Recaps of books by Rae Carson

Like a River Glorious by Rae Carson

The basics

Title: Like a River Glorious

Author:

Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy #2

- Walk on Earth a Stranger (2015)
- Like a River Glorious (2016)
- Into the Bright Unknown (2017)

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Goodreads Summary:

After a harrowing journey across the country, Leah Westfall and her friends have finally arrived in California and are ready to make their fortunes in the Gold Rush. Lee has a special advantage over the other new arrivals in California—she has the ability to sense gold, a secret known only by her handsome best friend Jefferson and her murdering uncle Hiram.

Lee and her friends have the chance to be the most prosperous settlers in California, but Hiram hasn’t given up trying to control Lee and her power. Sabotage and kidnapping are the least of what he’ll do to make sure Lee is his own. His mine is the deepest and darkest in the territory, and there Lee learns the full extent of her magical gift, the worst of her uncle, and the true strength of her friendships. To save everyone, she vows to destroy her uncle and the empire he is building—even at the cost of her own freedom.
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Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

The basics

Title: Walk on Earth a Stranger

Author:

Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy #1

- Walk on Earth a Stranger (September 2015)
- Like a River Glorious (September 2016)
- Untitled (2017)

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Goodreads Summary:

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.
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The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

The basics

Title: The Crown of Embers

Author:

Series: Fire and Thorns #2

- The Girl of Fire and Thorns
- The Crown of Embers
- The Bitter Kingdom

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Goodreads Summary:

Elisa is a hero.

She led her people to victory over a terrifying, sorcerous army. Her place as the country's ruler should be secure. But it isn't.

Her enemies come at her like ghosts in a dream, from foreign realms and even from within her own court. And her destiny as the chosen one has not yet been fulfilled.

To conquer the power she bears, once and for all, Elisa must follow a trial of long-forgotten—and forbidden—clues, from the deep, hidden catacombs of her own city to the treacherous seas. With her go a one-eyed spy, a traitor, and the man whom—despite everything—she is falling in love with.

If she's lucky, she will return from this journey. But there will be a cost.
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The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

The basics

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Author:

Series: Fire and Thorns #1

- The Girl of Fire and Thorns (September 2011)
- The Crown of Embers (September 2012)
- The Bitter Kingdom (August 2013)

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Goodreads Summary:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
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.
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