Audiobook Review: Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Fire and Thorns #1
Author: Rae Carson
Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Adventure
Released: July 24th 2012
Review Source: Harper Audio
Available: Amazon

OUaT Reviews: Yara's

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

I have loved books all of my life and though I find that I tend to lean more towards the Paranormal Romance type books, I feel that stories about magic and love transport me out of my real life and make me feel like I am where I really belong. I enjoyed every second of this audiobook.

Elisa the younger of two princesses in her kingdom, and is not the typical Fairytale Princess. She is overweight and in no way fits the typical stereotype written in most books of breathtakingly beautiful with a tiny figure which is so often perceived as perfect. She is in my opinion a more relatable princess for today’s YA audience.

Elisa is the “Chosen one” of her generation which only happens once every one hundred years. A sign of her being the chosen one is the blue stone, The God Stone, which is located on her abdomen in place of her belly button. Even though she is the chosen one, Elisa struggles with her self image and does not feel as though there is anything particularly special about her and does not understand why her sister was not chosen in her place.

On her sixteenth birthday, Elisa is to be married to man she has never met and she fears that he will not be happy with her because of her “not so perfect looks”. She even goes so far as to wish him fat and ugly so that he would not be disappointed in her looks. She ends up with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on. He is a widowed father and his kingdom is in turmoil. When she first arrives to her new home, her husband and King asks that she keep their union a secret until he deems it appropriate. Her self esteem takes a plunge but she agrees. She ends up spending more time with his son than with him. And even has to deal with his “former” companion and her sneaky maid, both of which go out of their way to make Elisa feel unwelcome.

Elisa ends up being kidnapped and taken on a journey of real self discovery. Although she is taken captive she finds herself understanding the purpose behind her capture and even learning about her true purpose. She finds love along the way and suffers great loss.

This story has a very strong religious base and is truly a beautiful story. The world that is set out for us in this story is done with such detail, it is hard not to find yourself wandering the lands even after you have put the book down. Since I reviewed the audio book I found the words playing in my head even as I slept at night.

I am so proud of Elisa for what she accomplished in this story and my heart breaks for her as she suffers loss after loss, but I could not be more excited about diving into the next book in this series to see what journey she will be taken on.

Jennifer Ikeda has such a lovely voice and did this story more justice than I think anyone else could have. She brought Elisa and every other character in this book to life and made me feel like I was a part of the story myself. I was honestly lost in this audio version of this book and can’t wait to hear more.