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lanid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Violence, Suicide, Animal death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood
saeruh's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
4.0
I would first like to say that Furyborn is NOT ya. Despite its marketing as such, this is much more of a New Adult fantasy novel. I would not recommend this for pre/younger teen readers because it does not feel appropriate for them, in my opinion. While things are necessarily graphically described, the actions within most/all scenes are still very much geared to an adult audience.
That being said and once I figured that out for myself, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. I’ve had Furyborn in my tbr for a while but decided I wanted to read a fantasy for a bit of a change of pace/plot/etc. The first 50 pages were a little rough but once I got past those, I was INVESTED. I LOVED the dichotomy between the two main female characters with one being a prideful but seeming harmless/sweet at the beginning until we learn more about her powers and start her slow decent into her villianhood and one being a confident, seeming heartless killer-for-hire who becomes our story’s hero. I thought the concept of angels and the magic system was interesting and well thought out. I liked all of the lore too.
However, there was somethings I really wasn’t a fan of. I didn’t like the dual timelines, I sometimes wanted to know much more about the one that just ended rather than go into the past/future.I thought it was REALLY easy to guess that Eliana would be Rielle’s daughter but maybe that was the entire point LMAO Most of the time when Rielle’s powers/the empirium stuff was described, my brain glossed over all of it and couldn’t really seemed to catch any details. I was not a fan of the love triangles for both narrators. I’m assuming Harkan will come back in a later book but he was so unnecessary in general. I wish the characters’ ages had been clearly stated - I couldn’t exactly tell if Eliana was supposed to be 17 or 18 which is not that big of a difference but I really would have liked to known she was the basic age of consent before the romance with Simon started since he’s 8 years her senior. . I think some scenes could easily have been taken out/written a different way Ex: the scene in the first 50 or so pages when Eliana and Harkan bring in a family of poor people trying to escape the city to their master and then one of the CHILDREN is brutally DECAPITATED??? you could have shown the rebellion being squashed out in so many, way less horrific ways .
This novel reminded me of a LOT of other similar fantasy series, included but not limited to Shadow and Bone, the Hunger Games, the Lunar Chronicles, Crier’s War, and Throne of Glass. If you like any of those, you’ll probably like this. I think I will try to pick the next few books in this series at the library.
That being said and once I figured that out for myself, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. I’ve had Furyborn in my tbr for a while but decided I wanted to read a fantasy for a bit of a change of pace/plot/etc. The first 50 pages were a little rough but once I got past those, I was INVESTED. I LOVED the dichotomy between the two main female characters with one being a prideful but seeming harmless/sweet at the beginning until we learn more about her powers and start her slow decent into her villianhood and one being a confident, seeming heartless killer-for-hire who becomes our story’s hero. I thought the concept of angels and the magic system was interesting and well thought out. I liked all of the lore too.
However, there was somethings I really wasn’t a fan of. I didn’t like the dual timelines, I sometimes wanted to know much more about the one that just ended rather than go into the past/future.
This novel reminded me of a LOT of other similar fantasy series, included but not limited to Shadow and Bone, the Hunger Games, the Lunar Chronicles, Crier’s War, and Throne of Glass. If you like any of those, you’ll probably like this. I think I will try to pick the next few books in this series at the library.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Minor: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault
dreamweaver's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
kaseybereading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content
taelights's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Honestly I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be continuing with the series. It took me awhile to get into the book because the beginning was a bit slow and then the animal death scene towards the beginning was very graphic and difficult for me to listen to. But once the paced picked up and I made sense of some things that had confused me at first I was very hooked.
I am not overly attached to either of the main girls to be honest but their stories still managed to intrigue me. While the romances did provide me some sexy inspiring quotes I could care less about them. The only one I'd care to see more of is Rielle and Corien but that's mostly because Corien is interesting to me and I want to see how his story plays out.
I am not overly attached to either of the main girls to be honest but their stories still managed to intrigue me. While the romances did provide me some sexy inspiring quotes I could care less about them. The only one I'd care to see more of is Rielle and Corien but that's mostly because Corien is interesting to me and I want to see how his story plays out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Sexual content, Child abuse, Violence, Animal death, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity
andromeda_1998's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was amazing! I had a bit of a slow start while reading it but damn, I’m glad I finished it (and in a good way). This book is fresh, one of a kind and put together!
What is the book about?:
Furyborn is the first book in the empirium trilogy by Claire LeGrand. It’s a new adult book and it focuses around Rielle and Eliana. Who seem to have nothing in common and live over a thousand years apart of each other.
When Rielle is forced to save her best friend, she exposed herself as one of the 2 queens of legend. To prove her loyalty and her willingness to protect instead of destroy she needs to succeed in seven elemental trials. If she fails she will reserve the death penalty unless the trails kill her first.
In Eliana’s time Rielle is nothing more than a fairytale. Eliana works as a bounty hunter and believes herself to be untouchable until her mother disappears. Eliana joins a rebel captain in the hopes of saving her mother.
What are my opinions about this book?:
This book as some amazing worldbuilding. It’s detailed, refined and all puzzled out. Both timelines are really put together. It’s amazing to read how Claire LeGrand built not one but 2 different timelines for a world both of them complement each other and have a different origin story. There are a lot of differences between the timelines, something that is to be expected with a difference of a thousand years but they stil share the similarities that make it one world.
The characters are wel put together, The author put a lot of effort in building some very balanced characters. They aren’t always sweet and they have a bad side without them being evil. They are humans made out of light and darkness.
The plot starts a bit slow and can be a bit transparent but it finishes strong with a lot of questions still to be answered. For me the plot was hard to follow in the beginning. I think it has something to do with the two timelines. Since you switch between characters every chapter it can feel I bit like reading two books at once. This is something that you will learn to appreciate within the first 100 pages. It all comes together in the end and you just have to have some patience getting there.
The writing of Claire LeGrand gets the job done. It isn’t gorgeous but it’s efficient and it really tells the story. For me it felt like a medium paced but but I can understand why it would be a fast paced book for others.
Favorite quote:
“What is this child, who knows so much of the world?” Her expression turned tender. “Oh, sweet one. You are a dreamer, a teller of tales. I see that now. You ache for magic and for all those golden giants in the past.”
Recommendation?
Yes, for sure a 10 out of 10. I would recommend this book to readers of SJM, especially the TOG series and ofcourse to others searching for a good NA with strong female leads!
What is the book about?:
Furyborn is the first book in the empirium trilogy by Claire LeGrand. It’s a new adult book and it focuses around Rielle and Eliana. Who seem to have nothing in common and live over a thousand years apart of each other.
When Rielle is forced to save her best friend, she exposed herself as one of the 2 queens of legend. To prove her loyalty and her willingness to protect instead of destroy she needs to succeed in seven elemental trials. If she fails she will reserve the death penalty unless the trails kill her first.
In Eliana’s time Rielle is nothing more than a fairytale. Eliana works as a bounty hunter and believes herself to be untouchable until her mother disappears. Eliana joins a rebel captain in the hopes of saving her mother.
What are my opinions about this book?:
This book as some amazing worldbuilding. It’s detailed, refined and all puzzled out. Both timelines are really put together. It’s amazing to read how Claire LeGrand built not one but 2 different timelines for a world both of them complement each other and have a different origin story. There are a lot of differences between the timelines, something that is to be expected with a difference of a thousand years but they stil share the similarities that make it one world.
The characters are wel put together, The author put a lot of effort in building some very balanced characters. They aren’t always sweet and they have a bad side without them being evil. They are humans made out of light and darkness.
The plot starts a bit slow and can be a bit transparent but it finishes strong with a lot of questions still to be answered. For me the plot was hard to follow in the beginning. I think it has something to do with the two timelines. Since you switch between characters every chapter it can feel I bit like reading two books at once. This is something that you will learn to appreciate within the first 100 pages. It all comes together in the end and you just have to have some patience getting there.
The writing of Claire LeGrand gets the job done. It isn’t gorgeous but it’s efficient and it really tells the story. For me it felt like a medium paced but but I can understand why it would be a fast paced book for others.
Favorite quote:
“What is this child, who knows so much of the world?” Her expression turned tender. “Oh, sweet one. You are a dreamer, a teller of tales. I see that now. You ache for magic and for all those golden giants in the past.”
Recommendation?
Yes, for sure a 10 out of 10. I would recommend this book to readers of SJM, especially the TOG series and ofcourse to others searching for a good NA with strong female leads!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, and Confinement
valpyre's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
[audiobook]
[minor spoilers]
i liked this a lot more than i was expecting! i think certain parts of the plot got lost and muddled between the switching of the two povs, and the intense worldbuilding (which i enjoyed and found interesting), so i still find myself a little confused about the angelic wars and what angels are, exactly. but overall, i found both characters much more compelling than i thought i would have.
on paper (no pun intended) i can understand that the characters seem overpowered and uninteresting but something about both rielle and eliana's emotional states over the course of the book was really interesting to me and endeared me to them. i especially liked eliana's compartmentalization of her work as a bounty hunter, and her action scenes were really exciting and showcased her versatility and quick thinking as a fighter.
the magic and religion of the world in rielle's time was really cool as well -- i often find that, in fantasy books, authors use magic lingo that's childlike in simplicity or that is way too complicated, and i think legrand found a good balance with the inclusion of seven separate elements and saints to go along with them. this really set a good foundation for the setting.
im still unclear on how queerness is taken in this world -- some of eliana's comments make it seem like it's queer-norm, but tbh, it's all in passing, and there's only one explicitly queer side couple. also tbh the poly vibes were off the charts in this book, but never came about.
overall, it was a really enjoyable listen (though 17 hours was a lot) and im so excited to get into the sequel!
[minor spoilers]
i liked this a lot more than i was expecting! i think certain parts of the plot got lost and muddled between the switching of the two povs, and the intense worldbuilding (which i enjoyed and found interesting), so i still find myself a little confused about the angelic wars and what angels are, exactly. but overall, i found both characters much more compelling than i thought i would have.
on paper (no pun intended) i can understand that the characters seem overpowered and uninteresting but something about both rielle and eliana's emotional states over the course of the book was really interesting to me and endeared me to them. i especially liked eliana's compartmentalization of her work as a bounty hunter, and her action scenes were really exciting and showcased her versatility and quick thinking as a fighter.
the magic and religion of the world in rielle's time was really cool as well -- i often find that, in fantasy books, authors use magic lingo that's childlike in simplicity or that is way too complicated, and i think legrand found a good balance with the inclusion of seven separate elements and saints to go along with them. this really set a good foundation for the setting.
im still unclear on how queerness is taken in this world -- some of eliana's comments make it seem like it's queer-norm, but tbh, it's all in passing, and there's only one explicitly queer side couple. also tbh the poly vibes were off the charts in this book, but never came about.
overall, it was a really enjoyable listen (though 17 hours was a lot) and im so excited to get into the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death
starlessnights's review against another edition
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Confinement, Sexual content, and Trafficking
claudiamacpherson's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rielle grew up in the palace alongside Prince Audric, but she has a dangerous secret: she has the power of all seven elements, a gift that is said only to belong to the prophesied Sun or Blood Queens. When the secret of her gift becomes known, she must pass seven trials to prove that she is the Sun Queen, destined to save the world, and not the Blood Queen, destined to end it. One thousand years later, Eliana uses her skill for violence to provide for her family as a servant of the cruel Empire. When women start to go missing, including Eliana's mother, she cuts a deal with her enemy, the rebel Wolf, in order to find out more, but learns far more than she ever wanted about herself and her family.
I am using this series to get me out of a reading slump and it. is. working! I love the world-building, which was explained well given how complex it is. I found this book on booktok, where everyone seems to like Eliana better than Rielle, so I was a bit surprised that I felt the opposite. Eliana is a bit too violent and selfish for my taste, but I do foresee that Rielle's choices and her love triangle, as well as Eliana's (hopeful) character growth in the next two books may change my mind. I also am a sucker for the type of story that Rielle's storyline was: the classic fairytale "person must complete a series of tasks that their particular skills allow them to do." I found the shifting point of view difficult sometimes because it felt like I was being yanked out of the story, and only some of the chapters felt like natural links to each other. Overall, though, I'm excited to read the next book in the series; here's to escaping my reading slump!
I am using this series to get me out of a reading slump and it. is. working! I love the world-building, which was explained well given how complex it is. I found this book on booktok, where everyone seems to like Eliana better than Rielle, so I was a bit surprised that I felt the opposite. Eliana is a bit too violent and selfish for my taste, but I do foresee that Rielle's choices and her love triangle, as well as Eliana's (hopeful) character growth in the next two books may change my mind. I also am a sucker for the type of story that Rielle's storyline was: the classic fairytale "person must complete a series of tasks that their particular skills allow them to do." I found the shifting point of view difficult sometimes because it felt like I was being yanked out of the story, and only some of the chapters felt like natural links to each other. Overall, though, I'm excited to read the next book in the series; here's to escaping my reading slump!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing and Sexual violence
ravensandlace's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com
Alright, my friends. Buckle up because this is going to be a rough review. We’ve haven’t had a negative review in quite a while so I know we are overdue for one. I truly wanted to like this book because the premise was pretty good. I even debated about buying this book on Kindle because it was on sale. But I saw a lot of reviews saying it was not good. So I decided to check it out on Overdrive first before I bought it. I’m so glad I did because I would have been so mad to waste two united states dollars.
We’ll start with the characters because they tend to make or break a book. Rielle was from the past. I think the author was trying to turn her into this misunderstood villain. Rielle didn’t have an easy life and I feel for her. Truly I do. But wow, she was so unlikable. I so badly wanted to like her but she was just awful. She had an attitude and was cocky as hell. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when girls have cocky attitudes and stand up for themselves but there’s a limit. Still, I preferred her over Eliana.
Eliana was actually the bane of my existence. Anytime the book switched to her POV, I cringed. She was awful. She acted incredibly entitled, thinking she was so damn great at everything she does. She treated every single person she came across horribly, even her poor brother. There’s a difference between being hard because life has handed her a crap hand and being hard because you’re just an awful person. She was just an awful person.
The plot and world building wasn’t fun either. I think the book could have worked better if the book was just about Rielle or if the time gap wasn’t so large. It was jarring to constantly go between 1,000 years. There was a plot twist that I had trouble trying to connect the dots because the time gap is large.
A couple of last things before I wrap it up. We aren’t going to talk about the sex scene because it is cringe and I don’t want to think about it anymore than I have to. The addition of angels was also too much. There were already powers that happened in Rielle’s world. Adding angels just became too confusing.
Overall, this wasn’t a good book and I’m so disappointed. I don’t think I will continue with the series because it just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe I’ll check out some reviews and see if the series gets better but I doubt it. Especially if I’m going to have to deal with Eliana again. She almost ruined the whole book for me. Oh well. There is always another book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Murder, Suicide, and Drug use
There is a very graphic scene of animal death in the book.