5/5 Stars

I loved this book with my whole YA fantasy and mythical creature loving heart! It was everything I needed to pull me out of a mini reading slump.

The story begins with the history of two sisters, one born without magic and one an animage and phoenix rider. Both sisters were fighting for the right to rule the kingdom until they tore it apart. Years later, two animage sisters, Val and Veronyka, are fighting as well, but to survive in a world where animages are imprisoned or enslaved and phoenix riders are something of legend. Veronyka ends up being betrayed by her sister and leaves to find the phonenix riders that she still believes exist.

The overall story was complex, historical, and beautiful. I loved the inserted bits of phoenix legends and history here and there that truly added to the overall story and world building. It was pure fantasy magic! The reader really gets a sense of the diverse world through the stories and the many different points of view.

I completely fell in love with the characters and creatures in this story. I loved the main characters and each point of view presented including Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev. The little bits with Sparrow really had me wanting a happy ending for her as well. She was just this little character that kept popping up and I absolutely loved her personality. I also enjoyed every single scene between Veronyka and Tristan. There was definitely a hate to friendship story going on and I loved that the author took the time to develop it.

There was definitely several twists, lies and betrayals that unfurled along the way in this story that I didn't see coming. This book ripped my heart out in the beginning with the certain betrayal scene hinted at with Veronyka and Val. It's been awhile since I had to put a book down from reading an emotional scene, but I definitely had to at that point. I felt it went beyond backstabbing. The villains in this book were truly hate-worthy even if some are slightly gray area in the morality department. It took me awhile to pick the story back up after that scene, but it completely set everything in motion. The pacing of the story was good, but I felt it went faster after Veronyka goes in search of the phoenix riders.

Overall, I loved this book and believe it will easily be one of my favorites I read this year!

I highly recommend this book if you love phoenixes, mythical creatures, sister rivalry stories, girls in disguise, a little hate to love romance in your fantasy, LGBT side characters, stories within stories, history with your world building and multiple POVs!

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for allowing me the chance to read this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it and will be waiting in fiery anticipation for the sequel!

Sadly I could not read this due to it not being able to download to my kindle. ePub only. I’m hoping to read it when I get it from my library though. It sounds fantastic.

Fantasy books with dueling sister queens seems to be a thing right now. Books such as Three Dark Crowns, by Kendare Blake, really set a standard for complex plots, and royal intrigue. So, while I was quite excited about reading Crown of Feathers, by Nicki Pau Preto, I was also wary. Would this be a retread of Three Dark Crowns?

I am so happy to say that Crown of Feathers is such an original work, full of fabulous world-building, characters, and themes that it is wholly unique. I loved it!

What I Liked:
Setting:

The novel is set in a world that has been ravaged by a war between two rival queen sisters. Most people are still struggling to survive, and they are wary of Animages (people who can bond with animals), putting them into slavery. This is a civilization in decline. Before the war, women and men were equal. The legendary Animages (called Phoenix Riders) worked with their regal creatures to protect the empire from invaders.

But with ending of the Blood War, men decide that female animages are too dangerous. When Veronyka does find some Phoenix Riders, she isn't allowed to train with them because she is a girl.

Phoenixes play a central role in this book. I loved the mythology behind these creatures, and how they bond with the animages. The author has really thought out all aspects of the life of a phoenix, from how it is born, to what it eats, and how one would behave in a battle. This made for a rich setting.

Characters:

I loved Veronyka. She is a teenager who has survived years of abuse at the hands of her sister. We begin the story seeing Veronyka as rather weak. But as we see that kind of psychological attack she has endured, it's no wonder Veronyka is so meek. Her journey of evolving into a strong young woman was very satisfying.

Tristan and Sev are two other characters who go through a transformative journey in the novel. Tristan is an apprentice Phoenix Rider. As the son of the Commander, he has a lot to live up to. The fact that he is afraid of fire (and, of course, Phoenixes often burst into flames) complicates his training.

Sev is an animage who is hiding from the empire in plain sight. He becomes a soldier, an oppressor, who must witness other animages being worked to death as slaves. Will he continue to take the easier, safer path? Or will he risk everything to help in a rebellion?

Themes:

One of the main themes concerns how abuse can happen among siblings. In the case of Veronyka and Val, this abuse is more psychological than physical, but it is destructive, nonetheless. The novel really delves into the subtle ways Val manipulates Veronyka to do her bidding. She bullies, and threatens, but also isolates Veronyka from friends so her self-esteem is completely gone. Although this is behavior that one would believe only happens in romantic relationships, this portrayal reminds the reader that abuse can occur in any relationship.

Ending:

Even though this book is the beginning of a series, the ending did resolve many of the plot points, and was extremely satisfying. I hate it when a book seems to end right in the middle of the action with the promise that there will be a big reveal when book two comes out. Which will be at least a year later. The ending solved enough of the problems to be gratifying, while generating interest in what could happen in the next book.

What I Liked
The start of this book took me a second to get my head around, but once I was in, I was IN. This fantasy kingdom is very well laid-out and there's some incredible world building moments in it. Veronyka's kindness juxtaposed to Val's controlling coldness is very well done, and Val's manipulation is characterized so well I found myself getting SO ANGRY AT HER. The other POV characters, Sev and Tristan, are done very well. I kinda like Sev more than I like Tristan, but hey, maybe that's just me.

What I Would Have Liked to See
Like I said, the beginning was sort of choppy trying to catch the reader up on the deep history of this world. I think upon re-read, I'd like the beginning a lot better.

My Favorite!
The history of the Phoenix Riders, and the history and heritage of this world altogether. It's gorgeous and so imaginative! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SECOND BOOK!

TL;DR
The legendary Phoenix Riders are attempting to rise from their own ashes and retake their kingdom, and a war orphan of mysterious lineage might be the champion they need--if she can survive the empire that wants them all dead.

Crown of Feathers sounded like your classic "sister at odds to take over the throne" YA fantasy book that I typically love. After reading the book and looking at the synopsis, I think the summary was a bit misleading. Veronyka's controlling older sister was prominent in the first fifty pages and then in the last. Their relationship wasn't what I was expecting since we didn't get much of their interactions "on page". The overall premise was interesting, but I never felt the story progress. Because Crown of Feathers was told from three perspectives, I never felt a connection with any of the characters which affected my reading experience. The ending was a surprise that made me more invested in the story, but I'm on the fence if I would continue reading future installments. This is a book for those who already love YA Fantasy and can look past a bit of info-dumping.

A rich world with wonderful characters. I was captivated by the chemistry of the characters and their individuals story arcs told in alternating chapters.

An excellent start to a compelling series filled with monsters, mythology, and magic.

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto is a frolicking adventure about a girl who wants nothing more than to become a phoenix rider. 

I really enjoyed reading Crown of Feathers! I loved the story, the fierce female lead, and the inclusion of phoenixes. While the pacing was on the slower side, I appreciated the depth this book offered.

Veronyka and her sister Val don't have much in life--they have a roof over their heads, a small amount of food, and a mutual desire to bond with a phoenix. Veronyka has always known that she wanted to be a phoenix rider. This is her dream, her goal, and what she feels is her life path. She will do anything to become a phoenix rider, even if it means she has to impersonate a boy to increase her chances of achieving her dreams. Leaving her older sister behind, Veronyka sets out on her own and joins up with a group of phoenix riders. She serves as their stable boy, mucking stalls and feeding the animals. 

I loved reading about Veronyka's adventures impersonating a boy! I grew up loving Disney's Mulan, so this is a concept I really dig. Veronyka has to go through extra steps to ensure no one knows that she's actually a female. During this time, she grows closer and closer to the leader's son, Tristan, which presents all sorts of unique challenges.

The book jumps back and forth between Veronyka's perspective and Sev's perspective. While Veronyka is aligned with the phoenix riders, Sev is an animage in hiding, serving as a solider in an army that hates animages and phoenixes. Sev and Veronyka's stories intersect on more than one occasion. I'm looking forward to seeing where their stories go the next book. 

The phoenixes were so neat in Crown of Feathers! Known for being intelligent animals, each phoenix is unique and wickedly smart. I loved the bonds that the phoenixes are able to form with humans. Being able to understand an animal, especially one of such intelligence, would be really cool!

The ending had a lot of excitement and one heck of a plot twist! I was surprised by the ending, and I'm intrigued wondering where the next book is going to take this interesting development. 

So should you read this book? I would highly recommend Crown of Feathers to fellow fantasy fans. If you love phoenixes, that's an added bonus!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First off, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher. I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book because of the phoenix. As a Harry Potter fan, and just a myth fan in general, phoenixes have also been one of those creatures I love.

Crown of Feathers follows Veronyka on her journey to become a Phoenix rider. There used to be many riders. The empire was ruled by queens on the backs of the phoenixes. But when a war broke out between two sisters, the riders fell. The war tore families apart and left many, like Veronyka and her sister, Val, orphans. All the have is each other, but when Val betrays Veronyka, Veronyka leaves to try and find the phoenix riders that are still left and join their ranks.

This was a very unique story in my opinion. There are many war and uprising stories out there, but this one had a twist. The characters were all very well developed and the relationships between the characters was magnificently portrayed. It showed us how those we surround ourselves with are the ones that shape us. Whether they are there to support you or to break you, they have an impact.

The only thing I had trouble with was that there were two story lines, and one was not as good as the other. I enjoyed Veronyka’s journey and her development within the book. The other story follows those within the empire. This one I just did not find as interesting. As the story went on it got better, but it took to about halfway through the book. Both story lines are important as they do cross, but I just found myself unhappy with some portions.

Overall though, I enjoyed the world that Nicki Pau Preto built and the unique story that was filled with betrayal, love, determination, and magic.

This will be released 12FEB2019

What a great debut! Despite it only being the first month of the year I am very confident this will be one of my favorite YA debuts of 2019.

First off, the cover is insane! I can't wait for my preorder to get here so I can take photos of this book! I think this is a cover buy that is totally worth it. I also love the inclusion of a map! Maps are so important in fantasy and I found myself referencing it a lot.

The opening line/chapter of this book is perfect, I am glad we are introduced to Veronyka first and not given a prologue with the history. I felt immediately pulled into the story and on Veronyka's side and incredibly intrigued by the bit of world building we got and that we got some action right away.

I love multiple POVs and I felt like as each character was introduced their voice was clear and each had an important role to play in the story and added to my understanding of the world. I loved how distinct each character felt and I wanted to be in their heads and experience their triumphs and pain. Veronyka and Sev were my favorites and I was immediately drawn into both their stories. I loved the dynamic between Veronyka and her sister, Val actually ended up being a favorite of mine too. I love unlikable characters with questionable motivations and her little arc was great. I really hope we get a Val POV in the next one, I feel like her character has so much potential and I can't wait to see where it will go!

One of the my favorite parts of the book was the little quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the letters and history spliced between chapters. I thought this created a lot of atmosphere as well as building up the suspense about what went wrong in the past. It was also a great way to squeeze in some world building without it feeling like an info dump. Plus those quotes were always so ominous, Ioved it!

Though the characters and themes of this book put it into the YA category, the length and pacing actually felt more like adult fantasy to me, which is another reason I think I enjoyed this so much. I love detailed world building and spending time learning about the characters and the nuances of a world. Not everything needs to be action. I saw a couple other reviews complaining about info dumping and slow pace, which I disagree with, but this also is not the typical short 350 page YA novel where it's non-stop action and very little development. This pacing and interspersed history felt like just the right amount of explanation and action for me. I was never bored and was always wanting more from the story and the characters.

I really can't wait to learn more about this world and see where these characters will go, especially after the events at the end of the book! There were some really great twists and even though I had my suspicions about certain identities I was totally surprised by all of the reveals! Especially the big one. Great twist! I hope there will be an ARC of the next book because waiting a whole year for the sequel is going to be painful!

I love stories where girls pretend to be boys in a world where girls are not seen to be strong and wise, then boom they kick butt!
It took me a few chapters to be interested, but then I was invested!

Loved this book. If you like world building and epic fantasy this book is for you. I loved the conflict between the sisters. I loved the diversity. It was a little heavy on world building if you dont like that, but I love seeing a world become real. Great start to a new series!

I really really loved this story! It was really epic, and I loved all the history of the last war between the sisters and how those same dynamics were replaying themselves again. Veronyka and Sev were really great narrators (though I felt like Tristan's chapters were unnecessary, unless we were going to get something from Kade and Val as well. it just felt unnecessary to see things from Tristan's POV when you could just as easily have seen them from Veronyka's?).

The book was a little slow, as not tooooo much really actually happens, but I feel like it was a really good set up for the rest of the series as we get into the real action and the new war.

I also really loved Sev and Kade and can't wait for more of their story. And to find out more about Val, because she might have been hella annoying, but she was also quite fascinating as a character.

It’s dark and Veronyka is using an owl as a guide.Veronyka lives in a cabin with her sister. The sisters are able to communicate with animals. Talking to animals and other animal magic is banned after the blood war . The blood war was against two sisters and the one with animal magic is deemed a traitor. Val finds two phoenix eggs but only one is able to hatch. I was afraid Val or Veronika would be caught using animal magic and enslaved. There use to be hundreds of Phoenix riders but they were executed along with the phoenixs. Now only a few remain in hiding.I felt more of a connection to Veronika and wished her well on her journey without val. All the risks she took was worth it.

Crown of Feathers was one of those books where it took me the full first 100 pages to get truly invested. The information overload in the beginning consistently pulled me out of the story that was trying to be told. So I was literally giddy when the last paragraph on page 101 hit and I was like ‘finally, let’s do this!’ While there is still quite a lot more info dumping throughout the book passed this point, it didn't take me out of the story as much as it did in the beginning and the multiple POVs helped move the story along at a better pace.

Stories of girls disguising as boys to join the male ranks has always been a favorite of mine, add in conflict and a little romance and I am there for it. I never truly felt swooned, but the foundation is there to really jump off in book 2.

The fantasy world with phoenixes I really enjoyed. The world - big and layered. The phoenixes - fierce and adorable. You will get attached to those beautiful creatures and you will want to fight somebody if they are harmed. Come at me!

Family dynamics, sisterhood, betrayals (oh, my heart!), diversity, and the need to truly belong round out this first installment and by the end I was firmly invested and looking forward to see how everything is wrapped up!

Quick Note: Post to go live on my blog on 1/8.
I was pretty excited to get access to this book early, because I love fantasy books that involve mythical creatures, and I haven't read a lot of books that deal with Phoenixes. They only one I can really think about is Fawks from Harry Potter, so this was a really cool concept to have a world completely built around Phoenixes and warriors that ride on them and bond with them. The concept of the Phoenix Riders and the world building in this novel about a Fallen Empire that is still waging war against each other is what really interested me in this novel. I love this about this novel, but I also had some issues with the actual narrative and execution of that.

I think this is a good start to a series, and I understand that this is a debut so I do think I am giving it a little more benefit of the doubt. I know this book is going to be a series, but I think in the narrative it takes on a little too much. Mostly I think the three different perspectives we get throughout the book is not necessary. I liked reading in Veronyka's perspective and in her friend Tristan's perspective, but I think adding the perspective of Sev didn't do that much for the overall story. There are some key things in there that just moved the plot along, but I felt like it added some unnecessary length to the novel. Also, I just didn't really care about Sev in this novel and was more interested in the other two characters and what they were doing.

I also think that parts of this novel could be completely cut out altogether. I found it starts to waver in the middle and there were parts of the novel where I found myself really bored. I hate that about a book especially when I really like the world building in it. Being bored at parts made it harder for me to get through the reading and to be interested in what was happening altogether. It felt like nothing happened for awhile and then all of a sudden a big battle happens at the end and there's a big reveal about certain characters. I think it would just benefit from a little more editing.

All my issues aside, I think this is a great start for a new series, but just think it needs a little more work that I hope gets improved upon in the next book.

*I received a review copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley, this is no way reflect my review.

This series has the potential to break into my favorite fantasy series of all time. There were twists I didn’t expect, characters I instantly loved, a wildly entertaining plot, and fantastic world building. It was a bit of a slow start, but that also may have been because I was reading it on my phone and wasn’t feeling motivated in the beginning. As the world unfolded, I just became more and more sucked in.

Another thing that got the story going was the multiple perspectives. At first, I thought we would only have two but then a third one was introduced. Pretty late in the game, but I was alright with it. It wasn’t introduced before it was needed which I appreciated.

As soon as this book is released, I’m going to be buying a physical copy so then I can stare at it on my shelf until the next one is released. IN A YEAR. Not sure I’m going to be able to handle that one, but I’ll have to.

I don't know what an ACSM file is. I cannot open this. If you can send me a file I can open I'd love to review

In what was once a prosperous empire, torn apart by feuding sisters, orphans Val and Veronyka journey through the land in pursuit of their shared dream of becoming Phoenix Riders. A twist in fate leads to Veronyka branch out on her own to find the Riders. Eventually carving a place for herself in the group, everything she’s worked so hard to achieve is put at risk when her sister arrives. Can Veronyka hold onto her new life when the old one comes calling?

This was a fantastic read. Young adult, high fantasy? Yes please! The premise is something I haven’t encountered in recent releases and I appreciate the creativity. Nicki Pau Preto introduces wholly relatable characters with mostly clear motivations. I think the book could benefit from more world-building. It was easy to picture the characters from their vivid descriptions but their settings were definitely more vague.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this one. I highly recommend it to readers looking for adventure.

I was not able to read. The issue was saving the file and converting it to a format that would work on my kindle. After searching the internet I was not able to figure it out. This is to bad because it sounds like a good book and I was looking forward to reading it..
Sorry I didn't read it. I was able to download and save to my computer but could not convert file and transfer to my Kindle.
Wish you made a Kindle Version - sorry could not read
Not able to review - could not read
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I was not able to read. The issue was saving the file and converting it to a format that would work on my kindle. After searching the internet I was not able to figure it out. This is to bad because it sounds like a good book and I was looking forward to reading it..
Sorry I didn't read it. I was able to download and save to my computer but could not convert file and transfer to my Kindle.
Wish you made a Kindle Version - sorry could not read
Not able to review - could not read

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!