Another great addition to the Empirium series. This one picks up right where the first book leaves off, so if (like me) its been a bit since you read book 1, you might feel a little out of sorts jumping back into the story. I typically don't like a huge backstory in sequels, but sometimes its nice to have at least a reminder of where our protaganists left off before jumping back in. Once I dove back into the story, I didn't want to put the book down and I enjoyed all the twists and turns throughout. In many places, this series reminds me of a combination of The Queen of the Tearling and A Darker Shade of Magic, which are two of the best fantasy series I've read. I'm seriously itching for book 3 already to see how everything wraps up with our two Queens.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series. The story continues where Furyborn left off. As Eliana's story continued, I fell in love with her. She is kind and courageous and an amazing heroine. Rielle, on the other hand, I came to really dislike. She is self-centered and has an over-inflated self-worth. Sometimes, I started to feel sorry for her, but then she would talk about how people should adore her and she got annoying again. The end of the story really had me floored. What a cliffhanger!

I am 100% biased I love Claire Legrand, I love furyborn so I was never not going to love this. It’s amazing, so brilliant, well written, the same characters I loved I love even more and no spoilers but how am I going to make it without book 3 , I have to wait how long ! It’s so good it’s unfair and torture to wait for the next.

Book: Kingsbane | The Empirium Trilogy (Book 2)
Author: Claire Legrand
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Date : May 21, 2019 (Canada)
Pages: 519
Format: Ebook | Netgalley
Rating: 4.8/5

Review:

How curious the life of young Simon thrown into something he barely understood, away from everything he knows, in a time he doesn’t recognize, and it’s snowing on top of that. It really made me think of how we met him in Furyborn. He was sure and true. Clever. Admittedly kind of a jerk. This makes my heart break because he’s only that way as a result of how he arrived and how a tiny child clutching a ripped blanket had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Having the book start with such a fragile moment just threw open my heart. But then, I was shoved over completely and well starting chapter one with a period is extremely badass. There was no going back after that. Not that I tried very hard to resist.

I’d forgotten how well written Furyborn was and I’m extremely happy for it. It made reading Kingsbane very unexpected, though the clever quick paced dialogue from book one continues in book two as everything I wanted and more.

“We should tell them the truth.”

“Ah, that an angel took over the minds of their fellow citizens? That the angels are returning?That the Gate is weakening? Yes, that sounds like a splendid idea.” - Ludivine.

Under the charming dialogue however, like with Simon, each character holds secrets and regrets that come through time and time again as a snagging reminder that yes these characters are wounded but healing. And no, none of the pain is over.

I was wish I had reread Furyborn before diving into Kingsbane, I felt I missed some of the impact in the first few chapters. There was little background with some character like Hob or Patrick. I couldn’t remember characters or their histories. I couldn’t remember names or place save for Remy (that wonderful boy). With some characters being introduced again or not at all, I was lost for the most part during the beginning chapters. Though that character reveal at the end needed no introduction at all!

The book was action packed from the start but after Corien’s chapter the book seemed to explode in twists and leaps. It was a snowball effect of everything Claire Legrand built and promised. Finishing chapter ten changed the book. It became kill or be killed, learn or die, concur and adapt or die… fate of the word stuff. The good stuff.

This book is incredibly deep and painful. Dark but filled with so much light and rare moments of hard forged victories both small and large. I go from smiling to tearing up and the thought of throwing it across the room (in joy and frustration) is a frequent occurrence. And that ending!

In hindsight, you could see it coming. If you look closely and collect all the right clues it's staring you in the face but of course I didn't put two and two together.

I can feel the pain days after finishing this amazing beautiful book.

The open relationship between Lu, Rielle and Audric. The triangle of Simon and Eliana and they're own guilt for each other and those around them. Eliana’s character development is superb. She's is so undeniably human and the pain she feels is tangible. Every emotion she felt I was right there with her.

Rielle’s slow descent into her own madness felt like another side of a coin. She didn’t know what to feel and in the small moments it seemed she had a hold on something she either lost it or was told she was doing something wrong. The guilt and her love over Audric made her so incredibly vulnerable. The sweet coaxing from Corien added so much to this story and to Rielle. I'm not sure who the villain is anymore.

The world building (and destroying) is the work of a master storyteller. Claire Legrand is a genius and I can't wait to see how all of this comes to a conclusion.

Oh, the bitter sweet epic that is Kingsbane!

My heart hurts and I want to scream and I wish I could talk to someone about it so they could soothe me but then I remember I was granted an ARC and I can’t reveal anything more about the ending.
It took me awhile to read this probably because I was dreading getting closer and closer to the end, but it was so good.
Claire why do you feel the need to flay your characters’ souls apart (and subsequently your readers)!!!!
All of the characters are so intricate and multi-faceted, the world is carefully thought out as well as the magic system and the religion and the history, the time jump is also cool to see how Rielle’s time is basically regarded at mythology in Eliana’s time, and I know anything can happen but the shock, the surprise! The betrayals I didn’t expect!
This hasn’t even been published yet and I want to go to Claire’s house and demand the copy of the third book.

I hope everyone is ready to cry a bucket of tears over this victorious and vengeful sequel. As Rielle grows into her power and out of her humanity, her relationship with Audric and Ludvine is changed irrevocably, and she realizes she may not be the queen she thought she was. Meanwhile, Eliana's power blossoms despite her inherent fears and her self-realizations give her a power that her mother could not possess. Legrand's writing has never been so fierce and frenetic and Kingsbane moves at a breakneck pace that left me breathless. I wanted to stay in this world forever and I'll be heartbroken when the trilogy ends.

How will I ever survive waiting for book three? This second book killed me beyond words. I do not know how I will write this review of mine. I'm not sure I have any feelings left, haha. Kingsbane is all kinds of long, and it took me so many days to read it, but I did not mind one bit. Because I loved every word of this lovely book.

I have struggled all day long with writing this review. As I did not know how to begin. I still do not. As this book killed me. In good ways, and bad ways. Gave me so much heartbreak. Completely ruined me. Yet it healed me too. Okay, not too much healing, ha. I hope there will be more of that in book three. Just. Oh my gosh.

I have read Kingsbane. Which is a book I have waited so so long for. A book I have been dying to read for ages and ages. A book I have been so jealous to see everyone reading but me. And now I have gotten to read it too. Sigh. And I am not sure my heart will ever recover from it, haha. I'm not sure I want it to? Hmm. Claire is the most amazing author and person. I love her beyond words. I have been a fan of her since her first book came out, and have read and loved everything by her since then. She is the kindest person. But my gosh, how I'm angry with her right now, haha. Because this sequel to Furyborn ruined me in all the ways. Everything going wrong. There was so much heartbreak and grief. And so much romance. All of it so rude. But so very perfect too.

There is so much that I want to share about this book. But I will not. I will not be sharing spoilers, at least nothing big. Because, gosh, there are so many things I could spoil about this book. But they are all things you must read for yourself. Kingsbane was full of surprises and twists. Most of them bad, haha. But a few happy surprises too, that I loved so very much. As always, the writing was perfection. I had no trouble at all with connecting to the story or the characters. I might have connected a bit too much to everything, ha.

As with the first book, this was told from the point of view of Rielle and Eliana. With a very few other point of views later on in the book. Nothing big, but needed, at least for me. I loved getting inside of their heads too. This book is filled with amazing characters and they were all awesome to read about. Although I love my Rielle and Audric and Eliana the most. Remy is still beyond precious. I'm still the most worried for him. How rude. He was truly adorable in this second book, though, and I simply love him so. Best little brother.

Rielle was my most precious one in book one. In this one she really tested my love for her. I still love her to pieces. But I am so angry with this girl as well. She was so different in this book. The same person, yet different. She is always angry. And cruel too. And way too rash about everything. Yet she is the sweetest toward Audric. And I loved that the very most. But yes. Rielle was an angry creature in this book. And I'm so mad at her. I'm so worried for her, because of how I fear there was a reason for how she behaved. Oh.

This whole book worried me. So many bad things happened. And much worse is yet to come. I'm so not sure how I will survive reading it all, considering I'm still dead after having read this one. Rielle is making me so worried. I love this precious girl so much and I want her to have a happy ending. But I do not know how this will happen. She has done so many bad things now. Then there is Corien. He is there, still awful, but not in this book as much as I had feared. Book three will be worse. My poor heart might not survive it.

Then there was my precious Audric. He is in this book a whole lot. He is still the light of everything. He is always there for Rielle, even when she is doing all the stupid things. He is there and loving her and taking care of her. Their romance is all kinds of intense. And also so lovely. And I ship them beyond words. And I worry for them even more. Audric is my love. My life. And he deserves the whole world. Hmph. There are scenes with the gorgeous godsbeast too, and I loved her to pieces. So truly adorable and cute and fierce.

There was so much of Ludivine too, and she is so complicated, and Rielle treats her so badly in this book, and it just ruined my heart. Okay, I was kind of angry with Ludivine at times, but I still loved her a lot. And she deserved better from Rielle. Hmph. And then there was Simon. I still do not fully love this man, haha. There are too many things we still do not know about him. But he's there, a lot. There is romance. Maybe. And it was written really well. But oh, I want my Eliana with someone else, still, haha. Still. They are cute.

And Simon was written well. And I did like reading about him, truly. I just. I want him as a friend, haha. Yet he was not all bad. But too mysterious. Anyway. Eliana was all kinds of fierce in this second book as well. I loved her inner struggle and such. I loved how she tried her best to save Navi. I loved her friendship with Zahra. I very much loved how she was working with her powers, struggling to understand it all. Trying her best to cope with being the Sun Queen. It was awesome. And I simply adored Eliana. So fierce and cute.

So much is going on in this book. In the past and in the future. There are wars. There are deaths. A whole bunch of stunningly written smut. Amazing friendships and romances. I will not share much about the plot only that it was stunning and so much happened. And I am so curious and so worried and I loved it all so. This whole book ruined me. Beyond words. And I could not help but love it so much. I need the third book more than anything. I fear it will ruin me forever. I cannot wait for it, haha. It will be the best one, I'm sure.

Kingsbane was everything I had wanted it to be and more. Full of danger and adventures and romance. Such stunning relationships and so many plot secrets. It ruined my heart at all moments. And I could not help but love this even more because of that. This second book have made me even more worried about how everything will end. I am so unsure about my happy ending. I don't know how it will happen. I want it to. I need it to. But I am also beyond positive that the third book will hurt me the most of them all first. Ah.

Huge thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, for letting me read this most gorgeous book early via Netgalley. I'm so thrilled that I had the chance to read this one early. And oh gosh, I'm getting a print ARC in the mail too, for my collection, and I could not be happier. Sigh. I cannot wait to own all of the finished copies when Kingsbane come out in May. If you have read Furyborn, you truly must read Kingsbane too. It was such a perfect second book. Full of pain. Full of heartbreak. Treasured every moment of reading it.

I need to give myself a few moments to gather my thoughts. I love Furyborn, so I had high expectations going into its sequel. It did not disappoint. Rielle and Eliana are as fierce as ever. Corien really stepped up the game with his sinister ambitions. The stakes are high, and the enjoyment is higher. Thank you so much, Sourcebook Fire, for granting my wish. I cannot stop thinking about how hauntingly good Claire writes. She weaves so many twists into this beast of a book.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book.
My hopes were high because furyborn was one of my favourite reads last year but overall I was seriously impressed.
One thing that really stuck out to me were the plot twists my mind is honestly blown.
I loved our main characters and felt their journey has so be read.
Overall I couldn’t recommend this book more and gave it 5 stars.

Furyborn was a perfect example of a read that is indulgent and just plain fun. I worried it might be a tough act to follow, but absolutely not. Claire did an amazing job.

I want to call it a guilty pleasure, but I hate the connotations of that. I am not guilty of reading this story, which is why I choose the word indulgent. I love that the story is angsty and a bit melodramatic. I love the shifting alliances and the layers of feelings. The romance kills me. The allure of power is perfect for my Slytherin heart.

In Kingsbane the whole crew is back and the emotions are high. Stakes are even higher. Part of the best tension within the story is knowing what happens to Rielle but not know how. I love this anticipated tension. It's almost better than a big surprise reveal. We know from the first pages of Furyborn where the end of her story is and the path to it is the biggest source of emotional turmoil. I loved going along on the ride. The tension. The woe. The power of choice and actions creating ripples is really explored here.

Eliana is also going through an acceptance of who she is and who she isn't. I love seeing her go through these transformations and seeing how the characters around her influence it. I don't want to get into too much for spoils but it's good stuff.

The ending left my soul torn apart and so excited for the resolution of it all.

I'd recommend the series for fans of SJ Maas and those who like angsty vampires. It's got the same vibes and the same undertones of power and scale.

If you liked Furyborn, I guarantee that you will end up loving Kingsbane. Claire Legrand is giving us everything we loved from the first book but better and with all these little details that Furyborn failed to give us.

We find our two protagonists a little bit after the ending of Furyborn. Rielle is trying to make amends with everything that happened after the trials that anointed her Sun Queen but she finds many obstacles, and one of them is Corien's promise for freedom. Eliana is trying to accept her fate and control her power in order not to make her mother's mistakes. Both of their characters developed in such a brilliant way that the authors succeeded at making me love them more than ever before. After Kingsbane, Rielle is in my top 5 female characters list and I think that this says a lot.

We also see more of the world of Avitas. We visit Borsvall, Kirvaya, Astavar and many more places. Also many secrets about the world are unveiled that might change everything. Not knowing about the Saints and the magic system was my only complain while reading Furyborn but I think that Kingsbane gives us all the information that we needed about the world.

What made the book stand out for me was the dynamic between Corien and Rielle. They truly stole the show since their scenes were the best. Some people didn't recognize their worth since they considered Corien just a voice inside Rielle's head and they aren't completely wrong. Now, Corien is more than just a voice. The author managed to capture all his complexity and establish him as one of my favorite villains in Young Adult literature. Rielle and Corien truly shined in this book, both together and separately, and I was excited to witness that.

I was shocked by some certain plot twists. I can tell without doubt that, no matter how many books you have read and how many plot twists you have come across, Kingsbane is going to surprise you.

I found Kingsbane beyond amazing and it deserves to be read. So whether you liked Furyborn or not I would advise you to read Kingsbane when it comes out in May 21st.

I was not as pleased with Kingsbane as I was with Furyborn. Let's start with the good:

1) Rielle: We all know she's set up for an incredibly deep fall from grace. She needs to journey from sweet Sun Queen to vicious Blood Queen, and the reader knows this. It is interesting to watch her lie to herself about how gracious and forgiving she is, that she is not one to be feared, while at the same time demanding that everyone fear her. She is the absolute worst character, ever. The worst! She is such a garbage person. BUT, this is a GOOD thing, in my opinion, because we are told from the get go in Furyborn that she is the bad guy. The more our hatred of her grows, the better a job Legrand is doing with Rielle.

2) Eliana: Watching her grow into her power and find a way to accept herself and her place in the world was my favorite part of the book. I much preferred Eliana's chapters to Rielle's, if only that I already know where Rielle is headed so I'd like to focus on Eliana's journey.

3) Simon: If you aren't swooning, you're not reading this book properly.

Now the bad...

1) Tal: He is her father figure when her father was such a crap version to begin with. And his entire personality changed in this novel. I was confused and really disappointed in his behavior because it was conflicting with book 1.

2) Ludivine: Again, personality change and serious conflict, but also, some of that change is not thoroughly explained and left me feeling confused as to what to believe about her true mindset.

3) So. Much. Gratuitous. Sex. I don't mind sex in a book. I don't mind detailed sex in a book. But I felt like there were a lot of times that it was just thrown in there because Legrand couldn't think of anything else to do. Also, there was a scene where a certain someone slept with a certain someone else that they barely knew, and then nothing came of it. Their paths rarely crossed again, and there was no impact or meaning, but hey, they had sex!

Very often in a trilogy, book 2 lacks so much because it's only a set up for the grand finale, and I am hoping this is what happened here.

This book .. man .. this book. I fell in love with the epic fantasy that was Furyborn and Kingsbane does. not. disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire book and could not put it down. I am already itching for #3!

I truly feel empty after reading this book. The ending blew my mind; watching the characters I have come to love and understand go through what they did in this book solidified this trilogy as an all time favorite. Make no mistake, this book does not suffer from second book syndrome in the least bit and watching Rielle descend into her role as blood queen was as fascinating as it was frustrating. My only critique is that I felt it could have been shorter.

This squeal completely blew me away.

I loved Furyborn, the first book in Legrand's new series, when I reviewed it last year. It was new and fresh and unexpected. The storytelling in Kingsbane continues this and yet carries a certain level of confidence and fluidity that only comes with writing in a world that's already been well established. Dark, surprising, sexy, honest, and so much more, Kingsbane is my favorite book yet by this author.

I loved this book. It was a privilege to have it as my first read for 2019. I can't wait to share my thoughts on it with my followers.