Today's review is about a book I could not wait to read, The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. The Girl of Fire and Thorns, the first book in this series was compelling. (See my review here. Humburto 4-eva! Love that kid.) In the sequel Elisa is now queen of the country she married into. She is dealing with insubordinate government officials, sorcery, and people who realllllllllllllllly want the magical stone in her belly button (NOT KIDDING HERE, SHE HAS A 'GODSTONE'. It heats up when she prays but gets cold when she is in danger. It is just about as weird as it sounds. Just ignore it and keep going, the story is good enough to overcome this crazy). People keep trying to kill the poor girl. Oh, and there is a bit of a quest, too. The gang's all here!Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy (GoodReads).
Originality: 8. This is a well done fantasy world with enough politics to keep the story moving but without ever dragging the reader down into epic levels of fantasy intrigue. Reading this right before Fire by Kristin Cashore, I feel like my fantasy-world-politics intake has been VERY high lately.
Absurdity: 10. Creepy belly buttons and intense fantasy-book names.
Level of
Level of Harry-Potter-ness: 5. This book is solidly written. I found book one more effecting, but I was still taken with this story. Get involved already.
I'm a fan, too - I thought the first book was awesome and was thrilled to get my hands on this one. It's also good, but I think it does suffer a bit from second-book-in-a-trilogy syndrome. I can't believe the whole Hector thing wasn't resolved in this book, but I'm hoping the next one has enough action to make up for it!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the first book yet but with all the positive buzz about it and the sequel, I think I'm going to have to give it a try. It's always iffy getting into fantasy because some of them are SO incredibly detailed and bogged down with politics that it can become cumbersome and hard to follow. I'm glad to hear that, so far, this series isn't like that!
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm.... maybe I should start this series... I'm thinking...yes. I may have to take a vacation by force.
ReplyDeleteWe honestly didn't like the first book that much, but we were intrigued by Hector from the very start, so you can only imagine how ASAJSDIOASJDOIJS we were when the pairing becomes Hector x Eliza. (Lovelovelove Hector!)
ReplyDeleteThe Twins Read