Book Review: The Bitter Kingdom (Girl of Fire and Thorns #3) by Rae Carson

Summary: 
The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.

Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.

Release Date: August 27, 2013
Age Group: YA
Source: Purchased

Review:
I can't think of a better end for Rae Carson's outstanding Girl of Fire and Thorns series!  The Bitter Kingdom was everything I wanted it to be and more.  I found myself reading as slowly as I could, just to make this book last longer---it was that good.

Elisa has really come into her own in every way: as a queen, as a woman, and as a bearer of the Godstone.  I loved seeing her grow into such an admirable and strong character.  She is decisive, strong-willed, and quick-witted.  I really liked her as a person, and she grew on me more with each book in the series.

I love seeing Elisa and Hector so happy together.  Their relationship was so tender and sweetly written.  Carson hit the perfect balance between love and duty.  I loved the way Carson ended the book with regards to the love story.

The characters in this series really stand out.  They come from all walks of life, and characters that I had sworn to hate, I found myself actually liking.  I love it when authors do that: make me care about a character that I thought I would hate.  It's the mark of a great writer.  

The plot was full of twists, as usual for this series, and I never knew what would happen next.  I thought I knew how Carson would resolve the main crux of the book: the war between the countries, but I was wrong and I loved the surprise of how that issue was resolved.  

I really can't say enough good things about this series.  The imagery, the love story, the character development: it's all so good!  I would highly recommend reading the books back to back if you can.  The world Carson has created is so complex that it would be easy to get a little lost between books.  I had read the novellas before reading The Bitter Kingdom and that helped me refresh my memory and enjoy the book even more.  Authors like Rae Carson remind me why I keep coming back to high fantasy, even though it's not always the easiest genre to read.  This series is not one to be missed!  

 


2 comments:

  1. I adored this series and the ending :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds like a good read !

    Joelle @http://angelswithattitudebookreviews-joelle.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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