This is one of those books that I could just not get into for the life of me, but I can see other why other people might enjoy it. For me though, the biggest struggle was the two different point of views, in fact I got to a point where I was not even slightly paying attention to Rielle timeline. While I was slightly more interested in Eliana's timeline, I still for the life of me just could not get into this story and this world and would dread picking the book back up every time I put it down. While I did not particularly enjoy this/get into it, I didn't hate the book and I can see why others might enjoy it if they can be drawn in unlike me.

"Furyborn" is one of the most hyped releases of 2018, and I was so excited to read it. At first, I really struggled to get into the story. The opening scene is quite dramatic and confusing, and I do think it was a rather rough beginning to the book. However, as I read on I became more and more engrossed in the story.

Rielle’s chapters are at first a little slow, but once we get into the drama, action, and magic, it really picked up. I loved seeing her journey as she goes through the trials to test her magic. To see her struggle and learn and grow. To see her confidence and pride. To see her arc over the course of the book and understand how her actions changed the world.

I also liked the romance; a friends to lovers romance. It was sweet, hot, and full of tension. I found it really anchored the story as the stakes got increasingly higher in the trials.

Eliana’s chapters were compelling from the start, with her sharp tongue, confidence, and dark past. She’s attracted to both genders, and not shy about seeking out pleasure. It was great to see such a sex positive character. I feel like Eliana is judged too harshly, and that did detract from my enjoyment of the book at times. I felt it was there just to add conflict but not in a truly meaningful way.

Her plot became my focus, to be honest. And that’s because she has a mystery to unravel. Her relationship with her brother is adorable and heartwarming. I honestly loved it. The romance is a bit insta-love for my tastes, so I’m not sure what to think of it.

"Furyborn" was a fun read, once I got past the rocky opening. It had its weak parts, but overall I found the story fun and engaging. I’m curious to see what will happen in the next book!

At first Furyborn was a thing of intrigue for me. I had heard so much about this book before I finally received an ARC of it and I was so giddy just to have a chance to read the tale of two young Queens.

Once I finally started to read Furyborn the first thing that struck me was the incredibly vivid world that Claire has created. Queendoms and lands afar were as visual as can be. So much you feel like you are standing in the land with the characters.

What is really interesting about Furyborn is that it spans literally 1,000 years and intertwined the lives of two young women, Rielle and Eliana, who take a stand against the dark forces which intend to destroy the legacy of their homeland.

Through this book there is love, erotic lust, strong willed young women, royalty, struggle, and victory. Claire has set up a trilogy that seems like it will be a story to remember! 👑 👑

To begin I found the story to be a bit confusing. The Prologue really drew me in and I was intrigued to know more but the main POVs then jumped to two different time periods and I was finding it a bit difficult to follow what was going on. However, I kept going and I'm glad I did as I quickly found myself drawn into the story and wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story is told through two different perspectives and I know duel POV stories can be off putting to some but I quite enjoy them. I liked seeing how the two stories became entwined with each other. My favorite POV was Rielle's I loved following her in the trials, this sort of storyline really appeals to me. The writing was fast paced and action packed and I really found myself saying just one more chapter. It did not feel like I was reading a 500 page book.

I enjoyed the characters too. As the two main characters, Rielle and Eliana definitely had their flaws but there was also something likable about them both. Both characters are independent and fearsome in their own way and you get to see them both grow into themselves over the course of the book and I can't wait to see what becomes of them in the next installment. I also quite enjoyed the romance between Rielle and Audric, although I know this does have quite a split opinion amongst other reviewers. I was really rooting for them and the sex scenes didn't bother me. They demonstrated consensual sex and to me that's important. I wasn't a massive fan of Eliana's romance though. It was quite predictable and it seemed to be lacking in development. That being said it didn't bother me that much.

Overall I really enjoyed this one. It's been a while since I got stuck in to a really good YA fantasy story, especially one that's part of a series. I will definitely be picking up the next installment as soon as I can.

I loved this book. Fantasy is one of my favorite genres so this book was a great find for me. This book was so riveting I couldn't put it down. The girls, Rielle and Eliana were so great I loved them so much. This is just one book that I'll read over and over again!

Furyborn by Claire Legrand is the first book in a fantasy trilogy. I want to mention immediately that this book felt more NA (New Adult) than YA, the characters range from 16 to 20, there is a lot of violence, and sexual tension. I'm not saying that as a criticism either, I was actually hesitant to read this book because I wasn't interested in reading a YA book at the moment.
Furyborn is fast paced and action packed, I throughly enjoyed it. The story alternates between the Blood Queen Rielle and possible Sun Queen Eliana. Both characters are misunderstood kickass women. Each narration is unique and so action packed that it was often frustrating switching to the next character. I probably prefer Eliana but its honestly a toss up because the author, Claire Legrand, does an excellent job making you fall in love with these flawed, strong characters. From the very beginning this book grabs you and doesn't let you go.
The one thing that bothered me about this book was the amount of detail. This is the first book so the author is, understandably, trying to set the world/setting but it was a little overwhelming. It took a while but I got the gist of things a third of the way through and I think the second book will be an easier read.
Overall this was an excellent book and I eagerly the second book!
*ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

The prologue is excellent, but the rest of book is a drag. I was quite surprised by the sexual content within, a lot more graphic than I would expect and along with language used here and there I would suggest this for the older crowd only.

I mainly got interested in this book since I heard it would have bisexual representation. Both main characters are ambiguous and leans toward being morally gray. But, I just couldn’t connect with any of these characters. Elianna reminds me of Celaena Sardothian/Aelin from the 'Throne of Glass series. I didn't really care for Rielle's story. I didn't really care for her and Audric's romance or life. There is a really weird love triangle between Rielle, Audric, and Corien. Isn't he literally A VOICE IN HER HEAD?? How is she attracted to a voice in her head?? Though I did like that the angels are the bad guys in this one. I would definitely recommend this one to any high fantasy lovers. If you like ToG, you will probably love this one.

Claire Legrand does an excellent job of creating a new world. Her characters are vibrant and human with believable flaws. She asks the ultimate question, what would you do to protect your family, your friends, your world?

Great fun! Most of the characters had a 3-dimensional, flawed, kind of broken-but-still-trying thing going on that I really enjoyed. The magic and the world-building was pretty excellent, too.

This was very different from the fantasy novels I’ve read. The writing style is definitely not something I enjoyed but the concept and story itself was engaging enough.

I am so, so frustrated with this book. After reading the prologue, I was intrigued. Legrand had set up the makings of a beautiful fantasy, but unfortunately she just didn't follow through. There were so many amazing elements to the story, but none of them were developed enough to make it a success. I'm going to break it down into a couple points to more clearly explain my thoughts. 

Lots of action + very little valuable human interaction = terrible characterization

This book was almost non-stop action from the first page. It is well-written action, don't get me wrong, but it was too much. Despite its 500 pages, Furyborn contains only a small amount of character development, so I really couldn't care about the action. The novel is told from two perspectives, about a thousand years apart, and both female protags are bland. Legrand described their characteristics instead of actually showing them. The first, Rielle, is supposed to be some epic magic wielder, but SHE REALLY SUCKED AT MAGIC. Next we have Eliana, the Dread of Orline, feared assassin, badass fighter ninja lady--BUT SHE REALLY SUCKED AT FIGHTING. I don't want to talk about the characters. They were dull, whiney, self-pitying, predictable, and completely lack motives for their actions. They added nothing meaningful to the story. Anyways. 

The world-building was excellent...but there was no plot, characters, or development to act upon it

The plot never seemed like it was going anywhere, and that's fine if the book is character-driven. This one is not. The characters spent most of their time threatening to kill people and sending their crushes "coy smiles". Very cute. It's just sad because the concept of the book was so complex, original, and interesting, but Legrand spent her time focusing on all the wrong things. She can write well, and she is very good at creating setting, but I think she just assumed that we knew what was going on her head, when really, she should have explained it better. The magic system was interesting, but once again, needed work. I wanted to know more about the politics, the history; I wanted to see the characters grow and develop bonds. It just didn't happen.

Very sensitive and explicit topics, but lack of sophistication in the rest of the story to match

Another thing that pissed me off was how indelicate the writing was. Warning: this novel contains rape, murder, torture, abuse, child trafficking, distasteful cussing, and explicit sex. Some books use these topics in mature ways to help build worlds and characters, and some authors can use it in ways that add something to the story (George R.R. Martin, I'd say. Maybe Stephen King too). However, Legrand mixes her simplistic, YA writing with these heavy subjects just randomly thrown in without warning. Not only is it inconsistent, it seems like she added it in for the shock factor, because there was no time spent fleshing it out. 

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book to those who are tired of half-baked YA fantasies. It had a lot of potential that was wasted on needless action rather than development. It had some delicate topics and the ending left a lot to be desired. I won't be picking up the sequel.

Furyborn reads a lot like Throne of Glass and its peers, with lots of action, a massive cast, and definite anti-heroines. Yes, two of them. It's this large cast and the 1100 year jump in time each chapter (with POV change) that made the first third of the book confusing. By the time I finally figured out what was going on and who was who, things were changing so fast that the people and events just blurred.

I can't explain without getting into some spoilers, but there were also a bunch of things that were just... too dark given the current political climate. Perhaps when this trilogy is over and there's a promise of resolution, I would react better to the book?

As it stands right now, I'm giving the book a "fine" review as it's nothing I'm going to rave about to my friends but also isn't poorly written. It will most likely appeal to a variety of fantasy readers, just not me.

This is such an interesting book. It follows two women thousands of years apart in time, both with great power. The story was fun and fast paced and the characters were very enjoyable. I really cannot wait to read more about this world so I'm hoping for more books! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

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!

I'm going to be honest here and admit that I almost DNF'd this before the 20% mark...and maybe I should have.

I felt so lost for the first quarter of this book. It was like I was thrown into this world and expected to know everything about it in order to enjoy the story. Almost like this was a book 2 in a series instead of the introduction. I had no clue how anything functioned in this world and that caused my interest to wane. The world building improves as the actual plot of the novel begins. Slowly you get the pieces you need to understand the world and by the end of the novel, I knew how the world worked and the like.

But the plot itself suffers from a prologue that gives too much away too early on and dampens the suspense. You know how Rielle and Eliana are connected before you even start Chapter 1; so by the time Eliana gets the truth (in the last quarter of the book) you start to wonder what took so long.

I did start to get into this book just before the halfway point. I found Rielle's character to be very interesting thanks to the glimpse we get of the person she becomes in the prologue and the little tidbits of her legend told in Eliana's. What happens to cause such a shift in her persona? We get the answers in time and I enjoyed that. Eliana I didn't particularly care for. Perhaps if I didn't know her connection to Rielle I would have found her to be intriguing but she just seemed so generic and cliche.

When I finished this book, I decided I was going to be on the fence about picking up the sequel. But as I was writing my review, I downgraded my rating from a 3, to a 2.5 and then to a 2 because I didn't have too many positive things to say. And I also felt satisfied in terms closure with these characters. My major questions were answered and I have a good idea of where things are going and it just doesn't interest me.

So this is where I part ways with this series but I think those who like slower fantasies and don't need lots of twists all the time will enjoy the pacing of this novel.

I have to admit, I was super curious about Furyborn by Claire Legrand, especially after it started popping up on my radar pretty consistently. One minute it was just there, and the next minute it was EVERYWHERE. And, of course, I needed to check it out. And my wish was granted one day when a huge box showed up on my door, which included a beautiful finished copy of Furyborn, and lots of swag to go along with it. (Many thanks again for that, SourceFire Books!) I devoured this book as quickly as I possibly could, and, WOW... What a read!!

There are a lot of interesting things to like about Furyborn, including the characters. The story was told from two different viewpoints; one by Rielle, who was probably my most favorite character in the book, and by Eliana, who, I admit, took a little while to warm up to, mostly because of some of the choices she made in the story. It was interesting to read the story through these different viewpoints, especially considering they took place a good thousand years apart. There are some really great secondary characters in the story as well, and I hope we get to see a lot of them again in the next book.

The storyline for Furyborn was really creative and unique. It's been quite a while since I've read a book about angels, and I, for one, would love to see angel books make a comeback. Though, I can't say that I've read many angel books like this one before. The time period for the book had an excellent historical feel to it, and I love that the storyline was told in dual time periods, set centuries apart. There were quite a few twists and turns in the story that kept me guessing, including one big one that I should have seen coming. The book definitely ends in a way that will make you want to have the next book in your hands ASAP, and the wait is going to feel like FOREVER until we can have the second book in our hands. I will definitely have it on pre-order as soon as it is made available.

Overall; Furyborn by Claire Legrand was definitely an interesting read, and enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns in the story as well. I will most definitely be keeping my eye out for information on the second book, which is currently untitled, but set to release sometime in 2019. I'm hoping we get some information on that one soon! If you like a good angel story, do check out Furyborn!

Furyborn was not at all what I was expecting, although I am not exactly sure what I was expecting. I enjoyed several aspects of the narrative. I enjoyed both of our kick butt female leads, each with their respective storylines. I enjoyed seeing how their stories became interwoven across time and how significantly they impacted each other. I enjoyed the various trials that had to be overcome in order to prove the truth of the Sun Queen's return. However, there was a lot that I wasn't a big fan of. Many aspects of the story were confusing. Although the dueling narratives were an interesting concept, sometimes the stories were so similar that I lost track of which story I was reading. It was difficult to pick up after setting down, not in an addicting way. The headings of the chapters were also very confusing and sometimes provided the reader with information that wasn't followed through on (specifically deaths). I was also not prepared for the amount of sexual content that this book contained. I think that aspect of the novel should have been more widely promoted or spoken about before its release. I may even go as far as saying that Furyborn should be considered adult fiction, rather than young adult fiction, considering the nature of the sexuality it contains. I definitely wouldn't let someone I know who is within the typical YA age range read this novel until they were at least 16 or 17. A lot of my problems with the novel could honestly be chalked up to preference. Some people may want more smut in their fantasy, and others may have had no problem with the dueling timelines. However, these were problematic enough for me to doc my rating down to three stars out of five.

I'm very thankful for the chance to read this title. It is original and exciting. Unfortunately I do not feel that it is appropriate as a YA novel. The extreme graphic violence and explicit sexual encounters make for a better adult novel than teen novel. Personally I do not enjoy reading two alternating story lines. The style of the book makes it a bit inaccessible. This book is just not one for me.

My Review:


I held off on reading this new release because of mixed reviews but I'm glad that I finally decided to pick it up. I flew through this novel, even though it was pretty heavy fantasy and over 500 pages long because it was so well done.


What I Liked:


Would Building/Magic. I got lot a few times in the beginning, not knowing that of course the book had a legend in the back, but overall it was easy world to figure out. Legrand did a great job of crafting this whole new world. And she did amazing job with the magic system. Nothing felt forced or ripped off, it all flowed together into a great new fantasy.


Characters. As I always say, the sign of a good writer or at least one I will like is one who can create great main and side characters. Some tend to only focus on the main characters and the readers are left with unremarkable side characters. But not this time. Legrand created good characters all around. Every single one of them were important to the plot and as reader I connected with all of them.


Plot. The plot did have some predictable moments but I felt that Legrand spiced it up enough that it stands out against other fantasy series.


Writing Style. This is my first time reading Legrand and I found her writing style to be well-done. I only picked up the novel a few time before I flew through all 500 pages of it. The writing flowed and caught my attention all the way throughout it.


What I Disliked:


Format. The only thing I struggled with was the switching between past and present. It took a few chapters before I got used to the strange formatting.


I recommend checking out this epic new YA fantasy. It was a fun and intense read.


My Rating:


4.5 Stars Out of 5 Stars

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2361296904

**I received an eGalley of this book from NetGalley**

This is one of those that I ended up liking in spite of myself. I requested it because it was getting *all of the hype!* and eagerly started reading it. About four chapters in, I realized I hated both of the protagonists, and I wasn't too sure about the secondary characters, and also I was really confused. This is not a good combination for me, and I closed it and moved on to other things. Several weeks later, scrolling through my books, I came across it again, and felt this twinge of "hey, whatever happened to Rielle?" followed immediately by "You decided you don't care, remember?"
But I did.

I started reading again and this time I was totally sucked in.
The world-building is good - I'm always fascinated by pantheistic worlds.
The protagonists, while still highly unlikable, are at least understandable. They're very very broken. It makes them believable, and, even though you might never want to be friends with them (because they might actually decide to go ahead and kill you someday), you can't help rooting for them at least a little.
The villains are excessively villainous, the two timelines weave tighter and tighter and closer together until the "aha" of how they connect, and at the end you're dying to know how it all plays out. Hallmarks of a good story, right?

Definitely worth the read.