Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - A Feather So Black

I LOVED this book! There were definitely many times I wanted to shake the FMC but given her background I understood what was behind some of her less than ideal choices.

TW for gaslighting and accidental animal death

HFN

Content Warnings

justinekorson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
Happy Book Birthday to Lyra Selene!!!!

WHEW! THAT ENDING. I knew from the beginning that I shouldn't trust Eala. She was too.... welcoming of Fia. If I had been kidnapped as a child and replaced by a changeling I would feel nothing but hatred and loathing for my "sister". I didn't believe for a second that Eala liked or even trusted Fia (she obviously didn't trust her because she kept manipulating Fia). Eala constantly talked about how she didn't want to be used as a pawn anymore but then her big plan was "I'm going to make everyone else a pawn in my game". Make that make sense???

I also did not like Rogan AT ALL. I don't understand what Fia saw in the man. He was literally so useless and so damn oblivious. If he was meant to have golden retriever energy (that's what it seemed like and he was blond) then he fell very short of that.

Other than that I truly enjoyed this novel. It had some very vibrant world building and although I was able to see a lot of the plot points from the get-go (besides the whole Eala tearing out hearts bit) I still found the magic and the people interesting enough to continue reading.

I'm also confused though because.... A Folk at the beginning told Fia they were going to ask for a kiss in payment for saving her from some other creepy Folk person and then... that person NEVER came back. Fia only ever interacted with Irian or the maidens so I don't know what happened there. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a series so maybe that will be handled at a later date?

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heathersinkwell's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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

5.0

Fodla has been left magicless and is plagued by disease, failed harvests, and social strife. Fia, a changeling left by the Fair Folk in place of the princess, was left behind before the gates locked to the Fae realm, Tír na nÓg. She has spent her life reviled and ostracized, despite being adopted and raised by the High Queen. After Fia is sent on an impossible quest to break a curse in the Fae realm, she begins to learn that what she has been told is not always as it seems. Time is running out to break the curse and Fia must decide who she can trust: the people she’s known her whole life or the Fae prince who understands her like no one has before.

A Feather So Black has a strong Celtic influence and is set in a high fantasy world. It is filled with mythology and folklore. It straddles the cozy fantasy realm with its focus on character development, relationships between characters, seasonality, and domestic tasks. This book doesn’t fit neatly into cozy fantasy because it contains some gore, isn’t very heartwarming, can feel very bleak and hopeless at times, and explores some of the darkest parts of humanity. So, it has aspects of cozy fantasy but it has TONS of action and dark scenes as well.

Please check trigger/content warnings before reading!

I LOVED this book. It was full of beautiful prose that was a feast for my eyes. The character development and relationship building (or destruction) were incredible and made this book shine. The romance plot was a major focus, but the fantasy world-building did not suffer for it. Romance helped the plot move forward. There were a few open-door scenes, but they flowed with the story and made sense in the moment. They weren’t there for the sake of spice alone.

The tropes are classic but done refreshingly.

Example (possible spoiler): there is a love triangle, but it’s written as leaving/growing out of one relationship and finding a new person who fits who you are better and supports your continued growth.

(end spoiler)

I do think this book would benefit from a more comprehensive glossary/pronunciation guide. Many common items were given a different name, which makes sense in the Celtic context. Many readers don’t know how to pronounce Celtic words or what these terms mean. There is already a glossary/pronunciation guide. It just needs to be beefed up a bit more!

Tropes:

Love triangle

Fae

One horse

Swan Princess influence

Star crossed lovers

Friends to lovers

HFN Ending

Touch her and die

All the seasons vibes

Complex characters

Storytelling and riddles

Monsters

Complicated family dynamics

Morally grey characters

Lyrical writing

Hidden libraries

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booknookmandy's review against another edition

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4.0

TW: parental abuse (non-physical), gas lighting

This book was a bit frustrating to read. On one hand the prose was beautiful, if you love anything to do with the fae this is your book right here. The culture and lore was rich, the world building was beautiful, it was set up so nicely. On the other hand I wanted to strangle our FMC no less than 5 times.

Fia is a half human half Folk woman, a changeling stolen into the human lands in exchange for the queen's real daughter. She grows up trying to gain everyone's love by doing anything and everything she's told. She's molded into a weapon and taught to hate her fae side and abilities. It was quite sad how much she hated half of herself. She falls in love with her childhood best friend, Prince Rogan, he's the only one who shows her any kindness but he leaves her when she's 16 right after they took their friendship to the next level. But it's four years later and he's returned and they've been thrown together and tasked with rescuing the real princess, his betrothed, from the fae lands. Awkward!

Fia, while I felt so bad for her the way she grew up, she is constantly falling prey to people's lies because she craves that love she was never really given. Each time she fell into bed with Rogan I was like GIRL! COME ON! He didn't love ALL of her, most of her yes, but he couldn't get past that fae side and if it's not all of her then it shouldn't be any of her. This was somewhat of a love triangle (UGHHHHH! I loathe them!) but there's not really a big struggle of who to choose or anything. When the tall dark handsome villain shows up we know who endgame is going to be right? lol Irian is definitely hot and softens for her pretty quickly, their exchanges of stories was cute and I liked how Fia didn't get phased by his wicked side.

The ending is a bit of a soft cliff hanger because the fate of the Folk is left hanging, we don't know what's going on but you get a satisfaction that our couple made it. I will be continuing the series because I need that bitch to get her comeuppance but I hope our mains will be making less frustrating decisions in their lives. Thank you so much to Orbit books for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

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