Furyborn

Furyborn was surrounded by ALL THE HYPE for MONTHS before it released. It was EVERYWHERE, and as a huge YA Fan, I knew I would have to read it, sooner rather than later. Furyborn was essentially: 1) A magnificent tale told across two millennia by two young girls 2) One lives in a land surrounded my magic, and the other in a land where magic is a fairy-tale of the past and all they know is the Empire that conquers all 3) One of these girls is an assassin and one is a temple acolyte 4) A story surrounding a prophecy about these two girls – a Sun Queen and a Blood Queen, one with the power to destroy the world and the other with the power to save it. 5) It has kingdoms, swoony princes, power, magical trials, angels and it’s just SUCH A GORGEOUS BOOK TO OWN! MY THOUGHTS: 1) I expected a LOT going into this book. A majority of the early reviews I read RAVED about this book, and I was very hopeful that I had found the NEXT THING I WOULD FALL HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH. Now, as I sit at the end of Furyborn, I find that while I ENJOYED it, for the most part, this story was predictable and kind of MEH, except for ONE TWIST on page 343. 2) If I had to choose between Rielle and Eliana, I would definitely choose Rielle’s story. They were both a little predictable, but I definitely loved Rielle’s dark and twisty viewpoint better! 3) Furyborn was QUITE a long book. I feel like a lot of it was running around, especially in Eliana’s story when she kept travelling from place X to place Y, and not much happened that we DIDN’T ALREADY KNOW? 4) I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Audric and Rielle together, with their forbidden, best-friend romance. Honestly, I liked Furyborn, but I didn’t fall in love with it. There was a lot of hype around it, and it just didn’t live up to all that hype for me. A 3.5 star novel, but I hope I will continue on with the series!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I said that this book has literally garnered all the hype in the world. Almost anywhere you turn, no matter what social media site you're using, it seems as though everyone is talking about this book. At times, such hype can be alarming since it can lead to disappointment if something doesn't live up to your expectations. However, Furyborn is a book which definitely withstood the hype test in my eyes and is deserving of all the commotion it has been making. First and foremost, I have to say that this was a very unique book to read. Not only was the premise and style inventive (I really love the world this story is taking place in), but the fashion of jumping between separate-but-connected timelines was refreshing. Such a unique style of story-telling is uncommon for my reading taste so it was strange at first but also very fun to jump into. Furyborn's cast of characters were also very fun. For the first half of the book, I didn't particularly care for Eliana but I really liked Rielle. However, as the story continued and readers were given further perspective into character's backstories and characterization, I began to quickly warm up to Eliana. Then, by the end of the book, she was undoubtedly my favorite character! Though she has a long journey to take in terms of growth, she is a character whose character arc I immensely look forward to. I am likewise intrigued by Rielle and her character arc, especially since the various time frames this story is told through hints at multiple directions that have yet to be realized. I'm very interested in seeing how such paths come into play, and if they are as good/bad as the future makes them out to be. Overall, I thought this was a great first book in the series. I look forward to reading the sequel!

Furyborn builds a story that spans a thousand years in the form of two Queens who are part of a prophecy - one who is meant to destroy and one who is meant to save. Rielle and Eliana are living in two separate worlds. Rielle is the Celdarian General's daughter and lives in a time where magic exists and the threat of angels is a distant memory but still believed. Also, they have a religion based on the seven saints who were said to have defeated the angels. Eliana is basically a Venteran bounty hunter working for the Undying Empire, the 1000-year later version of Celdaria that has invaded every other kingdom save for one, and is a world where magic isn't believed to be real, and the saints just stories. Now, these two stories are linked first only by the prologue, and Rielle's story is the BEFORE part of the prologue and Eliana's the AFTER. Because the world-building of the two parts are different in nature, there are some aspects of the book as a whole that are done well, and some not. Rielle's story was the more compelling one for me, as it had a straightforward and defined plot, with her undergoing trials to prove her control over the seven elementary magics, while there are forces trying to undermine her rise; this was surprising more so because her story's ending is already exposed from the start. Also, her story is all about repression of her desires, whether it be for freedom, respect or for the beautiful Crown Prince Audric, who is also her childhood best friend. While not overtly, her story also hints at misogyny being wielded against her in an allegorical fashion. The villain of her story (and also the whole series, but he was her villain first) is interesting, because there is that Darkling vibe to it, and obvious hints that he is going to be her downfall. Meanwhile, Eliana's story is sort of aimless - her mother is kidnapped and she reluctantly joins the rebels, but then they are just hopping from city to city, instead to heading straight to where they need to go? (It is explained through Simon later, but that still doesn't excuse a directionless plot). She also has a more Celaena Sardothien in Heir of Fire vibe. Also, Eliana's world-building was rudimentary compared to that of Rielle's - and even keeping it for suspense sake was pointless because there are obvious clues and the presence of Simon, so I don't really know what the intent was in the way the former's story was charted out. It also felt more like it was only building her story up for the next book? If they were independent stories, I would say Eliana's arc in this is incomplete. Together, Rielle's story arc only points out the shortcomings of Eliana's, but on the whole there is a nice parallel of two women who are about to have a heck of a burden placed on them. Lastly, the secondary characters - there are some amazing characters like Ludivine, Corien, Remy but some like Audric, Simon, Navi and Tal who could have done with some more characterization considering their importance to the plot. The romance is underdeveloped on both parts (for one of them, imagine August and Emma from Once Upon A Time hooking up ugh), too, but I am hoping that will be rectified in the next book? Overall, a well-written fantasy, but the imbalance in the two narratives takes a bit of fun out of it.