Favorite Quotes

'Once upon a time, there was a man as great as the gods...... But even the great can tremble with fear. Even the great can Fall.

Mary E. Pearson, Kiss of Deception

Friday, May 30, 2014

Review: Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Grade: 4 Butterflies
Series: Fire and Thorns #2
Author: Rae Carson
Publisher: Greenwillow books
Pages: Hardcover 410 pages

Goodreads Summary

She does not know what awaits her at the enemy's gate.

Elisa is a hero.

She led her people to victory over a terrifying, sorcerous army. Her place as the country's ruler should be secure. But it isn't.

Her enemies come at her like ghosts in a dream, from foreign realms and even from within her own court. And her destiny as the chosen one has not yet been fulfilled.

To conquer the power she bears, once and for all, Elisa must follow a trial of long-forgotten—and forbidden—clues, from the deep, hidden catacombs of her own city to the treacherous seas. With her go a one-eyed spy, a traitor, and the man whom—despite everything—she is falling in love with.

If she's lucky, she will return from this journey. But there will be a cost.




I love fantasy books. Whether they are Adult fantasy, YA fantasy, Urban fantasy, whichever I love them all. So it goes without saying that I am kind of in love with this world and this series. I read this first one about a year ago and I finally read this one and I loved being back in this world with these characters. This book was a really great second book, I loved where this book lead the series and I can't wait to read the last one!! However, this one did somewhat how the second book curse, which I will explain later in this review.

This book starts about 5 months after the end of the first one. Elisa is now Queen of the kingdom which is falling apart. No one seems to accept her as queen and she never really did anything to show them her worth, which was a little frustrating. However, it was great to get back into this world. I love the world that Rae Carson has developed. Maybe its because of the great world building or because it just sounds beautiful, but either way I love this world! I also loved where this book took the series. At the end of this one I couldn't wait to read the third just because of how much amazingness this book set up for the third.

That leads to my first problem I had with this one. It felt to much like a bridge between the first and third. This plot seemed to be to much of a set up for the next one. It felt like the whole reason for this plot to exist was to set up for the third one. Don't get me wrong, this plot was action-packed, thrilling, gripping, with a touch of mystery, but it felt like the author sat down asked herself 'what do I want to happened in the last one' and wrote this plot around that. It was still an enjoyable book, but I just really don't like it when books do this.

I also felt like this plot was set up around the character development of Elisa instead of the character development of Elisa set up around the plot. If that makes any sense whatsoever. It seemed that the author wrote the plot around what she wanted Elisa to go through and wrote certain things just so Elisa character could develop. This doesn't sound to bad, but when reading it I felt that it alienated this book's own plot.

Now to the characters. I really love these characters!!! I think Elisa is a great main character and really holds her own, even though at the beginning of this book she didn't do much of that, but she gets better towards the end with all of her character development. Hector was great and all the other side characters as while. I think all of these characters are just amazingly fleshed out and have a lot of depth, which is always amazing to read.

What really made this book was the love story between Hector and Elisa. I loved their relationship, how they both made each other stronger and better people. You could also practically feel the chemistry between the two on the pages. They worked so well together, they were just perfect for one another. I also loved reading their relationship develop and them realizes that they love each other. However, there was one thing I couldn't quite understand. Why the hell couldn't these two be together?!?! The author made it out to be a tragic love affair because they could never have each other. Um....why couldn't they have each other again? That was just never fully explained and it made me frustrated with both of them.

Overall this was a really great book and sequel! Some aspects did feel to much like set ups for the next book, but that aside this was a really great book to read. This book had a fast paced plot, mystery, magic, love, backstabbing, ect. One thing I couldn't get behind was the religious aspect though, I just couldn't buy into it.

This book got...


 4 Butterflies
Beloved, This is a really good book.
Recommended if you like: Fantasy, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, and The Girl of Fire and Thorns.



1 comment:

  1. I love that there is character development in the book. I really want to read this book! Great review.

    Nina @ J'adore Happy Endings

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