The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a hard book to rate. I feel like the first 35% of the book was about 2stars and the rest was a 5star rating. In the beginning there was so much self loathing coming from Elisa that it was honestly off putting. I get that she was over weight, it really didn't need to be said over and over again. You really couldn't go 3 pages without having it thrown in your face. It could have been done so much better than that. But the last 65% of the book was so wonderfully done, that I had to give this book 4 stars.

The plot of this story was unique and really interesting. It was also fast paced and kept me completely engaged. The setting was also quite glorious. Rae Carson really created a fantastic world in this book. Admittedly, at the beginning I was not Elisa's biggest fan. But once she was making her trek to Joya d'Arena she starts to grown on me little by little. Every time the situation called for someone to step up, she shined. Once her physical appearance wasn't all she could talk or think about she really started to grow. She started this book as a child concerned with inconsequential things, and ended it a brave, caring, righteous hero. There were so many other characters that were truly fantastic in this book. I really couldn't get enough of this story. I will definitely be reading the next book! I look forward to seeing what comes next.