Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Furyborn

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.

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dreamweaver's review against another edition

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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

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kaseybereading's review against another edition

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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

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taelights's review against another edition

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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.

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andromeda_1998's review against another edition

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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!

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valpyre's review against another edition

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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!

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starlessnights's review against another edition

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1.0

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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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!

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