I was granted both an ARC and the audiobook version of “A Feather So Black” by the publisher and I used both mediums to read the book. First off, I would highly, highly recommend the audiobook of “A Feather so Black”. The production and narration are both excellent. I loved Heather O’Sullivan’s mellifluous voice and her Irish accent brought life and charter to the book. Her character voices are spot-on and let the listener easily identify each speaker. O’Sullivan’s voice also helped to smooth out some of the trouble I had with the world building. The beginning of the book contains a significant amount of info dumping and O’Sullivan’s pronunciation helped me to better understand the people/places/creatures that were being introduced (it also really would have helped to have a glossary at the beginning of the book).

Second, a review for the book itself. “A Feather So Black” had a lot of elements that are automatically guaranteed to draw me in: Irish/Gaelic world-building, mysterious manor, faerie setting, green magic, and a seemingly impossible quest. A bonus was the beautiful writing - I do love purple prose and this book delivers. Lyra Selene has an absolutely gorgeous writing style. So a book seemingly tailor-made for me! Unfortunately everything just fell apart with the plot and pacing.

Two of the main characters, Fia and Rogan, are only able to cross over into Tír na nÓg during the night of the full moon which means they can only make progress on their quests in faerie once a month. Otherwise the two spend their time in the human realm basically waiting around to go back to faerie. The plot moves through the Celtic Wheel of the Year celebrating the holy days along the way - which is a nice addition to the world building - but causes the reader to spend the whole year with Fia and Rogan waiting for any kind of plot development. The nights in Tír na nÓg are definitely the highlight of the book. I lost interest and stopped reading every time the narrative switched back to the human realm. I ended up spending six weeks reading this book between the arc and audio version - and read five other books in the meantime. I finally gave in and skimmed the last third and found that the pace picked up considerably in the last 30 pages. The ending was interesting but I’m not sure that I care enough about Fia to read the next book. However, I might be tempted if Heather O’Sullivan narrates the audiobook.

Part of my problem with this book stemmed from my expectations: I was expecting a book with a lot of action, drama, and tension. “A Feather So Dark” was more vibes and world building. It’s not a bad book - just very slow.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC and Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be beautifully written. The audio narration was absolutely mesmerizing, and I'd find myself just staring off into space while listening. But... and this is just me and my opinion... it was a whole lot of pretty writing without a lot of plot movement? I'm typically a character driven person, but I couldn't get invested in anyone but Irian. Fia and Rogan were there, but I didn't have any feelings toward them- good or bad. It was compared to Cruel Prince, but I'd say it's closer to An Enchantment of Ravens.

I received an e-arc and audioarc through Netgalley all opinions are my own.

The audiobook was fine. I probably wouldn't have been able to pronounce a lot of the words in this book without the audiobook.

I also dont think I would have finished this book without the audiobook, because it was so damn long.

The book really didn't need to be that long.

I didn't like any of the characters, to me they were all very one dimensional.

Fia is so naive and annoying.
She keeps on talking about how she was forged and made to be a weapon. But we don't actually see her in action.

All romances sucked.

I saw from a mile away who the bad person was.


I didn't like anything about this book. This should really have just been a dnf.

“I was born with the forest at my fingertips”

Lyra calls “A Feather so Black” the book of her heart, well, I think this may be the book of my heart as well, and greatly surpassing all my previous reads this year as my favorite book of 2024.

I have never been so heartbroken that a story was over, and the sequel is not able to be in my hands at this immediate moment.
This story was everything.
I have found myself tiring of stories of the fae, but I am so glad that I gave A Feather so Black by @lyraselene a chance, because this is possibly to be one of the best series I have ever read.
Lyra does an amazing job of making this story feel both familiar, and yet so unique.

This was a beautiful, mystical dark fairytale reimagining of Black Swan. I became thoroughly lost in this world and I did not want to come to the surface of reality from this story.

I am completely blown away by the phenomenal story telling, the complex characters, the intertwining of Celtic mythology, the unique botanical magic.

You follow the story of Fia, a bad ass changling who was left in the place of a stolen princess. Raised as a daughter of the queen, she is sent on a dangerous mission to rescue the true princess from the fae realm. In the fae realm, Fia meets my new favorite morally gray shadow man who helps her unravel her mysterious past and the source of her perplexing powers.

I wanted to love this book, but I struggled throughout most of it to stay engaged. It felt needlessly slow. I loved the premise and the characters were interesting, but the pacing just really caused issues for me. This could have been the audio recording, I'm not sure. It did feel a bit more conversational and easier to space out than other audiobooks I've loved, but I can't put my finger on why.

I did LOVE that the FMC is a changeling. So many fae stories feature or discuss changelings, but this is the first I've read with a main character changeling. The politics of the story are also really interesting. There is so much happening from different sides, and the characters are all very dynamic.

I did finish, but would hesitate to pick up the next installment.

I really enjoyed this book. I went in blind as part of my taste-test of whether I actually enjoy reading this genre. Turns out I really do. Probably biased as 12 dancing princesses was my favourite of the Barbie movies, but I'm ok with that.

This book is a fun interpretation of this fairy tale (the proper one, not the Barbie one). I thought Fia was an interesting MC and was so pleased with how her arc developed and how the story ended. What a relief! Looking forward to the rest of the series.

The audiobook was such a pleasure to read with lovely Celtic accents. I didn't realise there was a glossary until I had finished so now I'm wondering how much detail I missed?! I have bought a physical copy to make sure! 4.5 stars.

I am a sucker for a retelling or a new twist on a tale that is old and in need of a good refresh. I really likes the way the characters were written. I think that they were well fleshed out and well rounded. I loved the development of Fia was great. I liked that she grew into her own person by the end and stood up for herself and what she wanted. The writing is so lyrical and the world building is so intricate that is so easy to get lost in the story. This is a slower paced book but it was done so well that you really can't put it down. The spice level was more than I was expecting but I was happy to see it. I definitely have a new morally grey book boyfriend. Over all I will say that this is one that I am glad that I got this one on audio as Heather O'Sullivan is absolute magic. Her voice coupled with the story was everything.

“Life hurts. Death levels. But love—love destroys.”

I’m fascinated by Irish folklore. There’s something lush and innately romantic about Ireland itself, and its mythology follows suit. This makes it a perfect framework for fantasy romance. I’ve read a handful of such inspired fantasies, but none have so fully captured their sense of place as A Feather So Black. This debut is gorgeously written and takes full advantage of its setting and the mythos that inspired it, as well as serving readers a unique retelling of a timeless story: Swan Lake. However, as much as I should have loved this, it fell apart for me when it came to the actual characters, their relationships, and their movement through the story being told. And, while setting and story matter, neither can carry a book without strong characters as their foundation.

The writing is laden with some truly lovely imagery. The prose is dreamlike, flowery, almost to the point of becoming purple. I’m still not quite sure which side of that line it ended up on; while I thought it was pretty, it also tended to be a bit distracting, drawing focus away from the actual story. I found the world, the blend of mythology and fairytale, fascinating. That being said, there was some kind of disconnect between the intensely compelling setting and the far less compelling characters. I was never quite able to connect with any of the characters; I found them all unlikable and untrustworthy to varying degrees. This includes our main character, Fia. She’s interesting in description, but I found her to be a bit weak of character, easily swayed by even those she knew better than to trust.

I also found the worldview to be fairly unrelentingly dark. Every scene seemed soaked in shadow, even those that took place in the daylight. And the timeframe made little sense to me. All of the major events happened one night per month, and the rest of that month was sped through to reach that next important night. It just made for a weird, unbelievable pace to the narrative.

But what bothered me most was how melodramatic the stories and the interplay between the characters tended to be. I found myself rolling my eyes often. The romance is definitely going to work for some people, but I wasn’t one of them. I’m not a fan of divided loyalties and love triangles, and here we had something of a love square. Also, I found the sex scenes to somehow be overwrought and devoid of emotion at the same time. These always felt like a culmination of purely physical attraction to me, and I didn’t feel any real emotional connection until the end of the book. As for the mechanics of the aforementioned scenes, they were fairly descriptive, but often in ways that felt just a bit cringy to me, in spite of the pretty prose. This isn’t the spiciest book, by any means, but if you prefer your romance with no descriptive sex scenes at all, you might want to give this one a pass.

I’ve said a lot about what didn’t work for me, but I definitely didn’t hate this book. The setting was beautifully rendered, and there was an elegance to the writing and to the story itself that kept me reading. Even though I did end up finding the prose to be a bit much, I appreciate Selene’s poetic way with words. And even though I had quite a few issues with A Feather So Black, I found the story interesting enough to both hold my attention and prompt me to read the sequel, whenever it is released.

Side note: This book is going to appeal to so many readers. If your favorite genre is romantasy, A Feather So Black is tailor-made for you! Also, while I read this via audio, I think I might have enjoyed it more in physical form. The narrator had a lovely voice, but little inflection.

Fia is sent by her adoptive mother, the queen, to Tír na nÓg so she can find her sister, or the queen's biological daughter. While there she finds out a lot of the stories she grew up with have alternative versions where the humans are not the heroes.

There is also a love triangle (quadrangle?) between Fia, her sister, the prince and the captor of her sister. Surprisingly, wayyyy more spicy than i expected, which was zero to be honest.

I found it a bit difficult to follow the different layers of society in the fairy kingdom, but I guess maybe I'm just slow.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Feather So Black is a Swan Lake retelling with a twist. It’s fantasy, romance, and action all in one. I think this book has a lot of potential for its sequel(s) and a lot of people would probably like it! 3 ⭐️

What I liked:

I really enjoyed reading something inspired by Celtic mythology like this books was. I love any kind of mythology in general and this was the perfect book for that.

I was instantly drawn to Irian from the beginning (I have a type) and he didn’t disappoint.

The narration for this audio book was spot on! Heather O Sullivan nailed the atmosphere of the book with the character voices, accent, everything! Hachette Audio did amazing on this production.

What I didn’t like:

I found it to be a little confusing at times just because it’s a lot of world building and terminology to remember. There’s the political mess of the human world and then the chaotic magical ordeal of the fair folk realm told from just one POV to make sense of it. Docked 0.5 ⭐️

The pacing was really slow for me. We had to wait a month in between each gate opening but the time in between was mostly skipped over. Should make things go quicker right? Not exactly. The time we did get in Tír na nÓg felt like a lot of time wasted getting no information or closer to Fia’s goal. Docked 0.5 ⭐️

Fias yearning for Rogan in the beginning was pretty tiresome. The constant, “You were never meant for me, nor I you” conversations they had made me roll my eyes and zone out. That and constantly being reminded of Rogans “river stone eyes”. Looking back at it now, it might tie in with the sequel or the author might’ve just really loved that description. (Speaking of sequels, what happened to that promised kiss from the stranger????). Docked 0.5 ⭐️

We could have really benefitted from multiple POVs with this one. When Rogan and fía enter Tír na nÓg the go their separate ways. Rogan goes to hang out with the swan maidens and fia hangs out with irian for the most part. I would have loved to see rogans POV to give him more depth and maybe make him more likable. Eala’s and Irian’s POV could have given us more insight into their magical realm and helped us make sense of it. I’m sure we’ll get more of that in the sequel but for now we’re kind of left with basically nothing. Docked 0.5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6257100431

I thoroughly enjoyed this romantasy! The characters were engaging and the storyline was unique enough to keep me reading. Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book.

If you are looking for a tale rooted in old Irish lore, this is a good book for you. In many ways I liked this story, and in others not so much. In many ways this is a story of breaking away from unhealthy relationships and learning to love yourself, but at times, I did find Fai’s unwillingness to see how she was being manipulated frustrating. And was probably the one thing that slowed my reading of this book. And it’s that which leads me to a 3.5 rating. I loved the rest of the story though, with the hints of the Children of Lir and overall, I liked watching as Fai came to love herself. If not for some of the slowness of character development, I think this story would be 5 stars for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Mythology
Banter
Magic
Romantasy
Swan Lake Retelling
Two MMC Love Interests
Friends to Lovers
Enemies to Lovers

This story was so beautiful. I absolutely loved everything about A Feather So Black.

I listened to this book on Audio provided to me from Netgalley.
These are my true opinions.

First off the narrator is absolutely amazing. Heather O’Sullivan has such an amazing way of immersing you into the story.

A Feather So Black is a romantasy with a mythology based magic system.
Fia a changeling whom was swapped with the queens daughter was brought up as a weapon. She must return to the land she might have called home once, to break the curse on the Queen‘s daughter and return with her. She has been partnered up with her childhood crush, who is set with a task of his own to marry the queen’s daughter. This story takes place over quite a bit of time because they can only return to the fae lands at certian times.
At first the romance is a love story of childhood friends to lovers then we meet a new love interest. The man that cursed the princess. This turns into an enemies to lovers filled with curses, magic secrets, betrayal, and spice.
This book was a five star read for me. The ending was a wild ride that left me wanting more! Absolutely cannot wait for the next one.

This book was rather unexpectedly delightful.
Fia is the unwanted changeling in her"mother's" court. Honed as a weapon, feared and reviled by most she is told countless times that her mother.. well actually her original's mother... is the only one who can truly love her. Even her childhood friend has deserted her.
And her mother, the Queen, has an all important task for her. Fia must contain her memories and feelings for Rogan, her old friend and her "original" sister's fiance and travel with him to Tir na nOg to rescue her sister, and the other stolen girls, and also secretly steal an enchanted sword to bring magic back to the human realm. No problem for a changeling girl who has been training her whole life to please others, no mater to cost to herself, right?
Throw in some unrequited love, a cursed bevy of girls, a delightful little spirit? sprite who aids Fia, and it was a fun adventure, love story with a bit of coming of age almost as Fia learns a bit about who she when she's not buried under the expectation of her "mother's" love.
Really enjoyed the narration as well!

A feather so black is about a young woman Fia who is part human and part fae raised by a queen who's daughter and other 11 girls were taken away by the fae folk and are locked away inside the gates of Tír na nÓg.

Fia is tasked with an important mission to free the real princess Eala with help of her bethrothed and Fia's best friend Rogan. But queen bequests her with a secret task which is difficult, almost impossible. And so begins journey of Fia and Rogan to rescue the princess.

I loved the narration and it was pleasant to listen to the voice but one thing that I didn not really enjoy was all dialogues were read with same intonations that sometimes confused me as who's talking. I know it is difficult to voice many characters and this sure had many and yet I would prefer atleast some change in main characters' tones.

About the story, it is beautifully written with vibrant and vivid descriptions but the whole book is full of it and it just doesnt really add anything to story. Also most of the times there's nothing happening in the story at all. The visits of Fia and Rogan to Tír na nÓg felt like they were on a trip or something. There wasn't any urgency or action in the whole book except one wedding scene and last few paragraphs. So it felt flat and dull.

I enjoyed the writing immensely but that didn't balance the lack of strong plot and strong explanations for world building. Even though descriptions are detailed, how magic really worked is not explained. I didn't get answers to many questions that bothered me.

Audiobook rating -4 stars
Book rating - 3.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette audio, orbit publishers for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for this audiobook.

I was very excited to for this title due to the nods to Celtic mythology, specifically Tír na nÓg. It did not disappoint when it came to the lush atmosphere, which helped tremendously to keep me moving through the story.

Unfortunately, the characters fell a bit flat and I think it had a tendency to drag a bit. I was disappointed that this was yet another unfathomably petite FMC. I am exhausted of that trope. I understand she is a changeling and perhaps her smallness was because she was Fae but must it be relentlessly mentioned?

I did enjoy the narrator. I thought she did a wonderful job and look forward to other audiobook narrations by her!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio & Lyra Selene for an audio ARC of A Feather So Black in exchange for an honest review.

I had not heard of this book until it showed up on NetGalley, but sounded like something I would love. It's odd that many of my friends who love fantasy hated this book, but I loved it! I look forward to the next installment of the Fair Folk series!

Thankfully, with the audio, I didn't run into the pronunciation issues that a lot of readers did with the physical & digital ARCs. And I'm not even going to attempt to spell any of those words that I only heard in this review. Not happening! LOL

I enjoyed the characters & the pacing. Fia worked my nerves with her love triangle, though! I loved Irian - always love a good bad "boy."

The plot & storyline was different than any other recent fantasy novels I've read, so I enjoyed that I wasn't hearing the same story I've heard 20 times before.

I'm going against the grain and giving it a solid 4 stars & will impatiently await Book #2!

*Adding a star to the audiobook review due to Heather O'Sullivan's fantastic performance. I loved her as an audiobook narrator!
_____

"The tableau was like something out of a story: a proud, tragic queen; a druid foretelling doom; a golden prince promising heroics. But stories were by nature false—designed to fool the eye and twist the mind, to make us believe in things that couldn’t ever be true. Stories gave us hope, and I hated them almost as much as I hated my stolen face, my uncertain origins, and my wild and wicked magic. Real life wasn’t like the stories. Real life ended in deception, betrayal, or tragedy. Which meant this pretty tale was either untrue or incomplete."

My husband and I are currently in the process of looking for a new house. We recently toured one, and while there was nothing overtly wrong with it, I realized that there were several small things that, when combined, resulted in a home that wasn’t for me. In many ways, that is how I feel about A FEATHER SO BLACK.

Starting with the positive aspects, I loved the fairytale-like world filled with monsters (both human and fae) and maidens. Selene's writing is lyrical, and I highlighted numerous passages simply because they were beautiful. The audiobook narrator (Heather O'Sullivan) was PHENOMENAL. She brought the dialect and pronunciation to life, and her performance of Corra was stellar. It brought me joy, which isn't something that I can say happens often simply due to the way an audiobook narrator portrays a character. Additionally, I am always a huge fan of protagonist growth, and Fia was a great example of learning to love oneself.

"Our stories had all begun the same way—with a queen and her enemies, with war and magic, with stolen girls and vengeance. But this moment—a prince on a fine steed, riding into strange lands to deliver a damsel—was where Rogan and Eala’s story diverged. They would get their tale of rescue, redemption, and true love. I would never be part of their story. And whatever might happen in mine, I feared it would have a darker end."

This is the part of the review that pains me. I'm more than willing to share when I feel that something doesn't work for me, and while that was the case with A FEATHER SO BLACK, I can also truly appreciate the author's creativity. That said, the book is filled with plot threads, but nothing is truly expanded upon with the exception of the main geas and Fia’s internal growth. There is a scene early on where Fia is attacked in the forest by a member of the Gentry, and someone had to save her. We're never told who he is or why that scene mattered. I kept expecting him to appear again, but he never did. Will he appear in book two?

A FEATHER SO BLACK gave off "Mother Knows Best" (picture: Rapunzel's mom from Tangled). It was easy to root for Fia finding her path forward even when so many people in her life were manipulating her. Speaking of, I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss Rogan. Oh, Rogan. Yes, most of us know of or have dated someone like him, but it didn’t make his appearances in the book any more pleasant to read (and there were many). Selene hit the nail on the head when she described him on her Instagram as having "toxic golden retriever vibes".

“Only I know how to love someone like you,” she reminded me. “And no one will ever love you more than I do.”

We never really get to understand the how or what of Fia’s powers other than what is provided to us at the end (left intentionally vague to avoid spoilers). I also really struggled with the pacing of the book. New information was consistently introduced, yet very few things were fully fleshed out, and there was a lot of time spent "between" the scenes with forward motion.

I feel incredibly torn on my thoughts, including as to whether or not I'd like to read book two. The story itself has so much potential. I want to highlight the fact that 2 out of 3 of my Goodreads friends that have read this (to date) have given it 5 stars. Thank you, Orbit and Hachette Audio, for the complimentary copies in exchange for an honest review.

A Feather so Black is a wondrous dive into a new, Celtic-inspired faerie setting, and has the perfect amount of sizzling spice we’ve come to know and love in New Adult romantasy books.
From the characters to the world building, Lyra Selene has constructed a story that is brimming with addictive qualities. Fia is a strong, confident heroine, and seeing the world through her conflicted gaze is a delight. Her constant struggle between loyalty and desire set against the backdrop of Tír na nÓg was utterly compelling, and the love triangle was executed in a way where the reader never felt betrayed or mislead. The ever-present doubt of who Fia should trust kept me on the edge of my seat, and, it must be said, her scenes with Irian were positively scorching in their steamy intensity.
A story so fairytale-esque can only be perfected with prose that is just as lush and beautiful, which is exactly what Selene managed to conjure throughout this tale. The writing was gripping, and every description was so gorgeous I could hardly put the book down.
The narrator also did a terrific job bringing the characters to life! Her accent was charming and her ability to easily slip between character voices in a seamless way was outstanding. I'd love to hear more stories from her.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and am eagerly awaiting a sequel!

What a beautiful and whimsical story! And not at all like the Fae-Stories you know from sjm. This one is entirely different!

I listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator! Heather O'Sullivan did a great job, I can only recommend listening to this beautiful story.

You can expect a descriptive and floury writing style and a beautiful hidden world, only to be discovered by night. The characters are either to die for or written to be hated (looking at you, Eala). It is also spicy (two to three scenes) and has lots of good tension!

The story managed to grip me from the get go and even though we had long passages where nothing really happened, I was never bored. It is like this: the plot moves forward on full moons, every other day of the month we just wait with two of the characters for the next full moon (but don't worry, we skip through that rather quickly and the wait is worth it for the full moon nights!)

I keep hearing that this story includes a love triangle but that isn't really true. It's more of a "first I want you, then I want you" kind of situation.

My heart belongs to Irian (and yours will too)! But even though I fell for him and cared more about the love story than the actual plot, setting and writing style won me over.

The only real problem I had with the story were the villains. Or better, how Fia (our female main character) interacted with them. To the reader, it is entirely obvious whom to trust and whom we shouldn't. For Fia? Not so much, and that annoyed me. Plus there was one scene with the promise of a kiss (if you know, you know) that was teased and then just dropped. Never ever mentioned again, although it really should have been - or should have been left out. Made no sense.

It is the first in a series so the ending is open, but the book itself doesn't end on a cliffhanger. It leaves the reader satisfied. So go on, read it! Waiting isn't too painful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette audio for the arc!