“The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns #3)” by Rae Carson
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Source: Won in a giveaway from Epic Reads [Thank you!]
Other books Fire and Thorns books
Summary from Goodreads:
The epic conclusion to Rae Carson’s Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.
Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she’s never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.
- Elisa continues to be strong. Her transformation over the three books has been phenomenal. She goes from being the dowdy princess to a leader of a rebellion to a Queen willing to do anything she can for her country.
- I’m almost glad that Hector was kidnapped in the last book. It finally made both of them admit their feelings for each other. I loved the fact that she rescues him. She doesn’t sulk that her love is gone. She doesn’t wait for someone else to rescue him first. She goes after him.
- Hector was fantastic. He never treats Elisa as an inferior (partly because she IS the Queen). He is always respectful, waits for HER to signal what she wants, cares for Elisa as a person, and values her opinions. How can you not swoon over that?
- There were many, many elements running through the story. The political angle, the ‘war’ against the Inviernos, Elisa’s struggle of wanting to do the best thing for the country and wanting to do the safe thing for her. Thankfully all of those elements didn’t overrun the story.
- I loved that we got to see more of the Inviernos and their culture. I just wish we would have learned more about them.
- Mara and Belen’s romance was just as lovely as Elisa and Hector’s. It was a very slow burn romance but you felt how much they wanted each other and cared about each other.
The bottom line? Wonderful conclusion to an excellent series.
The Cheap Reader 
I agree on all counts! I really wouldve loved to know more about the Inviernos, but I was so pleased with Elisa’s character growth that I almost didn’t care. Great review!
That’s a good point. Elisa’s growth really does make up for the “lacking” parts of the story.
I have the second one at home to read. I loved the first one and really need to pick these up – super happy to hear the story stays wonderful and ends well.
You need to bump book 2 up your list ASAP! I held off on reading it and couldn’t believe I waited so long. It was SO good and now you don’t need to wait for the final book like I had to. 😉
ok, I will do it, I was wondering what my next book to read would be…you picked it! Thank you 🙂