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4.5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
Anthia was born to be a crow rider. These magnificent beasts are her entire way of life. And then her life is turned upside down when an enemy kingdom, Illucia, sets her world ablaze killing many of her loved ones including the crows. Anthia has to battle the deep rooted depression she has fallen into to, but the loss of her future and her mother and her aunt keep her in bed. Forced into a marriage with Illucia’s prince, Thia finally finds her motivation to act and with her best friend Kiva and sister-queen Caliza at her side, they hatch a plan to save their kingdom.
Side note:
This was the first book I’ve tried my hand at tabbing and annotating and I think it was an amazing experience. I remember everything that I loved about this book, but I’m still going to try to keep my review concise.
Thoughts:
I really loved this book. I can just list the reasons why here:
The dialogue was probably my FAVE part of the story. SUCH WITTY BANTER. I live for witty banter guys, and sarcasm. I love sarcasm. I laughed out loud many times, no lie.
The themes of depression and loss were done very well. From my own experiences, I felt like the representation and author’s way of showing Thia’s depression from her losses was spot on.
The author really made me hate the villains (in a good way). Hate them the way you’re supposed to hate and be disgusted with villains, but still be able to empathize with how they ended up that way.
The overarching plot of unwanted engagement and secret rebellions kept me rapt. Can’t go into much detail about the things that happened of course, but just know there were enough little surprises here and there that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading.
The world was new, not necessarily unique considering the whole legendary large beasts thing has been done, but I love the idea of these magical crows. And still, the world was explained really well (no infodumping!), and never left me confused.
I love that Kiva is lesbian (or at least definitely into girls). I also love how easily a girl can break Kiva’s harsh soldier-like exterior and catch her attention, it’s the cutest thing to me.
I love Caylus. LOVE him. And I can’t wait to see where the author takes his story.
The ending was just the right amount of cliffhangy for me to be super anticipating the next book, but not absolutely heartbroken that I have to wait a whole year. I’m super excited to see what happens next. This first book was a really good story and foundation for the books to come.
The two reasons I dropped a half star:
The plot was the only area that I felt I couldn’t give this book a full 5 stars and that’s not because it was bad or anything, it was just shy of really good for me! I just think when I take a bird’s eye view of everything that happened, it wasn’t the most complex or intricate plot I’ve ever read. I still enjoyed it all, it was just a tad simple (simple but not boring) and some things were wrapped up a tad too neatly. Everything else was great though, aside from the plot’s simplicity. It flowed really well, it was paced really, the plot twists still hit me with surprise.
The romance was also just okay. It wasn’t bad, I didn’t hate it or anything. It also wasn’t the greatest ship of all time. It was just straight forward, and CUTE FOR SURE, and there in the story but didn’t detract or add anything for me. I do 100% appreciate though that there didn’t appear to be weird love triangle subplot that I would hate. I do kinda wish though that both the men in Thia’s life didn’t have to be so drop dead gorgeous every time, but I mean I can’t complain when the fan art comes out and I love every one of them.
Overall:
This would be a fantasy book I recommend to “new-to-fantasy” people. I think this first book is a great way to Segway into more complicated fantasy worlds. I think those who enjoyed Crown of Feathers would enjoy this book as well! I cannot wait for the sequel! I’m so excited to see where this series goes. Book one left a great foundation to grow from and expand off of. Also behold the gorgeous Anthia below! Those EYES.
