I liked this ending! it's a great conclusion to the series. It was a bit hard to get into at first but it ended up being very nice. I liked it and I liked the ending

I thoroughly enjoyed The Crow Rider! I actually thought it was better than the first (this the second of the duology) and wished the author had mixed in some more of the interesting mythology earlier in the series. I ended up really liking all the characters: the two main ones were great and I came to love their romance and even the villain was an excellent bad guy!

I would recommend this for all readers, from teenagers and up. Though this is YA, I think most will like the story, There is physical violence through a lot of the book.

The Crow Rider is a great follow up and conclusion to the Storm Crow duology. We get more character growth and more action. I appreciate the exploration of mental health and how it effects people. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I enjoyed The Storm Crow, the first book in this duology, rating it a solid 4/5 stars. The main selling point for me was, obviously, the huge crows with magic powers that people ride. I really rooted for Thia too, who was battling her depression and found it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Unfortunately, The Crow Rider just didn't grip me at all, and I paged through it listlessly, waiting for it to end.

The first problem was that I had read the previous book well over a year ago, and I couldn't remember what happened. I recalled Thia and her crow, Res, as well as Thia's sister, the fact that she was supposed to marry some prince who was ~troubled~, and had a friend that worked in a bakery?? This would be fine, except a google search didn't bring up a good summary for me, but even worse was that The Crow Rider dived straight back into the story without any kind of recap, or any hints to who all the characters were. I only realised that Caylus was supposed to be Thia's boyfriend when they broke up. The relationships between the characters just did not come across in the writing.

Second, I found the plot boring. Essentially, Thia is sailing around trying to raise support to overthrow Razel. Meanwhile, all she can think about is crow training and Ericen, who I specifically called out in my previous review for being annoying and having terrible, cringey banter. Well, he's back. Their whole relationship was painful to read: basically, he pops up and does something suspicious, Thia trusts him because, what, he doesn't like his mother much? He's cute? I don't know and I don't care. Thia ignores all her friends who say that he's bad news, and she's ignores them. She gets burnt. Rinse and repeat. It's so tedious. I'm not saying she needed to shoot him on sight, but I wouldn't have been that upset.

Other than that, there were just minor things that I found annoying, or ruined my ability to immerse myself in this book. The first is that Thia uses her bow in a sword fight, like all the time?? She parries swords with a bow? How would that even work!?! And she shoots arrows at people whilst they are swinging a sword right at her. That's literally impossible. No way. It's stupid and every fight scene felt dumb. Then there's the whole bloodline thing, where Thia is super special and everyone knows it but her, and her crow is super duper special and there's these weird magic beings who aren't properly explained who want to kill her. A lot about this book just felt thrown together.

A lot about what I liked in The Storm Crow - the direct depiction of depression, the wealth of female characters and female friendships - were still present and I appreciated these things a lot. But there was just too much that I didn't enjoy.

AHHHHHHH PLEASE READ THIS. I CANNOT EXPRESS IT ENOUGH. THIS BOOK AND THIS DUOLOGY IS OOF. IT IS EVERYTHING. JUST AHHHHHHHH! (I need to write a full review soon on my blog, but holy crap, I really enjoyed it)

Hello book pals!! I am here today because it is my stop on The Crow Rider Blog Tour. This is a blog tour organised by Faye Rogers PR, and I received a free arc from sourcebooksfire via NetGalley. I read The Storm Crow last year, and I remember enjoying it so much! So, read on for my review of the sequel.
Synopsis from Goodreads

Thia, her allies, and her crow, Res, are planning a rebellion to defeat Queen Razel and Illucia once and for all. Thia must convince the neighboring kingdoms to come to her aid, and Res’ show of strength is the only thing that can help her.

But so many obstacles stand in her way. Res excels at his training, until he loses control of his magic, harming Thia in the process. She is also pursued by Prince Ericen, heir to the Illucian throne and the one person she can’t trust but can’t seem to stay away from.

As the rebel group prepares for war, Res’ magic grows more unstable. Thia has to decide if she can rely on herself and their bond enough to lead the rebellion and become the crow rider she was meant to be.
My thoughts

It had been a while since I had read The Storm Crow, so I had to ask my pal for an overview before I started The Crow Rider. I had initially intended to reread The Storm Crow, but I got a job so that as a big no. So, what was it like to be back in the world of The Storm Crow?

I found the plot really easy to get back into after my quick recap, and I realised how much I had missed these characters. So we spend The Crow Rider reading from the point of view of Thia, our main protagonist and all around badass. I found Thia to be so strong, despite trying to stop her home town from being destroyed.
The characters

To be honest, the whole book is filled with badass babes, from Thia to Kiva, and Samra and Elko, I adored the female representation in this book. Kalyn has no beef when it comes to making the female characters unlikeable either. Although I just think I have a soft spot for my gay gal Kiva tbh. Anyway, this book portrays the female friendship in such a way that not many other books do, and it was an absolute pleasure to read about.

Now, on to the guys. Caylus is my main cinnamon roll and I just adore him completly. When we first met in The Storm Crow I thought Caylus was a complete sweetie, and honestly I just want to protect him so much. He is a lad who just wants to learn about everything and I mean, why not? He has had a rough past, being made to be a fighter when he would have rather been a scholar. I feel like his development in The Crow Rider is just perfect.

Now I’ve babbled on about my babe, let’s get on to Ericen. The prince who is trying to woo Thia. We left The Storm Crow with him letting Thia and company escape. Throughout The Crow Rider we realise that the prince appears to be questioning everything his mother has told him. Basically, the prince is a snarky lad with a fear of heights and who loves dangerous gals. Which, to be fair, that’s most of us.

Res is my absolute favourite. He is Thia’s storm crow and we initially meet him in The Storm Crow. However, in The Crow Rider we see him develop into, I want to say teenager? Res knows how to get what he wants, and his personality is one of a kind. I love how he knows how great he is, but also the bond between him and Thia is something special. I just really want a storm crow okay.
Representation
Mental health: depression and PTSD

The Crow Rider is filled with good representation, from mental health to sexuality and gender. Let’s start with the depression rep, which we initially read in The Storm Crow. Kalyn almost seems to get these encoraching feelings down so well. Thia suffers with depression throughout the whole of the duology, and it is nice to not have her miraculously cured. We see Thia both realising her triggers, and how the depressive thoughts feel. But we also have her figuring out ways to cope and sort of live with it, if that makes sense? I just found it really relatable.

Secondly, I also found the PTSD of Caylus to be really realistic. However, I am not a sufferer so I am unable to comment on the accuracy. Reading this book I just found his coping mechanisms to be very honest for him as a character. I felt my heart break when he thought he would be expected to fight. I just wanted to give him a big hug and tell him everything would be okay.
Sexuality and gender

I know these are two different topics, but I’ve only got a lil bit to say so felt like they could have the same heading. Basically I felt so seen with the ace rep. When a certain character was telling someone that they didn’t know how they felt romantically. I FELT SEEN. Like I love the lesbian rep between Kiva and Auma that we witnessed in The Storm Crow. But the Ace rep was just the icing on the cake. And the non-binary character – I see you. I just…more books need to be like this.
Overall thoughts

There is so much that I could say about this book, however I will let the rest of my tour hosts have their say. You can check out the rest of the tour in the image below. I just really enjoyed this book and I have it a solid 4 stars on goodreads. Now, I am going to dream of riding my own crow into battle.

Until next time,

Bee xo

I loved this book! The duology was awesome! It was fast paced, intense, full of action and interesting characters! I thought the characters were fantastic! I really enjoyed them and they were so well developed! Highly recommend this duology!!

A thrilling conclusion to The Storm Crow duology. The main characters were developed so well and went through realistic ups and downs. This was a well written and executed fantasy story that I can see myself rereading again and again. Highly recommend all fantasy lovers dive into this amazing duology.

This one was a DNF for me. I just couldn't get into it, and I actually did enjoy the first book quite a bit.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Sourcebooks for the digital eARC of this novel.

This is the sequel to The Storm Crow, and is the final book in the duology. I read the first book The Storm Crow last month and I really enjoyed it, so I was very excited to get to the next book!

This series tells the story of Princess Thia, who is fighting to bring the power back to her land, and bring the magic of crows back.

I really like the character of Thia a lot, she struggles with anxiety and depression, and I thought the depiction of this was very well done in the novel. I always enjoy reading YA fantasy protagonists with mental health struggles that continue to have adventures, who’s story isn’t focussed entirely on their mental health.

This conclusion is action packed, it never stops from page 1 and the plot takes a lot of twists and turns. It is a very easy read, and I sped through it in a very short amount of time.

I liked the collection of secondary characters in this novel; the relationships Thia makes and develops throughout this duology are well developed and fleshed out from the previous book.

The only thing that slightly let this novel down for me was the villain of the story was not particularly villainous or threatening to Thia and friends, and I didn’t feel the threat was as potent as in the first book. However, despite this I still enjoyed the overall story of the novel.

In conclusion I really enjoyed the conclusion to this duology, it wrapped up the action and characters and I really enjoyed it!

I want to start by saying that I will be including mild spoilers for the love triangle in this review because I want to talk about an issue I had with this book and there is no way for me to do that without spoiling that one thing.

Secondly, I also want to say that The Storm Crow was one of my favorite reads of last year and so I was incredibly excited about this follow up. And ultimately was let down.

I'll start by mentioning things I did like about this book.

This series has some of the best depression representation I have ever read. Better even than some of the contemporaries where depression is a main focus. As someone with depression, Thia's struggles felt so real and honest to me. The book even uses the word depression so that there can be no confusion about the mental health struggles that Thia experiences. I absolutely loved seeing that in a fantasy novel. I do wish that there had been a bit more of it in this particular book, but I don't want that critique to take away from how important the rep is.

I also really liked getting to see Res come into his powers. It was really interesting seeing his abilities grow. It meant getting to learn more about the crows which I really loved. And I liked getting to meet some new characters in this book and I continued to love the main cast of characters from the last book.

However, now I have to talk about the things in this book that bothered me or I felt just didn't work.

Firstly, I'm not thrilled with Caylus suddenly being revealed as aromantic. There was so much effort in the first book to develop a romance between he and Thia. I'm not saying that aromantic people can't be involved in romances before realizing they're aromantic. On the contrary, they can and some do and that's completely valid. With Caylus, it just felt very sudden and almost disingenuous for him to be aromantic. There is a love triangle set up in book one and Caylus being aromantic felt like the author's only way of solving that, without horrible tarnishing Caylus's character. It felt like instead of actually writing a solution to that love triangle, the author opted for just making Caylus aromantic and something about that didn't sit well with me. I would like to mention here that I am not aromantic and I did try to find own voices reviews but could not.

Secondly, some things in the plot were just way too convenient. Res's abilities would work at one moment and the very next, while trying to perform the same ability, he couldn't because he wasn't strong enough in that one way. I'm trying to be vague here for the sake of spoilers, but it just didn't make sense. There are also a few times where the author makes a point of saying that Thia is out of arrows but then two scenes later, she has more arrows. I know that's a small detail but with the other conveniences, it just added up.

Finally, I was very confused about the role of the Sellas in this book. I barely remember the Sellas being in book one. There just didn't feel like a strong enough set up for them in The Storm Crow for them to play such an important part in this book. And even when their role in this book was revealed, I still felt let down by the set up that was done in this book. Ultimately, I just don't think the way the Sellas were handled felt successful to me.

I know those critiques sound harsh and ultimately, they did keep this book from being a success for me. But I still had fun reading it and I still felt a strong connection to the main character and her journey. I will also mention that I absolutely loved the epilogue chapter and reading it gave me a lot of happy feelings.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley.

When I got approved for this book I was so excited. I heard really good things about it. What I didn’t know was that this book was the last in a duology. I’m glad that I found that out before reading this book. The first book in this series is The Storm Crow.

Short recap. In the Storm Crow, we meet 2 princesses of Rhodaire, Princess Anthia and Princess Caliza. Magical crows are a big part of this kingdom until Illucian invaders kill them all and kill Rhodaire’s queen. Princess Thai ends up finding an unhatched crow egg and feels like it will be the answer to Rhodaire’s problem. Once the egg is hatched she finds out that the crow, which she names Res, is not only a storm crow but has the power of the other crows. During this book, she tries to help him with come into his powers. There is not much romance in this book, but Caylus is her love interest. I honestly was not feeling this at all. I had high hopes for her and Rhodaire’s prince, Ericen. Sadly, I was disappointed.

In Crow Rider, we leave off from Storm Crow. I liked this book more than I thought I would. Honestly, I didn’t start getting into it until a few chapters in. All the adventure and magic were there but I wasn’t feeling the character very much, at least not until one part, and then I was fully invested. I really love the world that Kalyn created and the crows are such magnificent creatures. The fact that she chose a regular bird compared to some mythical creature made me happy.

Another thing that I loved was how Kalyn represented people with mental illness. You don’t usually see that in fantasy books and I appreciated it. I think it added really good depth to some of her characters.

As much as I loved all the friendships and relationships within this book, my favorite friendship was Thai and Res. Their bond was so strong and interesting and I loved the connection that they had. I feel like I finished this book pretty quickly, maybe too quickly, but overall I enjoyed it. This book drew me in a little more than the first one. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy!

I really enjoyed this finale!! (Honestly, I really enjoyed this duology overall.) It's definitely not a favorite series ever, but I genuinely would recommend this, and felt it stuck out (in a good way) from other YA fantasy series out there!

My review of The Storm Crow really went into detail on what this book/series does differently from other YA fantasy books, and after finishing its sequel, I can safely say that most of those features continued well into this book!

First, I absolutely love how the romance was resolved in this book. While it did end up falling into a love triangle, it solidly ended one relationship (and in a great way! they're still friends! and it all makes sense instead of it just being from drama) before moving on to the next. Additionally, even though the romance did become the one stereotypically expected from this kind of set-up, it still played the same role in the story as the other one did instead of taking over like most romances do in YA. Other relationships and friendships in the story remained just as vital to Thia, and I just loved seeing that in this book.

Second, I feel like this series is the absolute perfect length. Many fantasy series go on for books and books (or are at least trilogies), and it leads to some books feeling less important than others, especially second books. This series could have easily been stretched out to a third book, but instead we now have two books that are evenly paced, are both just as exciting, and didn't feel like they dragged on at all. The pacing of the overall story between the two books also worked extremely well, with enough twists and action in both. It made the story feel seamless, something I noticed since I read these two back to back.

I also ended up really enjoying the plot and characters. The plot, while semi-predictable at points, kept my interest the entire time. The action/battle scenes were also extremely well-written, and I was definitely on the edge of my seat during many of them. I also liked where the story went, and the choices Thia struggled with (fulfill her need for revenge or stop it's never ending cycle?). It overall felt like the plot and characters directly affected each other, with important events having lasting effects on characters (that they couldn't just brush off). I also just really grew to love Thia, especially as an MC. She's far from the 'badass woman who can do everything', but we've honestly had so many of this kind of MCs lately. She has flaws and weaknesses, and constantly struggles with PTSD and depression from past trauma, and none of it is dealt with lightly. It's not just there for drama, but actually impacts her actions and choices, and we see Thia constantly struggle with it. It felt real and raw, not just a 'character trait.'

Overall, I really enjoyed this series, and I'm excited to see what else Kalyn writes next!

A fast-paced conclusion to an exciting story.

Thia's bond with Res continues to grow but its strength is tested by both her allies and enemies. Thia's love triangle is quickly dissolved, focusing more on her development as a leader. Prince Ericen plays a prominent role in the latter end of the book. The battle scenes last longer and are frequent throughout the plot. The world development expands but some plots are left vague. There are rapid twists and entertaining reveals. Readers will enjoy the story and a satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to see where this sequel was going to go after the first book. I thought Storm Crow was very unique and entertaining, but this second one kind of missed the mark with me a little. I just couldn’t get into the world as much as the first one. I felt no connection to anyone or anything that was happening until halfway in. The only parts I loved were with Ericen because he’s adorable! Overall it was just an okay read.

The Crow Rider is the incredibly engaging and fast-paced conclusion to The Storm Crow duology, the action packed into this novel was never ending! This sequel kicked off right where the first novel ended, but whereas The Storm Crow started off fairly slowly, The Crow Rider throws the reader straight into all the espionage, warfare and suspense.

The worldbuilding within this book definitely stepped up a level, there was also a lot more discussion and involvement of the Sellas, legendary figures that the people of Rhodaire worshipped. It was fascinating to learn about the Sellas and how their story was woven into the creation of the elemental magical crows. Res the baby crow from the first novel was still a main character within the sequel, his bond with and adoration of main character Thia was the sweetest thing to read about!

My only critique of this novel is regarding the main character’s romance, it took a kind of U-Turn not far into the sequel, making me question events that happened in The Storm Crow. I wasn’t opposed to the romance in this book at all, it was the one I was originally rooting for but it was also the more predictable outcome. The events within The Storm Crow just seemed quite unnecessary or pointless if it wasn’t going to lead to anything, but as I said I did enjoy enjoy the romance in the sequel it just took me by surprise.

This is without a doubt a sequel of equal brilliance as The Storm Crow, it’s so imaginative and thrilling. The Crow Rider has made me even more desperate for my own magical crow! The author has created a novel full of action, suspicion and rivalry, if you’re looking for a great fantasy series to get stuck into I would most definitely recommend The Storm Crow duology!

The Crow Rider is a lovely end to The Storm Crow duology. It wraps up the story neatly and ties up (most of) the loose ends.

Thia is a princess in Rhodaire, a land that previously relied on magical crows to fight battles and do a lot of the kingdom's work. Now there is only one crow left, Res, who Thia hatched and has a magical bond with. Res is a very powerful crow, but he's young, and their enemy kingdom, Illucia, is trying to destroy them. Thia needs to forge an alliance with the neighboring kingdoms or they will all be destroyed. In the meantime, she needs to figure out her feelings for Ericen, the prince of Illucia, and figure out whether she can trust him or not.

The Crow Rider does a lot of things well. One thing that Ms. Josephson does well is capture the emotions behind traumatic events like war and loss. Even the crow and the villain have logical emotional reactions to the things that happen to them. The battles were well-depicted also.

Thia shows tremendous character growth in The Crow Rider. In the beginning of the book, she's nervous and uncertain, but she learns to trust herself over the course of the book. She behaves like a normal teenager would, which is a plus in YA.

The biggest drawback to this book is it seems to have a HUGE cast. It would have probably been better if I had read The Storm Crow and The Crow Rider within a short time frame (instead of a year apart) because there were some people introduced in the first book, that show up later in the second book, that I had forgotten about. This wasn't a huge issue, as the book generally explains who a person is, but it can make the book slightly confusing at times. Also, I don't recommend reading The Crow Rider without first reading The Storm Crow, as there are important events that happen in the first book that lead to the events in the second book.

Overall, The Crow Rider was an enjoyable book. I loved the magical crows, it captures emotions well, and the battle scenes are great. I definitely recommend it.

Where should I start? I honestly don’t know. I’m still speechless after that ending. I finished the book half an hour ago and I’m still not sure what to say except that I loved every sentence and that I’m sad to know that this series is now over. What a great ending!

Like I mentioned in the review of the first book in this duology, the writing style of Josephson is just fantastic. She has her way of describing things that’s just amazing. Thia and Kiva are still my faves and that friendship is a hell of amazing! I still have nothing negative to say about the worldbuilding or the books in general.

The story is very fast-paced even more than in the first book and I liked that because it worked with the mission the group has to accomplish.

As you might notice I’m babbling nonsense so I will finish my review here but just remember this duology is worth reading! And it has an amazing ending. If you haven’t read the Storm Crow, then here is your friendly reminder to pick it up. It’s a hundred percent worth the try!

The moment I saw The Crow Rider on Netgalley, I knew I had to try and request an e-arc of it. I had really enjoyed The Storm Crow when I read it so I couldn't wait to immerse myself back into that world again. So I was excited when Kal @ Reader Voracious asked me to buddy read this with her since we read the first one together. I am sad to say this one didn't do it for me like the first one.

I think my main problem is a lot of the information from the last book I didn't remember. I feel the author assumes that you remember what has happened in the last book. I was completely lost. I didn't remember who a lot of the characters were and what their relationship to Thia was. So a lot of the time I found myself guessing a lot of the time. I feel like after a while and reading about the characters for multiple chapters I assumed I was right but still wasn't 100% sure. I did find out later after finishing the book that there was a guide to the different cities mentioned in the book. I wish I knew that while reading because that would have helped me so much and probably would have increased my reading experience. I feel possibly would have helped to have that in the front of the book in this case.

It took me about 50% to get into this book. I do have to say the one thing that does not disappoint was the action. I felt like this was a very action packed book. However with that being the case I feel it didn't do justice to the characters. I just didn't feel as connected to them as I should of. I am sure a part of the reason has to do with me blanking on who they were and why they were important but I was sad about that. I remember really enjoying getting to know them in the first book.

Overall, this didn't do it for me like I thought it would. I do wish I ended up rereading this story in preparation for this book. I feel that might have given me more enjoyment out of it. So if you do plan on reading this I really would highly recommend that especially if your memory is flaking on what happened. I think you probably will end up having a better reading experience than I did. I would like to in the future give this book another chance. I do feel it really deserves that with how much I liked the first one.

*I would just like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

The Storm Crow was one of my favorite books last year and I was so excited when I got my hands on the conclusion, The Crow Rider. Thia was an amazing character that was willing to do whatever it takes to defeat Queen Razel and bring back to its former glory. With her beloved crow, Res, she prepares to rage a rebellion war but things don’t go as planned and Thia may be the only person truly able to defeat her mortal enemies.

The Crow Rider was a well-written sequel that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I loved following along with Thia’s journey as she picked up where her mother left off and became the only hope of saving her beloved kingdom. Thia went from being unsure of her abilities to being confident in what she was able to do and raise a new group of crows to protect everyone like it used to be. Ms. Josephson is a talented writer and I’m excited to see what she stories she will write next.