Review: The Bitter Kingdom

The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns #3), by Rae Carson. The Goodreads summary:

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.

All I have to say is YES. Because this trilogy wrapped up so well. Like the second book, this third book managed to have its own distinct plot while still continuing (and in this case, finishing up) the overarching trilogy storyline. And I just really, really appreciated that. Plus, Elisa stays as likeable as she was in the second book while managing to get even stronger as a character. Another point in the book’s favor was that it managed to surprise me plot-wise. I assumed I knew how Elisa was going to resolve the various conflicts set up in the second book, but Rae Carson ended up surprising me both with Elisa's methods and with how smart her solutions are.

The only thing that I wasn’t as fond of in the book was that some of the chapters were from Hector’s perspective. Don’t get me wrong—I really like Hector. But I think I liked him better when I saw him from Elisa’s perspective than when I saw him from his own.

Overall, a solid end to the series. My review’s so short because I suck at reviewing later books in a series and I'm trying to avoid spoilers, not because the book’s not worth talking about. So, yep. I definitely recommend this trilogy, and for once I can actually say that the second and third books are better than the first.

Review: 4 / 5

Other books in this trilogy
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
The Crown of Embers