"It was joy, as wild and powerful as a storm, and it was hope, as tentative and newborn as the hatching crow"

* * * *
4 / 5

Huge crows that you can ride that have magical powers. I was completely sold on that premise alone. Throw in a complex female protagonist with depression that she is fighting, a whole cast of women, an unlikely marriage, and a revolution and you have a solid YA fantasy. 

"Some hours, some seconds, I could handle, and the next, I wanted to let the world swallow me up"

Princess Anthia of Rhodaire is a second daughter, destined to receive her own crow at the next ceremony and to become a rider, whilst her older sister Caliza studies to become Queen. When the military kingdom of Illucia invades, butchers their people, and slays all of their crows, Caliza must stand up and become Queen. Meanwhile, Anthia, or Thia, falls into a deep depression having lost her mother, her friends, and virtually everything she loves. Unfortunately for her, Caliza promises Anthia's hand in marriage to Prince Ericen of Illucia. You see, the crows are magical. Sun crows have healing powers, shadow crows can meld into the darkness. Without water crows to summon rains and battle crows to protect them, Rhodaire is extremely vulnerable. 

First up, I can't remember the last time I read a YA fantasy novel with a main character that is so clearly depressed and calls it that. Life sucks for Thia. Her mother is dead, her sister doesn't have any time for her, and she's supposed to marry a man from the people that destroyed her life. Can't blame the girl for not wanting to get out of bed. Then she finds a single storm crow egg in the wreckage of the rookery and it lights a small fire inside of her. I really rooted for Thia throughout the book.

"A beast inside me slowly uncoiled, releasing a tension so deeply ingrained, it had become a part of me"

The Storm Crow was thoughtful and fun and I definitely thought that the idea of magical crows was super cool and well integrated into the book. It's clear how having the crows has affected Rhodairen culture. However, this book definitely needed more crow action. There's a flight sequence at the start and the storm crow egg, but other than that there's not actually many crows around (on account of them all being dead). Shame. The Storm Crow also manages to fall into a number of classic YA cliches, including the dreaded love triangle and awkward cringeworthy enemies to friends banter between Thia and Ericen.

On the whole I loved this book. In particular I loved how it had prominently had several female friendships and a whole cast of women. Virtually every character of any importance bar the two love interests was female: kind women, clever women, cunning women, cruel women. The writing was also lovely; easy to read, descriptive and flowing, Josephson has a great style. 

There was a lot to love in The Storm Crow (including that gorgeous cover!). I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book.

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

4.5 stars.

e-ARC received via Sourcebooks Fire & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was one of my most anticipated releases for 2019 so I am super thankful to these providers for granting me this ARC.
T/W: Mild-violence, Depression
Diverse range of sexualities

A fantasy where our main character rides on the backs of giant crows? Yes, please. Also, we can't ignore that STUNNING cover - wow!

This was really enjoyable. Things go wild from the very first chapter and what you thought to be the storyline flips completely upside down. I liked our main character, although I did have slight difficulty picturing her despite several short descriptions of her appearance. I love first person narration but I think third might've worked better in this case. I'd love to have know what was happening in the other kingdoms, not just in Anthia's head.

I loved Prince Ericen, Anthia's suitor. My only real complaint with his character was that he has a striking resemblance to Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses, and what I predict will be a similar character arc. Here's some examples:

'Prince Ericen was one of the most attractive men I'd ever seen. With a short crop of black hair and eyes brighter than a bluebird's feathers, he was all crisp, clean edges and rich, manicured Illucian style.'

'His lips twisted into a one-sided smile. "At least mine's a pleasant sight.'

'"Are you saying you're not normally a prick?"
"Oh no, I am. Just usually a more charming one."'

'He lounged in his chair in a lithe, imperious way, as if the chair should be grateful to him.'

Adding to that, the Illucian town reminded me exactly of Velaris in A Court of Mist and Fury and the word 'Illucian' itself sounds an awful lot like 'Illyrian' from that same series. Maybe _ is our Tamlin! Another thing that threw me off, which is slightly more ridiculous: the disastrous event at the beginning of the novel is referred to as 'Ronoch' and all I could think of everytime I read it was 'Ragnarok' from the third 'Thor' film. This is entirely my fault but I thought it was funny enough to share.

There is a strong female friendship in this story that I really admired. Anthia and Kiva are extremely close and I thought that their differences in station made for an interesting bond. One thing that did surprise me was the boldness Kiva treated Ericen with. Some of her comments towards him were completely out of line, especially when the kingdom of Illucia threatens that of Rhodaire so harshly. It just seemed odd that a Prince would put up with an opposing General's daughter. But then again that could be because he does not wish to offend Anthia entirely.

I admire the depression rep but I would've liked that area to have been developed on further. It is great seeing mental health represented in a YA fantasy book. It is so important, especially as our main character has been through so much, and lost so many loved ones, at such a young age.

I went into The Storm Crow believing it to be a standalone. I was mistaken. It is in fact a duology, potentially a trilogy. While I am excited for the storyline to progress in further books, I was quite looking forward to reading a standalone fantasy as they are so rare. Nevertheless, it ended on a cliff-hanger so the following book(s) is(/are) sure to have some goodcontent!

If you love fantasy, a new plot, a fresh idea, but some more familiar characters - this is the book for you!

The Storm Crow is the book I needed to read at exactly this point in my life. The representation of not only depression but difficult family relationships that happen as a result of ignorance or misunderstanding is wonderfully explained in this book. There were times when I had to annotate a few lines or read over pages of scenes that were so spot on that it changed the entire feeling and atmosphere around me.

It wasn’t only the representation in this book that made it worth every minute rereading it. The character arc of Thia felt real. Every fragile moment set the bar deeper and deeper into feelings that books very rarely bring out.

Under the charming, witty dialogue of both Thia and Ericen, Kalyn Josephson gave these characters regrets and dreams that ultimately end up eating away at both of them. Both sides of the same coin, and yet when it came down to it, they chose different things for the same reasons.

The editions of the crows were one of the things that initially drew me to this book. Large black birds with strong wings and sharp beaks and yet still delicate and perfectly symbolic with just enough representation to make each mention of those wonderfully large birds mean something more.

A debut novel that has set the standard for all Kalyn Josephsons books from now on, put the author on the top of my must-read list with this book coming out of my summer reading recommendations. Everyone needs to read this book for the adventure, the intricacy and the representation. Oh and magic crows.

"A storm. A tempest of lightning and thunder with the kind of heart found only in legends. A heart full of kindness and courage and strength".

I'm gonna keep this review short and say i haven't seen many fantasy novels where the main character struggles with depression, that was crafted very well here and it was awesome to see Princess Anthia work and triumph over all her negative thoughts and negative situations she went through as well.

"A fire kindled in my chest, but it wasn’t the first time I had lain there and let it die".

Loved the characters and the racial and sexuality diversity shown throughout the novel too.

"People are their truest selves at their most desperate".

Overall its a great book and I can't wait to read the sequel 🖤🖤

<b> Netgalley Arc Copy </b>

So weird to me how in one week I read two fantasy books revolving around war, and huge birds. I recently read Crown of Feathers and absolutely loved it, and now The Storm Crow which is similar in the birds, war aspect but also so much different.

This was very good. It’s a little on the slower side but I was really invested and never got bored or wanted it to speed up. I enjoyed the characters, plot and I LOVE the world. I can’t wait to learn more about the world and every different part of it.


Thia is our main character and I adore her. She has major anxiety and from someone with anxiety it’s an honest depiction of what anxiety feels like day to day, she also struggles with depression in the beginning and it was extremely relatable! I really enjoyed Kiva, she’s a bad ass trained solider but she is the sweetest little pumpkin as well. She’s the best friend Thia could ever ask for and never ever lets Thia down! There friendship was an amazing aspect of this story! I also really liked Ericen and Caylus too. There was hints of a love triangle but it never actually is one, it’s very well explained towards the end. The only thing I would have liked would be a little bit more between Caylus and Thia. Just a tiny bit, he’s a very mysterious quiet guy, but I wish we could have just spent maybe another 3 chapters between them and getting to know him for ourselves. Other than that I really loved them.


The freaking <b> CROWS </b> sign me tf up!
I neeeeddd more of the crows. I want to learn every single thing about these crows and their magic. I mean that is such a unique and fascinating thing to me. Also I love little Res and his tantrums. I was laughing my butt off multiple times!


A really great read! I can’t wait for the second one.


<b> A round of applause for this being Kalyn’s debut novel as well!!! </b>

There aren't many books I read that I think will become HUGE. The Storm Crow however is one of those books. It just has that spark that can draw you in and keep you hooked cover to cover.

The world, economy, kingdoms and societies in this book are so well thought out. You get a map of the world and a full run down of each Kingdom and sectors of the main characters homeland which is great fun and also testament to the authors planning and comprehensive understanding of their own world. This is also reflected when you read the book and can really feel the magic behind the worldbuilding.

The character building in this is wonderful and characters are complex and not necessarily what they seem nor are they limited to cliches. I was also HUGELY appreciative of having a main character not only realistically handling depression but also overcoming it not by necessarily denying and eliminating it's existence but by growing with it and learning to live with it and still build a life despite this.

My only qualm with this book is that I didn't have enough of it. It comes out July 9th but I'm already desperate for its sequel. I have fallen in love with a morally grey Prince, a strong, stubborn princess (both whom have endured major trauma) and a magical crow companion that is defying the rules.

I LOOOVED this book. I felt it was a little slow in the beginning and middle, but when it picked up, it REALLY picked up.

I made it 10% into this before I DNFed it. My personal philosophy is if a book doesn’t click with me, I DNF. I don’t want to waste my time on a book that isn’t for me. In terms of this book, I read reviews to fill in my knowledge of the rest of the book and I’m disapppointed.

Firstly, this book was marketed as similar to a high, epic fantasy of Tolkienesque proportions. The Storm Crow is a generic YA fantasy that lacks in world building. Almost nothing was explained within the first section. What do the crows look like other than giant crows? Does each variety have distinct physical characteristics? What does the city/kingdom look like or the rookery? There’s no description for anything so I don’t know where we are or what’s going on.

The main character was interesting in how she reacted to having depression/PTSD, but it also felt one dimensional. The story is set up very cliche with an obvious romance—why is that necessary for every YA fantasy?

I can see this being for people who like YA or low fantasy, but for myself and those who enjoy high fantasy and detailed world building so we actually know what’s going on, this book is a waste of time.

Let us start this out by stating that I love crows. I find them fascinating, smart, and tricky. I feed the crows that hang out near my office and often brainstorm while watching them get up to their crow antics. So when the title and cover of a book has crows on it, well it grabs my attention.

The story starts out with the prologue where we get to feel what it's like going for a thrilling dive on a storm crow. Princess Anthia stole away for a ride on the crow like you or I might have 'borrowed' our parents car as a teenager for a joy ride. The Sky Dance is about to begin. The day when all the crows in the kingdom come together. When the eggs of the storm, earth, sun, shadow, and water crows will be hatched in the royal rookery. It's the day Anthia will get to choose her own crow and earn her place as a rider. Until something unthinkable happens. Irreversibly changing the kingdom.

Anthia's depression is palpable. If you've experienced depression you can feel the weight of it on your shoulders as you move through the story with Anthia. If you haven't, it's an excellent portrayal of how it feels to be so stuck in the darkness. When it starts to lift, when there is a plan. Action. Something to fight for again, you can see that weight being lifted.

The writing was fast paced most of the time but easy to follow. It was easy to get immersed in the story. The side characters at times feel a little flat. I enjoy Kiva and I thought Queen Razel was a terrifically terrible evil queen. Prince Ericen is the one that mainly fell flat for me. His feelings for Anthia were akin to instant love. I wanted more from their developing relationship. No matter where that may have went. To know more about his motivations, his past, even his present.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I loved getting to explore the crows powers and what they can do. I would recommend this book to others who enjoy crows, fantasy, princesses who aren't helpless, and evil queens. I look forward to reading the next book in this series because I'm going to need more!

After reading this, I was trying to come up with some comp titles—Game of Thrones? A Court of Thorns and Roses? Uprooted? Stain? All of the above!

I love fantasy, and the deeper the author gets into world building the more I find myself tumbling down into their rabbit hole. Josephson did such a great job crafting a massive world with their own beliefs as well as political intrigue. There is so much going on in this story but it all ties together wonderfully.

Anthia, our MC, grows by leaps and bounds and is truly a strong female lead. Typically I can't stand female leads [don't throw stones! It's just how I am] but I truly enjoyed reading Anthia's story, and seeing how she managed with the hand she was dealt.

The supporting characters were wonderful, too, they're all vastly different from one another and while there is romance in the story it takes the back seat to the most important thing—the warring kingdoms.

There is a big cliffhanger at the end which made me want the second installment today and it pains me to know I have to wait! I need answers!

All in all, a great read and I would give it 4 savvy crowns!

This high-flying fantasy (pun intended ;)) will have you wishing you had a magical crow of your own—I know I do! Having a MC with depression in an action-oriented book is not at all easy to pull off and still make seem realistic, but Josephson made Thia’s actions (and lack of action) feel real and nuanced. For me, the story really took off (;D) after Thia arrived in Illucia, and I really enjoyed seeing the differences between Illucia and Thia’s native Rhodaire. Usually, the country with magic is the most interesting, but the fact that all the other countries surrounding Rhodaire had to function without the magic of the crows makes for a fascinating juxtaposition and made me even more interested to see the other countries that seem poised to make an appearance in the next book. Josephson handles the reasoning behind what the Illucians do to Rhodaire with sensitivity (reminding one that things are rarely black and white when it comes to conflicts with long histories) and though the reader has no doubt who is evil by the end of the book, it’s the characters in that grey area in between good and evil who the reader is left thinking about. SPOILER: AHEM, Ericen! END SPOILER. I can’t wait to see how Josephson finishes this captivating duology!!

This book was so good! I loved it and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. I kind of want to wait for the cover reveal of the second (is it a duology? I'm not sure) to decide if I'm going to pre-order this bad boy to be on my shelves...

Anyway, back to the story! I was compelled from the very beginning. I didn't really have any expectations when I started this book. I just knew it sounded cool and I wanted to read it. The concept about the crows is really interesting and unique.

I thought the representation (mental health / depression) was well written. I was apprehensive at one time when it felt like the beginning of a love triangle but the romance is really light in this book so that was fine.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to YA Fantasy lovers who'd like to read a story in a world with a unique twist. <3

Thank you to the publisher who let me read and review an e-ARC through Netgalley.

What a fantastic ride! This concept of giant crows and human reaction was beautiful. I loved the descriptions of riding! The romance felt a little lackluster but I really enjoyed the rest of the book! I can't wait to hear what else comes from this author! Loved it!

The Storm Crow stood out to me early in the year as something with potential. I enjoyed the idea of the magic system, with big magical, pheonix-like crows, to be the source of power. I will admit this made things very surprising when the crows dont last long. After the prologue that world is gone. Left behind is a broken, oppressed government that is just trying to make ends meet. In order to save a small part of themselves, the queen decides to accept their enemies offer of marriage on behalf of her little sister. Chaos ensues because the little sister, our main character, Anthia, doesnt want to go.

The story takes a few surprising twists and turns, but overall it is fairly predictable. What makes this book different from other typical YA fantasy is that, Anthia doesnt necessarily fall in love with her forced fiance, or does she? There is also depression rep, and while at times the exposition of this is a bit forced and telling, it is still something needed in today's Young Adult Fantasy. I admire the author for going there.

Normally you see authors who are juggling a whole made up world along with characters and plot and I think it's difficult on them to tackle these mental illnesses. The Storm Crow does a good job of this.

Ultimately though, the story leaves a lot wanting. There are some great moments of tension within the plot, but the only one that really stood out to me was the relationship between Ericen and his ex-bff Shearen. Like, I seriously wanted to just KNOW MORE.

Anthia herself annoyed me at times with her choices as well. She seemed to dislike being a part of the world she was in, and even though she had been raised to be a Crow rider she didnt know the basics of her history or their magic system. This seemed confusing. If they fell less then a year ago, how is it that no one remembers these details? The one good thing about her character is she makes decisions. She doesnt lack agency even though she tends to make obviously bad decisions.

Overall I think this will appeal to those who like their fantasy light with rebel politics and their princes soft, but tragic.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book. The cover alone was enough to put this book at the top of my stack. The story starts off fast with an attack on the kingdom, and it never slows down. I loved the fierceness and independence of Thia, and I cannot wait to put this in the hands of students.

The synopsis really sounded interesting and the story lived up to it! I really liked the role the crows play in for the kingdom of Rhodaire. It’s such an interesting concept and nothing I’ve ever read before! It kept me interested the whole way through and especially towards the end!! That ending!!!

The characters are good and I enjoyed reading about them. Princess Anthia is our main character and we meet her after the crows are destroyed in Rhodaire. She’s about to be married off to Queen Razel’s (of Illucia) son Ericen to form an alliance between Rhodaire and Illucia. On top of not being fond of this, she is also overcoming everything that happened in Rhodaire. She was in a deep depression due to it. As the story progresses you see Thia recovering from the depressive state and start to thrive. It was lovely seeing her go from such a low point to a high point and standing up for what is right.

Kiva is a good friend to Thia and always will stand by her side. She was the one trying to motivate Thia to come out of her shutdown mode and function in society again. I always loved all the funny and sarcastic things she’d say!

Ericen was not a favorite at first with his attitude issues, but I grew to really like him by the end. It was funny watching him and Thia going at it while in Rhodaire and then see them come together in Illucia. His feelings for Thia definitely seem genuine. Now that she does not reciprocate the feeling he seems lost and unsure where to turn.

I liked the idea that Thia didn’t fall for the Prince cause that’s usually a standard in some books. It was nice seeing her go for the “underdog” character. Caylus seems like a good guy so far and gets along well with Thia. I’m excited to see where their relationship goes.

I really enjoyed The Storm Crow and it’s a fun read with a good set of characters! I’m excited to see what happens next!

Princess Anthia is the character I've been waiting for. Let me start by saying I'm normally a reader of contemporary ya fiction, but every now and then I find a fantasy novel I can dig into. This is one! The beauty of a fantastical character living in another world, but honestly processing emotions, depression, and doubt in the way in which she does, is weaved together so brilliantly that I could not put this book down. It does not disappoint.

*4 Stars*

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book! The Storm Crow is absolutely filled with the potential to be a great, captivating series. It’s gripping within the first chapter and the magic system is unique and fun. With a variety of majestic crows that can control the elements, and even bend shadows, they provide the foundation for a country’s way of life. How could you NOT get sucked into the story immediately?! The relationships between the crows and their riders is charming and gave me all the feels, reminding me of my own relationships with my two kitties (who, unfortunately, cannot control the elements, but they do a pretty damn good job at controlling my emotions).

This book was easy to keep reading and not once did I feel bored or want to put it down. There were some things about it that made some of the story difficult to believe because I did not want to believe that the main character, Thia, was that naïve. That being said, the character is young and, in my opinion, her actions are more representative of the mistakes that teenagers make as they are trying to figure out who they are and how to navigate their interpersonal relationships and environment.

I felt that some of the characters did need more depth and complexity to them to make me really feel like I could conceptualize their personalities and development throughout the story. Because of that, it would have been 3 stars for me. However, the reason I am giving this 4 stars is because there is a mental health component. Thia battles a depressive episode and her experience is written well. The mental health focus is a strong addition to Thia’s character as I feel it is something a lot of people will be able to relate to; therefore, allowing the reader to empathize with the character. With YA fantasy being, well, fantasy, it could be hard to relate to the experiences of the characters. Adding a mental health component to Thia’s story really gave me the ability to empathize with her and provided the story with more realism.

I highly recommend picking this book up when it comes out and I am very much looking forward to seeing how the series progresses.

THAT COVER!! Not going to lie, I didn't even read the description before requesting this on Netgalley, lol, I was totally sucked in by the art :) Luckily, I enjoyed the book a lot too!

The prologue was the perfect way to begin -- I was immediately sucked into this world of magical crows and I was dying to learn more. Then, BAM! Gone, and it had me sinking into a depression just like the main character. I really understood her longing for the way things were, because I sort of felt like I spent the book longing to be back in the world of the prologue too, and I was excited to see the character fighting to recover the culture she'd lost.

Oh, man. The Storm Crow is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I ended up finishing the book all in one sitting by pulling an all nighter!

The story is breathtaking and unique. I absolutely loved the magic of the crows. The author has a way with words, that much is certain; she made the universe seem so real. I adored the relationships between characters and I cannot wait to see what book 2 has to offer.