Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. Most of the chosen do. (From Goodreads)
Enchanted.
Some books are just so great that they can't be summarized - sometimes they ironically evade words. I'm sitting here attempting to harness all the thoughts I have about this book and the only thing that I can grasp on to for more than a few moments is the word "enchanted."
I mean enchanted in both senses of the word. I'm enchanted - charmed and delighted - by Elisa and this entire cast of characters. Elisa is beautiful and her struggles are beautiful. She's been chosen for something she doesn't know anything about, she's unwavering in faith and hope, and she is loyal. She's everything, including incredibly human - complete with flaws. With all of these thing she not only becomes a strong heroine, but someone you could be friends with. She is the kind of person that you give up everything for and follow her to the ends of the earth because you believe in her. She is enchanting.
It's enchanting in the fairy tale, spellbinding way. But it's not dark forests and Grimm brothers, it's Arabian Nights. It's a spell I don't know if I've been under before and it's an addiction. I want more. I want more stories that come from crossing the desert, that come from magic, from kings and princesses, that come from people who fight to be who they are. From the palace with all of its fineries to the small village in the hills at the edge of the desert where they struggle for even the basics of safety, this entire world is written so perfectly. There is evil, and it's real and it's scary, but it's all harnessed by the same power that creates the good. And I find that incredibly complex and wonderful.
So I'm enchanted. I journeyed through these pages and fell under a spell. I was charmed. There are dozens of other thoughts that I have directed towards this book and each and every one of them fall under this definition of this one word. Sometimes it seems wrong to reduce something so large into one word, but when nothing seems enough, wordlessness sometimes says more, and really it's that one word. Enchanting.
