Elisa’s 'mountainous' body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person.

With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone-and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra-can save them. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. 10-14)Īdventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.Įlisa-Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle-has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. sexy.” The disturbing definition of female sexiness just tops off this queen’s notably passive and love-focused role, and may well outweigh Brennan’s sweet touches and lovely final revelations. Henry finds Blue inside a mountain, taken hostage-shirt torn, breasts showing, “chained, abused, frightened. In his quest to save Blue, Henry’s aided by a blue-skinned desert boy with “body odour” from a stereotypically mystical, “primitive” tribe.

As Henry, Blue, Madame Cardui and others are separated by geography, the narration zigzags from thread to thread, gleefully keeping characters (and readers) in the dark as long as possible. The illness ages Faeries rapidly, burning up their future with untreatable fever. Fogarty contract a bizarre disease, Henry translates to the Faerie Realm to help. Two years after refusing Queen Blue’s marriage proposal, Henry’s in a rut: Exams are pending, he’s expected to become a teacher (boring) and he still lives in that blasted “all-female household.” So when Pyrgus and Mr.

The clever dénouement of the series is crisper than the middle installments but strikingly obsolete in its depictions of gender and race.

Faerie wars chronicles