Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Book: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1)
By: Rae Carson
Published: September 20, 2011
Published By: Greenwillow

Description: 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.

My Thoughts: Wow!!! That's all I really have to say here.

Elisa is a princess. A seemingly overweight (fat) princess who eats away her troubles and will soon be married to a King. She has no real self confidence it seems but is very kind and of course, she's the chosen one; the one with the Gemstone in her belly.

She soon learns that her marriage must be a secret one, for there is a lot at stake in the King's country. Even more, there are a lot of people who want the bearer of the gemstone, dead or alive, so she must keep the gemstone a secret. Add to that the mistress that very publicly has the heart of her new husband (who of course no one knows is her husband), who secretly spies and shoots daggers at her and you have the recipe for disaster. After she is kidnapped when the mistresses lady in waiting learns that Elisa bears the stone we reach a real turning point in the book.

Elisa is taken across desert and mountain to "save" a tribe of people. Of course she has no idea how she's supposed to do all this and the real treat is seeing how much Elisa changes and grows from a weak, fat, no confidence, pushover princess to...well you'll have to read and find out. Lets just say I'm no longer annoyed by this main character in the end.

There are 2 guys, the Husband/King who's handsome but I hate him because he has a mistress who he allows to be around his wife (i hate cheaters). He allows her to touch him and kiss him when his wife isn't far away, although he 's not daft (I always wanted to use that word. I hope I used it the right way) enough to show too much attraction to her. He's also pretty weak, him being a king and all.  The other guy is one of the kidnappers. He's great and I love him!!He protects her and is an all around sweet guy (if you ignore the kidnapping part). I'll admit the fact that I didn't like how quickly Elisa was willing to trust a kidnapper and see his beauty, but I let that go in the whole scheme of the book.

There's some real self discovery going on in this book, and real perseverance. Of course there was some love (this is YA after all) although not really any love triangle and not really any insta-love, but a few qualities that you could force into believing they exist. I loved it because it seemed kind of real. More like "I think I like you, so maybe I should see if I really do despite the fact that I have this husband who I don't really love, but could possibly learn to love eventually."

This is a good book that lives up to the hype. I would definitely read the next one in the series. I give it 4.5 stars.

Review: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Book: Unwind (Unwind Trilogy #1)
By: Neal Shusterman
Published: November 6, 2007
Published By: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Description: Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My Thoughts: Unwind was a dystopian that I absolutely loved. It was creative and thought provoking and just all around great!!!

Unwind is told from multiple POV's, but the main characters are Connor, Risa, and Lev. All of their circumstances differ severely but through an interesting sequence of events, they join together (or so it seems) The idea in this book is that the Pro Choice and Pro Life groups began to fight with each other in a war. As a result, abortions are no longer legal. Instead, once the child reaches the age of 13 the parent has 5 years to decide whether or not they want to have them "unwound" a process by which your body is basically separated and used as parts and transplants for other people. In theory, you are never actually killed, you just exist in other forms.

Connor is a kid who messes up a lot. He doesn't do well in school and generally gives his parents a tough time. After he finds out of his parents plans to have him unwound, he sets of a crazy chain of events that cause him to meet our other main characters. Keep in mind that NOTHING in this book is arbitrary. It all happens for a reason and builds and builds and builds until there's nothing left for it to do but explode all over the place.

Risa is a ward of the state. She has been living in a state home, and is a pretty decent individual. She gets fairly good grades, plays classical piano, does well taking care of kids, but isn't spectacular in any real way. It's for this reason that she is sent to be unwound. After all, the state homes can't keep EVERY ward of the state can they? They'd be over run eventually, and for that reason, they only keep the remarkable ones.

Lev is a tithe. Apparently, since the bible says you need to tithe 10% of everything you own, which in some people's eyes include 10% of your kids. Since Lev is the 10th kid of his family, he is nominated to be tithed before he is even born. He grows up thinking it's an honor and its wonderful and all that. He is planned to be unwound following his 13th birthday.

These three characters collide by Connor's actions and soon the book "unwinds" (pun intended) into a stream of issues and stories and generally brain scratching ideals that will have you believing this could actually happen. Neal Shusterman leaves no topic untouched. What happens to the mothers who don't want their kids or have them through rape, etc? They are "storked" (left on peoples doorsteps for others to legally own or dropped at the state homes. Even the idea of people who get the unwound parts and whether or not the spirit of the original owner still resides in those parts is touched.

Untouched is a wild ride of a book that you know is going to be horrible and scary and dangerous and frightening, but you just have to stay on to see how it will all end. It's freaking AMAZING!!!! I would recommend it to any and everyone who loves dystopians.

I don't have very many issues with the book. It seemed super long with a lot of different parts, and sometimes I found myself hoping I could just get to the conclusion and find out what happens, but as I stated earlier, all parts are necessary, so read them all. I give this book 5 LARGE stars.

Review: The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

Book: The Faerie Ring (Faerie Ring #1)
By: Kiki Hamilton
Published: September 27, 2011
Published By: Tor Teen/ Macmillan

Description: Debut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger.
The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.

Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.

Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…

My Thoughts: I have been eyeing the Faerie Ring for quite some time. After hearing all of the many reviews on it, I was worried that once I read it, it may not live up to the hype.

We follow Tiki, a recently turned orphan with a strange tattoo who lives with a family of fellow orphans in London. In order to survive they tend to pickpocket and steal, and are really quite good at it. After nearly being caught pickpocketing a drunk and ruthless man, Tiki sneaks aboard a carriage and after uncharacteristically falling asleep, she finds herself at a party. Entering the kitchen reveals platters and platters of food, which, of course, she steals some of. She nearly gets caught. It's then that she runs through the halls of the building and ends up in the library crouching below a table. One thing leads to another and soon, Tiki is slipping out of what we learn is Buckingham Palace with a ring.

We soon learn that this is no ordinary ring, it holds and binds the treaty between our world and the otherworld, and without it, destruction begins to befall our world, and danger begins to stalk Tiki. She has to make some very tough decisions if she ever plans to come out on top.

This was a good book. As I stated before, the hype over it made me expect a lot out of this book and I was a bit let down. My heart wasn't pounding and my fingers weren't glued to the pages. It was a great storyline though and I really liked it, I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

The ending wasn't a cliffhanger despite the fact that there will be more books and for that I was thankful. It ended with a nice bow and some sprinkles to make you feel quite hopeful. I would have hoped for a few more answers, but I suppose that's why there is another book coming soon.

In terms of the main guy, Reiker,  I didn't "swoon" over him. He was nice I guess, but he was a bit of a stalker. I did love the supporting male, Prince Leo. I'm not 100% sure why though. He just had something that Reiker didn't.

All in all, this was a good book. I will most likely read the next book in the series. My rating is 3.5 stars.