A review by vivianne
The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
5.0
The Storm Crow: 4.5 stars
The Crow Rider: 4.5 stars
1st read: 4.25 stars (June 2019)
2nd read: 4.5 stars (October 2020)
I really enjoyed reading The Storm Crow, it was gripping, funny, heartbreaking, fast paced and very well written. Furthermore it has awesome characters, a great villain, great LGBTQ+ representation and a fantastic mental illness rep (depression). I absolutely loved the original world and the elemental crows and am so excited what the next book will bring! Things I didn’t enjoy as much were the pacing, that was a bit too fast at times, and that the plot wasn’t as original as I’d have liked to see. But I would still really recommend!!
Contains spoilers from down here!
__________________________________________
Things I liked!
- This book has a very gripping beginning. Not only has it a heartbreaking, action packed, mouth gasping prologue (which was a tiny bit info dumpy with all the crows, but that could be forgiven), but also the chapters after the prologue really entertained me. This book sucked me right in and it was hard to put down.
- I really REALLY R.E.A.L.L.Y! appreciated the mental illness rep in the beginning. I come across this way too less in the ya genre. And I felt sooo bad for Anthia. It was just so well done and so relatable. I also loved that throughout the book she kept struggling and mentioning this and when she has a hard time she again threatens to fall back into it.
- It was very interesting to see a kingdom that has been relying for so long on these magical creatures, loose them in one instance and then how they needed to cope with that. I really enjoyed the political aspects like how are they going to get food when they can’t get water from the water crows and all crops are dying since they don’t have system for water while they always relied on the crows.
- This book had some very refreshing things about it. The magic system, world and elemental magical crows were so original! So enjoyable! So renewing! I enjoyed every minute of that and I’m almost sad that we only got to read the prologue with how the world with the crows used to be (but I have high hopes for the future!!)
- I appreciated the bond between Thia and Kiva so much. I really felt like they were true friends! How Kiva tried to help Thia get out of her depression; not by saying you’re an adult get over yourself but by taking her on walks through the cities, getting her out of bed. But also the other way around and how Thia helped Kiva. I loved their humor and them teasing each other with e.g. potential suitors.
- Speaking of Kiva, I absolutely adored her as a character. While she starred in her friendship with Thia, she was also a great character by herself. Loved how protective she was, her background was super interesting, and I LOVED that she was into girls and how open she was, I really hope she and Auma can have a future!
- Which brings me to the next point: it was soooo refreshing to have a world where women are equal to men. I’m a bit tired of the fantasy were the girls have to prove so much more because they are girls, or where they are denied opportunities, and scolded. I loved that Illucia has a queen, loved that the woman could rule by themselves, loved that they were all powerful fighters, loved that Kiva and her mom were guards. Plus a world where bisexuality and being gay is totally normal. No looking weird, no scolding!
- It was also incredibly funny what made the bonds between characters even stronger.
- During my reading experience I kept thinking “this book is so short with only 338 pages, what could happen in the end that makes me want to continue the series”? Well this could happen. I was soooo stressed for the characters to get out of there.
- I think Razel is the flawless villain for this story. Something in her past happened that drove her to be blinded by insanity and hate. But she is also very smart and strong. I really loved her for some reason and felt bad for her. I don’t know it was just perfect for this story.
- The writing style was also great. I love it when an author can tell a lot in little pages.
- The romance between Thia and Caylus wasn’t my favorite thing in this book because it develops over a short amount of time but I didn’t find it annoying and by the end of this book I could appreciate it a lot.
Things I didn’t like
- The plot is not renewing. And I’m a bit tired of seeing things repeated in YA all the time. Some examples; a society is overthrown by others and they must work in an alliance to overthrow the big bad tiran, the prince that seemed cruel and stuck up is actually nice and caring and will help, the main character is married off and doesn’t agree, a divergent crow, a sort of love triangle, a rebellion is already there and the MC uses that to her advantage. I would have liked to see some more originality in the plot.
- Furthermore I think everything moved a bit too fast. Usually I’m a fan of that, since fast pacing books keep me interested and invested in the story. However with a character with depression I would have liked to see some things more flashed out and slow down. For example; it was kind of ridiculous how Thia called a meeting with the highest ranking officers and started to dictate and throw suggestions out about overthrowing Illucia around page 80 while at page 70 she couldn’t get out of bed or even think about rebellion because she was so weak. I would have liked some time in between, some recovering period to make it more believable. I had the same experience with Thia’s time in Illucia and with Caylus. It just felt a bit too rushed and I would have liked some things more flashed out. This book is short enough and could have used another 100-150 pages.
- The only thing I wasn’t a fan of with the plot and with Thia’s character was that she was too naïve to understand that Razel would just let her get to the city and bakery unfollowed. Thia is the princess of the enemy kingdom, Razel is smart and cunning, she is not going to be let roamed free around the city to start rebellions and hatch and raise her crow. And thus I wasn’t surprised that after a while Razel stole Res and tried to blackmail Thia by torturing her friends. Furthermore I also saw it coming that she stole the eggs instead of destroyed, even though I really enjoyed this twist!
The Crow Rider: 4.5 stars
1st read: 4.25 stars (June 2019)
2nd read: 4.5 stars (October 2020)
I really enjoyed reading The Storm Crow, it was gripping, funny, heartbreaking, fast paced and very well written. Furthermore it has awesome characters, a great villain, great LGBTQ+ representation and a fantastic mental illness rep (depression). I absolutely loved the original world and the elemental crows and am so excited what the next book will bring! Things I didn’t enjoy as much were the pacing, that was a bit too fast at times, and that the plot wasn’t as original as I’d have liked to see. But I would still really recommend!!
”Strength comes in many forms, the lion fears only the fox.”
Contains spoilers from down here!
__________________________________________
Things I liked!
- This book has a very gripping beginning. Not only has it a heartbreaking, action packed, mouth gasping prologue (which was a tiny bit info dumpy with all the crows, but that could be forgiven), but also the chapters after the prologue really entertained me. This book sucked me right in and it was hard to put down.
- I really REALLY R.E.A.L.L.Y! appreciated the mental illness rep in the beginning. I come across this way too less in the ya genre. And I felt sooo bad for Anthia. It was just so well done and so relatable. I also loved that throughout the book she kept struggling and mentioning this and when she has a hard time she again threatens to fall back into it.
- It was very interesting to see a kingdom that has been relying for so long on these magical creatures, loose them in one instance and then how they needed to cope with that. I really enjoyed the political aspects like how are they going to get food when they can’t get water from the water crows and all crops are dying since they don’t have system for water while they always relied on the crows.
- This book had some very refreshing things about it. The magic system, world and elemental magical crows were so original! So enjoyable! So renewing! I enjoyed every minute of that and I’m almost sad that we only got to read the prologue with how the world with the crows used to be (but I have high hopes for the future!!)
- I appreciated the bond between Thia and Kiva so much. I really felt like they were true friends! How Kiva tried to help Thia get out of her depression; not by saying you’re an adult get over yourself but by taking her on walks through the cities, getting her out of bed. But also the other way around and how Thia helped Kiva. I loved their humor and them teasing each other with e.g. potential suitors.
- Speaking of Kiva, I absolutely adored her as a character. While she starred in her friendship with Thia, she was also a great character by herself. Loved how protective she was, her background was super interesting, and I LOVED that she was into girls and how open she was, I really hope she and Auma can have a future!
- Which brings me to the next point: it was soooo refreshing to have a world where women are equal to men. I’m a bit tired of the fantasy were the girls have to prove so much more because they are girls, or where they are denied opportunities, and scolded. I loved that Illucia has a queen, loved that the woman could rule by themselves, loved that they were all powerful fighters, loved that Kiva and her mom were guards. Plus a world where bisexuality and being gay is totally normal. No looking weird, no scolding!
- It was also incredibly funny what made the bonds between characters even stronger.
- During my reading experience I kept thinking “this book is so short with only 338 pages, what could happen in the end that makes me want to continue the series”? Well this could happen. I was soooo stressed for the characters to get out of there.
- I think Razel is the flawless villain for this story. Something in her past happened that drove her to be blinded by insanity and hate. But she is also very smart and strong. I really loved her for some reason and felt bad for her. I don’t know it was just perfect for this story.
- The writing style was also great. I love it when an author can tell a lot in little pages.
- The romance between Thia and Caylus wasn’t my favorite thing in this book because it develops over a short amount of time but I didn’t find it annoying and by the end of this book I could appreciate it a lot.
Things I didn’t like
- The plot is not renewing. And I’m a bit tired of seeing things repeated in YA all the time. Some examples; a society is overthrown by others and they must work in an alliance to overthrow the big bad tiran, the prince that seemed cruel and stuck up is actually nice and caring and will help, the main character is married off and doesn’t agree, a divergent crow, a sort of love triangle, a rebellion is already there and the MC uses that to her advantage. I would have liked to see some more originality in the plot.
- Furthermore I think everything moved a bit too fast. Usually I’m a fan of that, since fast pacing books keep me interested and invested in the story. However with a character with depression I would have liked to see some things more flashed out and slow down. For example; it was kind of ridiculous how Thia called a meeting with the highest ranking officers and started to dictate and throw suggestions out about overthrowing Illucia around page 80 while at page 70 she couldn’t get out of bed or even think about rebellion because she was so weak. I would have liked some time in between, some recovering period to make it more believable. I had the same experience with Thia’s time in Illucia and with Caylus. It just felt a bit too rushed and I would have liked some things more flashed out. This book is short enough and could have used another 100-150 pages.
- The only thing I wasn’t a fan of with the plot and with Thia’s character was that she was too naïve to understand that Razel would just let her get to the city and bakery unfollowed. Thia is the princess of the enemy kingdom, Razel is smart and cunning, she is not going to be let roamed free around the city to start rebellions and hatch and raise her crow. And thus I wasn’t surprised that after a while Razel stole Res and tried to blackmail Thia by torturing her friends. Furthermore I also saw it coming that she stole the eggs instead of destroyed, even though I really enjoyed this twist!