The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Review of The Crown of Embers

Title & Author:
The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
Publisher:
Greenwillow Books
Publication Date:
September 18, 2012
Pages:
410
Source:
Borrowed from Kari

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. – Goodreads

HI THE CROWN OF EMBERS BY RAE CARSON IS AMAZING.

And if you haven’t read The Girl of Fire and Thorns, A, you totally should and B, you probably shouldn’t continue reading because I can’t be held accountable for how much my fangirling will spoil book 1.

Okay, now that I have that taken care of.

THE CROWN OF EMBERS IS AMAZING. I legit loved The Girl of Fire and Thorns and I was absolutely heartbroken through certain terrible events of that book but freaking Elisa was such an amazing protagonist and I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Crown of Embers.

And The Crown of Embers ended up being a BILLION times better. I could literally see her character growth through all the stuff Elisa went through in The Girl of Fire and Thorns and she goes through even more in The Crown of Embers but it all helped to grow to be this amazing, brave, courageous and confident protagonist and a Queen and just, gah. I feel like Elisa is one of the best examples of character growth and progression in books. Rae Carson does an amazing job of showing how Elisa is toughening up and becoming a better and stronger person, yet still the same protagonist we were introduced to at the beginning.

Okay, the romance in The Crown of Embers KILLED ME. When Rae Carson killed off both love interests in The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Oh, Humberto!), I was super impressed at the ballsyness of it, but also really concerned because hello, I need swoon in my fantasy. But then Rae Carson throws Hector at us and I am all, hello Hector, personal guard, yes please! Because as much as I loved Humberto, and as good as he was for Elisa, I just can’t even with Hector. Top YA love interests for sure. The SWOON, you guys. THE SWOON.

And the freaking plot. There is assassination attempts and stable burning and hurricanes and rowing and learning how to fight and lots of revealing stuff about Elisa’s Godstone and death and love and SO MUCH happens in The Crown of Embers.

The ending of The Crown of Embers is absolutely brilliant. It’s cliffhangery enough for me to be dying for book three, but I still closed it on sort of a happy, giddy, satisfied note.

I was going to try to be eloquent in my review of The Crown of Embers, but I just can’t fangirl enough. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson is a brilliant follow-up to The Girl of Fire and Thorns. The character progression is stunning and the plot is so engaging, I literally could not put it down. And the romance is oh-so-swoonworthy. If you’re looking for a fantastic fantasy series that’ll keep you on your toes and shouting “BEST BOOK EVER” at the topic of your lungs, this is the series for you.

Other Books in the Series

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

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