Kimberly's Novel Notes: Review: The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

Grade: 4 Butterflies
Series: Fire and Thorns #3 (Final)
Author: Rae Carson
Author: Rae Carson
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Warning: The rest of this post does have SPOILERS for the first two books in this series. Do Not read any father unless you want to be spoiled.

Goodreads Summary

The champion must not waver.
The champion must not fear.
The gate of darkness closes.

Elisa is a fugitive.

Her enemies have stolen the man she loves, and they await her at the gate of darkness. Her country is on the brink of civil war, with her own soldiers ordered to kill her on sight.

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Lucero-Elisa né Riqueza de Vega, bearer of the Godstone, will lead her three loyal companions deep into the enemy's kingdom, a land of ice and snow and brutal magic, to rescue Hector and win back her throne. Her power grows with every step, and the shocking secrets she will uncover on this, her final journey, could change the course of history.

But that is not all. She has a larger destiny. She must become the champion the world has been waiting for.

Even of those who hate her most.

So me and the Fire and Thorns series have a solid relationship. I've never disliked any of the books, but I was never blown away by them. They were enjoyable and I liked them. I went into this last one expecting an enjoyable book and a good conclusion to the series and that is exactly what I got from this book. It was enjoyable all the way through and it tied up the series nicely.

This book starts a few weeks after the events at the end Crown of Embers. Elisa and her gang are going after Hector. What I thought was really well done in this book was the recapping that it had for the events of the last book. I went into this one remembering very little of what happened in the end of CoE but subtly throughout the beginning of this book the author recapped what happened. It was subtle enough so it wouldn't bother you if you remembered but enough so you could remember. I would have liked if she didn't spread the recapping out has much as she did, but in the end that didn't bother me all that much.

The plot in this book was very enjoyable; it kept me interested throughout the whole book. I thought it was a very good plot for an ending of a series; it tied up all the loose ends well. However, while I really enjoyed what happened in the plot, I didn't appreciate how it was led out. There were many things happening in this book along with many aspects. There was the civil war, Hector, the Invorians in general, and her Godstone/destiny and how the author chose to write all these aspects was a little disappointing to me. Instead of writing them into one interconnecting plot that was complex and intricate the author wrote each aspect one by one. First she dealt with the Hector aspect and and then the rest one by one. This not only disappointed me (because it would have been epic if it was all intertwined), but it made the pacing feel choppy and the book to feel more as a collection of novellas instead of one book. Each aspect itself were called a book (book 1, book 2, ect...) and they felt like actual books with rising action, a climax, and falling action. This really ruined the reading experience for me.

The characters in this book were really great! I liked them all and the new characters that were introduced in this one, Hector was the best though. However, I didn't feel connected to them at all. They were just characters to me, I didn't feel very invested in their stories. Although I didn't take any stars away for this, because this has been an ongoing problem throughout this series.

The thing I loved the best in this book was the world and magical aspect. I just love this fantasy world so much!! I love the cultures, the societies, the political intrigue. I also love the magical element this book and I really, really loved how the religious aspect was toned down in this book. I didn't like the religious aspect that was in the other books and I am so glad it was toned down a bit in this one.

This review seems to be getting more and more negative as it goes on, but I did enjoy this book. I thought it was solid ending to this series and really enjoyed reading it, even with the choppy pacing. I liked what happened in the plot, not so much how it was set out, but I enjoyed reading about the events that occurred.

This Book got..

4 Butterflies

Beloved, This is a really good book.