The Girl of Fire and Thorns

by Rae Carson

Overview

The first book in the acclaimed and award-winning New York Times bestselling trilogy. The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a remarkable novel full of adventure, sorcery, heartbreak, and power.

"I stayed up until two a.m. reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended."—Veronica Roth, author of the best-selling Divergent series

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, and 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 her to be 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. 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.

"A page-turner with broad appeal."—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062026507
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/21/2012
Series:	Girl of Fire and Thorns (Paperback)
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	27,391
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.08(d)
Lexile:	730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Rae Carson is the author of the award-winning The Girl of Fire and Thorns and its sequel The Crown of Embers. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her family.

What People are Saying About This

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.”

Veronica Roth

“I stayed up until 2AM reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended.”

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.”

Megan Whalen Turner

“Rae Carson’s heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her.”

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.”

Editorial Reviews

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

A delicious debut.

Paolo Bacigalupi

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

Rae Carson’s heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her.

Megan Whalen Turner

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

I stayed up until 2AM reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended.

Veronica Roth

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

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

Carson debuts with a smart, complex fantasy with stellar characters, first in a planned trilogy. Even though she bears the mysterious and rare Godstone, 16-year-old Princess Elisa has been a disappointment to her family and country. Plain, overweight, and unmotivated, she is content to wed a handsome neighboring king to cement an alliance. After an arduous journey to her new home, Elisa arrives to find that her husband wants to keep their status hidden. But there are more pressing concerns—the enemy is preparing to invade, and Elisa is kidnapped. As she is thrust into a fight for survival on the borders of her new kingdom, Elisa is hunted by dark magicians and must piece together clues to fulfill her divine decree. Elisa is a sensational heroine, striving to fulfill her potential under perilous circumstances, while realistically growing in resourcefulness, inner strength, and intelligence. The odd nature of the Godstone (which is embedded in Elisa's stomach) may occasionally pull some readers out of the story, but Carson's mature writing style, thoughtful storytelling, appealing characters, and surprising twists add up to a page-turner with broad appeal. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Many fantasy books have a strong female character, but this fantasy differs in that the heroine is a young, much-indulged fat girl. The opening lines are, "I have been praying—no begging—that King Alejandro de Vega, my future husband, will be ugly, old and fat." Elise thinks then he will not be disappointed in her. After popping the seams of her wedding dress, Elise is married, and her character transformation begins. Besides being a princess, Elisa has been selected by her God for service, what service she does not know. Others think they know—her husband's country is on the brink of war, and he wants her help; holders of dark magic are seeking her; and a determined revolutionary thinks she can save his people. Through the adventures, including being kidnapped and caught in a massive sandstorm, Elisa digs deep to find determination and the ability to lead. The fantasy world created is intoxicating. Names, food, architecture, language, beliefs and culture are all shown to the reader, not merely described. Readers will find themselves immersed in this world and believing it. This an action-packed adventure with a little romance that leaves the reader wanting to begin the second book in the planned trilogy. This one will move. Reviewer: Susan Allen

VOYA - Susan Allen

Gr 7 Up—This compelling first book in a medieval fantasy trilogy features Elisa, a 16-year-old princess, as she grows from an inexperienced girl who is forced to marry a weak king for political reasons into a confident and capable young woman, destined to be a respected leader in her own right. Shortly after her birth, Elisa received a magical Godstone in her navel, a sign bestowed every 100 years on a chosen one. Despite this, she feels inadequate when compared to her older, more beautiful sister so she eats to compensate for it. She's also very clever, particularly in the strategies of war, but all that most people see is her ample size. The only person who respects her is young Lord Hector, her husband's personal guard. Shortly after her wedding, she's kidnapped and forced to endure an arduous journey through the desert that toughens her. One of her kidnappers is a young man who falls for her and she for him. His people hope that she, as the Godstone bearer, can save them from their constant war against a neighboring enemy. This fast-moving and exciting novel is rife with political conspiracies and machinations. Elisa's maturation and physical transformation echo Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Princess Ben (Houghton Harcourt, 2008). Fans of Tamora Pierce's "Beka Cooper" series (Random) will find a kindred spirit in Elisa as she experiences great adversity and heart-wrenching loss.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

School Library Journal

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)

Kirkus Reviews