I haven't read Smoke & Bone, but I really enjoyed Fire & Thorns! It's not a perfect book, by any means, but it touched on a lot of things that I liked, such as:
-the heroine is fat. Not curvy or plump. Fat. And although I think the point may have been overemphasized in the beginning of the book ('okay, she's fat, we know now'), it's definitely not a book about her being fat. It's about her being a heroine. Who happens to be fat.
-she's heroic not because she is unusually athletic or agile or learns special fighting techniques (although if you've read the blurb you know that she is associated with a special religious/magical calling, but this isn't something that's actually useful to her much throughout the book, although its presence drives the plot). She accomplishes things because she's intelligent, thoughtful, and determined. As a fat, decidedly un-athletic girl, it was really nice to read a YA fantasy novel with a strong heroine who isn't a super special talented athlete or fighter.
-the book deals with religion in a solidly developed way, which I love--so many fantasy novels either have 'vague pagan religion', 'vague folk belief religion', 'religion that mostly exists so that the world can have swear words', or 'Standard Issue Pantheon*' that I find it incredibly refreshing to read something with an organized religion that is developed, integral to the book's culture, and that characters actually practice. And that isn't a weird fanatical cult and/or the bad guys. It's especially refreshing to have a monotheist religion in a fantasy novel. Fire & Thorns deals with religion in a really great way that I really appreciated, and I liked it a lot. (The only other examples that I can think of for fantasy novels that use religion well: The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, Megan Whalen Turner's books, and The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and none of them are monotheistic. They go above and beyond Standard Issue Pantheon, though, and include characters who actually have real faith and relationships with their gods. Religious faith is so absent from most fantasy novels, or is villainized.)
*boxed set includes (1) All-Father, (1) God of Being Noisy/Chaotic, (1) Goddess of War, (1) God/Goddess of Chance, (1) Trickster, (1) Nature Goddess/Earth Mother'
The book DOES have flaws, though--the build up is slow, the ending is rather sudden and a little unfulfilling, the narrative voice occasionally got repetitive/tedious, but I would categorize those as 'first novel flaws'. I still read it all in one sitting. I think Rae Carson has a lot of potential as an author and that her subsequent books will only improve.
SO, maybe not everyone's cuppa, not a perfect book that I can unreservedly press on everyone with the glazed look of fanaticism in my eyes, but I do think that if you like YA fantasy it's absolutely worth giving Fire & Thorn a try.
-the heroine is fat. Not curvy or plump. Fat. And although I think the point may have been overemphasized in the beginning of the book ('okay, she's fat, we know now'), it's definitely not a book about her being fat. It's about her being a heroine. Who happens to be fat.
-she's heroic not because she is unusually athletic or agile or learns special fighting techniques (although if you've read the blurb you know that she is associated with a special religious/magical calling, but this isn't something that's actually useful to her much throughout the book, although its presence drives the plot). She accomplishes things because she's intelligent, thoughtful, and determined. As a fat, decidedly un-athletic girl, it was really nice to read a YA fantasy novel with a strong heroine who isn't a super special talented athlete or fighter.
-the book deals with religion in a solidly developed way, which I love--so many fantasy novels either have 'vague pagan religion', 'vague folk belief religion', 'religion that mostly exists so that the world can have swear words', or 'Standard Issue Pantheon*' that I find it incredibly refreshing to read something with an organized religion that is developed, integral to the book's culture, and that characters actually practice. And that isn't a weird fanatical cult and/or the bad guys. It's especially refreshing to have a monotheist religion in a fantasy novel. Fire & Thorns deals with religion in a really great way that I really appreciated, and I liked it a lot. (The only other examples that I can think of for fantasy novels that use religion well: The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, Megan Whalen Turner's books, and The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and none of them are monotheistic. They go above and beyond Standard Issue Pantheon, though, and include characters who actually have real faith and relationships with their gods. Religious faith is so absent from most fantasy novels, or is villainized.)
*boxed set includes (1) All-Father, (1) God of Being Noisy/Chaotic, (1) Goddess of War, (1) God/Goddess of Chance, (1) Trickster, (1) Nature Goddess/Earth Mother'
The book DOES have flaws, though--the build up is slow, the ending is rather sudden and a little unfulfilling, the narrative voice occasionally got repetitive/tedious, but I would categorize those as 'first novel flaws'. I still read it all in one sitting. I think Rae Carson has a lot of potential as an author and that her subsequent books will only improve.
SO, maybe not everyone's cuppa, not a perfect book that I can unreservedly press on everyone with the glazed look of fanaticism in my eyes, but I do think that if you like YA fantasy it's absolutely worth giving Fire & Thorn a try.
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Definitely agreed on the "religion in fantasy" thing, too, it's one of the reasons I enjoyed The Curse of Chalion so much.
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