If there ever was an amazing book that you wanted everyone to know about - it would be this one. The writing style, the action, the adventure, the mystery, the romance .... EVERYTHING is perfect. It flows perfectly with the element of anticipation looming over every single chapter. I can NOT wait for more from this author and I will put this in the hands of every single YA reader that comes in to my library!

It was a bit hard to get through, but the changes of narration helped. I was excited for a BI main character and more fantasy. Some of the backstories were complicated for me. I found myself backtracking, trying to understand who was who or what had happened. That's a high fantasy problem in itself. I would recommend this. It's nicely written and very adventurous.

I was so excited to read this from NetGalley, and unfortunately I was way let down while reading. The prologue seemed to have nothing to do with the description of the book I had just read, and I had to check repeatedly that I was reading the right title. I was immediately thrown into a world I knew nothing about and was constantly confused as to what was going on. Then I realized I actually didn't care. The chapters alternate perspectives between Rielle and Eliana, and I found neither one of their characters sympathetic or compelling. I was frequently disgusted by their choices and behavior and found very little to like in either one of them, which ultimately killed any desire I had to continue reading their stories.

4.5 stars

This was an interesting book, with complex characters and a clearly intricate world.

However, a lot of the world building was left murky to promote the mystery aspect of the story.

Also the rigid back and forth between viewpoints and timelines made it a bit difficult to immerse oneself in the story. It was a bit like reading 2 books a once, a chapter of one followed by a chapter of the other.

I am definitely curious to see where the author is going with this and will likely read the sequels.

Cautiously recommended to those who like intricate storylines and morally ambiguous "heroines."

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yay, this book was so fun! It follows two girls, Rielle (side note, I kept seeing John Edwards' mistress when I read her name) and Eliana, in two different times and worlds. What they have in common is the legends of the Sun Queen and the Blood Queen, and enemies waiting for them. Rielle is the classic YA tempestuous heroine, with a secret love and too much power/magic to make those around her feel comfortable. Eliana is the Dread of Orline, a paid thief and assassin who learned her skills from her mother. Rielle's country tells horror stories of the angels before they were beaten and kept behind a Gate, and Eliana's city is one in the Empire, an unstoppable force with mind-controlled soldiers.

This book kept me up late, and I had a fantastic time losing sleep. While Rielle and Eliana are a little bit cliche (this is YA fantasy after all), the plot and the world-building is original, and the surrounding cast of characters (for the most part) are well-fleshed-out and people I cared about. Definitely would recommend this to fans of Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.

Claire Legrand has created a magical world full of danger, excitement, and redemption in "Furyborn (The Empirium Trilogy)". When I first started reading, I could not help but compare it to other similar worlds and characters created by Leigh Bardugo, Victoria Aveyard, and Kendare Blake; however, after a few chapters I became thoroughly engrossed in the entwined fates of Rielle and Eliana. Legrand has managed to describe a world that is unique and can stand on its own besides these other great books. The writing style is perfect for the story, filled with exact details that enhance and scaffold the character development and their relationships. The alternating chapters, switching between Rielle and Eliana, make this book impossible to put down. You cannot simply "stop at the next chapter" since each chapter ends in suspense and you have to at least read the next page. Anyone who is a fan of strong female characters, accompanied by handsome and loyal partners, determined to change their fate as they fight against an overpowering evil in a magical kingdom, will find in "Furyborn" a new favorite. I cannot wait to read what happens next in the trilogy!

If you’re a fan of Sarah J Maas, you will be a fan of Furyborn too. This book was two amazing stories in one. I loved the Two strong, independent women that were the main characters of the story.

Two women come to terms with their destinies in this young adult epic fantasy novel. Review time!

So Claire Legrand’s Furyborn completely blew me away. I devoured this book in a 24 hour period. It’s about two powerful young women, Rielle and Eliana, coming to terms with themselves and their circumstances. Each chapter seamlessly alternates between their very different perspectives. Honestly, it should be a hot mess – the constant hopping between time periods, characters, and mythology. And yet, the novel’s charm is the ability to immerse yourself into each story equally. If you enjoy magic, bad ass women, and political intrigue, you will most likely enjoy this story.

The preface took away some of my enjoyment as it reveals the connection between Rielle and Eliana. My hope is the preface is deleted from the final copy. Context clues within the story provides ample foreshadowing to their connection. Additionally, the antagonists needed more development. Despite those minor issues, I just fell in love with the characters and setting. I’m dying to get my hands on the next book in the series!

tl;dr An action-packed epic fantasy with two tenacious female characters.

I absolutely LOVED Furyborn. Being the first book in the trilogy we had to learn the world and meet the amazing cast of characters.
I really loved two timelines. One, the story never got boring because it kept switching from Rielle to Eliana and back. I did like Eliana and her story more then Rielle. Eliana is a strong character who made a life out of what she got.
I felt like Rielle didn't think about what she was doing most of the time and that what brought so much trouble in to her life.
Simon is my defiantly second favorite after Eliana. He is broken and strong at the same time. He cares the world on his shoulders but still stays strong for the people he cares about.
Overall, this book was amazing and I NEED TO KNOW where the story will take us.
I can't believe I have to wait over a year for the next one!

It has been a while since I came across a powerfully imaginative and intense fantasy story, and Furyborn surely delivered. From the first chapter, I found myself captivated and desperate for answers to all the questions that came to mind as I wove through page after page. Legrand truly does an amazing job in this riveting novel and I was extremely grateful to have had the chance to enjoy this book.

This book was unexpected. I read it in one day because it needed to be read. I was surprised at all turns. A truly unique book, with stories within stories.
Must read.

after my reread:
The book still holds up. The ending is delicious and unexpected and I can’t wait for the movie.

Review *NON SPOILERY REVIEW*

What an epic introduction to this sure-to-be fantastic trilogy.

Words cannot explain my never-ending love for a strong, willful and all around bada** leading lady. Well, lucky for me, we get MULTIPLE leading ladies in this dual POV story about power, fate, and the often blurry line between the definition of good and evil.

The prologue starts off running, throwing us into the story via a very memorable and dramatic opening scene. The action rarely slows from there, as we follow two young women's trials and journeys to save themselves and those around them. This story is incredibly fast paced, with many excellently written action sequences. There were also a LOT of near scrapes with certain characters that I found perhaps a *tiny* bit repetitive toward the end. More than once, I found myself wishing the story would slow down for just a tiny bit to add in some extra exposition and background, but then again, there were quite a few very natural and helpful dialogues between a variety of characters that showed the reader hidden connections and explanations.

When all of the running and battling and escaping and rescuing did slow down for a sec, we got a few pretty steamy sequences, especially between a certain MC and her forbidden handsome prince love, that I was TOTALLY here for. There is no hazy, half disguised description of sexy times that leaves you wondering 'did they just...?' Oh, no. Not in this house. They DID. And it was fantastic.

Even with the sometimes overwhelming pace of this novel, I thoroughly enjoyed this creatively imagined magical world and the complex connections between all of the characters (especially the two MCs). Many of the characters were very compelling, including almost all of the side characters and the plot itself has such fantastic promise for the future. I will absolutely be back for the next installment in the Empirium Trilogy.

The following will be posted on my blog, Keep Reading Forward, on February 3rd, 8AM EST:

In Furyborn, two girls separated by a thousand years are more connected to each other than they know. One girl is suddenly cast into the trials to become the Sun Queen after learning of her mysterious powers while the other is just an everyday bounty hunter. In an adventure filled with magic, action, and everything else, everything will be pieced together as time moves on (sometimes literally).

I have to admit, the author knew exactly what she doing with this story. However, I do believe the beginning was lacking in progress. Through the alternate perspectives, the first couple chapters for Rielle and Eliana was bit slow. I felt like the first couple of characters were the ground work and trying to establish everything, and trying to see how everything worked together. Once that part of the story was done, it started to get better. 

Rielle's story was most interesting of the two. As Rielle's story started to move on and such, Eliana's story was still behind and felt constant. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all the fight scenes Eliana had as they were written quite well. They were almost the best scenes I have ever scene, but there was no progress to them. Once there was a turn of events, Eliana's story finally jumped into gear and was worth reading for. 

I love it when stories have their unique magic system, I really do. When I heard that the magic in this world dealt with 7 elementals, I was beyond excited. I knew that I wanted to read this story to see how it all played out. I do have my thoughts on it and some critics as well. I have loved the use of the elemental magic throughout each of the trials. However, I really hoped there was more explanations on the magic and thought process during Rielle's scenes. It felt that sometimes her doings just came out of nowhere with just no explanations. 

Along with the magic system, my only other critic is that I wanted to see more history of the magic system and going into the mythology more. Each chapter had a brief excerpt of information from a historical source giving little information. Other than the little excerpts, there were brief parts where the history the elemental magic comes from and the figures involving so. When each elemental was explained, it followed the same format each time. As I kept seeing the magic's prayer, the person who was responsible for, and possibly what they did to be known, I wondered if I would earn anything knew. The mythology was good, but it not really the best. I hope this is certainly improved in the next book. 

Overall, the details in the story were really good. I do believe that, as I mentioned, the author knew exactly she was doing and planned everything down to the exact point. I saw room for improvements but I do know this is going to be a thrilling series. Legrand as a skill for writing really good fighting scenes, making them lifelike. I can definitely see why everyone is raving for this book when it comes out.

I loved this book. It was so hard to put down. Can't wait until the next one!

Sadly, try as I might, I was just not able to get into this book. I had heard so many good things about it, I guess my expectations were set a little too high. I think what set me off at a bad course was the opening and how it was basically something so far outside what the description was talking about I wasn't sure how to connect the two stories. It became a little clearer as I read on, but it really just didn't do well to draw me into the story since I felt like things already happened and I had to go back to the beginning to actually start the story. I sadly didn't last for much longer after that part.

This book (and the series) revolves around a prophecy that says there’s going to be two queens, the blood queen and the sun queen. Each of these queens will have all seven elemental powers (wind, fire, earth, air, metal, sun, and shadow). It also says the blood queen is essentially a bad omen, the signal of the destruction of the world as everyone knows it, and the sun queen is essentially good, a sign of protection. But this prophecy like most prophecies does not account for the humanity embodied within these queens--how their desperation to survive and their passion for other people will affect their seemingly inescapable futures.

Prophecies do not understand humanity, but you know who does understand it? Legrand. Her characters are not only believable, fully fledged people but also so very human. They aren’t archetypes but people that do some good things and some bad things, proving that the world and the people in it are far more complex than is easily understood or controlled. This aspect of the book, along with a no-pause plot, makes this book an incredibly enjoyable and heartening read. Great for fans of Six of Crows or anyone who enjoys fantasy with complex characters.

Furyborn is a young adult fantasy novel that follows two women a 1000 years apart. I’m not a fan of young adult fantasy, however this premise peaked my interest. I find that young adult fantasy novels aren’t as well developed as their adult fantasy counterparts. Yet, Furyborn stands out as one of the better young adult fantasy novels on the market for multiple reasons, however it does still fall prey to the common young adult fantasy issues.

What makes Furyborn stand out is the complex plot and subtle sexual tension that runs underneath the surface of the entire novel. Furyborn is almost two separate novels in one. As the reader progresses through the story, small hints and references are made that connect both timelines. Furyborn is complex in its storytelling by weaving two very different stories into one connected narrative in ways the reader will not see coming. The subtle sexual tension running through the novel is fantastic. It’s much more mature than what is portrayed in most young adult novels without being overly graphic or crude.

The biggest issue I had with Furyborn was the magic system. The magic system is based in elemental magic. This may seem like a straightforward magic system since it’s almost self-explanatory, however Legrand takes little to now time to explain the intricacies of how the magic works or how to use it. A large part of one of the story lines is the magical trials that test the main character’s abilities. These trials demonstrated to the reader how competent the main character is, however failed to showcase how the power is used or its limitations.

Furyborn focuses on Rielle and Eliana. Rielle is exposed as being able to control each force of elemental magic, so she’s required to endure magical trials to prove her allegiance to the country. Eliana is a bounty hunter working for the Undying Empire after it conquered her kingdom. After her mother vanishes, she’s thrust into a new life and discovers the true horrors of the world around her.

Without giving away too much information about the plot, all I’ll say is that a lot of the world building and bigger picture story telling happens with Rielle’s story line and I found it fascinating. I enjoyed a lot about the happenings around Rielle, but didn’t much enjoy Rielle as a character. I found her to be annoying and naïve despite her upbringing. The best part of Rielle’s story has to do with Legrand’s choice in revealing Rielle’s future in the prologue. The reader then gets to experience what led her to make the choices she made and their eventual consequences.

Eliana is described as a ruthless killer doing what needs to be done for the empire to survive. Her existence revolves around survival. However, she has a weakness when it comes to her family, her mother and brother. Unfortunately, her relationships with them are underdeveloped despite them being a catalyst for her plot.

Overall, Furyborn is an interesting introduction to a fantasy world packed with action and intrigue. I loved that it was more mature than most young adult fantasy novels and I’m excited to see where the story goes.
If you’re a fan of adult fantasy, then Furyborn may not be for you. You may find it underdeveloped.

I loved this book! Claire Legrand is one of my favorite MG authors and I was so excited to read her YA novel. I love the dual points of view and the dual timelines that intersect. I thought it was a bold choice to set them in different time periods and it was very well done. I love how strong the female characters are too! I can't wait for the sequel to come out!!

Furyborn has great potential - the plot is engaging, and the writing style is fairly epic. It's the characters that make, or in this case break, the story.
First, to clarify. This story is told from the perspective of 2 main characters. I loved one, and was incredibly bored by the other. And the supporting cast were such dynamic characters, I wanted more of them.

- Enjoyed -
Rielle - amazing character development. I could be sympathetic, understand her suffering. Her power didn't separate her from her human feelings.

I think Rielle is supposed to be the villain, but I liked her story far more than Eliana's. The emotions were more tense, and the action felt more life threatening.

The male supporting cast - Audric, Corien, Remy, Simon. Great guys. They interacted so well with the female leads & I wanted more from each of them.

Magic contest - the contest kept the story full of action. The book itself, the prologue, might give away the ending. But you're still on the edge of your seat.

Time traveling - I'm super confused with how the time traveling thing worked for the marques. Why are the two Queens a thousand years apart? And how are some characters still alive???
The confusion was a good confusion, because it made me want to read more.

Split Perspectives - I really enjoyed how the story went back and forth between Rielle and Eliana. It worked out super well in the story telling. It can be hard to write this way without messing with your reader's heads. But thankfully, I wasn't confused.

- Not so great -

Eliana - she just didn't grab me! She's too cold, too brutal. Almost one dimensional in her ferocity. I know strong women are amazing - and there's really great strong characters out there. Aelin, Katniss, Hermione.

But cold-blooded killers are hard to read about. Hard to connect to emotionally. Eliana claims she's killing to save her family's life, but why in the world does she have to actually kill? Why did she even start working for the Empire?

Her relationships felt incredibly selfish too, as though she was using everyone. And that made me as a reader feel used.

Eliana + Simon - Um, no. Just no. STOP now.

New Adult Scenes - repeat after me, sex scenes are for NA books. YA shouldn't have sex scenes. Did you repeat after me?

I don't mind sexual tension. Or references to relationships. Or kissing. Or even slight adult elements

But an adult sex scene SHOULD NOT be in a YA book. Just no! YA is suitable for age 13+

That's the definition of YA??? Why are we putting sex scenes in YA???

To authors - all an explicit sex scene does is lose readers. I wasn't allowed to read stuff like that (I still avoid it) You take away a whole book from an audience by adding it in.

You can have romance, and love, and amazing chemistry without explicit sex! Please, please, just don't do it.

The prologue - Ok, the prologue is action packed. Very action packed.
But I felt like it gave away too much? We know what happens to Audric and Rielle, and even Simon.

I don't want that information! I'm upset I even know! It's like being spoiled, but not because the author intentionally did it? Really weird.

Weird questions - Now, this is rather random, but I have several unanswered questions after reading this book.

What do Rielle and Eliana look like? I know they have dark hair, they look like each other, Eliana looks like her father.

But that's not a physical description? Or at least enough for me to picture them???

Come to think of it, I can't tell you what any character really looks like. Except for Simon's scars, and some guy's white hair.

And is Eliana bisexual? A vague reference to a female lover at one point, and nothing more. Does she just use people? Diversity is great, but not when it's written this way.

Conclusion

Overall, this was a fast-paced and interesting read. But it was not engaging or emotional. It's hard to be invested in Eliana, or even care about the sequel. I was completely weary with Eliana's story by the time the book ended.
I would only read the sequel to hear more from Rielle.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really, really wanted to read this one. It sounded so cool from the blurb! Unfortunately, I came across reviews mentioning explicit content, and the fact that the MC is bisexual. Being a conservative Christian reader, I choose not to fill my head with these kinds of things, so I won't be reading this one after all.