NerdyBirdie

Hi guys, I hope you all are having a great day and this is my review to the (sadly) last book in the Fire and Thorns trilogy, The Bitter Kingdom, written by Rae Carson.

The book before ended at a horrible cliffhanger . . . so, if you want to check out The Crown of Embers I first highly recommend you take The Bitter Kingdom with you. After the ending of The Crown of Embers, I honestly thought that The Bitter Kingdom would just be Elisa trying to walk around and look for Hector, and in the end some final showdown between Elisa and the Invierno. I was so wrong.

Elisa is such a smarter character now, and she’s grown throughout the entire series so much from a self-conscious, scared princess into a strong leader, queen, and deserving person of the Godstone without misusing her power. I personally love books like these, as long as in the end I notice the character has learned something; I will most definitely fall in love with the main character. Elisa is probably one of the YA heroines that females should be like (book females, anyway).

The relationship between her and the surrounding characters is perfect. I love how Storm and Elisa’s friendship works. They both have a special understanding with their Godstones. I loved Red, she’s so funny, and I love how she doesn’t let her old life get to her. The relationship between Elisa and Hector was wonderful. Just because Elisa is in love, doesn’t mean that it always comes first (in her case). She has a country to run, people to handle, and she has to figure out answers that apply to their entire world. I think this is the kind of love that Elisa and Hector have: they both savor their love and don’t put it above others. They’re still individual people that are smart and mature. 

I think the end was perfect. Elisa finally learned her service:

Elisa finally realized that even though she was the bearer of the Godstone, she did so many things that weren’t related to her service; they were her decisions for the better of her people. It was fitting that Rae Carson showed that she did so much on her own. Elisa is thankful for her friends, leads greatly, and the ending was suiting. Because in the end, there was still a great self-realization for her.

I am very happy with this book, much more than the second. I would most definitely recommend this series overall to people who like strong main characters, main characters that go through a lot of self-growth, and no insta-love. Secondary characters are awesome and are actually shown as characters. I love this series, and I think if you give this a try, you will too.

Thanks so much for reading guys, and until the next review. :D