The Girl of Fire and Thorns: The Fire and Thorns Trilogy, Book 1

Gr 8 Up—Princess Elisa, 16, is the Chosen One. Bearing a sapphire-colored godstone in her navel, she is supposedly marked for greatness. But she doesn't see how. Chubby and naïve, the most heroic act Elisa has ever performed is sneaking into the palace kitchen to steal coconut pastries. Shortly after her secret wedding to a neighboring king as part of a political agreement, Elisa is kidnapped and taken deep into the desert. Once the initial shock wears off, Elisa sympathizes with her captors, a band of revolutionaries written off by her kingdom as the faceless casualties of a previous skirmish. She even finds love with Humberto, the first of her captors to show her kindness. With the certainty of war on the horizon, Elisa initiates a plan to help her kingdom win and, hopefully, free her new friends from their political ties. Rae Carson's story (2011), as well as the world in which it is set, is rich and complex. Although the plot is heavy with political and religious overtones, the author manages this without seeming preachy. Elisa's character is expertly-drawn, and her transformation from a whiny, self-absorbed princess to a courageous young woman capable of leading her people is believable, very well-executed, and performed to perfection by Jennifer Ikeda. Fans of Tamora Pierce will be enchanted by this strong heroine and eagerly await the next volume, The Crown of Embers (2012, both Greenwillow).—Alissa Bach, Oxford Public Library, Oxford MI