****
On her sixteenth birthday, Elisa is married to Alejandro, king of a neighboring country, to seal the deal on a treaty. This would be difficult enough without the fact that she bears the Godstone, a sign that she will perform a service for God, and is targeted by enemies everywhere. Elisa may be one of God's chosen, but she doesn't seem fit to take on any kind of divine task. She is an overweight, coddled princess without any of the power or commanding air of her older sister. Once she arrives in Joya d'Arena, Elisa is faced with even more danger and mystery than she had faced at home. She knows why she must keep her Godstone a secret, but doesn't understand why Alejandro wants to keep their marriage under wraps as well. Worse still, Elisa is being hunted down by unknown forces who will go to any lengths to get her Godstone.
This was a really good book, the kind that you don't want to stop reading. It was a nice change of pace to read about a heroine who really isn't all that heroic to start out with. Elisa doesn't slip into her role as the leader of an underground resistance group easily - she's too busy trying to walk fast enough to stay with the group and keep the pangs of hunger at bay for that. I enjoyed seeing her go from a pampered princess to a hardened warrior. It was a fairly smooth, believable shift: Elisa wasn't so tough by the end of the book that she was unrecognizable. Instead, it felt like she had just grown up. Plus, the story kept me hooked the whole time. There weren't any parts that were slow or boring. If you're looking for a book that you can't put down, give this one a go.
Rating: 4/5
Completed: January 10, 2013
Finals are over! I survived!
Hopefully this weekend I will have plenty of time to get reading. I've already got three books lined up. It's a relief to have a few days completely to myself . . . except studying for the SAT. Whoops.
What about you? Are you working hard this weekend or getting a little time off?
