≡ Download Gratis The Shadow Cats Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1 eBook Rae Carson

The Shadow Cats Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1 eBook Rae Carson

Download As PDF : The Shadow Cats Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1 eBook Rae Carson

The Shadow Cats Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1 eBook Rae Carson

As a fan of Carson's "Girl of Fire and Thorns" trilogy of novels, I finally decided to splurge on the three novellas (each $2.99).

"The Shadow Cats" is told from the point of view of Alodia, the sister of the Elisa (the protagonist of the related novels). The novels never really delved into the sisters' relationship and the reader only saw it from Elisa's perspective. Fans of the novels then will be intrigued to get a glimpse of how Alodia views her sister. (If you haven't read the novels but read this novella first, you will go into the series with the benefit of that deeper understanding, which can only be a plus!)

The plot is rather action-packed for a short story, and gives you a nice sampling of the fictional world that is fleshed out further in the novels. A diplomatic mission gives you a taste of the social order and international relations, a mysterious horror hints at the deeper religious and cultural background of the characters, and a short but brutal adventure highlights the danger and conflict present throughout the series. Some of the "action" is in fact very violent, which might shock some readers.

As for the characters, readers unfamiliar with Elisa and Alodia will not be missing out--the story really only hints at what kind of person Elisa is, leaving the rest for the novels. I enjoyed learning more about Alodia and her friends/supporters, in particular her steward. The relationships between the characters are well-developed even in such a short piece. Carson delivers (as usual) multiple strong women who are not your standard weak, submissive fantasy heroines or damsels-in-distress. In fact, the story seems to be a subversion of many fantasy tropes: a woman does not apologize for putting a man in his place, a woman who could wait for a man to rescue her does not do so, and several women lead calls to action when others stand around doing nothing.

All in all, a good read, though the story itself is maybe 50 pages, with the rest of the e-"book" being taken up by samples from the novels. Recommended if you are curious about the series or if you are a fan and just want to dive into this wonderful world again.


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The Shadow Cats Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1 eBook Rae Carson Reviews

If you haven't read A Girl of Fire and Thorns, I would recommend reading it first. I was glad I had read both it and Crown of Embers before reading this as the portrayal of Elisa might make you think you wouldn't like her in the full-length books. This story is from Alodia's perspective, and she certainly has a limited view of her sister, at least initially. I understood that the point was to show her view develop into a more positive one, but I'm not sure the story does that very successfully. Alodia's changed view is noted, but the explanation for the change wasn't that convincing to me as a reader. It was too rushed. The title is also a bit disappointing as I thought it would be about something a bit more exciting than it turned out to be. The true mystery/curse wasn't really explained fully - I just kind of made a guess about what was being done to the land. It felt a bit like a hint that was dropped. Maybe some of this will come into play in book three? It just felt like an unfinished, not fleshed-out story idea. Nice to read because of the tie-in to characters that I love, but it didn't feel like it added a lot to the story world for me. Other writers, such as Lauren Oliver, who have provided short stories from their story universes, are better at crafting a satisfying short story. Given the length and quality of this story (about 70% of the file for it is actually the story - the rest is excerpts from the novels), I don't think three dollars is a fair price. A dollar would be better.
★★★★½

It's no secret that I love Rae Carson and her books, but I've had this novella since the day it was released and have been consciously ignoring it until now. Why? Well, because as much as I love Rae, I'm not the biggest fan of Alodia, Elisa's sister. In the first novel because she just seemed cold, distant and calculating - a wholly political animal. In The Crown of Embers... well... well, she just needs to Back. The. Heck. Up. Hands off, sister. (If you've read it, you'll understand.) So, to reiterate not wearing "Alodia's #1 Fan!" t-shirts over here. Yeah, I really should have had more faith in Rae and in her ability to consistently blow me away.

Taking place before The Girl of Fire and Thorns and narrated by Alodia, the princess is traveling with her royal contingent and younger sister Elisa to one of Oravalle's border territories to attend the wedding of the Conde Paxon to the Lady Calla. The conde oversees a crucial, but economically depressed, region of the kingdom, and Alodia is there to support the union and to secure the conde's loyalty. But when the much-feared, legendary shadow cats keep interfering with wedding preparations, the already downtrodden people see it as an omen that this marriage should not take place. And so Alodia, seeing her political ambitions for the region circling the drain with the possible dissolution of the conde's engagement, decides to take matters into her own hands.

While the plot for the this little novella is as equally fantastic as the character development, what really drew me to it was the same thing that initially kept me away - Alodia. What is she really like? There are always two sides to every story, so there has to be more to her story than what we see from Elisa's perspective, right? And, of course, there is. While Alodia is indeed a pragmatic, practical political animal, duty-drive and insanely tough, she genuinely cares about her subjects and their well-being. She's a princess, and being a princess means making certain personal sacrifices. It means acting with a certain level of diplomacy, discretion and decorum at all times. It means thinking and making decisions in terms of "the good of the many" rather than decisions based on emotion, desire or whim. Being so driven and focused, her younger, lazy sister, Elisa, is an enigma to her and an annoyance. Elisa has been handed a divine appointment for greatness and heroism in being the bearer of the godstone, and yet from Alodia's perspective, Elisa is squandering it.

These are, of course, things we already know about Elisa from The Girl of Fire and Thorns as she is a weak, directionless girl in the beginning of the story. But it's also interesting to note those glimpses of Elisa through Alodia's eyes - those qualities and actions that Alodia might consider weakness - that will one day become some of Elisa's greatest strengths as the Queen of Joya d'Arena. But despite their differences it is clear that in her way, Alodia truly does care about Elisa and that there are things about Elisa she does appreciate. They are two extremely different people, both with qualities the other could learn from.

So do I like Alodia now? I understand her better and appreciate her more.

Overall, I should haven't waited so long to read The Shadow Cats. While not a necessary piece of the overall series, it provides a much deeper insight into Alodia's character -- and through her eyes, Elisa's character as well -- while also demonstrating how much Alodia's example has impacted Elisa's development in her roles both as queen and bearer.
As a fan of Carson's "Girl of Fire and Thorns" trilogy of novels, I finally decided to splurge on the three novellas (each $2.99).

"The Shadow Cats" is told from the point of view of Alodia, the sister of the Elisa (the protagonist of the related novels). The novels never really delved into the sisters' relationship and the reader only saw it from Elisa's perspective. Fans of the novels then will be intrigued to get a glimpse of how Alodia views her sister. (If you haven't read the novels but read this novella first, you will go into the series with the benefit of that deeper understanding, which can only be a plus!)

The plot is rather action-packed for a short story, and gives you a nice sampling of the fictional world that is fleshed out further in the novels. A diplomatic mission gives you a taste of the social order and international relations, a mysterious horror hints at the deeper religious and cultural background of the characters, and a short but brutal adventure highlights the danger and conflict present throughout the series. Some of the "action" is in fact very violent, which might shock some readers.

As for the characters, readers unfamiliar with Elisa and Alodia will not be missing out--the story really only hints at what kind of person Elisa is, leaving the rest for the novels. I enjoyed learning more about Alodia and her friends/supporters, in particular her steward. The relationships between the characters are well-developed even in such a short piece. Carson delivers (as usual) multiple strong women who are not your standard weak, submissive fantasy heroines or damsels-in-distress. In fact, the story seems to be a subversion of many fantasy tropes a woman does not apologize for putting a man in his place, a woman who could wait for a man to rescue her does not do so, and several women lead calls to action when others stand around doing nothing.

All in all, a good read, though the story itself is maybe 50 pages, with the rest of the e-"book" being taken up by samples from the novels. Recommended if you are curious about the series or if you are a fan and just want to dive into this wonderful world again.