Book Reviews: The Crown of Embers & The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

The Crown of Embers
Fire and Thorns #2
Author: Rae Carson
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: September 18th 2012
Review Source: Personalized

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

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.

After finishing The Girl of Fire and Thorns I was really excited to start this book. This is rare for me because when I first saw the cover of Fire and Thorns, I was not expending such a great story. I’m really am not a fan of fantasy but Rae Carson will capture your heart. She literally made a great impression.

In The Crown of Embers we continue the journey of Queen Elisa of Joya d’Arena. After the death of her husband, King Alejandro, Elisa encounters new responsibilities and she is conflicted to do the right thing. After all, she is only seventeen. Not only Elisa now has to take her role more serious, but she is still trying to learn more about her Godstone, the source of her powers.

Okay, enough about Elisa. To start with, I really didn’t like King Alejandro. He was such a jerk to Elisa, although at the end I felt bad for his death, but I was happy he was terminated (HA!). Hector. God, I adored him from the very beginning. He was such a sweetheart to Elisa even if his duty was to defend his king. He was a great friend to her since he met her and I was grateful that he was always trying to protect her. Now that Elisa is finally paying attention to Hector, I couldn’t help but do happy dances. In this book, my love him for just grew. God, he is such a gentleman!

I’m surprised to realize I enjoyed this sequel better than the first installment. It starts a bit slow, but honestly when it picks up, the action does not stop to the very end. And the ending is totally a “WTH! Where is the next page” moment. It will leave you shock. I highly recommend this series to everyone. A must read!

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The Bitter Kingdom
Fire and Thorns #3
Author: Rae Carson
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: August 27th 2013
Review Source: Personalized

The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.

*Bow down to Rae Carson* Congratulation, you are officially in my "To Stalk Author list"!

The final installation of Fire and Thorns is AMAZING! Just WOW. An epic ending! Packed action, heartwarming and full of Lord Hector! Rae is brilliant and just freaking incredible. She surpassed all of my expectation for this trilogy. In my opinion, I don’t know how she did it, but this book is the best of all three.

The Bitter Kingdom follows the story of Elisa’s rescue journey after Hector is kidnapped by the Invierno Franco. She promised Hector she would rescue him and she is very determined to do so. No one can stop her, no one. Elisa learns to make hard decisions and I love how she learns become the leader she is destined to be.

Elisa, I am so proud of her. I literally cheer for her all the way. Her character growth is outstanding. She is truly a heroine. I just love how Rae started her character as a weak foolish child but now.... now she’s a grown wise woman. *wipes tears* I am so proud of her.

My God, Hector is such an adoring gentleman. His love for Elisa is beautiful. Rae literally ruins us for giving us high expectation toward real life men. He respects her, he listens to her, he guides her when needed, he protects her, challenges her… the list goes on and on and one. Hector is PERFECT!

Sorry Epic Reads gals, Hector is MINE =P

Everyone, this is a must read series! I dearly love these characters. The story is fantastic and magical. I am so happy I had the chance to meet Rae Carson, because I am a fan. She is absolutely one of my favorite authors. I cannot wait for her future trilogy!