The Girl of Fire and Thorns

By: Rae Carson

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

“Rae Carson has proved she’s a master and has shaken up the YA genre.” (USAToday.com)

The first book in Rae Carson’s award-winning and New York Times best-selling trilogy!

The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a sweeping journey full of adventure, sorcery, heartbreak, and power. Fans of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse will devour this fantasy series.

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa is the chosen one. But she has always felt powerless, useless. Now, on her 16th 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. Fierce enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. 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.

William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist

YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten Pick

Andre Norton Award Finalist

A Texas Tayshas Selection

Ohioana Book Award YA winner

Don’t miss The Empire of Dreams, Rae Carson’s action-packed return to the world of The Girl of Fire and Thorns!

©2011 Rae Carson (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Why was it SO LONG!!!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes. I would have had an editor do a better job. It was far too long.

Which character – as performed by Jennifer Ikeda – was your favorite?

They were all fine. But it was odd that she would slip characters before that character was done speaking. For example, Conde Trevino would be talking, and wham, there's the Elisa voice. However, it was still Conde Trevino's words. It was very confusing. There was a director involved, they should have caught this.

Any additional comments?

Just not exciting enough for me. It could have been though. Too long. Needed more action.

Too much Christianity

If you are Christian or think that Christianity is how all people relate to God then you may love this book.
if you don't, you are going to be really annoyed, but hang in there for the political intriege and characters. or you will be like me and the story is just not strong enough to distract me from all the western religion shit.

Compared to Brandon Sanderson?!?!

First off, I seriously question whoever compared this writer to Brandon Sanderson. Wow.. this series does not even begin to compare to his books.
The story was ok. All three books are heavily religious and relates a twisted, dark, magical version of the Bible.
Overall, it was an okay read. In essence it’s another YA novel about a girl trying to figure out who she is.
I do give the author bonus points for writing a main character who is chubby.

best

I love this book so much I couldn't put it down stayed up way too late and benched it wonderful storyline and Magic system.

Superb, intelligent, and creative!

My third time listening to this series and it’s like visiting old friends. The plot is original and the writing is descriptive and expressive without getting stuck in the details. Love, love, love it! Highly recommend!

A fabulously well done fantasy!

Any additional comments?

This book totally rocked! And also sucked (in a good way)! I know, that doesn’t sound right…but it does in my head.

When I first started reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns, I was shocked to discover pretty much in the very beginning of the book that the main character Elisa is getting married…like literally getting dressed for the big matrimonial event! I’ve read books where a girl was going to get married, or gets married later on, or even gets married in the beginning but quickly thereafter the marriage ends, but Elisa actually gets married in the very beginning of a YA book! Like for real! And it was an arranged marriage because of her royal status. I was shocked! Can you tell? And I was immediately so intrigued about where this story was going to go, that I was stuck!

But it wasn’t just the beginning of the book that had me intrigued to keep on reading; I also think Rae Carson did a fabulous job creating a totally compelling main character, Elisa. We are basically informed in the very first scene of The Girl of Fire and Thorns that Elisa is overweight. But I was determined to discover “how” overweight she was. And being in Elisa’s head was very entertaining. Her whole thought process and her perception of everything going on around her was very fun. It was a lot of fun watching Elisa grow on the inside and shrink on the outside. Wait…did I say that? Spoiler! And then her obsession with food and all the times she would get hungry was just hilarious! OH! And the one thing that I discuss the most with everyone after I read this book is…the Godstone! I had a really hard time picturing this stone that’s imbedded into Elisa’s stomach, and all I kept thinking about was those Troll Dolls that have a jewel in their stomach. Boy was that distracting. Oh! And I can't forget that kick butt scene her nurse did out of no where! You've got to read it to see what I mean.

I’m not even going to dive in to the whole love interest thing because that could possibly be a major spoiler! Or maybe not…

Not only was this book fun and entertaining to read, but there were some pretty crazy things happening throughout the book as well. It’s not very far into the story when there is a big plot twist and then everything changes in Elisa’s life. It was awesome! And then there is the tragedy(ies)! Yep!!! I cried a couple times in this book.

Pretty much everything that happened in this book was unexpected, but I for sure didn’t expect that it would end the way it did, and I started The Crown of Embers the very moment I finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns.

Too many long pauses

I’m not sure if it was how the book was written, how it was narrated or how it was recorded but there were so many long pauses to the point that I feel like part of the book was maybe missing, my phone stopped playing, etc. Whatever it was I didn’t love it. The book probably deserved better than that.

Surprised

If you could sum up The Girl of Fire and Thorns in three words, what would they be?

Strength, spirit, determination.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Girl of Fire and Thorns?

Where the main character discovered she was worth more than just shoving pastries in her mouth.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were so many, it is hard to narrow it down.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The title: The girl of fire and thorns.

Any additional comments?

Jennifer Ikedia has out done her self again with her reading! She is amazing, she completely transports you in to the story.

Worth it.

I was skeptical after reading some of the reviews.
“Too religious”
“Body shaming”
All of those negative words. I almost didn’t give it a try.
Honestly it’s a fine book. Yes it revolves around a young girl’s struggle with her own identity and the trials that teenage girls that are not main stream in body type or in mind set; must go thru in order to grow and find their own self worth.
It’s powerful if you listen to the message touted throughout the book.
Nay sayers obviously were not paying attention.

Worth the read/listen even if it slowed down somewhat at times.
I’d recommend this to anyone that likes a good book.

AMAZING Reader

It's been a while since I bought this book and I've gotten more into audible since then. I had to come back and leave a review because the narrator of this book is truly incredible.

Girl of Fire and Thorns is a pretty interesting YA fantasy novel. While it has some problematic themes -- I'm still not sure where I fall on the weight loss portion of the narrative -- it is a truly unique and interesting coming of age story with a scrappy heroine you can totally identify with.

Most specifically, I love this type of coming of age narrative. Elisa brings you in with her and has the classic hero irony that makes for a very enjoyable read - she initially has a lack of self awareness of how brave and true she is, but performs differently then how she sees herself. We get to see her doing all these amazing things but through the teenage haze of self doubt, and then enjoy her realization as she veil lifts and she realizes that she is actually dope.

On a different note, it is always nice to read a series where the heroine is dark skinned and plump, and the evil race is light skinned and thin. However, part of this narrative seems slightly countermanded by the fact that there is some beauty - thinness equation going on.

Overall a great read and incredibly well narrated; really brought to life. Would recommend.