I think Furyborn is one of those books that I enjoyed but also had some minor issues with. During my reading of this novel, I had no idea what I thought about it because at one point in the story it would be a five star for me, and the characters would do something that brought it down to a three. That just kept on happening during the entire duration of my reading experience. I am going to try to keep this spoiler-free but I really enjoyed how Rielle and Elianna's stories were separated throughout the story and then began to weave together towards the end of the story. I think that Claire Legrand is a great writer and that she can create very vivid pictures with her words. Legrand was able to create a compelling cliffhanger that made you wanting more but also satisfyingly concluded the first part of this trilogy. I am very excited for book two and am intrigued to see what happens to Rielle and Elianna.

Furyborn is an interesting novel thanks in part to the lovely world building by LeGrand. The prologue, which features the penultimate moment before everything that has been known shatters, will grip readers into this highly anticipated story. Centered around two women, Rielle and Eliana seemingly born centuries apart, but both destined for the same greatness. The prophecy foretold two queens, one of Blood and one of Light, who would bring about the downfall of the world and help rebuild it. The queens, always seen as bookends to the world’s destruction by the return of the angels and the end of them too. Rielle, who has has spent her entire life trying to suppress the amount of power and her ability to use all seven of the legendary elements, has decided to join a horse race without her father’s knowledge.

Racing with her best friend, Audric, she’s hopeful to win in order to prove that she can control herself around others. Instead, she starts the ball rolling for the prophecy as she unleashes large amounts of power in order to save Audric. Deemed a threat to the monarchy if she’s the Queen of Blood, Rielle accepts the challenge of following through a series of 7 trials, one for each element, to prove otherwise. While following along with Rielle’s trials, readers are also introduced to Eliana. Supposedly born a millenia later, Eliana makes a living by being one of the Empire’s best assassins. It’s not a pleasant job, but it keeps her family fed and a roof over their heads. Even if she has to lie to herself about not caring what happens.

When her mother is taken, Eliana launches into a quest to find her and ends up crossing path with an assassin called the Wolf. Though he seems convinced that she’s something more, Eliana only makes a deal to join him to ensure safety for her younger brother and to find her mother. Instead she’s pulled on a journey across country, to assist into returning a princess to the only free country left. LeGrand entices readers while masterfully bouncing back and forth between each storyline. Each chapter leaves a slight cliffhanger at the end, to pull readers back into the story.

As was the case with Ash Princess, Furyborn has some portrayal of murder and death. While it doesn’t feature rape, it does feature some violence, so readers should be cautious. This book is definitely a mid to higher level YA book, and should probably be offered to teens 15 and up. Readers will have to decide for themselves if Rielle is truly the Blood Queen or if perhaps the prophecy was interpreted wrong.

I look forward to reading the next in the Empirium series, in hopes that it matches the bar that LeGrand has set for herself.

I marked this book as did not finish, as I could not get into it unfortunately. Definitely recommended it to several friends who I know would really enjoy it.

GUYS OMFG THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. Strong female leads, character growth, slow-burn romance, character FLAW… just sign me up.

Characters: Honestly, they’re all my children. Even the secondaries (Ludvine, Aric, Simon, broski (can’t remember bro’s name but it starts with an R), Nevi. All of them have motivation, growth, flaw, and are so incredibly relateable. #SimonDeservesFriends2018 #AricForPresident #NeviForEVERYTHING.

Side note: Ludvine… a self-identifying flighty basic bitch… set to marry Rielle’s greatest love and ohbytheway is R’s bff… is my favorite character. Read the book to find out why.

Plot: Literally not a moment where the book was slow, but not in an exhausting way. Each chapter was crafted to show urgency and plot movement and it was amazing.

Writing Style: I didn’t have a moment where i thought “man this writing is great” but like… how can it not be when i was kept on my toed the whole time?? I was immersed in the story from page one and it was awesome

World Building: I got what i needed to understand the story and i was left wanting more. if that doesn’t speak miles i’m not sure my drunk ass can help you.

Claire Legrand (who, just by the way, is a lovely person, very responsive on social media if you have any book related questions!) penned a remarkable first installment of a high fantasy trilogy that follows two women who, a thousand years apart, have everything and seemingly nothing in common. In this thrilling story we embark upon a journey that is both prophesized and a matter of choice – just what kind will it be for each of the heroines? What allegiances will they pledge and to whom? Is it always easy to make such a decision and stick to it?

I got this book as an ARC from NetGalley but same as you all should get yourself a physical copy of it, I’ll be getting my own, too. It was just that good and your future self WILL hate you if you sleep on it now.

I had an opportunity to discuss this book at length with a friend who is also a bookworm and who, same as me, got an arc of it from NetGalley and we both agreed that what could have been a weak link, Legrand turned into a stellar selling point of Empirium’s first installment. That is: the two POVs, one of Queen Rielle’s, the other of a bounty hunter Eliana’s.
My adjustment period at the beginning of it was fairly brief for it only took me a few intertwined chapters to get into the story, understand it for what it was and most importantly acknowledge how pivotal the arrangement was for what the story represented. The more you read, the better you see how vital the back-and-forth between Eliana and Rielle’s chapters is.

But it wasn’t just that the story was cleverly shifting between the two main characters or that journal entries and bits of poems preluded each chapter as a sort of introduction and hint to what might transpire that had me tapping my Kindle’s screen like crazy! It was the world building, too. Imagine having a cross between ancient mythology with a breath of fresh air and a pinch of royal scheming the kind we meet in Throne of Glass; that’s about the closest I can get to describing what it was exactly. Whatever it was, skillfully done and refreshing it surely was and I cannot wait for more in the two books we’re due in this trilogy!

Can Goodreads please introduce half stars yet? It was a 4.5 star read for me (I’d give it 5 stars but I’m a bit apprehensive about jumping the gun like that so… let’s talk in a year and see then) and it kills me having to give it regular 4 stars.

**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

This book is going to have a cult following when it releases. I was a little thrown in the start, but once we started to get to know both girls I was addicted. I didn't know which story I was enjoying more while I read.



I loved the back and fourth of each chapter, rotating between the girls, I felt like it was only giving us pieces, but by the end we had two complete stories and I was ALL OVER IT!

This was a story about fighting for yourself and those you love. Sometimes the bad guys have the best disguises. Sometimes, you have no idea you are playing right into their hands.

Even though you know the answers at the start of this book, by the end of it you are still yelling at the pages.

One of the best YA novels I have read this year!

Fans of Maas and her universe, Roar from Cora Carmack, and The Queen's Rising? Here ya go. You will love it.

This book had me on the edge of my seat for half of it. I read it in about three sittings and I'm dying for the sequel. The action was intense and thrilling, and there were two plot twists caught me off guard, which doesn't often happen. The only complaint I have about this book is that Eliana's POV wasn't as exciting as Rielle's, and the constant interchanging of the two every chapter pulled me out of the book each time.

This type of book was not really something I would normally read. I find fantasy books dull but picked it up on a lark. I was glad I did because this was very enjoyable and look forward to reading the rest of the series

It is with a heavy heart that I rate this book 2 stars. The fact that it took me an extremely long time to get through aside, I just never felt connected to this book. There was no tension, no excitement, no deep emotional ties that made me want to climb into this story and live there. This book felt like a cookie cutter Fantasy story, with nothing new or scintillating to add to the genre. I'm honestly heartbroken. I love Fantasy, I love Claire Legrand, I just don't love this particular book

This was a really fun read! There are a lot of location names that sound vaguely like Game of Thrones names, some almost sci-fi stuff, and a LOT of magic, castles, princes, and adventure. There was even a character who completely reminded me of the Darkling. The story kind of felt like some roller coaster blend of epic elements at times, so I was pretty entertained. The diversity was great to see, too!

Rielle is kind of a special snowflake because "no human who has ever lived has been able to control more than one element. Not even the saints." But she's waaaay past that whole one element limit. Her story is mostly about how she has to go through seven trials to test her powers and prove she can control her abilities so she can serve the crown prince she loves. And then the rest of the story is pretty well explained in the book description. I wasn't super into the romance, but it was fine.

There are 2 stories going at once that take place thousands of years apart, so it did take me a bit to get into everything. I was super into the first half (the second half of the book got a little odd and lost some of my interest, but it's still fun). If you love YA fantasy then you'll probably like this one too!

Oh, and I thought it was hilarious how there were part human/angel characters who had marks on their skin and then the villain was a white-haired guy named Valentine. Just saying...

I thought this book was great any many ways! Great characters, great plot but man, was it too long for my comfort! I think this book will sell well though and many lovers of the genre will enjoy it!😁

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: This was one epic read!
Do I Recommend this book? YES

Notes and Opinions: OMG guys this book was fantastic! I have to say that when you read the beginning of this one make sure you don't get attached! Becuase the story that this one starts out with is NOT the story we get. This story centers around the past of how the evil queen got to where she was at the start of this title. As well as the future set just over 1,000 years. I thought I was going to DNF this one but I have to tell you that I was so sucked in I didn't even use my app I have to time myself (I totally should have thought). I just kept reading it was so amazing.

The characters are all real and even though it took me a while to get a good grasp of the story and who everyone was I was fully invested in the tale. This is one of those epic stories that you finish it and want to start it all over again. It was just that good. If you love epic fantasy you should totally check this one out!!

Go Into This One Knowing: Epic Fantasy!

This was my first read by Claire Legrand. I was intrigued by the synopsis and sucked in by the book's intro! What a way to hook me in! Unfortunately, it went down hill from there. Rielle lost me shortly after the competition that she had to sneak into to participate. I was certain things were cooking, but it was just the horse. I enjoyed the action throughout the book, but it was like watching a game where I didn't care who won because I had no connection to cheer for anyone. I just wanted it over with. I did not connect with either of the main characters. I found myself skimming more and more since it seemed to take a while to progress. I could have done without the adult scenes. They increased my dislike of the lead women. This read was like a waiting for a turtle to cross the road...painfully slow. This may be due to my lack of connection with the characters and thus lack of interest for the outcome. There were times where I thought I was connecting with Eliana, her feelings of duty to protect and provide for her family, but then she would do or say something that caused me to roll my eyes and further solidify my dislike. There was something about her relationship with Simon that was just, weird. In the end, I just did not enjoy this read. Maybe it was my timing of reading it, I don't know. Others may find this book amazing. It just did not suit my tastes like I thought it would.

"The Queen stopped screaming just after midnight."
This book is so good! It has beautiful descriptions, interesting characters and it is full of action. The only thing is that it was a little hard to follow at times because there is a thousand years between the two main characters. There are also not many descriptions about the characters and not much difference in the voices of Rielle and Eliana. Even though the story was hard to follow at times, I did find it captivating. I wasn't able to finish the book because I was busy with work but I do plan on picking it up and finishing it!

The opening of this book was very strong and pulled me right in. However, I had trouble differentiating between the voices of the two main characters (even though they had distinct timelines and arcs). This made continuing on a little sluggish for me, ultimately impacting my enjoyment of the book. I still would recommend to teen fantasy lovers.

A thrilling fantasy feminist tour de force! The story follows two equally fascinating young women lifetimes apart, each born to change the shape of their worlds. How’re they connected? Can they save or damn their people? Read to find out. The world building in this story is superior. Legrand has created a mythology to rival other fantasy novels.

Fantasy set in 2 different time periods with lots of twists and turns. Once into the story, the clues are nicely spread out and the action fast paced

One of the things that drives me crazy about epic fantasy is when the world building feels unnatural. Furyborn has an interesting premise. From that first line, it invites you into the story but immediately starts bombarding with information. So much so that it felt like, “oh by the way” after every new detail, almost like an afterthought. We live in a kingdom, the queen is evil, she murdered her husband, angels and humans are walking a thin red line of friendship, human and angel hybrids are killed for their magic, oh, angels can talk in your head, there’s a prophecy, we must escape before the wicked queen or angels uncover our secret…all within 3 pages. Normally, all of this is good and well, but the way it was presented was overwhelming and confusing. It felt like being slammed in several directions at once. Granted, the scene itself is supposed to be suspenseful and full of anxiety, but I can’t help but wonder if some of these things could have been explained after the fact. Cue a queen giving birth, a doctor and son with a secret, and angel threatening the child, people escaping by following threads in the sky. That’s it, no explanation-it might have kept the mystery up and the reader wanting the know more.

There’s also the fact that angels can talk in the character’s head at any given moment. Because we already hear internal dialogue, random people suddenly appearing takes some adjustment.

The transition from that introductory chapter into 2 years earlier is rough. It takes a good few pages to realize what is going on and from that point on, it swings into two POVs and in different times.

The characters were interesting and complex. The girl who was supposed to be a villain, (I always love a good villain), was by far my favorite. The journey from who she was and who she became was full of hard choices and self-discovery, causing the reader to question the nature of evil and whether it is learned or inherent.

This is absolutely upper YA with lots of sexual activity and sex positivity. There is subtle bisexual relationships, really just a mention. Romance is heavy and sometimes….supernatural?

Claire Legrand's an author I watch closely, and I either own or have read all of her books (note: I've not read them all but I will). She's talented, and her middle grade novels have been so incredibly good, especially <i>Some Kind of Happiness</i>. Because of that, I went into <i>Furyborn</i> with massive expectations, which were only increased by the positive hype and news that it became a bestseller. Maybe it's the high expectations or maybe this fantasy isn't for me, but I was disappointed in <i>Furyborn</i>.

On Claire's Twitter, I saw something about how she'd worked on this book for something like eight years (don't quote me on this but it was a LONG time), and I wonder if that's the issue. The book does feel a bit over-baked and over-edited. That can happen sometimes, especially with epic fantasy that's been baking for a while. I felt that with <i>Truthwitch</i>, for example, like crucial characterization scenes ended up getting cut from the opening of the book, making it confusing on a first read. In this case, though, it feels like a lot more got lost somewhere in the process: world building and characterization especially.

Most of my concrete issues go directly back to the prologue. Without it, I think I would have been a good deal happier with the book, because it does have a lot of big, interesting ideas, and a cast I feel I should have liked. The prologue reveals a lot of key elements that then proceeded to undermine my reading experience:
1) Rielle dies facing down Corien just after the birth of her daughter. Rielle's the character that felt most fully fleshed-out to me, but I'm hard-pressed to bother investing emotionally in a character when I know from the beginning that they're going to die a tragic death at a young age.
2) Rielle (supposedly) killed King Audric, father of her baby. I say supposedly because it's not been covered in canon yet, but this is the rumor. Again, hard to invest in this romance because, even though I suspect that this will turn out to be a misunderstanding and actually Corien's doing, it's not in me to invest in a romance where I already know that one of the people will die. Add in the other person being blamed and I'm super not into it.
3) Simon is tasked with taking the baby to a safe place, because he can travel through time/space as a perk of being half-angel. Spoiler-tagging just in case, but I think this is pretty damn obvious if you've read a lot of fantasy. <spoiler>So when we have a mysterious heroine with mysterious powers in a dual narration about two queens and a mysteriously missing princess and the guy shows up who took the baby away, it's really not difficult to put things together. This reveal doesn't happen until the last 10-20% of the book, and it's frustrating because the prologue spelled it out even more clearly than the dual narration already did. This shouldn't have been played as a secret.</spoiler>
Without the prologue giving away those plot elements, I think I'd have been more invested in the cast and the plot. But, as it was, from the prologue, I could predict pretty much all of book one.

Aside from that, I struggled with the dual POV, which whips back and forth between Rielle and Eliana. The chapters are much too brief for me to settle into either plot line, and they're very disparate since they're set 1000 years apart (which is also a bonkers amount of time). Most of the relatively brief chapters end in cliffhangers, which is a cheap device to keep readers turning pages but one that's generally effective on me. In this case, though, it just irritated me, because I KNOW that I will have to read through an unrelated chapter before I get to what I was actually curious about. This absolutely killed the pacing of the novel for me.

The characterization feels lacking across the board. Most characters are entirely static, and, the ones who aren't, are puzzling. For example, I spent a bunch of time in the heads of both Rielle and Eliana, but I don't understand any of their motivations for basically anything they do. Which sucks because they do stupid things and then I have no sympathy because I don't know WHY they thought that was the right choice.

The lack of development really shows in the romance. I absolutely do not understand why anyone wants to bone anyone else in this book, and you know I'm all about the romance. Audric's completely boring and despite the fact that his and Rielle's passions lead to them almost boning in a garden at one point, they lack chemistry. Probably because Audric is cardboard. And I find it really hard to believe that, given Rielle's history she would be allowed to spend any time with Audric anyway. Rielle's weird sexy connection to Corien I'm not even going to get into because just WUT. It's like the Darkling but with no actual interaction or explanation. Most confusing of all is Simon and Eliana, who initially appear to thoroughly loathe one another. Then, with no change, all of a sudden Simon is flirting and they're both all horny for each other and just WUT. Also, I think it's gross he was like ten when she was a baby. He was basically the Hagrid dropping off her little Harry, and ew.

So far as the world building goes, I think there's way too much for the length of the book. To really work, I think this needed to be Brandon Sanderson long. There's so much world building Claire has clearly worked out but that didn't make it into the book, and as a reader you really feel everything that's missing. Like, I don't understand the magic system really at all. I'm equally confused by the Angels. Also, why are they angels? That word has serious religious implications, and it doesn't seem like this has anything to do with that at all, and it threw me out of the book every time it came up. Given another name, that whole element would have worked so much better for me.

This might be one of those fantasy novels that works better if you're new to reading fantasy, because, if you're familiar with common fantasy tropes, this book is a struggle. At this time, I do not plan to continue the series, though I will if I hear the series improves. It might, since we've run through much of the predictable plot out of the prologue. I will continue to try all of Legrand's other projects though for sure, because I've been really impressed with all her other work and I see some good bones here too.

This novel was a fantasy novel that I hadn’t heard anything about until I received an ARC for it. Once I read the plot, I was hooked.

The premise of this novel was so unique and interesting, and I am happy to state that the Claire Legrand did not disappoint with the follow through of this novel.

The one thing that I thoroughly loved about this novel’s structure was the way the POV changed each chapter. Additionally, the chapters weren’t super long and didn’t have unnecessary fillers, which made this 500+ novel feel like nothing to me. I got through this novel so quickly and EASILY once I got into it, and it was honestly such an enjoyable experience.

The POV’s of this novel were quite different so it was odd to go back and forth at the beginning, but once you got to know each of these characters, it was a pleasant feeling being able to switch from one character you love to another character you love.

Additionally, there was a significant time difference between the characters, but once you were able to connect with the stories of each character, this time difference didn’t effect the reading experience one bit!

There were also amazing relationships between the characters, my favourite being the relationship Eliana had with her brother Remy. It was beautiful to see the commitment she had to ensuring his safety at all times, even if that meant he thought of her as the bad guy.

Both of the main characters, Eliana and Rielle, had their pros and cons, but all in all, they were very likeable characters once you got to know them. Their faults were very human faults and it was hard to blame them for doing what they did once you got to know them.

It was such a joy to see these female characters written to have so much strength and power and independence. Of course they had moments of weakness, but they were always able to compose themselves and take control of the situation they were in. I thoroughly enjoyed reading from such strong females POVs and I’m very excited to read more about their adventures in the next book.

The character development in this novel was incredible. Despite the chapters being short and switching back and forth quite frequently, I was able to connect with all the characters and get a really good understanding of their personality.

I do have to mention that there are some steamy scenes in this novel that do get quite descriptive, so I wouldn’t recommend this novel to anyone who is under the age of 15? I don’t know what the right age is to read sex scenes, I still get uncomfortable. Just be warned that there are sex scenes!

All in all, this novel was exactly what I thought it would be and exactly what I was hoping for. It had wonderful characters and a very interesting and enthralling plot that was ever growing and changing to ensure the reader was on the edge of their seat. I loved the relationships between characters and I hope that we get to see those grow in future novels!

I definitely recommend this novel to anyone looking for a fun fantasy novel that follows two incredible, strong women! It was a fantastic read.