This book is amazing! It will definitely be one of my favorites of 2018, maybe THE favorite of 2018. Probably one of my favorites ever. I can foresee the Empirium trilogy becoming another Throne of Glass or Cinder (in terms of popularity).

This was an intriguing story told in alternating points of view. Instead of having two sections in the book, the book goes back and forward in time to tell the story of Rielle and Eliana. I liked Eliana immediately, the jury is still out for Rielle. The other characters in the Eliana chapters were likeable, specially Simon, Hob, Zahra, and Remy.. I found the Eliana chapters much more engaging than the Rielle chapters.
Not much in terms of world building so I had a hard time imagining the environs and where places were relative to each other. Didn't really understand the prophecy of the Blood Queen and the Sun Queen aside from they have the power to control the seven elements. There are explanations in the end but wish they had found their way in the story-telling also.
There were some holes in the story that I hope will be explained in the next book.
Four stars because I liked the story but found the alternating storylines to be a little off putting, especially since I had a really hard time getting into the Rielle storyline and wished that I could skip them to read the Eliana storyline. But at the same time it was an interesting change to having two sections to the story. Wished the author will intertwine the story at some point to show some parallels between Rielle and Eliana so that having to alternating chapters would make sense.
Will definitely read the next book in the series.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a little hard for me to understand at the beginning due to it changing characters every chapter but I got it took only a couple chapters for me to get it. I loved how action packed the two stories were. I’m very anxious to see what happens to Rielle and Eliana next!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of Furyborn.

This novel is the beginning of a new teen fantasy trilogy. It is a dual perspective story told through the eyes of two female characters separated by over a thousand years. Rielle, in 998, is royal adjacent - she was raised alongside the crown prince and his betrothed and kept her powers hidden from most everyone until the prince is under attack. Eliana is in 2018, but not the actual modern day, and is a store-brand version of Celaena Sardothien - she is a "fearsome assassin" with a deep sadness about her kills and believes herself infallible. But! There is a prophecy - the population is expecting two Queens to arise, one of blood and one of sun that will destroy the world by alliance with the angels/save the world by beating the angels back.

From other reviews I've read, it seems that everyone can agree that the first chapter is very well done, and piques the reader's curiousity - however, it writes a lot of cheques that the rest of the book can't cash. Rielle's story goes too far back in time from that opening and the reader is forced to trudge through the 7 trials she's given - infuriating, because you can extrapolate what happens from the opening. The trials make no sense as far as testing her mastery of the elements or determining which queen she is. It seems as though the trials are just devised spur of the moment, like the ruling class were surprised that prophecy day came. The prophet needed to take an extra second and create the test to recognize these chosen ones.
Eliana ends up on a quest with one of her targets when he bests her. This target was her "one last job" before taking her earnings and getting out of her oppressed country. She is headstrong and can't seem to find 3 seconds to listen to what is actually going on, beyond her narrow understanding of the world.
There are obviously other side characters in the story, but the narrative focuses so intensely on the motivations of Rielle and Eliana that the others have the character depth of a drying puddle. Why is (blank) acting that way? Hell if I know, but if I had to guess, for reasons? That is about the level of development we're dealing with.
The book alternates one (short!) chapter each between the two characters and most chapters end on a cliffhanger. The action is relentless, but the back and forth structure of the story feels like you're in a a short attention span tornado. The world building is completely absent, likely due to the chapter structure. We know there's magic, but not really how it is used on the day to day; we know there are angels and the humans hate them, but not why; we know the empire is on a relentless conquering spree, but it is a barely touched upon plot point.
There is a glut of teen fantasy on the market, and for that reason I am hard pressed to think of a situation where recommending this book would make sense and yield an enjoyable reading experience for the recipient of my recommendation.

2.5 stars

*

Furyborn has an incredible opening scene that is action-packed and introduces the story really well. It is a good set up to the series, with developed characters and interesting world-building. The premise is intriguing and the execution is well done for the most part, yet the novel lacks a certain charm that keeps you connected to the story.

Claire Legrand’s novel shows potential. The writing is good and easy to get into, and the pace is steady throughout most of the novel. There are quite a few twists and turns, as well as action filled chapters and some romance, and the magic system is really interesting. For some reason, the story just doesn’t work for me.

I struggled with this. I couldn’t connect to the characters or the plot. It wasn’t anything about the writing. Personally, this just didn’t work for me. The prologue is the one thing I absolutely loved in this novel. It is beautifully crafted and totally leaves you wanting to know more. But as the plot develops, it just… falls apart a little bit, at least for me.

Both main characters, Rielle and Eliana, have really distinct voices, but I found difficult to connect to them. The different timelines contribute to that issue, since the change from one character to the other happens rather quickly. At times, this very much feel like two books in one, so the pacing and story start to feel a little bogged down, which is made even worse because the book is already so long.

It’s a bit interesting to see how Rielle becomes the person we see in the opening scene, but there are no surprises during her journey. We all know the outcome already, so that takes away a little bit of the impact from the trials she goes through. So her chapters end up being a lot of world-building development, romance, and pretty much nothing else.

In the end, Furyborn is just not my kind of book. The characters are well developed, the writing is good, and the world-building is interesting, but I personally couldn’t connect to the plot. I still recommend it to Fantasy fans who enjoy strong female characters and are looking for something fresh in the genre.

I think I might have liked this book more if it was the first or at least one of the first fantasy novels I ever read. That’s not the case, though. At this point in life I have quite high expectations for this specific genre & here? They were not met.

We start off with a prologue already in the middle of some exciting action & that would be a good thing. A great thing, in fact, if not for all the info dumping going on in the background. Listen, I have a whole book ahead of me, there's no need to acquaint me with every single made-up word & aspect of this brand new world across the first ten pages. Especially when it's not just characters using terms that are familiar to them, but actual history & geography & anthology lessons. I don't like being treated as a kid when I read and that's exactly what I got here; the author makes you follow her by hand & explains every single thing you come across. It's boring!! Just let me figure some stuff on my own!!

I could deal with that (maybe) if at least the writing was mesmerizing. I probably wouldn't even notice that then… But again, that's not the case. It's hard to say anything about the author's style apart from it's mediocre. I don't remember seeing one (!!) quotable line across those over 500 pages! How is that even possible?? How do you make a book with such a cool premise so bland & then expect me to care about your world & characters???

Sadly, that’s not the end of my complaining about the writing itself. Another thing is the constant telling over showing. Come on, it's 2018, we all know the importance of actually letting your characters discover things instead of other people describing those things. Also speaking of descriptions… Don't wanna sound like a white male author from the ‘50s, but were All Those Adjectives really necessary? My biggest issue with the way Furyborn is written, though, was the constant use of an internal monolog (in italic, of course) to express character's thoughts & motives. That's just such lazy writing!!

Honestly all of this made me basically sure this is a debut, so imagine my surprise when I realized that no, in fact Claire has quite a handful of books under her belt.

I feel like it's important to mention how much sexual content there is here, especially since this is advertised as young adult literature. Let’s start with some context. The couple I’m talking about here basically grew up together and it wouldn’t be too much of a reach to see them as siblings. I’m not sure anymore if they have an age gap though… So in the third chapter we get a 13 years old girl - one of the two pov characters - “admiring” a boy’s body & lowkey fantasising about having sex with him. A few years later in the plot we are actually “treated” to an explicit sex scenes between them. And it’s not even well written. I mean honest to god, thirteen years old girls on ao3 write better sex scenes… The other pov girl character is basically just as open & talkative about her sexual prowess, if not more - mentions sex at least once every chapter. Technically there’s nothing wrong with it and I think this was the author's way to show us that those girls are mature & badass but all it did for me was leave a bad taste in my mouth.

This also connects very tightly to my other point. Which is: I was recommended this book as one having bi rep. But we get all those love declarations & dreams of the future & literal sex scenes between boys and girls and yet, I’m honestly not sure which character was supposed to be bisexual. I mean, if you put so much effort into building up het romances, you really have no excuse not to be just as explicit with same-sex ones.

I was mostly excited about Furyborn because of the blurb, obviously. I was specifically interested in the connection between Rielle and Eliana. It was said to be “shocking” & “determine the fate of their world”. And yet, having read the book, I can tell you with very clear conscience that this connection is the most boring and uninnovative solution to a mystery I saw in years. Actually the whole plot is very much underwhelming & makes you feel like you just wasted time. I will definitely not bother reading the next instalment.

I want to start by stating that this book has the grandest prologue ever. I was instantly and easily transported into a world, imaginatively and vividly described. A wrold so complex, I almost consider this as a high fantasy. The magic featuring elementals and angels and even a bit of science, as there were some kind of experiments in the book, were fascinating. Though there are still some aspects of the magic and the world in general that are still not crystal clear to me, I’m trusting book 2 will clear everything else. I liked it that magic’s involvement in the politics in this book was huge and not only the cliched who’s to be king and who’s to kick out of the throne. Though something like that happened, revenge is more likely the reason of it. This novel is dark, filled with intrigues and secrets but beautiful and most importantly, magical.

It started strong and never dulled until the end. Fast-paced and highly entertaining as it’s filled with actions and each page seemed written to entice the reader to keep reading. The writing was really good, almost lyrical. I love what the author did alternating POVs between Elliana and Rielle, it was well crafted. Some books commit the mistake of using multi-POVs and ended up creating the characters’ voice identical, it’s so hard to say who’s who. In here, however, Legrand did it well. Though the chapters are so short and the change of POV was almost abrupt, it wasn’t hard to identify who’s speaking.

Finally, the characters. Though I mentioned in my first update how much this book screams badassness and girl power because of its two MCs, I didn’t find myself really drawn to either of them. Elliana and Rielle are definitely complex characters who, when they were first introduced, are obviously in need of serious character development. They’re both too arrogant and too self-assured because of what they can do. I found Elliana as confusing and confused. She couldn’t seem to decide who and what she’s gonna be as a character; dark, anti-hero MC or the heroine type. At some point I found myself wishing she choose one and the stick to it. And Rielle I found her parts a little boring than Elliana’s. And though I love Audric, her love interest, Rielle grew on me coz she’s all Audric-this and Audric -that. But with all the things I said about these two, I didn’t really dislike them, they’re simply not my favorite.

My favorite? all the side characters: Audric, Ludivine, Navi, Remy and Simon. Oh Simon. I love him so much. And I won’t tell much about them. You guys have to read the book if you want to meet them and you would love meeting these characters. Well them and the VILLAIN, Corien. He’s one of a kind and intrigues me so much. I want to know him more and spend time with him more in the next books in this series.

Do I recommend this book? BIG YES!!! Though you must be aware of trigger Warning such as violence, abuse, even child abuse, sexual content, animal cruelty, torture, death of a parent/loved one.

I absolutely loved Furyborn. Right from the beginning I knew it was going to be a great read. Excellent characterisation, clever magical-type aspects, great world building, I just loved it all. The power struggles, the action, the dual timeline narrative, it all worked really well for me. A perfect foundation for a trilogy. It left me with questions, and wanting more to read, but that’s the beauty of the first book in a series. I can’t wait for the next!

This was an action-packed debut novel about two girls living centuries apart. There was a lot going on at once, but it wasn't too hard to follow after the first few chapters that set up the universe. While the second half was more entertaining, I still had a hard time connecting with the characters in the first half of the book for that to have made a big difference. I think a lot of Rielle and Eliana's choices made it hard for me to connect with them. I never felt like they were being fully genuine, and that affected the way I felt about the things happening to them.

"Furyborn" starts off with an incredibly intriguing prologue, showing violent and dramatic events that are obviously the culmination of years of conflict for our first main character, Rielle. When the first chapter jumped back two years to a young and impulsive eighteen year old Rielle it left me desperate to understand how she could go from the girl here to the Queen we met in the prologue. While this book ended up having a few things that annoyed me, overall I really enjoyed it and felt that the intertwined stories of Rielle and Eliana were well drawn.

After the beginning, chapters alternate between Rielle and her quest to become the Queen of Light, and Eliana a thief and assassin living about a thousand years after Rielle's death. It is clear rather early on how these two characters tie together, but I still really enjoyed the slow reveal. My biggest complaint about the book is that it felt like it took a bit too long for Eliana to stop being difficult and start to embrace her heroic side, but that could just be me getting a little tired of the "hardened assassin with a secret heart" character type. There is a bit of romance hinted at (or more then hinted at in Rielle's case) for each character, but the romance never takes over the plot, which I appreciate.

One of the things that I liked best about "Furyborn" is that it is very well paced for the first novel in a trilogy. The plot moves along decently and there is enough plot and character development to make you feel like it was worth reading this book even though it means a longer wait until resolution (sometimes I find that first books in a series can be infuriating in setting up mystery after mystery without providing any payoff). Once I got into the story I really enjoyed this book, and when I finished I was immediately annoyed because reading an ARC means I'll have to wait that much longer to see what happens next.

While this novel is a bit reminiscent of Game of Thrones and the Hunger Games (pay attention to the costumes!), make no mistake, it definitely stands on its own as a fantastic adventure!

My only issue with this book is that I have to wait for numbers 2 and 3 to come out! In this story, you don’t just follow the characters, you become the characters! And when you are not immersed in the story, you feel as if something is missing and you cannot wait to go back in.

This is a story about immense power, and what happens when too much power resides in one person; or in this case, two. Two women, a thousand years apart, and yet with a bond that surpasses time and space. One is the Blood Queen and the other is the Sun Queen. The Blood Queen means death and destruction and the Sun Queen is the savior. However, this is not a feminist novel in the sense that men are evil. Quite the contrary, there are quite a few men in these women’s lives that show them love and devotion and the desire to protect the at all costs. There are also men who would destroy everything to serve those of a higher power, whether that is good or evil is something that the reader must judge for themselves.

I cannot overstate how unbelievably good this story is! The heroines make mistakes, some quite costly, and have to overcome their own inadequacies in order for the prophesies to come true. Still, they are relatable. It is easy for the reader to imagine themselves in those situations.

Filled with magic and intrigue, lies and terrible truths, Furyborn is a story not to be missed!

WHAT AN EXCELLENT BOOK!

It is an amazing story told in a fantasy where magic and secret powers exist. It is told at two points in time, spaced 1,000 years apart. The story starts at the end of the first story, and then goes back to the beginning. THe second story is related somehow to the first, but it takes time to understand how.

This story includes Kings and Queens, good guys and bad guys, good angels and bad angels, the empire and the resistance, strange powers, prophecies and trials, love, and then some.

I loved the characters, I loved the stories, and the only problem that I have with it, is that I will have to wait for Book #2!

If you like a good, engrossing yarn, then this is the book for you!

I initially posted the wrong review here. I will come back and post the correct one when it's finished. Sorry.

This book completely Blew me away in every way possible!
A completely Epic Fantasy with not one but two Kick ass female leads!
the world was unique the characters amazing! and the creatures almost unheard of!
The plot starts at the end, or is it the beginning of the end?
and the Villains? I have never heard of such villains before.
it was like playing the daisy game with a book so many feels!
I Loved it, I Hated it, I loved it again, i couldn't stop couldn't put it down, was at some points flipping back and forth from point to point in disbelief!
Everyone needs to read this!
I know I can't wait to get my finished copy to add to my shelf of favorites!!

This was an interesting read for me; totally outside my normal wheelhouse, but everything I had heard about it was good so I decided to give it a try. (You know me, if there aren’t half-naked men on the cover, lol!) There were definitely parts I enjoyed-the first few chapters were kickass and exciting and totally dragged me in. Of the main characters I was definitely more interested in Eliana than Rielle, though there were aspects about the Queen that were intriguing. The prologue was what sucked me into the story and while it gave away some of the future happenings, it also set up the need to know exactly what happened with Rielle.

Rielle Dardenne is the daughter of the Lord Commander of Celdaria and she is hiding something from almost everyone. Her ability to control all seven elements of magic which means she will either be the savior (Sun Queen) or the destruction (Blood Queen) of her kingdom. A thousand years in the future, Eliana Ferracora is a bounty hunter (the Dread of Orline) for the Undying Empire that has seized her city of Orline, forced to kill rebels until women and girls start disappearing…including her mother.

The story is told in alternating chapters, and while I understand the choice honestly for me it made it really hard to follow the story sometimes. I would have preferred each half of the story to be presented separately with the necessary overlaps presented at the end. And that is totally my personal preference as I know other readers have liked that the format allowed contrast between the characters. For me though I ended up reading through Rielle’s chapters faster because I wanted to get back to Eliana’s side of the story.

But it’s not really Eliana…I just wanted to get back to The Wolf! He was definitely my favorite character and I’d love a side book just about him. I don’t want to say much about him because the discovery of the full role he plays in the story as I didn’t expect the big reveal. Well, I did but my brain was strained trying to figure it out how it happened until the full explanation. Part of the reason behind that is the length of the book, which I felt was overly long. There were some areas where I thought the story could have been condensed, less exposition and more action. Don’t get me wrong, there is a certain amount of background that needs to be set, but there is a point where it becomes too much. For me, that were the chapters around Rielle and the trials she undergoes to prove she is the Sun Queen.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those that love high fantasy novels; it isn’t what I would consider a romance which is my normal genre of choice. There are some romantic elements though, and I think those will come out more in the subsequent novels which I definitely want to read. While I think this is being touted as YA, with some of the darker themes, I would definitely recommend this for an older teen audience and not younger. (Of course, the maturity of the reader will factor in!) I do hope the story tightens up in in the next 2 books in the trilogy, but am looking forward to learning more about Rielle and The Wolf and how their story progresses!

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the chance to read this early!

I received an ARC from Net Galley. This book had me hooked from the very beginning. I tend to read a lot of YA novels, but this one...

I know this one isn't even out yet, but I want the rest of the series already. The book is written from 2 different perspectives in 2 different times. I can honestly say I was shocked at some points, but it totally made sense once everything was explained.

You come to really like the two main female characters and want to know more about their lives and families.

A book about two queens? At first I was hesitant. The back and forth took a little bit to get into, but once I found the groove, I was completely hooked. To be honest, I don't know which one I liked more. Since this book is HUGE, I read so much about each of them, it's hard to choose.

I will say that this had quite a bit of spice for it being a YA book, so there's a little heads up for ya.

And I really don't wanna say too much without giving it away. If you're looking for a new fantasy to get sucked into, I say you should pull up a chair and dive into this. Go in blind and stay with it and you can thank me later.

The story follows two girls deciding how best to use their power, and I loved them both! Rielle and Eliana are both lovely and flawed, each with her own strengths and weaknesses. This book was a badass ode to feminism, and the best way I can recommend it, is to fans of Game Of Thrones and Vikings. Furyborn was a super fun book that was definitely worth the hype!

When I first heard about this book, I really wanted to get my hands on it. I thought that it sounded fantastic and that cover was amazing. Once I read the prologue, I thought that I was going to love this book so much, because it started off so interestingly. Then we got to the first chapter and I liked Rielle a lot. Then the next chapter was Eliana and she was alright and so the book goes, switching back and forth. My biggest problem with this book was that I didn't understand the point of having these characters spread so far across time and sharing their story every other chapter. Maybe if it had been a part one with Rielle and then the second part Eliana, then I might have enjoyed it more than I did. The writing for this book is amazing, I do have to give the author credit for that. I just wasn't such a big fan in the layout of the book. I'm hesitant in the thought that this is going to be more books and how they might be the same in the sense that it will continue the back and forth. Usually I find that Im not a huge fan in switching points of views, but since this was written in third person, I didn't think I would mind too much. It didn't bother me so much as the time difference bothered me. That and I wasn't a huge fan of Eliana to begin with either.

I'm giving this book a solid 4.5 stars but rounding up hoping that the publisher will gift me with the sequel when it come out! :)
This story tells the story of Rielle and Eliana-both strong women. One is a kick ass fighter and the other has incredible magical abilities. Magic is pulled from the "empirium" which is the life force of all living and non-living elements in the world. One story is told from the past and one from the present. What I liked about this book was that the author plays with who is the "good" character and who is the "evil" one. I could kind of see that traditional definitions of both were not in play here.
I deducted half a star because I couldn't follow what Eliana's opinion of Simon was. One minute she seemed really drawn to him and the next she seemed to belligerently not care what happened to him. I need to know if he's the romantic interest! lol
Can't wait to read the next book in the series. Thanks for NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC in return for my honest review.