Also, her mom has suddenly left Minneapolis and moved to Maine to be with a man she met online. And sure, maybe she’s missed a college application deadline. Now, turning to her role-play friends to cope with her fighting parents, she worries that people will judge her for her fannishness and online life. Back in middle school, she had what she calls a gaming addiction, playing “The Sims” so much her parents had to take the game away. Her foretold destiny is resolved with a marvelous and refreshing twist on literary tropes.Ī smashing ending to a trilogy that began with problematic body hatred but developed into the stellar journey of a girl who would be queenĬan a 17-year-old with her first girlfriend prevent real-life folks from discovering her online fandoms?Ĭass is proudly queer, happily fat, and extremely secretive about being a fan who role-plays on Discord. This well-read girl spent her childhood studying warfare and international diplomacy and has the skills to lead both a war party and a country. Despite the Godstone marking her as a once-in-a-century prophesied heroine, Elisa must save the day with her “only lasting power,” her smarts. The Inviernos, tall, fair-skinned and not-quite human, believe that generations ago, Elisa’s people came to this land and destroyed their magical birthright now they want revenge. Slowed by the need to protect a helpless child, trained in magic by a failed sorcerer, threatened even by the weather-she’s traveled so far ice falls from the sky!-Elisa knows her first priority is to protect her country from the invading Invierno animagi. All she has left is the Godstone in her navel, and it’s brimming with more power than ever before. Queen Lucero-Elisa né Riqueza de Vega-Elisa to her friends-has lost her throne, her bodyguard/nurse and her beloved ( The Crown of Embers, 2012).

A queen can defeat the conde who stole her throne, but it means nothing if her land is destroyed by fire-throwing invaders.

The bitter kingdom by rae carson