Girl of Fire and Thorns (2) - Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
Part 2 of the series: Crown of Embers! (in German Die Feuerkrone, in French La Couronne de Flammes) I read it in German with 494 pages. Originally published 2012.
Elisa is now officially Queen and ruler of Joya d'Arena. But she is weak, and she knows it. Her politics are controlled by her underlings, she has to dodge attempts of assassinations, rescue her people from the Inviernos (again) and, just by the way, select herself a suitable husband. And find out what her next task for God is. Where is the girl that lead a rebellion against an invincible, overpowering army? Elisa has to find herself again, and, with that, her strength. But she's not alone: supported by charming Tristan, her keeper, Ximena, her best friend, Mara and the commander of her personal elite and thief of her heart, Hector, she begins her next quest...
First to the things that I didn't like: Mistakes.
Elisa killed 6 Animagi, 5 in her capital, 1 in the camp, and the latter, the one who had her abducted, didn't have a name. The fire as well as other magical tricks of the Animagi can't hurt her. In Girl of Fire and Thorns, Nicolao, the father of Alejandr,o was said to be a strong monarch. Plus, Elisa is, by bidding of her late husband, only Queen until Rossario is of age.
It seems that Rae Carson corrected some things in Girl of Fire and Thorns and forget to adjust the sequel. That is really sad, but, fortunately, it doesn't ruin the whole book. Only the first 50 something pages.
Plus, it’s kind of unrealistic that Elisa suddenly lets herself be ruled like that. She has managed to sway over so many of her captors, to a tactic they didn’t want. She made her husband do exactly as she said, she managed to win an unwinnable battle through her strange tactic.
But now, she’s the self-doubting, not very political sophisticated girl she was in the 1. part? She managed to not only adapt to a life that is way different to everything she ever encountered, she managed to make it better for anyone else. She talked people out of their world view and became a more or less independent, decisive woman… and now she’s back to the timid girl, who’s afraid of her own power?
To be impressed by her counsellors? Okay, I do get that in a way. But not like that. That’s too drastic.
But I do like how she manages to re-claim herself and her position – and how her relationship to Ximena is presented. There is a mother-daughter-ly kind of love on the one hand, shepherd-sheep and dominion/rebellion on the other. One of my favourite scenes is when Elisa tells her exactly what she thinks of her actions. That was long due.
Another person I like is Hector.
He’s so cool. He and Elisa really match very well - if she learns to be true to herself and respects him and his rules. I expect she'll do that more in Bitter Kingdom. She came around in that cave, didn't she?
Spoiler:
But I think that the ending sucked – the way Elisa single-handedly decided that she’d marry Hector, without even asking him if he wanted that. She expects of him to give up his whole life for her, just like that. And he has no say in this! That sucks.
But I like Mara and Storm, they are fascinating. And Rossario is sweet…
In brief:
I give it stars for ideas and style. Minus one for the mistakes.
Prequel:
Sequel: