The Crow Rider picks up right where The Storm Crow left off, with Thia and co having escaped Illucia – with the help of Prince Ericen – to journey to the neighbouring kingdom of Trendell, where they hope to find new allies in the war against Queen Razel. It is this journey that allowed Josephson to expertly build on the world created in The Storm Crow, with Thia’s rebellion taking readers to lands both old and new, and reveal more of the world’s lore that ultimately becomes vital to the plot. On a quick side note, there are several descriptions of food throughout the book, so readers should definitely have snacks on hand!



While many sequels cannot usually stand up to their predecessors, I enjoyed the plot of The Crow Rider just as much as I did The Storm Crow. Like the first instalment, mental health – more specifically, the resurgence of Thia’s depression and all that comes with it – is carefully handled, while maintaining a fast pace with well-choreographed battle scenes, lots of tension and several exciting plot twists.



The characters are probably my favourite aspect of this duology, and The Crow Rider only increased my love for them. Thia remains one of my all-time-favourite protagonists, and I adore how strong she continued to be in this book, compensating for her lack of political skill and discomfort public speaking with her hope for peace and the bonds she’d forged with her friends and allies. I loved the development of the relationship between Thia and Res, and Res’ training scenes would always make me laugh – he’d rather flop down on the floor and beg for scones or chicken than practice his magic! There is, also, the developing romance between Thia and Ericen. Throughout the book, Thia questions her feelings for Ericen, and while I won’t give any spoilers, I was very happy with the ending they got. That was probably a spoiler in itself, right? I hope Kalyn Josephson writes an enemies-to-lovers romance again, because I adored this one! I also felt that Caylus, who played quite a big role in the first book, was ‘put on the backburner’ a little bit here, although his journey was understandably different than Thia’s, and I was satisfied with the path he took and the ending he got – it felt right for his character. The book’s villain, Queen Razel, also sees some more development, as we learn more about her motivations and backstory. The Crow Rider is more diverse as well, as an existing character is revealed to be asexual and readers are introduced to a new, non-binary character as well.



Full of tension, banter, some well-choreographed battle scenes and an extra heaping of enemies-to-lovers romance, The Crow Rider is an absolutely spectacular conclusion to one of my favourite series, and I cannot wait to see what Kalyn Josephson writes next.

I’ve had The Crow Rider for a few months, but every time I went to start reading it I felt a small sense of dread. Now, it is very likely that is just my own constant state due to how the world currently is. But I was also a little nervous to see how this wrapped up events from The Storm Crow.

Lucky, I’m happy to say I didn’t need to have those concerns. Returning to Illucia and Rhodaire wasn’t just what I wanted, but what I needed too. It’s like Kalyn Josephson writes books that just beg to be picked up when you need them most.
So in case you find yourself asking, what do you mean by that? The answer is simple, The Crow Rider continues to explore and portray mental health, particularly depression. Obviously there’s a whole range of books that explore these elements, but that doesn’t ring true as often within fantasy as they’ll be tied more to an evil force or skipped over.

“Feeling that way wasn’t your choice.” Just like it hadn’t been mine or anyone else’s who struggled with depression. You couldn’t just snap yourself out of it any more than you could mend a broken bone.

As with the previous book, I felt seen and acknowledged. But also inspired by Thia’s strength, I too wanted to get up and face the day. If she can take that step and more, I can too… though mostly to decorate a room, not win a whole war.

Ultimately this is a story of revenge and facing your past. Thia’s biggest battle is within herself, not only keeping the darkness at bay, but figuring out how far she may have to go to achieve peace for the Kingdom. Can she truly do better than her mother? Than her ancestors? Can Prince Ericen let go of his mother’s revenge and be better than her? Or will he simply try to earn her trust once and for all and get the revenge for her?

They have so much more in common that they’d ever like to admit, perhaps this is what makes the two so formidable, so balanced in their verbal and physical sparring sessions.

There is so much tied up around past mistakes or inactions, so much that Thia will have to unwind to try and seek the happiness that the Kingdom so much desires. They’re all so tired of being on edge, waiting for Ericen’s mother to finally have enough and defeat anyone she pleases.

You are a tempest of lightning and thunder, and people cannot look away from you. There is a strength to you that lifts others up, and that’s what this world needs right now. Not another politician. You.

Even though Thia can hold her own in a fight, has a really strong bond with Res to use magic and flight to their advantage. She’s also strong in other ways, her personality.

Many of the battles Thia faces in The Crow Rider are to do with wit. To know how is best to approach someone you need to befriend, or to convince working with. And she recognises that everyone is different, they all need their own approach.

She was never one for politics, instead she utilises her stubbornness and desire for peace to succeed in these battles.

But Thia isn’t the only star of the show. No. We get ample time with her best friend and bodyguard, Kiva, who is a true force to be reckoned with. Full of humour and spite, and love for Auma. I really loved what she brought to the page.

Of course we see Caylus again. I didn’t talk about him much in my book review of this first book, but on my reread I realised how much I loved his character too. There is a lot to him that gets unpacked in this book, and he finally finds what he’s been searching for. He is a man after my own heart. However, I have a soft suspicion that if he were to think about his sexuality more, he might identify as asexual.

Res coasted on a current above us, though he kept sending hints of questioning annoyances towards me, as if he didn’t understand why he didn’t get a horse too.

Finally, I enjoyed the humour throughout. Res is definitely the one who provides it most though. In this book he has much more of a personality and I have a much better understanding of just how large this boisterous crow is. He’s dramatic and has so much flair.

Any scene when Res tested out his powers, or even fought with them, were intense and captured my attention. I really loved how Kalyn Josephson explored Res’ own fears, how that might present in a fairly young crow with no other to look up to. We see he’s got so much love in him, and I adore how protective he is.

All in all, I still highly recommend this series. It reminds me why I love a good duology, but also very glad I introduced so many others to this series. Thank you for not letting me down Kalyn, this was every bit the story I’d hoped for.

Can’t wait to see what you do next!

First, I would like to thank the author, Kalyn Josephson and Netgalley for giving me a ARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved the first book of this series and when I saw in on Netgalley I knew I wanted to read this one as soon as I could! The first book introduced an engaging and fun fantasy world that pulled you in and made me want to read for hours on end. I loved the relationships, magic and the characters within both books. I really enjoyed the way things played out in this book and the suspense was unreal. This is a fun and quick fantasy read that I feel like all my friends and followers will really enjoy! I will be recommending this book to all my friends, and I just gave a friend the first book because I felt like she would adore this series also! So sad that this is the last book tho, due to this book series is a duology. I will truly miss this series.

THE STORM CROW is a conclusion to THE STORM CROW duology, and I had some mixed feelings. The book starts immediately where the first one leaves off, without any recap. As it had been a while for me, I definitely needed to look up the synopsis and other information to remind myself of who the characters were and exactly where the previous book ended. I would recommend doing a reread, as this one felt like the second half of a book in some ways.

The first half of the book was a lot of movement and action that did not felt like it progressed the plot much in my mind. One thing I loved about the first book was how much we experienced Thia and her mental state with lots of character building. As the characters are already built, I didn't mind skipping it, but we lost some of that emotional connection here. The latter half of the book got more interesting with other world building and an ultimately satisfying conclusion.

Overall, I think people who like to tie up the series will appreciate the conclusion, but I do wish there was less action in this one and more of the in-depth character exploration that marked the first. Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

After finishing The Storm Crow I immediately wanted to find out what happened to Thia, Kiva and Erican and so I was super excited to read The Crow Rider. The premise of giant crows, which are not only super helpful in battle but are vital to the cities that have been built around them is wonderful. I was looking forward to seeing more magic and more Res, the crow, in this book and I was not disapointed.

First up, The Crow Rider took the world building from the first book and continued to build upon it with visiting Trendell and introducing us to Jindae and Trendell cultures even more. This helped open up the world, and showed that whilst our main characters conflict is Rhodiare v Illucia, the issue is much bigger and effects the whole of Kythra.


Created by Travis Hasenour
Throughout the book Thia, our main character, has to continue to grow and develop. She grew up quickly into a more active role despite her depression in the first book, but now she must take part in political talks to save her kingdom. I liked how she still had niggling doubts because of her depression, showing that whilst hidden it’s not gone completely. Plus the strength she had to help those she loved, even when others told her not to showed that she was still confident enough in herself despite this.

On top of Thia, we’re introduced and re-introduced to so many new characters in The Crow Rider. Whilst I still adored Kiva and Auma’s relationship, as well as Calyus and Erican’s changing relationships with Thia… I most liked the new character Elko. The Jindae princess was as tough as Kiva with the political thinking of Caliza. Her friendship that formed with Thia was relied on for most of the second half, and I enjoyed her attitude towards her people and the war to come.

Speaking of relationships, I found the relationships whether romantic, familial or of friendship to be written so well. Each relationship developed and changed in some way throughout this book, and most often this was in such a healthy way and through good communication. I found this to be a breath of fresh air compared to many books which has poor communication at the heart of conflict.

Relationships as a whole are seemingly a huge part of this book. With Thia needing to form relationships in her own way to form alliances for the war. As Thia had been trained to be a crow rider and not a ruler like her sister, this was a struggle as she was trying to act a part. Once she opened up as herself, the others seemed more inclined to help her. This also helped developed Elko, Auma and Samra as more fleshed out characters.

My favourite part of The Crow Rider was that it is so much more magical than the first book. With Resyries growing into his powers and training, we get to see a lot more magic come back into this world. More magic in this book was what I wanted from the ending of The Storm Crow! On top of this, we’re introduced to Sellas as a larger part of the storyline. I adored delving into the bigger mystery surrounding them and how they fit with the crows and the magic.

Whilst this is meant to be a duology, I felt the ending left it open for the world to have spin offs. I’m looking forward to reading more books by Kalyn Josephson because I enjoyed this series so much.

Positives of The Crow Rider
Relationships are developed and HEALTHY
More magical than first book
Negatives of The Crow Rider
N/A

This book picks up right from where the first book left off which is great as this is now a completed duology so you can binge them!

I personally found the first half of this book to be a little bit slow with some travelling and training and trying to convince people to help. However, the second half of the book really picked up and there was lots of extra character development done here too! I also feel like the ending could have been a little more spread out but that's just my personal preference 😊

Overall I really enjoyed this duology and I would recommend it!

The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson picks up where the first one left off, with the gang fleeing on the boat while they plan their next move.
Unlike the first book, the pace of The Crow Rider was lacking. The first half of the novel was slow because it’s part montage of the places they visit to show off the Crow, part training montage, and part political alliances. However, the second half is much more action packed, with a good balance of fight scenes and non-action that made it a breeze to read.

In The Crow Rider, Josephson shifts her focus away from Thia in order to develop the other characters. Through her perspective, the audience comes to understand them which imparts a richness into the story. Ericen stood out as he was unpredictable but incredibly entertaining, especially in his interactions with Kiva.

As for the plot, it was good but didn’t hold any surprises. It’s a plot I’ve read many times in fantasy novels, particularly in YA. I didn’t find it lacked in anything, however the last minute new magic curve-ball could have been explained better or mentioned earlier in the series.

Another well done aspect of the book was the romance. None of the relationships were forced or rushed, and I was surprised by the inclusion of an amicable break-up. Break-ups aren’t something that are seen often in YA, much less one where the participants saw the relationship wasn’t working and agreed they were better off as close friends.

However, this book’s biggest flaw is that it was, unfortunately, forgettable. I felt hyped while reading, especially the closer I got to the end — but little of it stayed with me in the days and weeks that followed.

All in all, I enjoyed The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson while I was reading it. It was a good conclusion to the series, I just wish it had been more memorable.

This book is the perfect end of the duology. It brings the reader a sense of completion that is momentarily lacking from the ending of the first book. I love how the characters seemed to grow in different ways. The author did a great job in drawing the reader in and allowing them to feel like part of the story instead of just a spectator. The characters seem to come a live and make the reader want for more. The story plot of this book is a wonderful continuation and will be enjoyed by readers many generations to come. Highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Storm Crow and is wondering what happens next.

Thia, her allies and her crow Res plan to defeat Queen Razel with the aid of neighboring kingdoms, if she can convince them to join the fight. There are obstacles in the way, including Res' unstable magic and Thia being pursued by the crown prince of Illucia.

This is the second of the Storm Crow duology, and I actually missed the first book. As a result, I missed all of the descriptions of the characters, what they meant to each other, and the horrors that happened in the first novel. In that one, Princess Anthia of Rhodaire and her sister found a crow egg in the rookery and plot to hatch it in secret to bring back the elemental crows that Illucia had destroyed. That novel has warning for grief, depression and self harm, as Thia grieved her mother and the loss of the life she expected to have as a crow rider. There was also a lot of diverse representation for color, gender and sexual orientation. This novel, being in the same universe, still references all of those things.

Because I missed the first novel, I did miss a huge chunk of exposition regarding the different kingdoms, the way magic works, and that crows normally have only one kind of magic. They control earth, water/weather, fire, air, sun/healing, shadows, and battle. Res doesn't know how to really use his powers, so we do have a training montage of sorts as Thia tries to find support in waging a war against Razel. She wants to be a leader, but is a teenage princess with few opportunities for prior experience. Because of that, the more she tries to make people respect her, the more it backfires.

There's a lot of hype and interest for this book online, as the first novel attracted a lot of attention. This is one that teens will enjoy, especially those that like crows.

*eARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

I have to say that I wasn't super impressed by the first book in this series, The Storm Crow. The mere amount of times the word 'crow' is said in the first few chapters was enough for me to tear my hair out. However, I definitely appreciated it more the second time, so maybe I wasn't in the right mood when I read it the first time.

This is not a review of The Storm Crow though. This is a review of The Crow Rider.

The Crow Rider starts where The Storm Crow left off, as Thia and crew flees the kingdom of her enemies to start a rebellion.

There are a lot of mythological elements in this story, which I love! Such as going into greater detail on the origin of the crows, Res's abilities, and the 'gods.'

The romance also continues! And guess who starts popping up in various places? My favorite seemingly dark-hearted prince.

Plot-wise, it continues from The Storm Crow, fighting the good fight, war, gathering allies. It's a pretty standard YA plot, so nothing too extraordinary there.

Final thoughts: This is a short and sweet duology (both books are under 400 pages, I believe). The author has skill, and I'll gladly read whatever she writes next, but the plot isn't anything special.

This book was so good! I thought it was an amazing ending to the duology. I could not put it down! I loved the pacing of it. It was such a quick read. There was such good character development throughout this. And so many twists and turns that left me shocked!

I loved all of the characters! I felt so attached to them all, and I loved being able to relate to some of them. The plot went ways that I was not expecting, and I loved it!

If you haven't read this duology yet, I highly recommend it! I thought the writing style was so captivating. I can't wait to see more from this author!

Not enough world-building. It takes awhile for things to get going too.

I was hoping to love this, but I didn’t. It was good.

I haven’t fully connected to any character. So it’s harder for me to feel emotionally invested in the story.

I think most people will like it, and while it’s a good conclusion, I wish I’d have enjoyed it more.

I absolutely loved The Crow Rider. The ending was perfect and it was everything I wanted. I must say I enjoyed the second book more than the first one! Also the romance!! It was just perfect. I already purchased a physical copy because I loved it so much. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book!

When I read The Storm Crow, I fell in love with the story and the characters. After the way the first book ended, I was really interested in seeing how things were dealt with in this novel. I do think that I liked the first book a little bit more, but I still really enjoyed this finale.

One of the things that I like most about these books is how easy it is to fall into them. Kalyn's writing is so wonderful and I've never had any issue with becoming engaged with her stories. One of the things I like about this duology is that we get an engaging high fantasy with wonderful characters but it's not dense, overly-complicated, or super long. While I do like dense fantasies some of the time, I also really love ones like these books. For me, this duology is the epitome of a good Young Adult Fantasy in that it's accessible for younger readers but engaging for those who like a bit of a grittier premise.

I adored the characters just as much this time around. There were a few side characters who were featured heavily in book one that didn't get as much page time in this one that I wished I'd seen more of. However, there were some new characters that were introduced that I really connected with.

Obviously, I love our main character more than the rest. Thia is just so strong and complex. Her bonds with the other characters as well as her internal struggles added such great depth to the story. Additionally, one of the things I liked most about the first book is that it included Thia's mental health journey. I was really glad to see that not only do we get the continuation of her growth and journey, but we also get to see other characters' also healing from trauma and pain.

As much as I loved this book, I'm also really left wanting more. I want more of these characters, more of the world and lore, and so much more of the crows and magic! I would love if the author revisited this world following a different character (or even a continuation of Thia's story) because I just am so intrigued by everything in it. I really wish I'd gotten to see even more of the different magic systems and history but I also feel that I was never confused due to lack of information. Overall, I wish there was more of everything because I just really liked this duology!

I appreciated the first book in this series, The Storm Crow, because of its unique and beautiful blend of YA fantasy world building and plotting, along with a heart-wrenching portrayal of depression. I found the story unique - because YA fantasy does not typically delve into those topics as much as other genres. The Crow Rider did not disappoint when it came to building upon the themes from the first book. I appreciated the character growth within the sequel - we see setbacks and failures, but also triumphs and great moments of happiness. I loved the realness of it, and the gentle honesty of characters finding love regardless, and because of, their imperfections and flaws. The Crow Rider was a beautiful story of redemption, healing, and finding the beauty in our imperfect selves and imperfect world. The action built and carried well from the first book and the finale felt exciting and satisfying. An overall pleasing and great conclusion, and a book I really enjoyed reading.

I definitely prefer the sequel to this duology than the first.
The relationships were way more realistic and natural in this installment than the previous, and I was actually able to feel for this characters this time around. Res especially was a high point because he's just the cutest little crow baby in all the land. I think it would have been more successful to have more scenes with Res in the last book, so we don't have to play catch up in this one since he's been in the series for such a short amount of time.
Moreover, I really like how Kalyn writes battle scenes. She's successful at creating a detailed scene for me to picture, and I think it's one of her strong suits as a writer. Those scenes, specifically at the end, were such a joy to read and picture. I don't think anybody would deny that her descriptions of Thia and Res in the sky aren't out of this world. You can feel the moments of peace when its just Thia and res, but when there's tension when they're flying- it's pungent.
To be honest, there needed to be a larger page count to this duology overall. The 350-ish count did not do this story justice. Res learns more about his abilities at the start and middle portions of this finale, and we just flickered over it as if it was not that important in the grand scheme of things. It was disappointing because Res was one of the shining lights to this duology, and I was sad that his development was stunted.
Overall, I think the weakest point to this story was the lack of world building. We didn't really have any of it in the first book, and Kalyn had to do a lot of info dumping in this installment, which was confusing in and of itself because she didn't give enough even then. The Sellas were sooo interesting, and I'm sad they were such a big part of this novel, but we still know/ saw little to basically no parts of their abilities/ folklore. It felt like a constant tease. I wish the Sella folklore had been a larger portion to the first book, so we, as readers, did not have to filter through/ understand these new characters/ villains in such a short amount of time.
We were left with more questions then answers.
I will certainly look into Kalyn's next books because she is a fantastic scene writer, and I'm hoping some of these issues I had could be resolved in future projects because she has a lot of talent.
I may come back to this review sometime because there's more I'd like to say, but here is the largest summary of my feelings post-reading that I could think of.
Thank you to SourceBooks for sending me an eARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Crow Rider is the fact paced, action packed conclusion to the Crow Rider Duology. I was a little hesitant going into the book after the first one left me a bit wanting but I am glad I gave it another shot. We pick up right where the first one left off with Thia, Res and the crew escaping Illucia and headed to meet potential rebel allies to save their world. Josephson started such a unique world and magic system, so I really enjoyed the further world building and getting to know the characters more. I really wish this story had been a bit longer to go into more detail but was still entertaining and look forward to seeing how Josephson grows in her writing in future novels….hopefully more in this world!

Every since I finished The Storm Crow, I know that I needed to read The Crow Rider. One thing that I am loving more than anything right now when it comes to YA is the accurate portrayal of mental illness, which was done beautifully in book one with Princess Thia.

Princess Thia still has her own inner demons to work out, but she refuses to let her sister fall prey to the same enemies that claimed the life of their mother. While everyone thought the crows were dead, Thia was able to rescue her storm crow Res. Now, Res and Thia must work together to save their kingdom.

Y'all, I loved Res. I know that he went through some things especially since his powers weren't the traditional powers of storm crows, but I don't care. He was amazing, and I refuse to allow anyone to hurt him. Just saying.

I loved that the author continued the importance of mental health in The Crow Rider. You don't see this in YA fantasy typically, so I can't rave about this enough.

I thought The Crow Rider was much more propulsive in terms of action. Honestly, I just really enjoyed this series.

I was pleased to be able to continue reading this series having just re-read the first book and I was glad that the action picked up from straight where it had left off. I was looking forward to getting answers and conclusions to those set out in the first book.

This book started off strong and we learnt more about the main characters and I definitely felt there was more of a connection to the main characters, and we saw them coming to life a bit more. However, as the book went on I got fed up with the repetitiveness of it all, and I felt like the story was moving very slowly.

The story of this book was slightly more interesting than the first as we knew from the first book that there were certainly going to be more battles and more excitement. I wish that we had had more about the crows generally in this one, and I found that we only got that towards the end by which time the story was being wrapped up.

Overall, I thought for a sequel to a debut novel this was good, it didn't wow me but it wasn't bad. I would have just liked a bit more in terms of plot. I can't fault the writing style or the characters.

The Crow Rider is the conclusion to The Storm Crow and it did a great job at wrapping everything up! I would love to see more set in this world, maybe a novella in the future.

The first thing I loved was Res and Thia’s bond. Res added so much to the story. He had a big personality for a crow, and his scenes were always fun to read.

Every character was necessary for this book. I especially loved Samra and her cat! Ericen remained a strong character and one of my favorites. Elko and Kiva were also excellent characters and I wish we had seen more of them.

One thing I hadn’t liked in the previous book was the romance between Thia and Caylus and the love triangle, which both promptly ended in this one. I’m glad Thia didn’t end up with the first guy she liked/dated, even if she did have feelings for Ericen in the beginning.

Caylus wasn’t my favorite character in the first book, but I liked him in this one and I think he had potential that was left unexplored.

In The Crow Rider, the world is expanded upon and explored more, which I loved. The world-building was imaginative and fun to learn about. I do wish the author had delved into the magic more because it was so interesting. Overall a great and satisfying conclusion.