The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Okay. So I never said this blog would be all about books I like. I mean, that's a part of life; sometimes things just...well...suck. There have been numerous books and authors that aren't necessarily my favorite in the world. For example, I'm not a fan of Ernest Hemingway. He's kind of sexist in a blatant way and I've never really admired his work. Maybe tolerate is a better word. Anyways. The Girl of Fire and Thorns was one book I will not be picking up again anytime soon.
The plot of this book sounds enticing. It's the story of a the youngest princess, Elisa, who has become the secret wife of a handsome king on her sixteenth birthday. The back cover of the book even says "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". Heyo! That's dramatic! That's appealing! That's totally not how this book goes.
The main character, Elisa, is probably the most annoying character I've ever encountered in a book. I really believe that the author, Rae Carson, was genuinely trying to create a character that many girls could relate to. Instead, she made a sad attempt at connecting with young ladies that fails dismally. In fact, the example she sets with Elisa is pretty awful. Elisa is awkward and overweight: the majority of her point of view is her talking about food and how she must look like a sausage in all her dresses. As a girl who loves food, you'd think that this would appeal to me but instead it was just...annoying. Really and truly, Elisa is a character who is trying way too hard to be an awkward girl. It's a caricature of a chubby girl. In the first chapter, Elisa is walking down the aisle to marry her new husband whom she has never met before. Her thoughts the whole time are "I hope my husband is ugly because if he is beautiful I am definitely not living up to his standards. Please have pock marks, please be fat too, please be nasty". Uhh, what? What about that train of thoughts is that of a heroine of a story? Okay, I get it. If there was some positive character development, I might be more lenient with this book. But the only way that Elisa finally get's courage to stand up for herself is when she loses weight! It essentially goes like this "Wow I am so fat but I love scones. But now I live in this castle and I have to walk everywhere. And it's really hot so I'm sweating. I'm still so fat and I hate myself but this cheese plate is so delicious so whatever. Oh hey, I'm skinny now! Forget the scones and cheese, I will now fight for my country and never touch an unhealthy food ever again because I am skinny and pretty now I can do whatever I want! Being fat is obviously the worst and if you are fat you will never succeed ever" Maybe that was an exaggeration but that is basically how it went. How unappealing of a character. I can't help but to think that if Elisa kept a little bit of her chubbiness, I'd like her more.
Getting through this book was a struggle. Every time I picked it up, I rolled my eyes and snarled like a beast. Really, this book just tries way too hard. Maybe Rae Carson wanted to make a good book with a main character that no one liked...a lot of franchises have tried that*. Either way, she succeed at making me not like her main character and failed at making a good book. Don't waste your time reading this.
*Did you know that Stan Lee, former head of Marvel comics, created Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) with the sole purpose of making a hero that characters didn't really like because he was kind of a...douche? Now Tony Stark is considered the man of all mans and is the coolest dude around. Hmm.
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