Audiobook Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns Reread

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Fire and Thorns, Book 1

Author: Rae Carson
Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda
Duration: 12 hrs, 9 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Review:
I have always loved rereading, and with my memory it's both a necessity (if I want to remember any details of my favorite books) and a pleasure. Even once I have a book pretty well ensconced in my head, I love to revisit the characters, to discover intricacies of the plot or little jokes that previously escaped me. On first rereads, I can be caught off guard by twists I had forgotten. In this case, though, my first reread of a book I've reviewed on my blog, I am rereading a book I didn't care for originally. You see, I read it and it left a bad taste in my mouth, but then everyone with similar taste read it and thought it was awesome, and I just felt I had to try again. Unfortunately, I still don't love it, but I do think I was a bit overly harsh in my first assessment, when I simply was not in the mood for the story.

I have two main issues with The Girl of Fire and Thorns: Elisa and religion. I'll discuss Elisa first. Initially, I was very excited to read a fantasy novel centering around an overweight heroine. Such a thing simply isn't seen. You do get some muscular heroines (like Kel from Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small Quartet) who stand out from the svelte, trim crowd, but an unfit heroine...not so much. Then I met Elisa. She irritates the heck out of me. When the reader first meets her, she has sister issues like crazy, no self-esteem, hates herself for being fat, and eats everything in sight. Because of her inferiority complex, she moans and whimpers, blaming everyone else for her own shortcomings.

What I hoped for was a plus size heroine who would be okay with her size, but, instead, Elisa hates herself for it, yet refuses to do anything about it, taking a sort of perverse comfort in not trying, because she doesn't think she could live up to Alodia anyway. She does, through the course of the story, lose some of the weight, though she never becomes slender. With the loss of weight, her sense of self improves, and she looks at her previous clothing and deems it a tent, judging her former self. If she doesn't have sympathy for herself, why should I? She does sort of comes to term with her size, whatever it may be, to some degree later, I felt, but only because she found a boy she knew would love her no matter what she weighed. Again, I would really like this to come from inside. Maybe I'm being too picky because something about her narration just grates on me, but this is how I felt.

Pretty much the only thing I like about her in those first couple of chapters is how she wishes for an old, ugly husband or one with pock marks, even if it is so he won't be disappointed in her. Of course, what she actually gets is the most beautiful man she's ever seen, King Alejandro. For all that she hates how attractive she is, she kind of swoons all over him for a while, falling prey to his charms without really knowing anything about him.

I will give Elisa this, though. When the chips are down, she usually steps up. In quiet moments and social situations, she feels awkward and comforts herself with food and hatred of herself and others. In the midst of adventure, her mettle shows through. I like that Elisa so much better, and, thankfully, she comes to the forefront as the novel progresses. Even at the end, though, there's something about her that just grates, though I can't put my finger on precisely what. Oh, and I know this isn't a smooth transition but this thought doesn't merit a full paragraph, I could have done without a full chapter that kept mentioning how she'd pissed herself. Mentioning it once is good enough; I can remember it happened without constant descriptions of the acrid smell, okay?

Anyway, moving on to religion, Elisa happens to be the bearer of the Godstone, the Chosen One. This sounds really exciting and comes with some nice bling (a big jewel in her belly that appeared when she was a baby), but mostly just means she has to pray a lot and likely eventually give her life in service. For those that don't know, I am not religious, but I did minor in theology, so I do have some tolerance for religious discussions. I do not, however, generally like it to be a main theme in my novels. Sure, this religion has been made up, but aren't they all? The constant praying and such just wears on me. Again, this is my own issue, and other readers obviously weren't bothered, but, for those who are sensitive to such things, be forewarned.

As far as the other characters go, I really wasn't interested in most of them. The only female character I like is the prickly Cosmé. I appreciate her candor and her refusal to pretend to like people when she doesn't. Alejandro, Elisa's hottie husband, is incredibly weak and pathetic. He just bores me to tears. Hector, his man-at-arms, hasn't been given a ton of personality yet, but fits into the same archetype as the heroes from Grave Mercy and Touch of Power, so I like him thus far. Humberto, Cosmé brother is a sweetheart and reminds me a lot of a puppy. Rosario, Alejandro's son, actually was one of my favorite characters. He already has way more sense than his father.

The best thing about the novel, what really saved it from being all the way down in the 'didn't like it' end of my rating scale is that Carson does do some surprising things. While much of the book did feel unoriginal, she throws in some genuine twists. She's not afraid to hurt her characters, and I love that in an author. I hope she continues to take the plot in somewhat surprising directions.

I will be listening to Crown of Embers shortly, and I hope I like Elisa a bit better in that installment. I've seen The Girl of Fire and Thorns compared to Kristin Cashore's novels or Maria V. Snyder's and so far, I don't see it, but I'm going to give the series another shot.

Rating: 2.5/5

Narration:
Jennifer Ikeda's narration fits the story very well. She has a gift for accents, which helps keep the characters clear and separate in my mind. The voices she gave suited the characters well, and at no time did her narration make me roll my eyes. Her tone suited Elisa quite well, I felt. Her voice was an easy one to pay attention to.

Rating: 4/5

Audio or Print?:
In this case, the audio worked much better for me, since I really liked Ikeda's narration. This made me try to think more kindly on Elisa, although obviously that was only somewhat successful.

Overall Rating: 3/5

The Secrets of the House - Jane Eyre Musical

The Thirteenth Tale

Author: Diane Setterfield
Pages: 406
Publisher: Atria Books

Brief Summary:
Margaret Lea works at her father's antiquarian bookshop and writes biographies of lesser known personages for fun. Otherwise, she spends most of her time journeying through the written world, particularly classics. One day, she receives a summons from famous, contemporary author, Vida Winter. Apparently, she has been selected to write the biography of the reclusive storyteller, who has never once told the truth of her past. Margaret is skeptical at first, but as the story begins, the story of twins, unfolds, she cannot resist being drawn into the drama.

Review:
I first read The Thirteenth Tale during my sophomore year in college. A good friend recommended it and, though busy with schoolwork (question mark?) I devoured the novel. From the first page, I was absorbed into its pages and the mystery they held. The resolution struck me as a bit unlikely, but I still loved it and purchased a copy when I got the chance.

Upon revisiting the story, I was able to appreciate even more the incredibly beautiful prose of Diane Setterfield. Her language lilts and carries me away in a delightful way. Her writing is both complicated and completely natural, much like the classic authors she frequently references. The storyline was both improved and diminished by my return journey. How? Well, the twist, which is so astounding, I remembered. This also made some of the more long-winded sections drag a bit, although the sections on Vida Winter's past always drew me in. At the same time, being able to really note all of the hints left for the reader let me appreciate the deft way in which the solution to the mystery was woven into the story. The plot seems less implausible with more attention paid to the details.

My only complaint is about the Postscriptum, which I found to be cheesy, overly fanciful and plain pointless. It really irritated me, because I loved the way the story resolved before I read it and then was unhappy with this new ending. Still, epilogues (or postscriptum, should one want to be fancy) have been the bane on the existence of many books (e.g. Crime and Punishment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and will likely continue to be. I, for one, will simply do my best to forget about the second ending. (And, knowing my memory, I shall triumph!)

Book lovers must read this! The early chapters of the novel are a love letter to reading that just made my heart soar with glee. Just make sure you sit down as you enjoy this one, because, as Margaret Lea cautions, "Reading can be dangerous" (4).

"The secrets of the house
Are just beyond these walls
They hide in long-forgotten shadows
Fragments of memories awakened and stirred
By a call my heart has heard"

Over and Over - The Dave Clark Five

I just finished reading Fire by Kristin Cashore for the second time and thought I would do something a little bit different today to commemorate the completion of this absolutely marvelous book. Rather than writing a review of the book, I will discuss my opinions of rereading. Although I do need to state just one more time for the record that Kristin Cashore is an amazing author (although she needs to publish another book soon!). Anyone who likes Tamora Pierce will love her.

Personally, I love rereading books, although I know some people can't stand to do so. Even with my love of it, I do acknowledge that in a lot of ways it is incredibly inconvenient, considering that I already have far too many books that I want to read during my lifetime. Still, for me, the experience is one hundred percent worth it in most cases.

I am aided by the fact that my memory tends to be pretty weak over the long term. I will remember that I have read a book (usually) and how I felt about it, but will not be able to remember any of the details. I can reread a book and have the ending be a surprise yet again. This is both convenient and inconvenient. However, my rereading is not limited solely to books whose awesomeness I have forgotten; I also reread my favorites that I know practically by heart already. In this category are books like Pride and Prejudice and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I read them again for the sheer beauty of the work, which does not diminish with further scrutiny.

Rereading really does allow you to notice new things that you missed entirely on the first go through or even the first five. There is something magical in that. I am often better able to appreciate the author's skill with language than on my first reading, when I am usually focused on following the story. Of course, rereading also provides more of a guarantee of experience than trying out something new; you have read the book already and loved it, so it will likely still be enjoyable.

Sometimes I do reread books that I did not like (or even loathed). Occasionally this was for school, as in the case of Fahrenheit 451 (which I still hated). Generally though, I put myself through this experience, like when I decided to give 1984 another chance while taking a course on the Soviet Union. While I cannot honestly say that I loved the book (or even really liked it) the second time, I definitely understood it better and got a whole lot out of the experience of reading it.

My personal library is primarily built on rereading too. Almost all of the books within it fall into one of two categories: books I have not yet read or books I want to read again. There are a few exceptions, which tend to be books that were a bit of a slog to get through (good and rewarding, but probably not to be reread). These I want to keep and display just because I read them. Two examples of this category are Bleak House and Crime and Punishment.

What are your thoughts on rereading?