The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Description: 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. She 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 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. 

My thoughts: I’ve been reading some really good books lately, but this was the first I’ve read in a while where I couldn’t go to bed until I was through (thank God it’s summer). It was so intense and enthralling that I HAD to keep turning the pages, even till after 4 a.m. in the morning.

The story of The Girl of Fire and Thorns was not the kind of story I would immediately associate with YA. Yes there were young characters, but they had lived through hard situations and were already dealing with adult issues. Not once did I think this story to be immature like other YA stories can and/or should be sometimes.

And there was so much action and drama packed into this book! Eventually I just stopped getting surprised when something new would happen to Elisa and she’d end up in different places (whether she wanted to or not) meeting new people and learning new things that made her (and I) question the people of her country and their faith (as well as hers).

The most unique part about this story was that the author included a character I’m not used to seeing too often. God. Sure, people mention God (or god) in other books, but you could have considered him to be a main character in The Girl of Fire and Thorns. He never actually spoke with words but he was definitely there throughout the whole story, which was different but awesome.

Throughout the story, Elisa discovered more and more about what she was given to do from God, and what that meant she needed to do. There’s something’s she didn’t know until the very end, but it’s a good thing she finally discovered those things.

I have no idea what the 2^nd book could possibly be about, but the 1^st book was great, which should make for an equally or even better 2^nd book!