What I'm Reading: The Crown of Embers

I’m going to apologize in advance. When I post about the books I’m reading you’re going to see a lot of this: !!!, and this: OMG this book is so bloody good, and this: ya’ll have to read this, seriously, like right now.

Ok, now that we've got that out of the way the reason my book posts will essentially be overly excitable is because:

1) I am overly excitable. I’m that kid who’s had way too much caffeine and bops around until someone finally snaps and forces me to sit down and watch some mind numbing TV or National Geographic, or PBS or a good BBC documentary (yes, I’m so damn lame).

2)  Because I am only going to blog about books I really enjoy. So, if all my posts read like an excited child it’s because I am only telling you about the books I enjoy. Not because I think you should only say things when you have nice things to say but because of ‘the sad beautiful fact that we’re all going to miss everything’. I firmly believe if we’re destined to miss almost everything then I've got no time or energy to waste telling you about something that I’m not over the moon about. It’s a waste of all our very limited time and passion. I'm all about not wasting passion.

So with those ground rules in place here’s what I’m reading.

This week I’m winding my way through The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. It’s no secret how much I adored Fire and Thorns (The Girl of Fire and Thorns in the US). I wrote about it while wearing my day job hat here. 

I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of The Crown of Embers. Rae Carson does not disappoint! I love Elisa’s journey as a character. I am so freaking Team Hector it’s not even funny. But I have to say the moment I read about Hector I swooned a little. And not just because I’m a classics nerd and have always had a crush on Hector (Sigh, I’m such a classics nerd. I love Hector, what’s not to love about the soldier who comes home to the wife and baby and is still so freaking kick arse?).  

But, I digress (wine may have played a part in this digression). The Crown of Embers picks up where Fire and Thorns ends. Elisa is a widow and now the Queen of a foreign country. She doesn't know who she can trust. Her enemies attack her like ‘ghosts in a dream’ and she’s still finding her footing as this new woman she has become. She has a growing attraction to her captain of the guard Hector (who is lovely and hot and not at all married like his classical counterpart) and there’s this great destiny that God has decreed for her, plus a country to run and a seven-year-old to step mother. Elisa herself is barely seventeen and her life is so fraught with challenges as a reader you wonder why she doesn't ‘pull a Bella’ and hibernate for a few months? Oh, that’s right, because Rae Carson is a genius and wouldn't allow a kick ass female character to do that. 

Did I mention Rae Carson is a genius? She is. 

I can’t say more at the risk of spoiling this book. All I’ll say is this: read Fire and Thorns. Then read The Crown of Embers. Then let’s chat. You can find me here on the blog or on Twitter @gennmcmenemy. I seriously can’t wait to hear what you think.