For some reason, though recommended by someone I trust, I couldn't really get into this book. Browsing briefly through other's comments, I agree with those saying that there is a heck of a lot of food description, boring travelling, and convenient actions that I forced myself to not skim (much) over.
I liked that Elisa was fat at the start-I could relate well to this part of her, including her food desires and thoughts. When she started losing the weight, I was really bummed that this was because of her situation. I would have MUCH more preferred her choosing to lose the weight, or by it coming off as she worked toward her goals. Once she reaches her destination, there is more of that in the second half of the book, but there is still so much food description and how it seems to rule her thoughts even more than when she was fat, which sort of got annoying quickly.
The real effects of war and struggle are not glossed over [spoiler: rape, death, torture, Humberto's death, etc] which I really appreciated. As a YA book, this "darker" side of war could have been cut down. I liked that Elisa struggled with the knowledge that her actions would have deathly consequences, for both her friends and the enemy, which she did not write off as casualties of war.
[Spoiler paragraph: Humberto's death pissed me off! He was the love interest, and was one of the few characters I was actually liking, and I just really didn't like it. Even though this was exactly what I meant about how death is not glossed over. At this point though, had there not been so little of the book left, I'd have abandoned it.]
The Godstone aspect was really interesting, and though I'm not a religious person, I enjoyed reading about Elisa's prayer and how legend/myth/ancient texts had to do with her role and her destiny. I think some of it was a little hokey (flashing 'ice cold' when danger is near) and could have been developed further (why can't she figure out anything about how to harness the power when the animagi could?). I think it would be interesting to read something from the Invierne point of view, because I feel like the whole point of any fighting is never really explained. Not that that is super important-battle/war is coming and this is how the characters are dealing with it, but for my own edification, I was wondering why there was going to be a war at all.
Also, I had a really hard time following where the heck Elisa even was half the time. She comes from land A, and travels through the jungle to desert-ish land B, land A never mentioned again except her missing it, she is taken across desert to someplace C, which is close to enemy lines but within this kingdom.... I was lost. Even though most travelling was accompanied with directions, I never knew where they were going/which way was dangerous.
There was practically NO 'show, not tell', because we know everything we know about every character from what Elisa thinks or says. Elisa is confused about how she feels about Cosme, which is the only reason I thought Cosme was interesting. She forgets about other people she is travelling with because she's so focused on how hungry, hot, aching, and tired she is, so these characters were interchangeable, forgettable, and flat.
Overall, it just didn't particularly grab me, and I may not continue with the series. [spoiler: especially since she goes on to become queen and leaves the people she's developed any sort of relationship with during the book, and the couple people she really cares for all die, so I have no interest in what will happen next because it felt like the whole book was wrapped up in the last 25 pages with the quickest solution possible. Just make the entire HUGE invading army turn around because she kills some animagi and sends out a glass-breaking heat wave....?]