Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to ARC review!

I'm a little late getting to this one and I might be beating myself up over it a bit because I really enjoyed this story!

First, Shadow Daddy, if you know you know. Seriously though I did enjoy Irian's character and I found myself continuously waiting for him to come back on the page. I also liked Rogan, though not as much. Out of all the characters I thought he could have used some more development. I understand that he's the way that he is because of how he grew up, but I wanted more growth from him, especially since he supposedly loved Fia. I liked Fia too and I enjoyed watching her journey as she struggled to discover who she really is. I will say that I'm usually not a fan of love triangles, it's probably my least favorite trope BUT I think Lyra Selene wrote this one well and I didn't hate it.

I loved the world-building here and I was so happy to have found a book so steeped in Celtic mythology. Also, I felt like the magic system was new and different and was fun to read. And I hope to gain a better understanding of them and how they work in future books.

I think this was a great start and I can't wait to see more.

In a world full of magic and fae, Fia is a changeling destined to help bring back the princess she replaced. Rogan has been her only friend since childhood, and although he's intended for Eala, he's only ever loved Fia.

As they spend time together, it becomes such an emotional ride, and we combine that with the natural mischief of the fae for a dark and twisty adventure. Fia and Rogan work to figure out how to break the curse keeping Eala and the other 11 girls trapped in faerie. Irian, their keeper, who is in charge of the Sky-Sword, and the power of the realm is fae through and through, answering her questions with stories that are loosely applied to what she's asked.

As she goes back and forth between Irian, Eala, and Rogan, their stories don't match up, information is taken at face value, and the rules of the fae are at play in more ways that Fia could ever know. Her connection to the earth and her magic is stronger here, but as for everything else? Details about the curse, the nature of Eala herself, and what she truly wants from Rogan are all conflicted depending on who they've come from. Especially anything about Irian's nature.

Fia is conflicted and running out of time to make decisions that will not only affect her, but both the human and fae worlds. Conflicted between the love she thought she knew and the love she can only hope she can figure out how to experience. I could not put this down. This was a wonderfully dark and twisty story about love, loyalty, and hope.

"By fire and by sky, by fast water and by ancient tree, I promise my willing heart to thee....O Heartwood"

A Feather so Black is lyrical and enchanting. This is a dark retelling of Swan Lake but gives me childhood Swan Princess vibes. I was fascinated with this entire story and had to fight binging the book, while also not wanting it to end.

Summary: Fia, a changeling, was left behind in place of the Queen's daughter in retribution for the war. The Queen raises the changeling as her fosterling daughter and forges her into a weapon. Fia and Rogan, Fia's childhood friend and love, and the true princess' betrothed, are tasked to enter the Fae realm and break the swan princess' curse, while also returning a weapon of power.

Tropes
🌿enemies to lovers
🌿friends to lovers
🌿star crossed lovers?

Here is what you can expect
✔️ morally gray shadow daddy
✔️love triangle
✔️Celtic mythology
✔️unique magic-heroine has botanical magic 🌿
✔️story telling/riddles

Fia is starved for love and acceptance. She's a child of rot and vines and difficult to love. She was trained to be a weapon by the Queen's right hand, and has all things soft stripped from her life and person. Fia is strong and fierce, but also incredibly vulnerable. Seeking acceptance while also growing into her own person and learning her own boundaries.

Rogan, the princess of the neighboring realm, and the true princesses' betrothed, loves Fia in his own childlike way. He's hindered by his responsibilities and makes choices for the realm vs his heart. While I think he loves in his own way, he also hasn't learned to accept her true nature.

Irian is dark, dangerous, and our villainous shadow daddy, but there's something vulnerable and desperate in him as well. I loved the precious way he helped Fia learn to love herself, and I'm hoping I get to see his character develop more in book 2.


Overall, this story was so magical and will live rent free in my mind for a good long time. If you're a romantasy lover or enjoy retellings pick this one up!

Thank you to Netgallery and Orbit Books for this Arc!!

Thank you NetGalley for this Arc for my honest opinion.

The FMC is a Changeling swapped at a young age with a human princess. In that case she’s trained to be sneaky and a killer. I enjoyed the world building and seeing the interaction between her and the Queen. It toxic as toxic gets but Fia is blind. Along with Rogan, ok yea he’s handsome and a childhood friend, but I felt nothing for him.
I disliked the love triangle trope but it was a clean cut.

Now bring in Irian
“She kissed him, and he kissed her back, lingering on lips that tasted of moss and miracles and the aching promise of a future yet untold.”
Yep that sums it up.

I love anything to do with fae and changelings, and this book was no exception. This was my first book by Lyra Selene, and I'm so excited for future books in the series. I liked the nods to the Swan Lake story, as well as some classic Fae tropes we all know and love. I loved Fia as a character, and I'm excited to see how she continues to come into herself and gain confidence.

This was soo good! I was so invested in the characters and I loved the setting. I do have some issues with Rogan. He was so dumb about all the stuff showing up at the fortress. Fia was a complicated and conflicted character and I really enjoyed that about her. I want to read the second book, but Lyra Selene wrapped this one up without a cliffhanger, which I am grateful for. So often lately fantasy books end in cliffhangers and it feels like it is to force my hand to read the next book to know the resolution. But not this one. I want to read the next book because I want to go back to Fia’s world.

* I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

While I initially had difficulty getting into this book, once the story starts in earnest I found myself really enjoying it.

I thought the writing was beautiful. I think that the author demonstrated a fine balance between prose and narrative. While I personally love really romantic, flowery writing, I know a lot of people aren't into it. She leaned into it more during magical, emotional, or romantic moments, but most of the time the writing was very practical. It was very effective in my opinion.

I really appreciated our main character's personal journey and thought it was really well done. She is imperfect and complex, trying to figure out who she is. Her responses and actions are written in a compassionately trauma informed way. She is not passive or one-note, and it was refreshing.

I found myself frustrated with how time was passing in the book. Being able to go through the gate only once a month dragged things out so much. I wasn't really into the first part of the romance, so I really wanted more time with Fia and Irian. I did feel that the spicy scenes tended to be repetitive with some of the same phrasing being repeated several times, (Specifically, pupils being blown and describing how bodies are pressed together.) Also, am I crazy, or does she bargain a kiss with a mysterious stranger at one point and then it never gets brought up again?

The book's strongest aspect for me was the magic and lore. I loved the Celtic mythology. The Swan Lake retelling wasn't a huge draw for me, but I love anything to do with Fae and green magic. We get a lot of the history of Tir na Nog in this book, I hope in the next book Fia learns more about how her magic works.

Thank you for the opportunity to read it, I really enjoyed it.

Fia (changeling and adopted daughter to the Queen); Rogan (Prince, Fia’s childhood friend who broke her heart, Eala’s bethrothed); Eala (the Queen’s biological daughter who was kidnapped into Fae lands and is cursed to be a swan most of the time); Irian (Eala’s captor, shadow daddy 😈)

Every month Fia and Rogan try and remove the curse on Eala and help her escape Irian. The book takes place over the course of a year, each month revealing something new about Fia, Rogan, Eala and Irian.

“He was beauty and bane, magnificence and malice, delight and dread”

I can’t explain to you why I love this book so much except that it is different from any fantasy I’ve read lately. Descriptive, evocative, ethereal - reading this book made me feel like I was in a lucid dream.

4.5 stars rounded up. I am super grateful to Lyra Selene and Orbit for giving me a chance to read A Feather So Black and also gifting me a copy. This book was right up my alley, and I think if people gave it a chance, it would be enjoyable to many. For me, this definitely falls on the romantasy end of the fantasy spectrum, and while there was a bit of a love triangle, I had very strong feels about one of Fia's prospects right from the start. I've heard people say A Feather So Black is The Cruel Prince meets For the Wolf, and I think those are accurate comparisons. Fia has a lot of similarities to Jude. They're both fish out of water types of characters, only Fia is Jude's reverse. Fia is fae (technically a changeling) raised in the human world. But she's raised to be a weapon, much in the same way Jude was. And a lot of the book is Fia trying to figure out who to trust, but also what to trust. I loved her journey to self discovery. In addition to having Cruel Prince an For the Wolf vibes, I also got vibes of Once Upon a Broken Heart, especially with the fairy tale elements to this. I will say the one big difference for me is that while parts of this story felt like enemies to lovers, I wouldn't say that Fia's counterpoint is as morally grey as he would like us to believe. And in that way, he's different to Cardan or Jacks. But that's ok, not all male leads have to be villains.

All in all, I really enjoyed A Feather So Black. As I stated above, I loved the characterization and development of Fia. I loved the flowery and descriptive writing style (I also really appreciated the included glossary, as the author uses a lot of Celtic words, so this was super helpful). I enjoyed the world that Selene created (it wasn't perfect, but I appreciated it nevertheless), and I really liked how the story developed and the surprises along the way. And the ending. THAT ENDING. How can Selene leave us with that! Yes, there's a cliffhanger, and I will 100% be reading book 2.

Thank you again to Selene and Orbit for gifting me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Clearly, I very much enjoyed it.

I can definitely see why A Feather So Black m was comped to For the Wolf and The Cruel Prince (but with a lot more smut than either). Overall, I had a really good time reading this book. It was fun and the lore and world was fascinating.

Give me a complicated relationship with your mother and I will eat it up every time. I felt like this did a good job of forcing Fia to reflect on her relationship with her mom and her upbringing to grow as a person.

I know they get a lot of hate, but I really enjoy a well done love triangle, and I found the one with Fia, Rogan, and Irian to be really well done and really liked how it paralleled with her growth and introspection.

A huge peeve I had was that Irian decided he didn’t like Fia’s name and just renamed her. Like, I find it cute when they insist on using their full name or make up a nickname for them, but not something that is completely unrelated.

After the ending, I’m super excited to continue the series! Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit cut the arc!

I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it was just okay for me. There were a lot of beautiful descriptions used when setting the scene for this story although the world building itself was hard to follow at times. The characters were likeable but the romance fell flat for me. Keep in mind enemies to lovers is not necessarily my favourite trope.

Even though there were some aspects I didn't love I would still recommend this book if you are into the Romantasy genre. I may do a re-read of this when I'm camping since it's quick and magical!

I'd say this just shy of 3.5/5 for me.

I feel conflicted. Were there things I loved about this book? Yes, or at least really liked. But I didn’t love everything. Will I read the next one? It’s a solid maybe. I do want to know what happens, just not sure if that’s enough. The MC had me shaking my head multiple times because I felt like, she’d have this revelation and then it was almost like it never happened. Also, this book had multiple open door scenes, some fairly lengthy, which isn’t my jam. I don’t think it rivaled the plot but while some were easily skipped, on others you’d miss out on some details.

Well, that was a book. I apologize in advance for what might turn into a rant.

Let me start off by saying that I probably should have DNF'd this book in the first 50%, but I was interested enough in the premise that I pushed through.

My biggest complaint with this book was the structure of the story itself. Without getting into spoilers, basically the main character and the boring love interest had to stay at an old castle between full moons since they could not stay in the fairy realm except on the night of the full moons. There was no reason for this. They could have gone back to their respective homes, or better yet, the plot would've moved along a lot faster if they could have just stayed in the fairy realm. Instead there was a lot of dead weight in this book due to there being months of time in which almost nothing happened. This situation was so obviously contrived to generate romantic tension between the FMC and the boring love interest, and it did not work for me. No part of me thought they made sense as a couple.

Additionally, the characters, including the main character, fell very flat. A mark of a good character, to me, is that if the character were removed from the story and placed into different circumstances, I should generally know how they would behave. As in the characterization should be strong enough that I understand who they are and what choices they might make. This wasn't true for a single character in this story. I kept hoping the author would give the characters a real personality beyond just being in love or being martyrs, but that never happened.

I also really disliked the language the author used, especially in the steamier scenes. I visibly cringed at some of the wording, and it really took me out of the story.

The ending also felt convoluted and barely made sense. When I finished the book, I was so frustrated because I thought the ending might make the book worth it, but I was severely disappointed.

I would not recommend this book to anyone unfortunately. Literally the only thing I liked about it was the occasional banter between the FMC and the MMC. Other than that, this is all unmet potential.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book for review.

I ended up DNF'ing this at 54%, after trying very hard to become invested and feel the vibes. It did not work and I am making the decision to move on. I'd like to advise readers that there is animal death (not as a result of hunting) early on in the book, occurring twice.

This title is FILLED with purple prose. And normally overly-flowery language doesn't bother me, as a very flowery writer myself, but this was truly overwhelming. If you took a shot every time Fia compared herself to nature or the environment around her, you'd be dead pretty early on.

For a romantasy, I really couldn't tell you anything noteworthy about the character interactions. The love interests are bland and uninteresting. Rogan is kind of an ass. I didn't care for him at all. Irian was also an ass. The only part that somewhat excited me was the exchange of stories between Fia and Irian, but even that was tedious.

Fia is difficult. She's filled with copious amounts of self-hatred and loathing, she has clearly been abused and gaslit by her adoptive Queen Mother, but it was really exhausting to have to listen to it over and over again in her dialogue. I've seen first person adult fantasy done right. This wasn't it. I've seen a lot of comparisons between this story and Maas's work, and I can agree that both Fia and Feyre are annoying and unbearable to me.

The timeline was insane to me. If Stephanie Meyer doesn't know how to do a time skip, then A Feather So Black needs to be blacklisted from doing them. I literally could not believe that there were actual months passing by over the course of chapters. There was no character development over the course of MONTHS. Why would you make this magic system of revealing the super secret Fair Folk location rely on the full moon if you weren't going to use the passage of time to your advantage? The pacing was bad to listen to, especially with this being a love triangle(square?).

The sex scenes were almost entirely unbearable for me. The language used is so clinical, sterile, and detached. Which is a choice, one free to be made, but I've heard there are about eight sex scenes in this book, and the thought of sitting through any more of them makes me cringe vibrantly.

The plot was boring. Beyond Fia trying to rescue her Switched At Birth sister from Tírnanóg, I couldn't really tell you what was going on. Something about a war, surely. Swan maidens (the most boring adaptation of swan maidens I have seen to date, pray for me) turning against the cruel master holding them. A really important sword. Yeah. That about covers it.

Finally, please stop having your characters refer to each other ad nauseum with horrid little pet names. "Changeling." "Princeling." Fourth Wing was criticized for doing this with "Violence" and A Feather So Black isn't an exception to similar criticism from me. It's not cute, flirty, romantic, or charming. It just makes dialogue cringey.

I desperately wanted to love this Romantasy, as I'm aware that I should be acquiring a copy in the coming months through subscription, but I did not love it, nor enjoy it. Perhaps in the future I can take a gander at reading a physical copy, to see if that helps with the issues I listed, but until then, I'll be calling it quits on this title.

I simply devoured this one! It gave me Cruel Prince vibes so it hooked me right in! Enemies to Lovers is my alll time favorite trope and the two MCs had wonderful banter!! Also, the tension between the two of them OMGGGG I couldn’t get over it! Fia, our FMC was awesome; she was strong, relatable, and flawed! She had awesome character development as well!

3.5 rounded up. There were a lot of things I liked about this, and it felt comfortable reading some classical romantic dynamics, but I feel like the pacing was a bit off which led to some repetitive thematical beats at times. Despite this, the second half absolutely grabbed me and I feel like some of the things that I want to see will be explored more in the second book. I remember seeing this advertised as a love quadangle and I wish it felt more like one, but I did enjoy Fia's journey. My only major complaint is that although there are technically four main characters and this was a love quadangle, I feel like I didn't get a good grasp on everyone. But honestly, this is definitely due to design, so I look forward to seeing what's to come. I have a very good feeling that I'll like book two much more than this, and Selene did a great job with the setup.

Definitely romantasy, definitely character-focused and vibes based plot!

Fia is a half human, half changeling who was left in the human world in place of a stolen princess. Raised by the Queen to be a weapon of sorts, Fia is tasked with retrieving Princess Eala from The Folk as details are brought to light that might finally break the curse that has kept Eala trapped for 12 years in the Fae realm.

Rogan, Fia’s childhood friend and first love, accompanies her on the journey that crosses the gate into Tír na nÓg. His mission: to rescue Eala, his betrothed. But the two old friends soon realize that their history isn’t quite as buried as it seemed.

Duty, however, comes first. When the two cross through the gate into the Fae realm, each must follow their own mission as their paths diverge — one which leads Fia straight into a clash with the Folk Gentry. The one who cursed the maidens into swans and wields powerful shadow magic. But the Fae lord, and the enchanted sword he carries, might be the key to saving the human realm.

⟡

A Feather so Black is a Swan Lake retelling that is intertwined with Celtic mythology and folklore. It’s one of my favorite aspects because not only does it add an ethereal quality, it feels like we’ve stepped into a different and wonderfully enchanting Fae world. Which is wholly complimented by the lovely writing and prose. The story plays hand in hand with its characters, teetering back & forth to create a very intriguing plot.

Fia is a strong and fierce FMC who has botanical magic, which is quite the rarity among both humans and Fae. It’s a power she views as a curse, because while she has the ability to create life, more often than not it has only been used for destruction. And inwardly that has led her to hate that part of herself. And to seek acceptance from anyone who would give it. Just not herself. I really enjoyed her character development as the story progressed. It leaned into heavy themes of self loathing and distrust which gradually bloomed into acceptance as she starts to realize that she is more than just her magic and the weapon her Queen/mother shaped her to be.

Rogan, her childhood friend and unrequited love, brought a bit of heartache to the story. His interactions with Fia are playful yet filled to the brim with tension and angst as they navigate issues from the past and present. I really felt for them as their history began to unravel and questions + old feelings were brought to the surface, renewing old aches.

And as Fia and Rogan begin their trek into Tír na nÓg, a rift starts to form between them as the lines begin to blur and a secret mission takes Fia on a different path entirely. One that leads her straight to the dangerous Folk Gentry himself. And Irian is a force to be reckoned with. A shadow wielder with a morally gray demeanor, he definitely has that broody villain swagger. He is wrapped in dark intrigue and devilish charm and I enjoyed the banter between them. What started out as a bit of a game of cat and mouse, develops into something neither of them expected and the relational development had a slow burn, longing quality to it that I really enjoyed. And as their relationship begins to bloom, so too does the intrigue of the story as plot twists begin to unfold and the air of mystery becomes exceedingly heavy. The ending gives it a HFN feeling but I’m very, very curious to see where the story goes in the next installment!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read and review the ARC!

⟡ 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4.5/5
⟡ 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 2.5-3/5
⟡ 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬: single POV, love triangle, enemies to lovers, fairytale vibe, botanical magic, enchanted forest, broody fae shadow lord, privileged prince w/ daddy issues, changeling fmc w/ magic, cursed maidens turned swans by day, a secret mission, hidden agendas, open door spice, complicated family dynamics, HFN ending
⟡ 𝐂𝐖: violence, emotional abuse, self harm, slurs, alcohol abuse

OK. Aspects of Beauty and the Beast, or the frog and the prince, and others...Many, many plot holes (ie, it takes one day to travel to an abandoned castle where the story takes place, but no one ever comes from the original kingdom to check on them?). These take away from the story. Readable and fun, a good plane book. PS. The old English language is absolutely delightful!

A changeling is tasked with journeying to the fae realm to rescue her human sister alongside her first love, a prince and her sister’s betrothed. She must deny her feelings and complete her quest, but she finds herself compelled to get closer to the dark fae lord.



Read if you like: traditional fae, folklore, the Swan Princess, changelings, retellings, epic quests, love triangles, morally gray characters, finding your true self, love is power.



Fia has never fit in. She is human enough to be useful to her Queen mother but fae enough to not be accepted. A changeling in a land where magic has been lost, Fia reminds everyone of the evil of the fae. Everyone, except her childhood friend and first love, Rogan. But Rogan is betrothed to the human princess, Fia’s sister. And now Fia and Rogan must journey to the land of the Fair Folk to rescue the princess and 11 other maiden’s who are bound to a fae lord and cursed to become swans by day. They can only pass through the realms on the full moon and must try to discover how to free the maidens and save the human lands. But the fae lord holds a strange attraction for Fia, and as she gleans more about the Folk she begins to question what she has been told all her life.



Oh, how happy I was to see that this is a traditional type of fae realm with inhumane characters in both form and morality. The characters are great, the quest is great, the love triangle is actually great. Listen, I know a lot of people hate love triangles, but this one makes sense. Things needed to be addressed thoroughly. ::wink, wink:: And the FMC does a lot of soul searching and figuring out who she is and what she wants. The plot is a bit of a rollercoaster in a delightful way. It’s that ebb and flow of only getting to travel to the fae realm once a month. So, filling time and then one night of harried activity. And I absolutely loved the fun moments in the human world just as much as I longed for each full moon.



I really loved the retelling of The Swan Princess and the nods to the 12 Dancing Princesses. There was enough of all the lore and fairy tales to feel familiar but keep me guessing. I was honestly afraid that we might not get any happy ending at all, but we are getting another book! So, if you get over halfway through and start asking yourself “how will this end?”… later, in another book. But our most pressing needs are attended to in this book so do not fear, too much. The prose was lovely for the most part but sometimes the use of modern words and overwrought metaphors took away from the story. Overall, this was wholly enjoyable and I can not wait for more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for a copy of this book for review.

an absolutely magical swan lake retelling. it was slow to start for me, but i was hooked when they first crossed into tir na nog. the rest of the book had me on the edge of my seat. fia is unlike any main character i’ve read before, but unloved girls who learn to love themselves, even if no one else will, have such a soft spot in my heat. the ending was so fulfilling, and it also ramped up for an exciting sequel that i cannot wait to read.

thank you to netgalley and orbit books <3