Loved the alternating timelines via alternating chapters-it made me feel like I was reading 2 books in one, but better. The alternating chapters also gave readers mini cliffhangers, but without having to wait too long to find out what happened next. I just really liked the way of presenting the story, and I am all for alternative formats of presenting storylines!

The story itself is captivating, the characters are likable, or unlikable depending and made for an easy to fall into journey.

I really wanted to love this book, but I honestly had struggles with it keeping my attention. It had all the right elements and the story intrigued me like nothing else but I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. I read so many books surrounding the starting and completing of this one, reading mere chapters at a time. When it got going, though, it did really get going and then I finished in no time at all. I would, however, recommend to fans of this type of YA fantasy because it really was right up my alley... once I could get into it.

I liked it. It wasn’t one of my favorite good vs evil stories but there were parts that were good. The story is told in dual timelines, a thousand years apart. Rielle’s story didn’t interest me much. I would have preferred learning her story through someone telling it rather than a first person account. This is probably due to the fact that the book opens with how Rielle’s story ends and I didn’t really care to know how it got to that ending. I did find Eliana’s story to be more interesting. I probably could have skipped all of the Rielle backstory chapters and still got the whole gist of the story.

I have loved every Legrand book I've ever read and this was no exception. The world was amazing and so were the characters. I would recommend this to EVERY young adult fantasy lover. It has deserved all of it's hype.

*Review can be found at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/*

Told in alternating points of view, hundreds of years apart, the lives of Eliana and Rielle unfold. Eliana is a hired assassin, taking on morally despicable tasks for her ruler in order to keep her brother and mother safe. But when the Wolf comes looking for her, her world implodes. Rielle has spent her life hiding what she is really capable of, the power uncontrollable and dangerous until it was unleashed and all knew of her powers. Through trials and danger, the two women battle for what is theirs, with a connection between the two no one could expect.

This was a hard complicated book book to get through, super dense and heavy. I would personally classify Furyborn as adult Fantasy, not YA, the only reason it might even be YA is due to the characters being older teens/young 20s. All of the concepts were more adult and the characters were incredibly mature, plotting their own destinies. AND there was at least one pretty detailed sex scene that does not belong in anything I would ever call YA.

I have no idea how to describe the book except it was very epic and I will continue on in the series no doubt. I had a hard time getting into the story in general, I was about 50% through before I was fully invested in the book. I really liked Eliana, I thought she was cool and intense, almost like a Celaena Sardothien type character and I loved her chapters. Rielle was harder for me to connect to since she seemed like a selfish character who made some stupid impulsive choices that cost so many, but by the end of the book I needed to know what would happen to both the women. And boy, was this a twist, dangerous, dark ride that I never saw coming, with the scariest of Angels! By the end of the book I was so into this world and messed up plot that I can't wait to jump into the next book.

I knew this book was going to be a hit from the prologue.
This book is movie material and I hope one day I’ll be able to see a motion picture version of this amazing story.
Furyborn surprised me by sneakily appearing on my reading radar and then craftily making me fall in love with it page by page. I never thought I’d enjoy this book like I did.
Claire Legrand definitely knows how to write a good fantasy novel.
Her writing is incredibly atmospheric, there was never a boring moment and time just flew by when reading this chunky beast. I felt like I was part of this tree dipped in ink the whole time and I was always fixated in the story.
This book is very fast paced and I have to disagree with readers who would have liked less conversation and more action because this book is bursting with it!

What a super book!

Furyborn (Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand revolves around two amazingly independent young women, Rielle Dardenne and Eliana Ferracora, yet they live centuries apart, and need each other to save the world.

A thrilling read full of excitement and kick-ass fun! You'd be silly not to read this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “Furyborn” by Claire Legrand.

I honestly love it very much. I'm having a little trouble with the romance ending with Eliana and Simon. Quite honestly I'm not sure what to make of Simon's character, seems like he had a huge change by the end there, like he was a different person. I'm still having trouble keeping up with his motivations just based on the prologue. Eliana has a strong personality and I'm interested in how it grows as the trilogy goes on.

Admittedly, I was way more emotionally invested in Rielle's story but I still loved it all as a whole. (Spoiler Omitted) When Rielle's chapters ended (which felt too short at times) and switched to Eliana's POV I was a little upset. I was just way more engaged during Rielle's timeline, though this has nothing to do with the strength of the writing. I think I just have a liking for court style drama/plots than most other kinds.
I didn't feel much for the primary romantic interests (Simon and Audric) but boy was I seduced by Corien. He is for sure a villain I can get behind. I'm eager to learn more about him and why he's doing this. It's characters like this that solidifies my theory of my admiration of villains.

4/5☆

Very interesting premise, at first I found it a little confusing, but as I kept reading the transition between Rielle and Eliana became easy to follow. There was almost like a third wall that was broken in a few spots, I felt like the characters were talking directly to the readers. I was definitely in for the intrigue and betrayal that did not disappoint.

I was very intrigued by the storyline in "Furyborn". The idea of following two powerful young women from different time periods and the choices they make as to whether they will use their power for good or evil was interesting, to say the least.
Rielle inadvertently exposes herself as a possible prophesied queen after saving her best friend from an assassination attempt. She is then forced to go through a series of "tests" to prove whether she is a queen of light or a queen of blood. If she fails any of the tests, it means her death.
One thousand years later, Queen Rielle is a well-known legend to a bounty hunter named Eliana. Eliana joins forces with a rebel captain after her mother vanishes and learns more is at stake than she realized.
There is a connection between the two women and storylines but I don't like to give away spoilers. I did find "Furyborn" to be one of those novels that is hard to get into at first but becomes more interesting the more you read. I also found it hard to connect or like the two women but the storyline drew me in enough that I didn't care. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. This is one series that I really want to continue reading and I am expecting the series to get better and better.

by Katie Moran
The first installment of Claire Legrand’s Emporium series, Furyborn, deals with a feud and prophecy. The dual point of view spans millennia, alternating between two powerful narrators, Rielle and Eliana, each of whom is fighting her own battle. The overall plot deals with the fine line between what is accepted and what is right. Legrand’s characters frequently must choose between sacrifice and conscience or the greater good and the easy path. These types of dynamics make each of their struggles, losses, and triumphs feel genuinely authentic to the reader.

Legrand’s artful storytelling allows each character to fully inhabit the world that they’re narrating to us. Time is the greatest barrier between the two strong story lines, and the use of time as a deviation for our main characters gives the necessary depth and clout to the overall progression of the novel. Legrand’s ability to craft a tale is portrayed in the way the author seamlessly layers Rielle and Eliana’s narratives, ensuring that each keeps pace with the other and allowing the necessary information from one to permeate and aid in our understanding of the other.

Although both of our protagonists, Eliana, the dread of Orline, and Rielle, the Sun Queen,  have faults enough to match their endurance and heart, each woman has a strong sense of remorse. The underlying tone of accountability that results o really humanizes  these larger than life characters. There are brief moments throughout when the voices of the two begin to sound minutely similar, but it would seem this was a conscious decision of Legrand’s given the relationship of the two despite the eons that stand between them.

Overall, Furyborn deals with the common yet never ending cosmic struggle between what is right and what is wrong. Legrand has done a wonderful job in creating characters able to carry the burden of such a common struggle while remaining intriguing and readable. Though there are fleeting mentions of some bisexual representation in the novel, there is little follow through on the matter. However, Furyborn is only the first installment, and there is still hope for more inclusive and well-rounded moments in the trilogy.

One of my favorite books of all time! I can already foresee myself reading this book many, many times. I loved the characters. You can never go wrong with two badass women. I loved it. Everyone just needs to read this.

Such a huge and epic tale! I love the alternating story lines and really appreciated the imminence world that was built. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

"You are the One Who Rises. The Furyborn Child. You are the Sun Queen, Eliana, and I have come to bring you home."

* * 
2 / 5

Furyborn ensnared me with its enticing title and beautiful cover and then failed to deliver. The book was overly lengthy, clocking in at over 500 pages, and was rather confusing. It seemed like it tried far too hard to be complex and just ended up being badly communicated and slightly weird.

"Do I wish you both had come to me, so we could discuss all of this like civilized people, instead of you rolling about half naked in the gardens for everyone to see? Yes."

Rielle lives in a time of magic. When it is shown that she can use more than one of the seven elements, a feat which is unheard of except in legend, she is made to undergo seven elemental trials to prove whether she is the long-expected Sun Queen or the feared Blood Queen. Eliana lives a thousand years later, when Queen Rielle is just a fairytale and so is magic. She is concerned with murder and her missing mother when a mysterious boy turns up. 

I found Furyborn to be incredibly slow going and not in the fun, wow this is epic, kind of way. I just didn't feel invested in either of the characters or their respective quests. I loved the idea of two women joined together across a thousand years, two queens tied to a mysterious prophecy, one taking up the quest of the other. What I got instead was 250 pages of Rielle doing some boring trials and swooning after the prince with some angels thrown in for good measure, and 250 pages of Eliana spouting super cringy dialogue, betraying people, with bonus serious mother issues.

"We all have darkness inside us, Rielle. That is what it means to be human."

Both women are supposed to be strong and powerful: Rielle has her magic, and Eliana has her blades and her history as a bounty hunter, putting rebels to the death. Rielle pulls it off as a powerful mage, but the magic didn't seem to make much sense to me? It isn't all that clear how it works or functions. And Rielle becomes totally off her rocker. Eliana on the other hand doesn't seem all too special. Near the start of the book she encounters a mysterious man who bests her; lots and lots and lots of terribly cringe-worthy mid-fight banter ensues. Ugh. 

Furyborn was an odd book. It had lots of fights and action-sequences, but it never seemed like anything particularly important was happening. There was lots of talk of angels and rebirth and whatnot, but not much explanation. I wasn't a big fan of the book and I won't be reading the next.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of Furyborn.

This book was a decent read. The characters were self-aware, and the plot dramatic enough when it needed to be. The beginning had great promise. Sadly, the downside to this book is that perhaps it is a tad too slow at times, which increasingly lowered my desire to finish it to the point that I almost DNF'd it. A solid backbone of a story, but it needed something more to make it "special."

This book was a decent read. The characters were self-aware, and the plot dramatic enough when it needed to be. The beginning had great promise. Sadly, the downside to this book is that perhaps it is a tad too slow at times, which increasingly lowered my desire to finish it to the point that I almost DNF'd it. A solid backbone of a story, but it needed something more to make it "special."

Actual rating: 3.5
I'm kind of in the Middle of the road with this one. I did really enjoy it and I came to love a lot of the characters even though I didn't like anyone but Simon and Remy at first. Maybe the more I read the harder it is to impress me but I feel that I've already seen everything this book has to offer. Many times. And better. There were a few original aspects though. One of them being the main characters being an antihero and a likable villain. She flipped the script with Eliana and Rielle and though I didn't like it at first I really did come to appreciate the originality of it. It also shows that heroes and villains aren't always black and white. There are gray areas. The world-building was very full and done pretty well but like I said I've seen it all before. And though the two timelines are over a thousand years apart there seem to be no advancements in technology or anything. Life is the same. i do have to say I loved the feminist aspects of the story though. Overall it's a decent YA Fantasy and I'm interested to see where it goes because I've come to like the characters. I would recommend it to anyone that loves YA Fantasy.
*thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the eARC for review*

How do I describe my feelings for this book?

It was rough. The world building felt at times too fast and hard to keep up with and then other times, too slow and not fleshed out enough. The plot was disjointed, as a result of switching between the two drastically spaced POVs and therefore, didn't keep me turning the pages. By design, there was a tournament style set up during one of the POVs and this is always one of my least favorite things in books (I didn't realize one of the POVs would focus on it when I read the synopsis) and so those chapters were hard to get through for me, though I know some people LOVE this trope. I felt like the entire book, I was wanting something that the book wasn't delivering, at least until I got to the last 30%. Suddenly, the book picked up and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and the ending I only sort of saw coming. I ended the book still not sure if I'll pick up the second one in the series or not. Maybe I'll see if my library has it.

Disclaimer: I was provided an e-arc of this book from Netgalley. However all opinions are my own.

Great series for fans of high fantasy. The time travel element as well as the complex world building require a bit of dedication and attention to the plot and characters, but in the right hands this will be read in a night or two.

Rielle is strong and kick-butt. The tension was epically high and I couldn’t put it down. I loved the intricate world building and the trials too.