Reviews

A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene

sunny_yy's review against another edition

2.0

Beautiful cover. Lovely title. However, this was...not for me. On the surface, the world, the setup, and the protagonist have a lot of potential. But the pining and angst right off the bat stirred nothing in me because we just barely got introduced to the female lead and then suddenly we're dealing with her (old) love interest returning into her life. Maybe that's just the trend nowadays? Maybe authors feel that throwing the romance at us in the first two chapters is necessary to keep readers interested? But for me, that just disrupted the exciting part (the action, the protagonist's mission etc)

I also don't get why the protagonist is okay with the male lead calling her changeling. I guess we're supposed to think it's endearing that she doesn't mind it when it's coming from him but it's still a derogatory term in that world, right? Like she was willing to k-word a man over that.

I think the title of this book should have been Rogan.

Anyways, I do want to emphasize that while this book did not appeal to me, it has all the tropes that are popular on booktok nowadays so there's that.

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for this DRC in return for an unbiased review.

chanelchapters's review against another edition

4.0

4.25
Contains Swan girlies, Poison Ivy & a Feather Daddy. May also have another generic Prince love interest, mean mommy & sadistic sister in it too.
Some fae stuff and Celtic creatures all tied together with a quest for a sword.
It could have been edited down, especially the repetitive “I love you but I must do my duty as a prince” BS. Like, we get it. No one cares.
But I did enjoy it quite a bit.

https://youtube.com/@ChanelChapters?si=syfx6S35Tf5pCI06

a_strix_named_strix's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

At the beginning, I hated this one. Rogan always sucks, Druid Dad (no, I won't check his name) sucks, his redemption even more so. Irian and Fia fell into instalove. Eala and the swans were the only characters I liked (until 2/3rds mark, I actually began to like Fia a bit). 

I found Fia trying. The "blade" talk was obnoxious, she felt like a Celaena ripoff. Talking about how ugly she was as all the boys fawned over her. The strong NLOG vibes. Her naivete and continued making of utterly stupid descisions. 

Rogan was a piece of work. I can’t tell whether it was intentional or not.

Irian was just your generic Shadow Daddy (TM). Not a fan of thar archetype, but he didn't build on it at all. Also, his house (I can't remember the proper word :/) was of feathers, yet he is shadow themed??? He curses a couple, he curses the swans (to Fia). Why is she so trusting of him?!

The prose was good. No notes.

littlesoulsister's review

I just can't do love triangles. DNF'd.

morallygreyswiftie's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A Feather So Black is beautifully written, and the world building is really well done. There’s a lot of information, and learning how to pronounce some of the words took a bit of time to sink in, but the glossary was very helpful with this! 

Fia is a well-developed character who has to deal with internal conflict, as well as external conflict with her mother, Cathair, Eala, Rogan and Irian. Unlike some other books or series, she didn’t become annoying or go in circles in her development. She struggled at times, but she was smart, she made choices and was very relatable. 

Irian is great, and is definitely a shadow daddy that I want to see more of in book 2! 

I am really looking forward to seeing how Fia, Eala, Irian & Rogan's stories develop.

The conflict between the sisters that includes the men, but doesn’t wholly depend on them is interesting. I’m curious to see if Rogan’s character develops further in the next book, or if he’ll spend most of his time in thrall to Eala. It was not surprising that Eala was manipulative, and it was definitely hinted that she was going to want Rogan to sacrifice himself. I’m glad he didn’t, as I thought he was likely to do it for a minute there

debster1982's review

5.0

Amazing! Got the digital version of this book. Really can’t wait till my FairyLoot version arrives.

lauren_211's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My dog has more sensitivity than Rogan.

First fantasy book I've read in a while and honestly loved it.

I'm a sucker for love triangles so probably why I liked it so much 

Not 4 stars though cause I felt like it was rushed at the end and as an Irish person the random inclusion of Irish phrases in places that don't make sense does irk me.

marcellaluna_author's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

bryn_cavin's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.25

10000bees's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I've never read a book that felt so green before. The author went hard on the vibes and the atmosphere and it really paid off. The lovely writing was definitely my favorite aspect of the book. I really liked following Fia and her journey of growth as she eventually learned to love and accept herself and to leave behind the people that didn't treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Unfortunately, I found the plot to be... just too long. The book takes place over almost a whole year and I could feel it lol. I think it comes down to the love triangle/square taking up a lot of the word count, because as soon as one side is resolved, another comes into play and we have to go through all the motions again and oops I lied, that other side actually isn't resolved and we're spending more time on it.

I do think the audiobook narrator did an excellent job and I recommend listening over physically reading, especially if you're unfamiliar with Irish Gaelic. Her accent really helped to pull me in too.