The Girl of Fire and Thorns: Challenging what a princess is

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson is a beautifully written novel that has wonderful character development. Truly, for me it was the most striking feature of the novel. We all hear wonderful stories about princesses who are beautifully, model thin, tall as the heavens, with long flowing hair, well...not this main character. Elisa, the youngest of the two princesses, is a heavy set girl who's considered homely, but she's the chosen one. She has a god stone in her belly, saying she'll accomplish great things. However she feels like this...

Elisa is a wonderful girl, but she is a princess that lacks beauty nonetheless she is a princess. We all know that a princess has a duty, which most books would like to overlook, but this book does not. Elisa is married off to a handsome king for the sake of relations.

I think both of them feel this way. However, this isn't the worst of dear Elisa's problems. She's unhappy, and she's hunted. She has the god stone and people with dark magic are looking to use the power she has, though she's no idea how it can help anyone.

(wrong book but you get the idea)

So, I won't tell you how or why our dear Elisa changes, or what will happen to her dear husband, who's lands are also in turmoil. Suffice to say, she does. She goes from an awkward girl to someone who is strong and a wonderful female lead. The character growth in all the characters are remarkable, but hers is by far the best. I love the book because of it's settings and it challenges the idea of what a princess is or should be. It also helps that our dear Elisa goes from the overweight girl she is to something like you see below, but she does it by no magic but hardships and determination.