The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

The Girl of Fire and Thorns Description and picture from Goodreads.com
Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who needs her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
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

Elisa is an interesting main character. She is described as being overweight and being the younger princess, as more of an outcast. She exhibits very kind behavior and in times of upset she is level headed and decisive. As the story continues we find out that her marriage is to be held a secret until the correct time. Soon she finds herself traveling around the kingdom. She meets several different types of people during her travels and we see different sides of her.
Some of the time the fact that her being overweight is described as holding the group back, as they are traveling on foot. But when she has moments of conflict she is very level-headed and you can see she has what it takes to become a queen.
When I initially picked up the book I was expecting a lot more magic to take place. I think I got my hopes up for the majority of the book to be magic filled. While there is magic in the book it takes on more of a religious aspect of prophecy and being the chosen one. (Than potion making, weather changing, explosion kind of magic. )  I am still torn about how I feel about most of the characters,like her husband, the new love interest and others she travels with. As of right now I think I liked her sister the best.
With all the war, and the talk of being a chosen one it weighed down the story for me a bit. But it is very well written and will definately take you on an adventure. As it's not a historical novel, but does take place in fantasy world of Kings, Queens and War. I think readers that enjoy historicals will also like this one as well.



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