DNF @ 55%

I'm not sure what I thought this book was when I originally requested it, but I didn't like quite a bit about what I did read.

Full disclosure, I rarely, if ever, DNF a book. Furyborn started out with odd pacing, proceeded with the slowest plot buildup of ever, and just felt dragged out. On top of that, the whole subject matter made me confused and uncomfortable. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what was going on. TBH, I started this book WAY back before it was released and then put it down...never to even open it again. I just realized that I never submitted my reivew for NetGalley, so here it is. In all it's non-existing glory.

The rating is entirely my opinion, having not finished the book. If you love this book, please know that I'm not trying to come in and rip your favorite to shreds. That's never my intention. It just wasn't for me.

Claire Legrand excels at character dynamics -- especially the dynamic between her protagonist and their designated antagonist. 'Furyborn' is no exception, and, in fact, I'd argue that it greatly surpasses the dynamics she first showed an affinity for in 'Winterspell.'

The characters are this novel's strength. While the plot may lag at times in terms of pacing and interest, the characters are always engaging. Without question, they are what kept me turning page after page, even when I found my mind wandering with regards to the plot.

All in all: I really enjoyed this book and am ready for the sequel.

Furyborn by Claire LeGrand is such an exciting tale. This story is written in the point of view of two different people. One point of view is set two years prior to the prologue and the other point of view is set one thousand years in the future. Every chapter keeps you on your toes. This book is so intense. I feel like every chapter just through the reader into more action.

Rielle is part of the court of Celdaria. Rielle has always been powerful. She is able to manipulate the elments and has grown up trying to stifle her power due to the fact that people are afraid of what she is able to do. Rielle ends up in the seven trials to test her powers.

Eliana is an assassin who has the gift of being able to heal herself. She tries to protect her family by making sure she is in the King's good graces. Her way of doing that is by doing the King's bidding. The readers follows Eliana on a mission with another assassin that says he will be willing to help her as long as she helps him first.

I really enjoyed Furyborn. I had a such a great time reading this book. I felt like it was written so well. LeGrand did such a great job with keeping these two storylines straight. One of the things that happen with really long books with multiple povs, you can sometimes become confused or get things mixed up and I didn't feel this way at all with Furyborn. LeGrand is an excellent writer that brought us a fantastic high fantasy novel. I am really looking forward to book two.

I just couldn't get into this one. I thought the word building was really slow and I just couldn't connect with anyone in the book. I was really excited about the premise for this one.

Furyborn is the beginning of an epic tale, a tale of magic and destiny. It's the intertwined stories of two young women who want to live, who want to be themselves, to do what they want and be with who they want to be with. But there is always a prophecy waiting, there's always fate and destiny standing by, ready for them to come into their own. Ready to show them how they will change the world.

Rielle is tired of hiding so many things. Her feelings, her thoughts, her abilities. But revealing them, any of them, would mean disaster. It would mean ruin. It would mean she'd never have the chance at something resembling happiness. But when her hand is forced, when her powers are revealed, so begins something deceptive and deadly, so begins plans and plots. So begins her mission to survive while waking something dangerous. Eliana is certain she's only good at one thing, certain that being good at this one thing will keep her and her family safe. Keep them fed and cared for. But then her mother vanishes, pushing her to take a job in particular, a job that will lead her towards rebels and spies. And so Eliana becomes involved in a rebellion, a fight she never wanted to be anywhere near. But it's too late now, and someone is rather interested in her.

It's a deeply layered and epic story. There's Rielle's mission to hid herself and then reveal herself to those around her in order to keep everything safe, and there's Eliana's job that keeps her in the darkness, keeps her hidden, until she's pushed to search for someone important. There certainly was a lot of world-building to establish in the beginning, for both points of view. Over time certain secrets are revealed, certain connections are made, and when the link between them was made, I knew the rest of the trilogy was sure to be even more complicated. Even more about these two young women and their determination, their strength, their power.

I really liked this book. I was like Hunger games but with magic included into the story. This book took a little time to get started and I had to keep pushing myself the keep reading. I’m glad I did because once the book got going it was a very intriguing read. The book kept my attention with so much action I was entertained until the book ended. There are 2 time periods covered where we find three powerful teens that grew up together in the palace. The crown prince, his fiancée and cousin, and Rielle, the daughter of a cabinet minister. Rielle is in love with the prince but has to keep her emotions and powers in together. Rielle has the unique ability to channel magic and her power can overwhelm and kill. While Rielle is struggling to control her ability, we find out that her love for the prince is slowly endangering them both. This was a wonderful read that I think any adventure and action fan would love.

What do I say about Furyborn? The magic system, the dual storylines, the world building between past and present is flawless. I knew how the two protagonists were related quite early on (maybe it was obvious to other people from the beginning!), but I felt that it somewhat spoiled the story to know that secret. I loved the two main characters, but I truly adored the supporting characters, as well. The story would have been incomplete without them. Can't wait for the sequel!

I've had this book for a year. I'm not going to read it. Something about it turns me off each time I see it. I don't think it's the words of the book. It's the cover.

I'm a little all over the place on this book.

There were lots of good things. There was a ton of action. The pacing was excellent. The world building was solid but I would like more. This is a Good Premise. It has SO MUCH potential, and starts off with all these grand promises of angelic wars and political intrigue and time travel. There’s a lot going on, and a lot of character-driven, action-filled plot that I really did enjoy.

But there were things I struggled with. I needed more plot. Action is awesome but only if there is plot motivation behind. Rielle’s story gets bogged down by a predictable series of trials and Eliana is mission that has no point. So it was long and I got bored and had a very hard time caring about if either character had anything at stake. Which they didin't. I also got a bit confuzzeld at places with the hoping back and forth. I also felt that the end just dropped it. I didn't get a sense of conclusion, it just ended and I was going 'what is happening''. I don't like feeling dropped.

Overall it had so much potential that I'm curious about what will happen in the next book.

Rielle Dardenne - is she the promised Sun Queen or someone who will destroy the world. Elliana Ferraora - an assassin who wants to escape and find her mother who has been kidnapped. Their stories are separated by a thousand years but yet are joined together and they learn who they are and what they need to do to survive.

This was a difficult read at first. Opening with what appears to be the end of Rielle's story as she sends her daughter to safety, she hopes. She has supposedly just killed her husband and is seen as a murderer in the eyes of Simon, the young boy she trusts her newborn daughter to. We then go back in time to when Rielle reveals the power that she has in order to save her best friend and the trials she must endure to prove that she is not a threat to the kingdom. Shifting between her story is that of Elliana - the Dread of Orline - who acts as an assassin in order to keep her mom and brother alive. When her mother goes missing, Elliana joins with a rebel leader who promises to help her find her mother.

It took some time to figure out what was happening in the story (and why). The world building for this was often hard to follow and not always clear. The story ends with a bang though and it will be interesting how the next book continues the tale.

This posts to VBPL Recommends on 10/4/18, 6:00 am.

Furyborn is what happens when magic is added to Hunger Games, turning it into a fantasy, and a female version of Anakin Skywalker takes the lead.

Furyborn drops readers into a world gone wrong: A young Queen Rielle has allied with angels to destroy the human race, and her former angel ally, Coren, has come to destroy her at the birth of her child. Then, the story goes back to the beginning of Rielle’s rise and presumably fall later in the sequels. During Rielle’s time, humans have magic, separated into seven different elements, and they defeated and locked away the angels a long time ago. The angels threaten to come back and get revenge. There is a prophecy that there are two queens, a Sun Queen and Blood Queen, who will rise to either save or doom mankind. Those prophesied figures will be known by their ability to wield all seven elements (when a person can only specialize in one). Guess what? Rielle reveals her ability to handle the elements to save her best friend, Prince Audric, when he is in danger, so she must undergo a trial for each element to prove her abilities and claim the role of Sun Queen. The trials become a public Hunger Games spectacle, with costumes and drama to appeal to the masses and endear her to them because, if she is to be their savior, they must know and trust her.

Skip one thousand years into the future where Rielle is a cautionary fairy tale, the infamous Blood Queen who destroyed magic and ushered in the Undying Empire ruled by a tyrant with a vast army of undead soldiers. Eliana lives in this world, scraping by as a bounty hunter and assassin who mostly avoids politics and the rising rebellion to take down the Undying Empire. She has an exceptional ability to heal, making her near invincible. Her reputation and ability get attention, and, when her mother is kidnapped, she finds herself allying with the rebellion. Somehow, the stories of these young women separated by a thousand years are connected, and they can somehow save their own worlds.

Being a projected trilogy, Furyborn is just getting started and will leave readers with a lot of questions, especially how and why? Legrand entices readers to stay, with Rielle and Eliana’s stories being told in alternating chapters, so clues and pieces of information are parceled out a little at a time to intrigue. Both Rielle and Eliana, as well as the other characters around them, are well-developed. Both leads are strong women, though no goody-goody and quite flawed, so readers can still relate to them. They have power and are conflicted in how to use it. Rielle, the purported Sun Queen, cares about protecting her people, yet she will one day ally with the angels as the Blood Queen. Eliana, the supposedly heartless killer, cares deeply about her family and will do anything to protect them. Parts of the story do get dark and graphic. Legrand’s story plays with opposites—past and present, hope and despair, good and evil-- and reverses them, defying expectations. The alternating stories give readers a 2-for-1: Rielle’s story has the Hunger Games-esque trials and theatricality while Eliana’s story is the dystopian adventure story of the rebellion bringing the big bad down.

Look for Furyborn in the VBPL Catalog. The sequel, Kingsbane, comes out May 2019. Try Claire Legrand’s other works. For more teen fantasy featuring queens, try Marissa Meyer’s Heartless, Cinda William’s Chima’s Seven Realms and Shattered Realms series (see review). For more queens in fantasy, try Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (see review).

Review by Tracy V.

Furyborn takes us to a world of elemental magic, dangerous political intrigue and a nation under threat. There are 2 time periods covered - the first is that where we find three powerful teens that grew up together in the palace. The crown prince, his fiancee and cousin, and Rielle, the daughter of a cabinet minister. Rielle is in love with the prince but works to keep her emotions and powers in check. We learn Rielle has the unique ability to channel magic even without any physical tools and her power can overwhelm and kill. As Rielle struggles with her ability and her past, we find that her love for the prince is slowly endangering them both.

Further into the future, the nations are in danger and an emperor seeks to invade most of the neighboring states. Eliana is an assassin with magical powers and the ability to regenerate herself, to recover from almost any injury. Eliana is forced to kill to keep her government's attention away from her mother and brother. While she has developed an ability to look beyond black and white morality, Eliana has her own code and struggles with the violence in her everyday life.

Claire Legrand slowly reveals the ways that Rielle and Eliana are connected and the reason behind the destruction of Rielle's world. Well crafted, engrossing!

*Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.*

I’ve heard some mixed reviews about this one and wasn’t quite sure what to expect going in, but guys … I loved it! All I can say is that the ending is such a freaking tease and now I just have to read the next book because IT’S ON!

Warnings for character death, sex (not particularly graphic), war, and torture.

Thoughts:

- Eliana, a.k.a the Dread of Orline, is pretty much everything you could want in an antiheroine. She isn’t inherently evil, yet rather, a product of the world she lives in. She’s good at what she does and takes pride in it, because that’s the easiest way to keep your sanity and stay alive. But wait! That doesn’t mean she’s entirely heartless. Maybe just … 75% heartless? There’s still plenty of room for growth in her character, and she has a good character arc, even though it’s obviously not completed by the end of the book. I’m actually ridiculously excited to see where book two takes her.

- The Wolf makes the fangirl in me really happy. The Wolf has a darkness in him and is obviously just a teensy bit broken, despite being strong and capable and protective, and who doesn’t find that sexy? I mean, come on. The relationship between Eliana and The Wolf is so full of all sorts of different kinds of tension, and I couldn’t decide whether they were going to kiss or kill each other, and this is sooo my type of character interaction.

- There were so many gray characters, and I was so confused about who to root for and who to hate, and OMG I’VE JUST DECIDED TO LOVE EVERYBODY. Yes, even the antagonists. Why not? There’s something fairly compelling about them, too, or the brief glimpses we get of them (as they’re not really explored in depth in this book, which mostly focuses on the protagonists more than anything).

- The myths and lores are fabulous, and I’m hoping the sequel will delve more into the bits that were kind of glossed over but seem important. This seemed to be more prominent in Rielle’s portion, where there are prophecies and prayers and just masterful world-building as to the culture of that time and how society was structured, etc. In Eliana’s part, there is basically Remy, her little brother, who has read the old myths and lores and wholeheartedly believes in them.

Sticking Points:

- The story is told via two perspectives, two timelines, and they’re very different and they don’t ever meet up in this book, which was sort of frustrating. Rielle is the main character of her own story, set in the “past,” and her struggle focuses on proving that she is the Sun Queen. Her whole arc is based around this and the struggles with her two friends: the future king and his intended bride. Eliana’s story, on the other hand, takes place 1,000 years in the future from Rielle’s, in a much darker time and place, and her struggle is basically finding her mother after she’s taken. I spent about the first 25% of the book confused, waiting for things to start adding up and wondering why the perspectives kept rotating between the two times and trying to keep things straight. In the end, the parallels start to become clear, but I still walked away feeling like the storytelling was muddled by this rotation, because it was hard to sink into either story. Essentially, there are really two very disparate stories being told in Furyborn, and when I became invested in one, I was yanked back to the other in the next chapter.

- If you read the prologue, the rest of the book becomes painfully obvious. I kept thinking there must be something more to it, because everything is basically laid out in the prologue, if you pay attention and read closely. The book leaves things unanswered, so despite knowing how things turn out by the time you’re done with the prologue, there’s still mysteries to be found by reading.
I just didn’t find any particularly surprising plot twists because of it. Well, except for maybe one or two minor ones, but it felt like the “major” reveals were kind of obvious.

- I wasn’t as enamored with Rielle’s story as Eliana’s. Sure, Rielle herself was a fantastic character, finding her strength, trying to figure out who/what she is and where she fits in the world. But her plot’s a bit … tedious. Okay, it’s exhausting. There’s a lot of just petty drama and squabbles and just … I came for the stabbiness and murders, okay? I’m not as interested in the romance and political drama.

- I’m still not entirely sure about the structure of magic and the different races and all that? There are humans and angels and marques and wraiths, and they’re clearly different and their powers are different. But some humans have powers, too, and others don’t. So I’m not really sure what the difference is or how they all came to be pitted against each other, and it doesn’t really say. I assume this will be explored more in future books. It also makes the ending all that more confusing, when all the races are revealed and more things are added to the mix, and I just … I’m not entirely sure what’s going on or how everything ties together?

When I first got this book as an eARC I went into it not knowing if I would enjoy it or not since it does take place from two different points of view over the span of a thousand years between the two characters. But I LOVED it. I loved the way Claire built her world and the way she wove the magic within the story and how the two characters are ultimately connected to one another. I love the writing style, the characters themselves, I adore everything about this book!

I had such a fun time reading this book. It was non-stop action and was enjoyable to read. This is the kind of book I want to own in physical form. It is a great addition to my Kindle and would look beautiful on my bookshelves.

I really wanted to like this more, but it just didn't do it for me. I felt like I read it before. And, unfortunately I wasn't invested in the characters. I didn't like and/or connect with Queen Rielle or Eliana.

The blurb for this book is what hooked me, because the idea of two young women as protagonists will always hook me. What I didn't love about this was the pacing - it wasn't great, it felt a little long, and generally if something feels long, I'm probably not going to be super into it. I also felt confused at times about the plot, which may be on me since I was picking this up and putting it down at random.

Furyborn by Claire Legrand is an interesting story which I would be based on what the author said in one interview, a lot of characters, many storylines, which you can untwine till nearly at the halfway of the book. The writing is beautiful but again another fantasy story which has been so frequently seen recently. Two queens one good another one evil and one throne. Haven't you heard this before?
I know it is YA and after reading so much Literary fiction, any time a return to one of these young adult books, it disappoints me. It is not the book's fault but I wonder why it does not happen to me when I read Middle grade which I absolutely adore.

Raise your hand if hyped books scare you. *Raises hand* Okay, now raise your hand if you loooove it when they live up to the hype. *Raises hand agian*

If you raised your paws with me for both of those statements then let me tell you...hop on that Furyborn hype train. It lived up to my expectations and then some. I went in having not re-read the synopsis and I'm so happy I did because it was a wonderful, sometimes overwhelming whirlwind of excitement, magic, and the unexpected.

The two female leads are awesome. Badass, flawed, poweful, ambitious, sassy...I connected with both immediately. The secondary characters were also wonderful and I felt a strong, cohesive bond to pretty much everyone in the story. Yes, even the characters I hated...it was just a bond of rage in their case! I also adored how Claire tied together all their threads as the book went on and left you clues to start piecing history together.

The magic system felt both familiar and new and exciting for me. Furyborn puts it's own spin on elemental magic, how it works, and how those who weild it are able to do so. Elemental magic is something I will never get tired of so I am fully here for the powers in this novel!

At first the alternating POV and timelines threw me off but after a few chapters I got into the groove of things and really loved the setup. Each chapter marches you a few steps closer to having the whole picture of how each storyline connects to the other. This was a really neat way to get the clues for the big reveal and finally see how things come together. It was also never boring so things absolutely flew by. Great pacing and great storytelling helped this live up to the hype for me 100%

Furyborn is easily going to be one of my favourite books of the year. It's fast-paced, exciting, packed with magic, and has a bunch of bad-ass female characters that I'd love to have on my side any day of the week.

A fantasy novel that travels through time and mixes angels and science and magic together. It’s a bit dizzying with all the flip-flopping between two women 1000 years apart with no true guidance of what is going on. The world building is interesting but comes in small pieces making the tale a huge mystery as well. I found that I enjoyed Eliana greatly but couldn’t stand Rielle. Some sections were heavily described bogs to slog through but an enjoyable story.

I received this book for free from Netgalley for an honest review.