I loved Unearthly (Hand) and The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Carson) so much, that it left me anxious about my next reading choice. Ever get that way? Thinking, “How can it possibly live up to…”? I’m so happy both that both books have sequels coming down the pike, and the sequel to TGOFAT (you gotta love the acronym Go-Fat, it’s almost as good as River of Times’s RoT) probably is my #1 anticipated 2012 read.
The goodreads.com Summary:
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 seeks 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.
My Two Cents
So…it wasn’t an immediate love affair with this book. It took a bit of work to invest myself in a foreign world that was vaguely Spanish, vaguely medieval, and wholly High Fantasy. But I loved the pudgy second-princess heroine and her destined path of finding her inner worth, her inner heroine and truth among lies. Adored it, really. And the more I turned the pages, the more I fell in love…you will too. I laughed, cheered, wept. Truly. Give it a chance. It’s an amazing story and I’m so passionate about it, I’m going to interview Rae.
Mama Bear Warnings
The heroine has a “God stone” in her belly, making her a chosen one. This makes her more perceptive to God’s urgings, his warnings about evil, his pleasure when things are as they should be. I can read that as a power we all can share, promised to us in Scripture, but you have to be ready to go there…There’s also a deep, dark magic our heroes battle. Basically, think Lord of the Rings and you’re on the right track.
One last warning: A fair amount of violence and killing, as the country is at war. I love that suspense factor, but some many not.
Read this book? What’d you think?