From the Publisher
With The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Carson joins the ranks of writers like Kristin Cashore, Megan Whalen Turner, and Tamora Pierce as one of YA’s best writers of high fantasy.” — Locus
“Intoxicating . . . Readers will find themselves immersed in this world and believing it.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“Elisa is a wonderful, believable hero, the kind that every reader can imagine as herself. I charged through the book in two days, savoring Elisa’s realness and her unique, wonderful world! Engrossing.” — Tamora Pierce, author of New York Times bestseller Bloodhound
“I stayed up until 2AM reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended.” — Veronica Roth, author of the best-selling Divergent
“I LOVED this book! It’s a transformation story that both teens and adults can believe in. Rae Carson has delivered a unique magical system and built a world with strong series potential.” — Cinda Williams Chima,author of the best-selling Seven Realms series
“Rae Carson’s heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her.” — Megan Whalen Turner, author of the Newbery Honor Book, THE THIEF
“Set in intrigue-filled courts, battlefields, and windswept deserts, this riveting fantasy tests its heroine’s limits as she struggles to fulfill a destiny wrapped in an ancient mystery. A breathtaking adventure in a fascinating, richly-drawn world.” — Leah Cypess, author of Mistwood
“A delicious debut.” — Paolo Bacigalupi, Printz Award-winning author of Ship Breaker
“Distinctive for its luminous prose, its hint of romance, and Elisa, a strong, smart heroine that readers will truly fall in love with.” — Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief
Megan Whalen Turner
Rae Carson’s heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her.
Locus
With The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Carson joins the ranks of writers like Kristin Cashore, Megan Whalen Turner, and Tamora Pierce as one of YA’s best writers of high fantasy.
Leah Cypess
Set in intrigue-filled courts, battlefields, and windswept deserts, this riveting fantasy tests its heroine’s limits as she struggles to fulfill a destiny wrapped in an ancient mystery. A breathtaking adventure in a fascinating, richly-drawn world.
Paolo Bacigalupi
A delicious debut.
Sarah Prineas
Distinctive for its luminous prose, its hint of romance, and Elisa, a strong, smart heroine that readers will truly fall in love with.
Cinda Williams Chima
I LOVED this book! It’s a transformation story that both teens and adults can believe in. Rae Carson has delivered a unique magical system and built a world with strong series potential.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Intoxicating . . . Readers will find themselves immersed in this world and believing it.
Tamora Pierce
Elisa is a wonderful, believable hero, the kind that every reader can imagine as herself. I charged through the book in two days, savoring Elisa’s realness and her unique, wonderful world! Engrossing.
Veronica Roth
I stayed up until 2AM reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa's "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)
