Whitney Atkinson's Reviews > The Girl of Fire and Thorns
The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)
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DNF at 120 pages
i genuinely think i read a different book than everyone else who's giving this five stars?? because it was shocking how much i disliked this. as i was debating the pros and cons, the only positive i could think of for this book was that the font size was so big that it went by fast.
i picked this up primarily on the basis that the main character is fat, and fat women in fantasy is SO rare. but every page is full of internalized fatphobia and disgusting descriptions of her body and how gross she perceives herself. on top of that, this main character frequently binge eats to the point of even vomiting, and she felt like more of a caricature and hyperbole of a fat girl than anything else. i was so disappointed and this book made me feel icky about myself in turn.
the magic system in this book is not my cup of tea--the main character was born with a gemstone in her belly button (????) called a godstone. so it revolves around religion and praying to god to help her..... ok.
but most problematically, there's a group of people who are after her for her "powers" that are written as seemingly native, complete with painted skin and rudimentary weapons. in just the one scene where she's attacked by them (view spoiler), she outright calls them savages no fewer than six times, which was so uncomfortable and disappointing to see that racist trope alive and well with no one else talking about it.
i almost stuck it out just to see how this book improves once some real action is added, but this main character had zero personality and clunky dialogue. it was also annoying slogging through so many descriptions of her loathing of her body and eating habits (not to mention the author admitting in interviews she was a size 6 when inspiration hit her for this book).
bottom line, if i wanted to read a book inspired by spanish morocco or narrated by a fat woman, i'll just find one from an own voices author.
i genuinely think i read a different book than everyone else who's giving this five stars?? because it was shocking how much i disliked this. as i was debating the pros and cons, the only positive i could think of for this book was that the font size was so big that it went by fast.
i picked this up primarily on the basis that the main character is fat, and fat women in fantasy is SO rare. but every page is full of internalized fatphobia and disgusting descriptions of her body and how gross she perceives herself. on top of that, this main character frequently binge eats to the point of even vomiting, and she felt like more of a caricature and hyperbole of a fat girl than anything else. i was so disappointed and this book made me feel icky about myself in turn.
the magic system in this book is not my cup of tea--the main character was born with a gemstone in her belly button (????) called a godstone. so it revolves around religion and praying to god to help her..... ok.
but most problematically, there's a group of people who are after her for her "powers" that are written as seemingly native, complete with painted skin and rudimentary weapons. in just the one scene where she's attacked by them (view spoiler), she outright calls them savages no fewer than six times, which was so uncomfortable and disappointing to see that racist trope alive and well with no one else talking about it.
i almost stuck it out just to see how this book improves once some real action is added, but this main character had zero personality and clunky dialogue. it was also annoying slogging through so many descriptions of her loathing of her body and eating habits (not to mention the author admitting in interviews she was a size 6 when inspiration hit her for this book).
bottom line, if i wanted to read a book inspired by spanish morocco or narrated by a fat woman, i'll just find one from an own voices author.
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Reading Progress
September 28, 2023
–
Started Reading
September 30, 2023
– Shelved
September 30, 2023
– Shelved as:
the-worst
September 30, 2023
– Shelved as:
read-in-2023
September 30, 2023
– Shelved as:
fat-rep
September 30, 2023
– Shelved as:
from-library
September 30, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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Rachel
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rated it 1 star
Sep 30, 2023 09:29AM
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i can't believe people were recommending this to me in the year of our lord 2023!!!