The Crown of Embers (Girl of Fire and Thorns) (original 2012; edition 2012)

I kind of knew this book would be a treat to read. But I did not anticipate how much. The first in the trilogy, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was a surprise treat - "caught me off-guard great" I wrote. This second book was all that... again, which is remarkable.

Elisa is so... un-assuming. Even as queen, the story follows her thought pattern and as she questions herself, I grew more concerned that she might be right. She's trying to be a strong queen, but she doesn't really know how and her attempts feel clumsy, but there's just no right answers. When things start falling apart, it is so real and so... unavoidable.

I could hardly put the book down. Elisa grasps for her kingdom, but it slips from her hands. So slowly, so agonizingly sweetly, she falls in love. Everything that happened in Fire and Thorns just make each moment that much more fleeting, more treasured because of her acceptance of fate. I love her calculating thoughts as she faces her destiny... rises up to the challenge of being queen... accepts her heart. Elisa is so real.

Always there is that distinct UN-greatness, too. Her Godstone is great, but it's lodged in Elisa's belly-button and embarrasses her as much as increases her. She has to be humble and embrace her weaknesses if she has any hope of succeeding and I just love the juxtaposition of it.

Some of the story is told from Hector's point of view, too. His character unfolds slowly revealing his childhood, his hopes for love, his respect for his family, his incredible sense of honor. As he allows himself to love, he is put in a difficult position. He will save Elisa's life at the cost of his own without a moment's hesitation, but his focus on her starts effecting his ability to protect her. He recognizes how love eclipses his senses putting her in more danger.

What are these lovers to do? The choices they make are costly. Lives are at stake and there's always the weighing of that cost. Other, minor characters, are also essential. They do what is best - or what they think is best - and each decision brings consequences and leads to more difficult decisions. *rubs hands gleefully* It's amazingly complex, fast-paced... a perfect book to follow The Girl of Fire and Thorns. There is not so much a cliffhanger ending as much as... all these choices leading to a surprising climax that requires another book to answer.

If I have learned anything from Carson's first two books, it's that anything can happen to anyone at any time. Those "cute" coincidences where things "just work out" that I see in stories? Yeah... not so here. Nope. Here the sand actually rubs raw, the bad guys are skilled assassins that get their targets, blood flows and gets sticky and messy, and it takes time to recover from injuries. (Imagine!)

My Rating: 4.98 - I love the characters, I love the situations, I even love hating the bad guys. I was frustrated right along with Elisa and Hector when they were frustrated. The world-building cracks me up sometimes like the Godstone - there's always an element of casual reality in the midst of epic drama that is so unique. Carson's writing style continues to catch me off guard. I expect to be able to set it aside and am surprised to find my knuckles gripping my Nook fiercely unwilling to stop reading until I gallop to the end. ( )

One of the BEST EVER fantasy books I have ever read! Rae Carson gets better and better with each book.
Get ready to fall in love with Hector - because I sure did. Elisa shows her strength and smarts in this novel, and is a great heroine. I can NOT WAIT for book three!

Elisa is 17 years old and ruler of a nation that has been ravaged by war. She not only has the insecurities of most 17 year olds, but she is queen because her husband named her his heir on his deathbed - though she grew up as a princess, Elisa wasn't trained to be a ruler, she hasn't had very long to learn or practice the skills needed, and some of her advisers and the country's condes question her legitimacy.

Oh, yeah, and she bears the mark of the Chosen One, a person selected by God only once a century. Her Godstone and the power it imbues in her inspires awe and fear, on top of the whole queen thing. It is with this power that Elisa was able to save her country, and specifically the royal city of Brisadulce, from the invading Invierne, who used the magic of corrupted Godstones to cause fiery destruction.

In this time after the war, the country of Joya d'Arena wants to celebrate and relax, but things aren't so easy. Elisa must find a way to bring peace, prosperity, and stability back to her people, but there are many enemies (and politics) out to sabotage her efforts. Besides which, she just doesn't have the experience yet to know what is right.

And so, this is how Crown of Embers begins. As the story goes along, Elisa discovers another aspect of what it means to be the Chosen One and embarks on a quest to both fulfill her destiny and amass the power she needs to convince her people that she is not a weak ruler as her predecessors were, and that she is a legitimate and powerful queen. Elisa also must learn to balance her relationships with others, to learn to navigate friendship and romance around the fact that she does, in fact, hold great power.

It was frustrating to me to see Elisa's lack of confidence in herself, even as she is obviously capable and knowledgeable about her role. She is stricken with doubt and fear, which then causes her to make poor choices and not act decisively and take what she wants (which then results in her being miserable because of her self-sacrifice). When she finally embarks on her quest, I couldn't figure out what, exactly, she expected to get from it. Her stated reasons just didn't make sense, they were so vague, even though she is usually quite clear about her goals. I won't spoil the end of the quest, but it made me throw my hands up in exasperation with Elisa, even as I thrilled at the way it exposed so much more world-building and creativity.

I enjoyed Crown of Embers quite a lot, though Elisa exasperates me in parts. There is a cliffhanger ending, probably introducing a final arc before Elisa is ready to fully take charge of the throne and her country. The cliffhanger was frustrating, but I can imagine very well what the major brushstrokes of the next book's plot will be - and I'm eager to read it as soon as it's released. ( )

The Crown of Embers was probably one of the best books I've read this year and I can say this coming off the high of The Raven Boys, which I adored for completely different reasons.

Elisa is the very picture of a strong female character, even though you can see that she has room still to grow and mature, especially in the confidence department. The romance was completely believable (and whoa nelly was the swoon factor off the chart) and that's not something you can always say in YA fiction. Sometimes I think authors include romance just because that's what they think their readers want, but in this case I could see why these two people were so desperately in love with one another.

This book had me laughing and crying both sad and happy tears and giving it a stern talking to, all of which is generally a good sign. ( )

It's another home run for Rae Carson. I devoured this book. It had a steady plot laced throughout the 400 pages and held me captive from beginning to end. ( )