorry, but so much happens in this book that I can't resist talking about it! If you haven't read it, but want to, do yourself a favor and skip to "My Rating," and you'll be just fine. Everyone else, onward!
I'll be honest, at first, when we learned in the beginning that the heroine, Elisa, was essentially getting married against her will for the sake of politics, and that her husband-to-be was GORGEOUS, I had to sigh, because I figured it would be one of THOSE books, that promotes the romance over any substantial plot. Now, I should note there's nothing wrong with romance as a rule: it's just that for me, it feels done to death in YA, and I'm tired of really implausible romances being treated as the most romantic story EVER kind of thing.
At any rate, as the story progressed, my mind was changed quite quickly.
For starters, Elisa is no skinny girl. The way she describes herself are self-depreciating, kind of funny, but kind of depressing all at the same time. While I never truly got a good mental image of just how "big" Elisa was supposed to be, I did appreciate being able to empathize with her, because I think many women have felt fat in their lifetimes (whether they were or not is beside my point), and I know I personally could relate to needing snacks when I'm not supposed to. To my recollection, I've not seen an overweight heroine before in fantasy, so this was interesting, because her body image definitely defined what she THOUGHT she was capable of.
But yet despite what she THINKS she's capable of, she acts nobly and quickly. Her ability to assert herself as Queen, despite not really believing she was up for the task, was masterfully done. It's such a fine line, because she could've made a total mess of it, but that would've defeated her entire character: instead of being a smart, capable woman who just happens to be overweight, she would be seen as a fat fuck-up. Okay, sure, some characters DO see her as such, because they don't look past her weight, but the reader CANNOT see her as such, so Carson played her cards just right, in more ways than one.
She's able to act like a Queen because she's grown up watching how her sister, Alodia, is next in line for the Crown of her country, so even though Elisa lacks confidence, she does know the moves, and because she's a smart avid reader, she's not entirely pulling crap out her rear-end.
Then, when faced with danger, she doesn't panic and scream for her new husband to save her, but she acts: not only does she and her ladies escape a flaming carriage, but she saves her husband's life when he was too scared to save himself. I think this was the point I knew I would follow this character and this book no matter what happened, because that was made of all kinds of awesome.
There were little things too: how she managed to get out of consummating her wedding night. The timid way she and Alejandro strike up friendship, and how it starts to evolve in a way that you hope the two can fall in love, but then slowly disintegrates in such a manner that you know there's too much to overcome, even if he did come to love her. When we first learn about Ariña, I was really hoping that the implication that she and Alejandro were lovers was just that, an implication, and then as it became more clear that wasn't the case, my heart was breaking for Elisa, because I wanted her to be happy, but it was obvious that the reason Alejandro wanted to keep Elisa a secret was so that he could steal more time from his mistress. And I also liked how, over the course of the book, Alejandro is revealed to be a spineless coward, and you don't want to root for him any more, but yet you still do, because you don't see him do anything bad, per se, he's just a spineless coward. By the end, he's able to claim some measure of heroism, but I liked that Carson took the risk and killed him off, especially if the next two books in the series (trilogy?) focus on Elisa.
In a way, I'm glad he died: because while he admitted on his deathbed that he could've grown to love her, that doesn't erase the fact that he wasn't interested in her physically until she came back from the desert and she'd lost a serious amount of weight.
But more on that in a minute, I want to talk about religion. It's rare that I pick up a work of fiction that has a strong focus on religion that doesn't turn me off in some way. Often times, it's either because the religion is too obvious an allegory for Christianity (or a certain type of Christianity) and therefore the book is a smoke-screen to promote said religion, or the book treats religion too stereotypically, showing the superficial and the exaggerations rather than the gentle shades of grey. What stood out to me, then, about Carson's portrayal of religion was how natural it felt. Despite what some reviewers have said, it did not feel like Christianity playing dress-up, and more to the point, the religion felt like a natural part of the world-building, rather than a sore thumb. Everything from the Godstones to Elisa being the Chosen of her generation to the constant realization that so many differing peoples believed THEY truly spoke for God, yet none of them did. If anything felt like an allegory for today, it was that: how so many differing people within a single religion seem to think that they have God's ear and they know what God REALLY wants for the world. In the case of The Girl with Fire and Thorns, while God didn't speak directly to Elisa, the Godstone itself was pretty miraculous, and it made sense that Elisa's connection to God/her faith would be a constant part of the plot. I also appreciated that Carson used "God" instead of a made-up name for the deity. A made-up name could easily slide into trite territory, making the fantasy easier to dismiss because the religion is so obviously made-up, whereas using "God" gives it a certain gravitas: it allows the reader to make parallels to Christianity, but it's not a direct allegory trying to convert its readers.
Moving on to the other big issue, erm, pun not intended: weight. Elisa starts out the book, as I've mentioned, as a plus size heroine with an unhealthy relationship to food, the latter I can relate to, because I know how easy it would be for me to slip down that slope and have fun doing it (until I reached plus side territory, and then I'd probably just give up and keep sliding and enjoying the food). I've personally never had a weight problem in terms of eating disorders, but managing my weight is something of a struggle, and a frustrating one too, because I like my carbs and I like my sweets. Of course I could relate to Elisa! But I really liked the method used for Elisa losing weight, which I didn't see coming. She didn't decide to lose weight to become pretty or to snag her man. Instead, it was a total accident, done during her kidnapping/trek across the desert where she walked/sweated her ass off, and had very little to eat besides. It shocked me as much as her when she reached her destination to see how much weight she'd lost, but I liked that it was an accident, and I liked how it served as a physical metaphor for change, because Elisa does change during this book: physically and mentally/emotionally. More to the point, when she loses weight, there's no comment that she's suddenly as thin as Ariña or anything. Because I never had a strong mental image of what Elisa looked like before, it's easy to see her as still very curvy with plenty of pounds to lose by our society's current (crazy) standards, but still a very healthy looking woman. But that's me. And I wanted throttle Alejandro when he saw her for first time after the weight loss. Little bastard…
Speaking of weight, and this is just an aside: Carson wrote a fantastic blog post about women's beauty and how women are perceived not just in the workplace, but in society, and how we're judged by men and OTHER WOMEN based on how big or little we are. It's a fantastic post that references The Girl of Fire and Thorns, so if you haven't had a chance to read it, please do. I've even provided the link here.
One of the other things Iove about this book is the death of the love triangle. In happens both literally and figuratively: when it's first introduced, it's after Elisa's kidnapping and while she's bonding with Humberto, one of her kidnappers, but one who immediately takes a shine to her (pre-weight-loss, no less) and vows to protect her. As the story goes on, as Elisa learns more of the kidnapper's plight and learns what these people go through, she warms more and more to Humberto, who makes her feel normal, respected and adored rather than giddy and on-her-toes like she did with Alejandro. By this point, the shine has long worn off Alejandro, and I've little hope for the two of them to truly have a meaningful relationship. I was very, very, VERY curious what Humberto had thought of that would allow Elisa to get out of her marriage (short of Alejandro dying, of course). We never learn. And it doesn't matter.
Not only does Carson killed Humberto, but she kills Alejandro. Death to the love triangle!
But seriously, how awesome is that? It's painful, and it's jarring for those readers who've come to expect that a love triangle is a critical part of the YA plot. So these actions thrilled me.
Besides, I'm shipping Elisa and Hector, thank you very much!
Another awesome thing about this book, though, was the friendship that Elisa was able to establish with not just one, not just two, but a total of four women/girls in this book. Some are short lived, like Aneaxi, her first maid, who dies of jungle fever early on, and Mara, who signs on as Elisa's maid towards the end. But there's Ximena, who Elisa learns is actually her protector. And there's the most important, Cosme, who starts out as Elisa's maid, ends up a spy and kidnapper, and ends up a close friend, which was all kinds of awesome. I'm pretty sure this book passes the Bechdel test in spades.
One last thing, and I'll shut up: one thing I love about reading YA books is finding something that doesn't feel like I'm reading YA. That doesn't mean it's NOT YA, but it just means that it's written in such a way that the ages of the ages of the characters aren't really important. This happens more often in fantasy, because in medieval times, which is often what fantasy is based on, the "teens" were actually adulthood, and you acted like it. Life was too tough to be silly and stupid (though I'm sure there were exceptions), so being an adult came far earlier in life. I've discovered this with Megan Whalen Turner's series, and Carson's book also fits the bill. Age is irrelevant in comparison to the story and what the characters must do to not only be products of their world, but to affect change in it.
My Rating: Couldn't Put It Down
The Girl of Fire and Thorns came THISCLOSE to getting my top rating of "My Precious," but because I kept debating it, I decided that was reason enough to make it my second best rating (which is still damn awesome), because my top rating should not be any books I debate about. Still, The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a marvelous book that is rich with themes and important issues, yet is also an utterly enjoyable epic fantasy with an utterly capable heroine (weight doesn't matter!). People talk about wanting to have coffee with certain characters, and I'll just say, I'd totally hang out with Elisa. I loved her, and this book is one of the many reasons I postpone my Top Ten list because it snuck in under the 2011 deadline, and my reading year is all the richer for it. It's a book that has an unusual heroine and twists a lot of the genre's expectations for plot, which excited me greatly. It's also one of those that makes me forget I'm reading a YA novel, because the age of the characters is rather irrelevant in light of the story. It's a fantastic read, and I can't recommend it enough. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the trilogy! Oh! And if you like Megan Whalen Turner? Pearl North? You'll like this.
Cover Commentary: Really simple, yet really compelling. I really like the coloring of the book, and I like how they subtly put the heroine's face into the blue Godstone on the cover (and dude, they show the Godstone!). While not the most eye-catching cover in the world, I never forgot it, and it doesn't blend in with other covers in the genre. Unlike the original cover art, featured here, which looked like the usual piece of paranormal crap, with a SKINNY girl in a MODERN dress and don't forget skin tone, which just doesn't match at all what's described in the book. So kudos to Greenwillow for changing the cover to something far more appropriate on SO MANY levels.
Next up: The Grey King by Susan Cooper