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jaceyI enjoyed this book very much with one big 'but' which I'll get round to presently.
It's a well-paced coming-of-age novel, with a richly described world encompassing mountains and unforgiving deserts, hidden villages and sumptuous palaces. It has a believable religion at the heart of the story and involves kings, princesses and a prophesy.
Princess Elisa bears the godstone – a lump of blue rock buried in her navel, a gift from her god to signify that she has some great service to perform, possibly even an act of heroism. Only one person is chosen in a hundred years and Elisa is not sure that she knows why it has to be her. She is a younger princess, in her own eyes, pampered, fat and lazy with little drive or political acumen. Give her time, she's only 16.
On her 16th birthday she's married off to the king of a neighbouring country, a man she's never met before. It's a political match. The country is in turmoil and Elisa's self-esteem takes another knock when she realises that he's only married her for the godstone and for the promise of her father's army to fight against invaders. Though he's polite to her and she begins to feel attracted to him they don't consummate the marriage. He won't even acknowledge her at first and he continues his relationship with his mistress. It's only when Elisa is kidnapped into the desert that her life begins to change and she begins to show how she might indeed fulfil her destiny as the bearer of the godstone.
I'm going to leave it there rather than heap major spoilers on top of the above minor ones. Suffice it to say that Carson cleverly subverts at least one obvious expectation. This is a book with romance in it, but it's much more than just a romance.
And now we get to the 'but.'
All credit to her, Ms Carson makes it clear that you don't have to be beautiful to do great things, and that's excellent, however, she does also make it perfectly clear that though you can be plain, you can't be FAT! and this is where I have a bone to pick. Elisa starts with such low self esteem that she can't understand why the handsome king wants her as his wife. She sees herself as totally unlovable. She wobbles when she walks and comfort eats because she feels unloved. Though she does perform one act of incredible bravery shortly after the book opens it's not until she undergoes various hardships that melt the fat from her ungainly body that she really begins to shine. She goes from being unable to walk very far without her body hurting, to being fit and slim and (oh-my-god) DESIRABLE in the matter of just a few months. Because of course she wasn't desirable when she was FAT for goodness sake! It's the wrong message in this day and age when girls suffer from eating disorders due to a distorted media view of the ideal body image. And that's why this book is getting a three star rating from me and not a five star one.
It's a well-paced coming-of-age novel, with a richly described world encompassing mountains and unforgiving deserts, hidden villages and sumptuous palaces. It has a believable religion at the heart of the story and involves kings, princesses and a prophesy.
Princess Elisa bears the godstone – a lump of blue rock buried in her navel, a gift from her god to signify that she has some great service to perform, possibly even an act of heroism. Only one person is chosen in a hundred years and Elisa is not sure that she knows why it has to be her. She is a younger princess, in her own eyes, pampered, fat and lazy with little drive or political acumen. Give her time, she's only 16.
On her 16th birthday she's married off to the king of a neighbouring country, a man she's never met before. It's a political match. The country is in turmoil and Elisa's self-esteem takes another knock when she realises that he's only married her for the godstone and for the promise of her father's army to fight against invaders. Though he's polite to her and she begins to feel attracted to him they don't consummate the marriage. He won't even acknowledge her at first and he continues his relationship with his mistress. It's only when Elisa is kidnapped into the desert that her life begins to change and she begins to show how she might indeed fulfil her destiny as the bearer of the godstone.
I'm going to leave it there rather than heap major spoilers on top of the above minor ones. Suffice it to say that Carson cleverly subverts at least one obvious expectation. This is a book with romance in it, but it's much more than just a romance.
And now we get to the 'but.'
All credit to her, Ms Carson makes it clear that you don't have to be beautiful to do great things, and that's excellent, however, she does also make it perfectly clear that though you can be plain, you can't be FAT! and this is where I have a bone to pick. Elisa starts with such low self esteem that she can't understand why the handsome king wants her as his wife. She sees herself as totally unlovable. She wobbles when she walks and comfort eats because she feels unloved. Though she does perform one act of incredible bravery shortly after the book opens it's not until she undergoes various hardships that melt the fat from her ungainly body that she really begins to shine. She goes from being unable to walk very far without her body hurting, to being fit and slim and (oh-my-god) DESIRABLE in the matter of just a few months. Because of course she wasn't desirable when she was FAT for goodness sake! It's the wrong message in this day and age when girls suffer from eating disorders due to a distorted media view of the ideal body image. And that's why this book is getting a three star rating from me and not a five star one.
