This review was originally published at http://fictionistmag.com/

Two young women who live a millennia apart hold the world’s fate in their hands. Rielle has a power that the world has never seen before, and when she is found out, she has to go through seven deadly trials to prove she is not the prophesied Blood Queen, but the Sun Queen . If she doesn’t die before the trials end, she will be named Sun Queen — the Queen of light and salvation. A thousand years in the future, Eliana lives in a world without magic. She lives after Rielle has long been gone, in a world overtaken by the Undying Emperor. When her mother goes missing, she leaves her life of assassinations and follows a masked rebel only to find that the Emperor is more sinister than she ever imagined. Eliana and Rielle both have to find out how to survive while the world falls down around them. Their interwoven stories will decide the fate of everyone they love.


Furyborn was a slow burn, for me at least. The first few chapters went by in a blur, the multiple POVs threw me off — especially because the preface is in a third POV, so the first three chapters I read were all different people at radically different times in history.

The thing about multiple POV books is that they can be a bit hard to sink into at first, and Furyborn was no exception.

The thing about Furyborn, though, is I don’t even mind anymore. Because, sh**, this book is amazing.

Since part of my work for Fictionist entails constantly reading new books, I often get a feeling of deja vu while reading. Especially in YA fantasy.

That feeling didn’t really come with Furyborn. Of course, most stories have tropes woven in — ‘The Chosen One’ trope, enemies to lovers, etc —but Furyborn didn’t rely on any too heavily. It felt refreshing, new, and interesting. It wasn’t another fairytale retelling, it wasn’t exactly like the last YA fantasy I read; in other words, I didn’t know how it would end as soon as I started reading. I was genuinely interested in how the story would unfold, how the characters would get from point A to point B. Even if I thought I knew what would happen down the road, I had no idea how it would happen, and that kept me invested.

Not to mention, the character arcs were lovely, especially in Rielle’s chapters. The worldbuilding was also kind of a slow burn for me, but it was still good enough that I could stay in the world of Furyborn for several hours at a time without aanything pulling me out of my reading trance. By the time I was halfway through the book, Legrand had started including more information about Furyborn’s history. Of course, part of this is likely that we depended on the characters’ knowledge, and chunks of worldbuilding wouldn’t really have fit in with either Rielle or Eliana’s early chapters. Still, once the worldbuilding became more prominent, I immediately felt more at home.

I wish I could keep reading this book forever — but all good things must end.

Furyborn will keep you up at night. It will grip you and not let you go until you can peel your eyes off the pages to try to get some sleep (so that you can read more in the morning). Savor it.

While there were some fast paced and exciting scenes, ultimately this was a disappointment. The characters and romance were bland and unmemorable. Some parts were cringy. But the writing was great altogether.

Feminism is not a synonym for narcissism. I get this is the first book in a trilogy and these ladies have 2 more books to become nice people, but I really hate that they are supposed to be "fiercely independent". They are just nasty and stupid and because of that they are easily manipulated into doing the wrong things over and over again. Almost every other person is a better example of humanity. I won't be reading two more books to see if they grow up.

This was such a fun and unique fantasy story. I loved the badass female characters too! I can't wait for the next one!

Angels, wraiths and wickedness!

The fantastical story of two women separated by generations who contain within themselves the power to manipulate the elements.
Figures of legendary powers who will either save or destroy their world.
The plot alternates chapter by chapter from Reille Dardenne to Eliana Ferracora, separated by a thousand years, having in common the legends of the prophesied queens of light and blood.
Reille hides from herself the truth about her powers until she must let them blast forward to save her best friend Audric.
Eliana too hides in plain sight with her brother Remy Ferracora (a rather extraordinary young boy) and mother.
Eliana or Dread, who carries the knife, Arabeth, is an assassin who is thrust into a further world of fear and darkness when girls and young women start disappearing. What she discovers is shocking, insane and monstrous.
Certainly a world full of darkness and despair that draws you in.

A NetGalley ARC

Furyborn by Claire Legrand is the first book in her new Empirium YA fantasy series. Furyborn starts off with a bang, as we meet the feared Blood Queen Rielle, who has just given birth to a baby girl. Knowing that evil wants her baby, Rielle gives her child to a young boy to take her away and protect her; feeling the anger of the evil being coming, Rielle takes her own life. What a way to start and grab our attention. Furyborn follows two women, one in the past and one a thousand years later, with both women being extremely powerful and destined to either destroy or save the world.

One Pov is Reille Dardenne (before she became the Blood Queen), as we learn about her and her two best friends, Audric and Ludivine. Rielle has always had secret powers that her father and trainer would teach her how to control everything. When she comes across Audric being attacked, Rielle comes to his rescue using her hidden powers, which will change her life forever.

The Prophecy claims that sometime in the future the evil angels locked away for centuries will return and wreck havoc across the world, and two women will rise; one made of Blood and the other of light. “a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction’. The King and his court are disturbed by the revelation of Rielle’s powers, with some threatening to have her killed. She is forced to prove that she is indeed the Sun Queen and loyal to the kingdom by undergoing seven trials of different elemental magic, of which she must complete every one, or be executed.

Eliana Ferracora is a bounty hunter (1000 plus years after the death of Rielle), also known as the Dread of Ornline. Eliana has been trained by her mother to be an assassin and bury her feelings within, and do what is expected of her as a bounty hunter for her kingdom . Eliana protects her family, as she needs the money to take care of Remy ,her brother and her mother to survive, and forces herself not to let what she does consume her. When her mother disappears, Eliana is desperate and agrees to help Simon, one of the leaders of the rebellion, in order to find her mother. Eliana is an amazing fierce and tough heroine, though her stubbornness was annoying at times. Eliana has the ability since she was a child to self heal, but had no idea why. Though there is no romance between them, there is a bond that will develop between Simon and Eliana and she will learn the truth about whom and what she is.

What follows is an intense exciting dark and intriguing story switching between two time periods separated by over a 1000 years. Rielle will fight with help from her friends, Audric and Ludivine to survive her violent trials, as well as from the angel who helps and makes her even more powerful. Corien, the angel is truly the villain in both time periods. It was amazing to see Rielle fight and rise above the terrible challenges for each elemental magic.

Eliana will become part of the rebellion in order to survive, protect Remy and find her mother; she will also come to understand the role she will eventually have to play. In a desperate attempt to save Simon and the rebels, she will learn more about her inner powers.

Claire Legrand does a masterful job creating the two main characters, as well as many of these fascinating characters (Simon, Remy, Audric, Ludivine, Navi, etc). The storyline between the two women flows seamlessly and keeps our interest throughout this complex world.

These two women are fierce, strong, with flaws and weaknesses, and both very different, but their spirit is enduring. Two storylines a thousand years apart, that weave together flawlessly that surprised me how well Legrand wrote this. There are some surprises along the way, and though we know what happens to Rielle in her time, the book leaves off with Eliana stepping up into the role she was destined to be. Furyborn was very well written by Claire Legrand, and has us impatiently waiting to see if the Sun Queen will rise and save them all.

You know there's a problem with a book when you get to the end, find out it's the first in a trilogy and groan out loud. I mean, the prologue essentially tells you the main plot of not only this book but the next (and who even knows, maybe the third given how dragged out this book felt!) I felt that the prologue itself was rather overwrought and was happy to settle down quietly into the next few chapters, but as I kept reading, I found myself growing steadily more annoyed with Claire Legrand's choices. She kept pulling focus to the least important parts of scenes instead of maintaining dramatic tension, often with minor character interjections or, less frequently but also less forgiveably, with just bad writing. It made for a narrative that was at once chaotic and desperately dull, because most of the chaos came from wildly unimportant things suddenly thrust into the limelight for no reason I could think of besides a weird attempt at verisimilitude (tho which, staaaahp. It's fiction: the minor character doesn't have to pull focus in the conversation just to remind the reader he's there when important characters are talking. Yes, that happens IRL but real life is messy and not a freaking novel.)

Essentially, this is the story of two women divided by a thousand years. While I can accept, somewhat grudgingly, the idea that the main technological change in that millennium was the loss of magic and the discovery of gunpowder, the idea that The Empire as it's described in the book had essentially stood for that length of time is laughable. This book would have been so much more plausible given a shorter time gap. That said, of the two women, I found Eliana to be the slightly more bearable one. Forced to serve the Empire in order to protect her family, she's conflicted about her role as a bounty hunter, even before her mother becomes the latest victim in a series of unexplained kidnappings. Eliana throws in her lot with the rebels to seek out her mother and protect her younger brother, and discovers her connection to a woman out of legend: Rielle, the long-dead Sun Queen.

Or Rielle, the incredibly tedious, as I prefer to think of her. Basically, she's the only person ever to have access to the seven elements, as everyone else gets just one and needs to use a physical object to focus their castings through, a limitation she does not possess. Rielle's life is somehow strictly controlled by her father and a priest because she's oh so dangerous, yet she runs freely around the palace with her best friends, the crown prince and his cousin/fiancee? When her powers are discovered, she's put through seven unlikely but life-threatening trials where Ms Legrand's horrible mastery of priorities shines through brightest. Rielle is all-powerful! But she can't control her powers! But she can't access her powers! But she doesn't know what to do with them! But she's afraid she'll harm people when she uses them! If she can use them! There's no consistency, and it's all a hot, muddled mess.

And ugh, the sex. I thought it was oddly graphic in a bodice-ripping way, not in the down-to-earth manner that I expect from good YA fiction. As a boy-crazy lady myself, I totally get having a thing for any hot guy that crosses your path, but Furyborn was just Too Much. There's a huge difference between thinking a dude is hot and wanting to bone him as soon as your current love interest walks off-screen. Someone more socially conscious than I am pointed out that the women being ostensibly bi but really just acting like cats in heat all the time was actually damaging to bi rep, and I would tend to agree. I was especially annoyed by Rielle's inappropriate urges in inappropriate places: not as bad as in some trashy romances I've read but still an annoying trope. Oh, and the way her powers manifested in response to her sexual urges (and vice versa) was absurd to the point of laughable.

There's a lot of potentially interesting stuff going on in Furyborn (even if I did think the introduction of wraiths was way too deus ex machina) but the world-building could not withstand the really poor narrative choices. I won't be reading the rest of this trilogy when there are so many other actually good books to read, I'm afraid. I'm disappointed because this sounds like exactly the kind of book I love reading but it's executed so horribly that I just can't even.

This book jumps from Rielle’s perspective to Eliana’s perspective and back again, bridging a gap of 1,000 years as it goes. As each chapter switches from one character to the next there is always something, a little hook that keeps you on the line and interested and excited to come back to the story. Usually when I read books from multiple perspectives I quickly grow bored of one perspective in favor of the other and find myself slogging through the unwanted story but in this book I found both stories so enthralling that I didn’t feel like it was a slog. There is a point in this book where, I must admit, it starts to slow down a little bit but not too far after that it picks right back up, to say this book is action packed would be an understatement. While I did very much enjoy this book I am knocking it down a star because I feel like there could have been a little more character building and a little more world building, right now it feels like we know basics of both but I would like to know more. Another reason is the bi rep in this book, when Eliana mentions being with a girl in the past it piqued my interest and got me excited that there was going to be some bi rep in this fantasy but I got to the end of the book never hearing mention of this again, so in reality it was just a tease. This is only the first book in a series though, so I have my fingers crossed for more in the sequels because I will defiantly keep reading this series.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazing! I can’t wait to get the hardcover and add it to my library at home. This was definitely worth my while... need more!

Started of really enjoying this but eventually had to put it down. Not sure if I just wasn’t in the mood for this genre or if it was the book itself. Definitely plan on reading again since I will own a hardcover edition!

From the moment I read that packed synopsis, I knew I wanted to read this book. The concept of the two queens separated by a thousand years was mysterious and thrilling to me, and it still is in the book. To make this more clear, think of this book as two prophesied female Avatars (yes, as in The Last Airbender), one of whom is forced to undergo a magical tournament of sorts to prove her powers, the other of whom has no idea of her powers or where she truly comes from.

This book was a rollercoaster. The complexity begins right in the prologue, in which we meet many characters and hear many others referenced who show up later. It is a highly dramatic scene filled with death and chaos, and the reader feels a bit tossed around. I promise it will all make sense later.

Of the two queens, my favorite was Rielle. When her story begins, her biggest problem is that she is in love with her best friend Audric, the crown prince of Celdaria, who is engaged to his cousin and Rielle’s other best friend, Ludivine. Audric and Lu are not in love, but their betrothal eclipses any chance for Rielle to be with the man she loves. But when her powers are revealed, she is forced to undergo a series of seven trials to prove that she is the Sun Queen and not the dreaded Blood Queen. Rielle is a complex character and details revealed later give her so many layers and I am excited to see what further unfolds for her in future books.

Our other heroine, whose story takes place a thousand years later, is Eliana, who has lived as a trained killer since she was young. She believes herself to be heartless and with the help of her best friend and occasional lover, Harkan, she works for the crown to take out spies, rebels, and thieves. But when she is given one of her biggest assignments yet, she finds herself caught in a web that is more intricately spun than she ever realized. As she juggles a secret mission, a vow to aid the very criminal she’s supposed to be hunting, and a hunt for her missing mother, Eliana encounters zombies, princesses in hiding, and secret rebel camps.

I do have to praise Legrand for her diversity and representation, which I feel is often overlooked or poorly handled in fantasy. Her characters are many different races and sexualities, and the book is very sex positive. I haven’t seen much of that in this kind of fantasy before, so I was very pleasantly surprised.

I really did enjoy this book, but I do have two things that stood out to me as I read. The first is that fight scenes and more intimate scenes, which are ultimately very similar as far as writing them goes, read a bit clinical. The narration tends to follow the movements and goings on and loses the character’s emotions and motivations, so the scenes end up reading like stage directions instead of a book.

The other thing that bothered me is that this book felt a little muddy, which sometimes makes it a little difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is that’s bothering you as a reader. I think the muddiness comes from the fact that this fictional world is very large and complicated and is not well fleshed out for the reader. I can tell that Legrand has put an immense amount of thought into the different parts of the countries and kingdoms, but especially earlier on, there would be mentions of places that I as a reader did not know or understand, and a weak world building tends to make the story as a whole feel fuzzy around the edges. As I read on that became less of an issue, but as Eliana’s troupe traveled, their route was not clearly written out, so I could’t follow where they were or where they were going.

I found myself more intrigued by the relationships between the characters more than the characters themselves in this book. The wild nature of this book doesn’t make for incredibly relatable characters, though Eliana and Rielle both do have some very relatable innately human qualities. But their relationships with their family and friends and how they develop through the book is very interesting to read. Combined with how active the plot is, how much happens in roughly five hundred pages, and the number of surprise twists there are, this book is definitely a wild ride for any lover of fantasy. All in all, I really did enjoy this book! I’m very likely to read the next one to find out more dangerous secrets and see how certain plot points resolve.

Thank you to the publisher for approving me on Netgalley and gifting me a paperback through the Bookish First program. The opinions are my own and were not influenced by this.

I was not immediately pulled into the story. There is a lot going on and it is a long book so I gave it about 15% until I was hooked. I was jarred by the changing timelines. However, once I got into a flow with it, it worked for me.

My favorite character by far is Simon from Eliana’s chapters. I found Eliana’s chapters a bit more relatable as I struggled visualizing Rielle’s elemental magic. That said, there were things I liked in both timelines and points of view and it kept me reading. I expect to read the 2nd at least to see if it flows better for me.

I would mark this as upper YA or NA.

Rating ~2.5

I truly wanted to love this book. I swear it. Hence why I wished for it. But alas it simply did not resonate with me.

It started off with a blazing fury. But it quickly lost momentum and the for a significant portion of it I was either bored or confused. I tend to enjoy books with multiple POV because it usually adds to the story. However, it simply did not work for me here. Because it as soon as I started to get interested in what was about to come for one of our main characters, we switched to the others POV/storyline. Not my cup of tea.

**I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.**
I honestly wish I could give half stars on Goodreads because this book isn't 3 stars, it's more like 3 1/2. I couldn't see giving it a full 4 stars because of two things: 1. Even though it's a long book, there is still so much I feel is missing. Things that are touched on that should be. I felt pretty confused most of the time when talk of angels and things like that popped up. I feel a little more explanation would have made the story a bit better, hopefully, the next books give us more insight. 2. This book was the most predictable story I think I have ever read. I basically knew what was going to happen towards the end by the end of the fifth chapter and that's not something I really like in a book. A book that is too predictable becomes boring pretty easily. That didn't happen a whole lot with this book, in fact, I was kinda attached, but it was pretty easy to put it down to do other things as well.
I did, however, love the storyline. I tend to have lots of trouble with books that have alternating points of view, but after the initial awkwardness of it, it became easier to keep up with. The characters were likable, I felt that there was good development with both Rielle and Eliana, but I also feel like a lot about Rielle was left out. The whole chapter about the birth of Rielle's daughter was great foreshadowing, but I feel like we don't learn much as to how that came about(I mean, I know where babies come from and all, but a lot of unanswered questions came from the existence of that specific paragraph.
Overall, it was a good book. It was good enough that I would like to read the next ones, just to see if my questions are answered. And who knows, maybe once the series is done, I might think differently of this book.

This wasn’t a bad book there was just too much going on. It was hard to get into. Something intense was happening in EVERY. SINGLE. CHAPTER. It got a little exhausting after a while. I was good, just not really for me

Rielle has the ability to manipulate seven elements, making her one of the prophesied pair of Queens that could save or doom the world. She has to undergo trials in each of the elements to prove herself, risking her life in order to do so. A thousand years later, Eliana is a bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, killing others to keep her family safe. At first, she thought it was working, but then her mother disappeared and she had to ally with the rebel leader in order to find out what had happened. Both soon discover there are far more secrets than they ever knew about.

The stories of Rielle and Eliana are interwoven, and you suspect the relationship between the two long before it's actually revealed over the course of the novel. At first, Rielle is depicted as the horrible Blood Queen of legend in the prologue, but then we actually see her story unfold. She had thought she was the Sun Queen, that she could have the man she loved, the friends she cared for, and be worthy of the people she had been hiding her magical abilities from. Eliana had wanted to be nothing more than the soulless bounty hunter that would keep her family safe and hadn't wanted to question anything she was doing or feel emotion about the consequences of her actions. Each of them was hiding in their own way, and the trials within the novel really force them to take a hard look at themselves and their motives.

Furyborn is the first novel in the Empirium Trilogy. The Empirium in this world is the magic that controls the elements: fire, air, water, earth, metal, darkness, and light. I love the world building involved with the different kingdoms, the history hinted at with the war with angels and their odd appearance and abilities. There are a number of really surprising twists in both storylines, especially as the plots pick up speed and grow really intense. Because this is the first of a trilogy, it feels as though the ending is a bit abrupt. Both story threads end on a somewhat completed note, as both Rielle and Eliana reach the goal that they set out to do at the start of the novel. There's clearly more to the story, and I was disappointed that there wasn't more. I'll have to wait for the other two books in the trilogy, just like everyone else.

Furyborn is the first book in the Empirium trilogy (I believe), and I found myself with mixed feelings about it.

Frankly, I did not find either of the main characters, Rielle and Eliana, all that likable, and most of the time their thoughts and actions annoyed or disgusted me. Probably the only investment I had in these two was hoping for any kind of improvement or development...SOMETHING to make me like them more.

On the other hand, I did enjoy the fantastical/magical/mythological aspects of Furyborn, and I kept turning the pages if only to see what happened next and how everything would (finally) be connected.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley. ***

This epic fantasy story follows two girls from two different time lines set centuries apart gifted with the seven elemental powers that will either save their world or doom it. One is the Sun Queen, the other the Queen of Blood and Destruction. During the devastating war between humans and the fearsome beings known as angels, seven powerful magic users manage to imprison the angels in a separate realm, but it isnt meant to last. It is prophesied that as the gate gets weaker and the angels influence once again gets stronger that two queens will rise.

Right from the start I was intrigued by both main characters and was able to connect to them. They're both complexe and flawed in a way where you can see them easily becoming either the hero or the villain of the story. They both had a tough childhood and make some not so great choices. Eliana is a bounty hunter for the Empire and its cruel ruler while Rielle lives in the past as signs of the gates getting weaker start showing. I was so excited when I found out that both main characters were attracted to more than one gender, and its completely accepted in this world. We even get a lord with a harem of both women and men.

I loved all the different types of relationships. We get a wonderful sibling relationship between Eliana and her brother Remy. Eliana partner/lover Harkan was just the sweetest thing. I really hope we get to see more of him. I also enjoyed seeing Eliana butt heads with Simon and her friendship progression with Navi. Rielle on the other hand has a great female friendship with Ludevine and a cute romance with the Prince. Ludevine was an amazing friend. Even though she's betrothed to the Prince all she wants is to see her two best friends happy together. I also liked how Rielles complicated relationship with Tal and her father develops.

The world with its history, magic and angels was fascinating. Id loved to know more about the marques and their powers. The creatures created by the emperor were so creepy. I did feel like the prologue gave too much of the plot away. The book was a bit longer than it needed to be, but having every chapter end on a cliff hanger really helped keep me engaged. This could have easily been an adult fantasy with its dark themes and steamy scenes. I had a couple issues like how the trials werent actually helping them decide if she was the Sun Queen or the Blood Queen, but only tested how strong she was. I still really enjoyed it and I cant believe I have to wait a year for the sequel.

<REVIEW> FURYBORN (Empirium #1)
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• ⭐️:4,5/5
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💬: The first third of the book was a mess of informations and it took sometime for me to organize my thoughts and all the world building surrounding the story, but when everything settled in their respective place...UOU WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WORLD!
The plot is build with two different povs, one is Rielle and the other Eliana, both women are capable of using the seven elements and for that they are linked to an old prophecy, where exists two queens: The Blood Queen, the destroyer; and the Sun Queen, the one who would save them all. Even if their stories are told lots of years apart, they are linked by fate.
Rielle’s story shows a sensible girl who was afraid of her powers and what it could do with the people she loves, she is an amazing woman who loves with all her heart. She’s also tormented by a voice in her head, Corien. But also enlightened by the love of her life, Audric. To prove to the kingdom that her powers won’t destroy anyone and that she is the Sun Queen, she has to pass 7 trials, each one designed according to an element and deadly dangerous.
Eliana’s story is heartbreaking. She learned with her “mother” how to fight and how to kill and later on she started to work for the Empire as their personal assassin. But her path crosses with one of the favorite agents from the resistance against the Empire, The Wolf, and she cuts a bargain with him. Someone we all know from the beginning of the story and are all dying of curiosity to know how he ended up where he is...The Wolf, Eliana and Remy are trying to bring Princess Navi safely back to her home country as a way to save this other kingdom from the Empire and that means...action and adventures! Also, I know Eliana’s heart is set on her old lover but I kept wishing something would develop between her and The Wolf throughout their mission, because I’m a sucker for forbidden romances and because THEY HAVE CHEMISTRY AND ARE FATED TO BE TOGETHER SOMEHOW.
I was more engaged with Eliana’s story by far but Rielle’s also had my heart rooting for her at some points and saddened by others. I loved Eliana’s relationship with her little brother, Remy and how complicated it was. It wasn’t a blind love like most families have, it was a partnership and understanding. Needless to say that Remy, Eliana’s little brother stole my heart with his imaginative and adorableness.
I can’t wait for the next book and I know things are getting more intense because Corien exists and he is an asshole. But i’m hoping Eliana and The Wolf will be alright at the end.

Furyborn received a lot of hype, so perhaps I went in with higher expectations than warranted. It started out with an explosive beginning and then sort of fizzled. The premise is fascinating, but I had issues with the timing and the alternating timelines. The two lead characters felt like every other fantasy heroine over the last five years. They are fierce warriors but come across as unlikeable. I felt little if any interest in their plights. Simon was easily my favorite character and definitely the most entertaining.

Since I read a lot of fantasy, I don’t mind world building and complex storylines. However, this one became too tedious. Reading Rielle’s countless trials bogged down the entire flow of the book. Despite some of my irritations, the series has potential. I will likely try the next installment.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley for my advanced review copy.