The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

Let me first start by saying that this book was not at all what i imagined it to be. i haven't yet decided if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but it was definitely interesting. let me start by giving you a short synopsis of the book.

Lucero-Elisa is the princess of Orovalle who bears the Godstone in her navel.
God has chosen her for a specific purpose, but she does not know what it is.
She goes on an 'epic journey' to find out.

This book is definitely high fantasy. It reminds me of books like Eragon or The Lord of the Rings.
The world this book is set in is highly religious, a concept which would have been difficult for me to grasp otherwise. Since it was set in a completely different time/world it was very believable, the prayers, the worship services that Carson chose to focus on. She did a good job of balancing those from the more depressing, thought provoking parts of the novel.

Let's talk about Lucero-Elisa. She's a very real girl. The way she thinks and reacts to the situations she finds herself in are similar to mine (except for praying every hour of the day. bleh). She eats to much. The thing that i really liked about this book was that Carson describes how she changes with her surroundings, how her body physically changes. She puts a knife to her stomach in order to get the Godstone out of her navel and bleeds. Bleeds. I don't think I've ever read a book where the heroine actually bleeds due to her own actions.

The other characters where somewhat distant though, even her nurse, Ximena was hard to decipher throughout the book. I think the one other character i liked besides Elisa was Cosme´, because you could watch her grow as well.

The plot was war. There's not really any other way to describe it, besides the 'animagus' which made me think of Harry Potter. Sirius Black, anyone? They were not animal shape shifters, but they were sorcerers. They weren't given enough time on page for me to be able to grasp the concept of them.

The ending was very clear too. I don't know if it was enough for me to want to buy the second book, but i'll definitely be looking for it. Rae Carson said that she 'goes global with the Godstone,' in a certain interview. i guess Elisa isn't quite done with herself.

i'm going to give The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson a 4/5 stars.