A review by liralen
The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson
3.0
Note: Untagged spoilers below the fold.
This series has been terrific to read, but the final book was my least favourite of the three. Oh, there are still fantastic parts. Elisa's so complicated, and it's wonderful. She's fighting to lead her country, but she has so many considerations and warring possibilities, and there are really never easy answers. I was really happy to see Elisa's sister Alodia in this one, too, as she's loomed large in Elisa's consciousness through the previous two books (and most of this one), and I was curious to see how the reality would mix with Elisa's memories and expectations. Bringing her back in led to one of my favourite parts of the book: I love these women—my dear friend and my dear sister. But things will never be easy with us. We must always distrust one another a little as we fight for our own interests and the interests of our people (360). That alone tells me how far Elisa has come over the course of the trilogy.
Less interesting to me: the romance, which fell further into YA cliché than this series usually has (e.g., Elisa being glad that she and her deceased husband never got around to consummating their marriage, which meant that Hector could be her 'first'). Mula/Red (though I do love that when she chooses a name for herself, she goes with, which is so...age-appropriate), who was cute but didn't serve much role in the story. The fulfillment of Elisa's destiny, which pretty much came out of nowhere. And her resulting loss of divine power, which is utterly fascinating but comes too late in the story for us to really understand the full impact.
It's those last two that I'm most interested in for the sake of this review. Elisa's destiny, as it turns out, has little to do with the rest of the story. It's a 'wait, what?' moment for her and the other characters, too, as they realise that she hasn't been called to do anything political after all—that part of things is just life. I love this in theory, because it touches on this idea that people do things because they think it's God's will but really (at the end of the day) are going on belief that cannot be proven...I just wish there'd been more time to explore that. It also feels like, given Elisa's loss of power, the book ends with her in a precarious position: having reached an incredible amount of political power based on resources that she can no longer tap. I almost wish that had happened at the end of the second book, so that we could have seen her really wrestle with that whole new way of being in this book.
But overall...I'm really satisfied. This was definitely one of the best YA trilogies I've read in a while.
This series has been terrific to read, but the final book was my least favourite of the three. Oh, there are still fantastic parts. Elisa's so complicated, and it's wonderful. She's fighting to lead her country, but she has so many considerations and warring possibilities, and there are really never easy answers. I was really happy to see Elisa's sister Alodia in this one, too, as she's loomed large in Elisa's consciousness through the previous two books (and most of this one), and I was curious to see how the reality would mix with Elisa's memories and expectations. Bringing her back in led to one of my favourite parts of the book: I love these women—my dear friend and my dear sister. But things will never be easy with us. We must always distrust one another a little as we fight for our own interests and the interests of our people (360). That alone tells me how far Elisa has come over the course of the trilogy.
Less interesting to me: the romance, which fell further into YA cliché than this series usually has (e.g., Elisa being glad that she and her deceased husband never got around to consummating their marriage, which meant that Hector could be her 'first'). Mula/Red (though I do love that when she chooses a name for herself, she goes with
Spoiler
Red Sparkle StoneIt's those last two that I'm most interested in for the sake of this review. Elisa's destiny, as it turns out, has little to do with the rest of the story. It's a 'wait, what?' moment for her and the other characters, too, as they realise that she hasn't been called to do anything political after all—that part of things is just life. I love this in theory, because it touches on this idea that people do things because they think it's God's will but really (at the end of the day) are going on belief that cannot be proven...I just wish there'd been more time to explore that. It also feels like, given Elisa's loss of power, the book ends with her in a precarious position: having reached an incredible amount of political power based on resources that she can no longer tap. I almost wish that had happened at the end of the second book, so that we could have seen her really wrestle with that whole new way of being in this book.
But overall...I'm really satisfied. This was definitely one of the best YA trilogies I've read in a while.