Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This releases on May 22, 2018.  If you enjoy fantasy I recommend it.  Be warned, it has some more adult/mature content even though it is marketed as Young Adult.  I feel it leans more New Adult/Adult.


I really enjoyed this, and I can't wait to see what happens next. It follows two different perspectives, which typically is not my favorite but I liked how it was done here. Because the perspectives aren't the two love interests alternating back and forth and they are in different time periods, you get two distinct storylines that aren't muddled by their feelings for each other. I do think that it slowed the pacing down a bit though, just as I was getting invested in one character’s story we would switch and I would lose interest in what was going on in the other timeline. I think had we stayed with one character a little longer it would have kept the flow of the story going. The prologue sucks you in, and you think the characters are completely unrelated, but as things unfold we learn that they are very much connected.

We follow Rielle, who has since she was 5 has been hiding her abilities to control the elements. Some people can control one element but she can control all 7. Her father has had her hide her ability and train to control it after an accident when she was a child. When she is exposed, she is put through excruciating trials to see if she is the prophesied Sun Queen, come to save the kingdom from the angels when the gate trapping them finally falls. Angels in this world are evil creatures, and they were defeated by Seven Saints at one time, trapping them behind a gate. The prophecy foretells that the gate will fall and the angels will return, and that two queens will rise, one of blood and one of light. The Blood Queen will destroy the world and the Sun Queen will save it. Rielle undergoes the trials thinking that she is the Sun Queen, as she can control all 7 elements and she wants nothing more than to protect her kingdom. She also wants her best friend Audric, whom she’s been in love with forever. He of course is the Crown Prince of the kingdom and engaged to her other best friend Ludivine. Rielle and Audric’s romance is fairly predictable, and at times over the top. Ludivine is always there to support Rielle, and I really loved her as a side character. As Rielle undergoes the trials, she has some extra help, but I don’t want to spoil it. It’s a plot twist you have to read for yourself.

Eliana is an assassin working for the empire and rooting out the rebel faction the Red Crown. She’s noticed that women around town keep mysteriously disappearing, but she doesn’t let it stop her work rooting out members of the Red Crown until her mother becomes one of the women that is taken. When Simon, also known as the Wolf and high ranking member of the Red Crown, tracks Eliana down and proposes that she help him on a mission in exchange for his help finding her mother. Eliana hesitantly accepts his offer in exchange for protection for her mother and young brother Remy. As her story unfolds we learn that she has some secret powers of her own, and while her meeting with Simon may have seemed convenient for both of them, we learn that he has known her since the day she was born. He knows her true identity and that she is more than just an assassin. There is a hint of a romance between the two of them.

Pros:
• The telling of the story from the dual perspectives was done really well. I’m usually not a fan, but I liked how they were done. Typically dual perspectives are bogged down with the characters mooning over one another from the romance perspective, but we don’t get that here. I liked that they were 1000 years apart, but still tied together.
• I loved the mythology. I am a mythology junkie, whether it is a creation of the author or based on myths and legends of old. I really liked what Claire Legrand did here with the angel mythology and the different magical powers people can possess. I hope we learn more about it in the future, we got a little but I want to know more.

Cons:
• The pacing was a bit slow for my taste. This book is pretty long; Goodreads says it’s over 500 pages. There is a ton of action, fighting, crazy magic trials, assassins, and evil angels for all intents and purposes I should have not been able to put this book down. I did not find that to be the case. I liked it, it’s really good, but I didn’t fly through it
• The ending. We start with the fall of Rielle, and then the book goes back and tells her story from the beginning but we never get back to the beginning. I assume we will get to that in the future books, but it is a pet peeve of mine when I don’t feel closure from a book. I was left without a sense of closure when I finished.
• This book feels confused with regards to the sex. Is it adult or YA? It is listed as YA, but I disagree. It felt YA up to a point then it switched and got pretty adult pretty fast. It is pretty violent so it gets a point for adult right there. The sex is pretty graphic and steamy, so this should not be a YA book. I don’t mind steamy, but a book should be one or the other, if you are a YA book keep the sex and mentions of sex vague and non-descript, if you are an adult book I feel like you can get away with more description.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.


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