In the end, the truth is somewhere in the middle. When I settled
in to read Furyborn,
it was with visions of Kendare Blake's Three Dark Crowns and Erika Johansen's Tearling series' dancing in my
head. So color me surprised when the word "angel" makes its grand
entrance in the first thousand words of chapter one and remains a central
theme.
I take no umbrage with angel-centric plots; in fact I devoured
Susan Ee's Penryn & the End
of Days series. But I didn't realize that's what I was getting
into and, I must admit, it immediately made me wary. A poorly executed story
about angels can go awry quite quickly. In the end, though, my misgivings were
for naught. The dual narrated stories of Queen Rielle and assassin Eliana were
so intricate and fascinating that the angel plot rarely registered when it
wasn't the prime focus.
The Gate will
fall...the angels will return and bring ruin to the world. You will know this
time by the rise of two human Queens--One of blood and one of light. One with
the power to save the world. One with the power to destroy it. Two Queens will
rise. They will carry the power of the Seven. They will carry your fate in their
hands. Two Queens will rise.
Rielle's story would begin at the end...the end of her, that is. Her introductory chapter is also the chapter in which she dies as "at once the loveliest and most terrifying thing" who had allied with angels and killed her husband. Her story then backtracks two years to when she was merely a girl harboring a dark secret (is there any other kind?) and a rebellious streak (see earlier rhetorical question). In a world where only a few can still wield powers over magical elements, with the physical aid of a "casting," she can wield all seven unassisted. When this is (inevitably) discovered, she is rumored to be the Sun Queen, protector of the kingdom and its people. But first, she must undergo trials à la The Hunger Games of all seven elements to prove she can control these powers, or else she will be executed.
Eliana's story begins 1,020 years later, after Rielle was instead
found to be the Blood Queen...no need of an explanation for that moniker.
Eliana is better known as the Dread of Orline, a silent and seemingly invincible
assassin of Red Crown rebels who move against the Empire, which rose to power
following Rielle's betrayal (if it helps, consider Eliana as Boba Fett). All of
that comes to a screeching halt when her mother is kidnapped by a mysterious
entity that has been taking girls and women from less reputable areas. It's
then that she forges a bitter alliance with the Wolf, a high-ranking member of
the Red Crown who promises to trade Eliana's mother's location in exchange for
her skills.
Dread," he
murmured, his breath caressing her cheek, "is only a feeling, easily
squashed. But wolves, my dear, have teeth.
This is where I’ll leave the remainder of the story to the author
and share the Good and the Bad of Furyborn.
The Good:
-The Writing of Rielle:
Let's be honest: When you start a book and one of the protagonists
is immediately revealed to be a Blood Queen who murdered her husband and sold
her people out to angels that would massacre and conquer them, you don't
exactly expect to root for her. But I did. Even though I knew where her story
would end, I found myself joyous at every victory and angered by every betrayal
she went through on her journey to the end. Maybe even more so because I knew how it all
played out and I wanted so desperately to learn why so I could absolve her of
her sins.
-Ludivine:
As Rielle's best friend and fiancé of prince Audric, whom we know
Rielle later marries, it would be easy to go down the same old clichéd road of
treachery and a grating love triangle--but we don't. Without spoiling any
plots, Ludivine is a breath of fresh air in what has become a stale role to
play.
-The Multiple Narrations:
I've had a lot of luck with multi-narrators lately, but it's not
always the case. I really got to know Rielle and Eliana equally, with no favoritism
to either. Legrand certainly knows how to end a chapter, though. With each jump
back to the other story I found myself always on the precipice of something
grand and exciting, only to be grounded again for another 10 minutes.
The Bad:
-The "Twists":
There are four major twists in this book, as far as I'm concerned.
While one did catch me off guard and genuinely surprise me, the first was
obvious from jump street and the second and third I caught on to a little late,
but well before they were established. I'm unsure how these could have been
more difficult to crack, but maybe they shouldn't have been twists at all.
Maybe they should have been known to the reader, if not the characters in
question. While there's always something smugly self-satisfying about guessing
a twist, there's also something innately disappointing.
-The Wolf's 180:
When we first meet the Wolf (Simon to his friends) he is
mercilessly fighting--and winning--a battle against Eliana. For a good portion
of the book he is brash and unyielding in his coolness toward her, even though
he works hard to keep her alive. His change of heart and complete personality
shift comes nearly out of nowhere and is a bit jarring and implausible.
-Rozen:
That's right; Eliana's kidnapped mother for whom her entire plot
is predicated upon has a name! I don't know why, but I felt zero compulsion to
care if she was rescued or not. Even though she was at the core of everything
Eliana did, I kept looking to other developments and considered this a side
quest at best. There was a touching scene involving Rozen, but I think it
affected me more as someone with a mother, rather than someone who cares about
Eliana's.
Special
Addition of
The Curious:
I don't normally stray from the Good and the Bad, but this one was
a quandary. This book is considered Young Adult, which may give some readers
(silly) pause before reading. While it did read smoothly like a lot of YA
books, I didn't necessarily consider the material thus. I've had YA blinders on
before, so I could relent that, considering the lack of cursing and overt
gore/horror of this book, it may begrudgingly be YA...BUT the sex scenes in
this book tip it far over the scales of any YA I've ever read. In fact, with
the exception of Fifty Shades of
Grey (guilty), I don't think I've ever read a more sexually explicit
book in my life. So while I don't think anyone should be turned off by the YA
ranking, I don't necessarily recommend any younger children read this, lest
they be turned on (see what I did there?).
TL;DR: Furyborn is a 500+ page book that reads like 200. If you want to get lost in a story of magic, love, friendship, betrayal, action, and the strength of women (and don't mind a few mentions of angels) you would be furious with yourself for missing out on Furyborn.
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