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A review by minb
A Curse of Crows by Lauren Dedroog
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!
I'm writing this review immediately after finishing this book, and truthfully I'm really not sure how I feel about it. I liked it, it wasn't bad. Some parts of it I adored, and some parts I really didn't. I'm trying a new format to my reviews, so I'll break it down into its parts.
Prose/Writing
The prose in this was.. odd. I didn't love it, I'll be honest. It was difficult to read at points and it felt clumsy - almost as if the author was trying to channel a book like Priory of the Orange Tree and not quite hitting the mark. As the story went on, I think it settled and became more natural, but the beginning was quite difficult to get through because of that. It wasn't difficult in the way that the classics are difficult, I've read a lot of them and didn't struggle too badly with the prose. It just felt unnatural? Also, it was very info-dumpy, especially in the beginning, with some pretty confusing head hopping going on.
Character
I do have some positive things to say about the characters. Again, in the beginning I didn't feel anything for them. Things moved so fast that I didn't really care about them, and I felt especially the first FMC we meet, her character was weirdly inconsistent. But as we entered the second half of the book, I found myself absolutely in love with the cast of characters that was introduced. All of them were fantastic, there was some amazing banter and all in all I really enjoyed reading about them.
Plot
I... enjoyed the plot? Again, the beginning was a real miss for me personally. It felt so rushed and disjointed, and I feel we really didn't get enough time to care what was happening. In my personal opinion, this book could really have done with starting at around the 50% mark and spending WAY more time fleshing that out, and then the first half of the book would have made a killer prequel, and would have (again) benefitted from being WAY more fleshed out. The redeeming thing for me is that the concept of the plot itself was VERY good. A real mishmash of a bunch of myth and legend that really appealed to me. I just wish it would have slowed down and taken its time a little more.
World
Now, the world itself is where this REALLY redeemed itself for me. The whole concept was fantastic, the magic was amazing. The folklore, all of it was brilliant. Again, if this was slower and it took its time it would have almost certainly been a 5 star read.
Conclusion
This book has so much promise. Queerness (always a plus in my book), interesting worldbuilding, compelling characters (in the second half), and WILD and interesting family dynamics. Whilst this wasn't my favourite, if there is a sequel at any point I will probably read it simply because I found the world itself so interesting, and I really hope the author will slow things down and give us time to love the characters before giving them stakes to come up against.
If you like ACOTAR or Fourth Wing and you're looking for something with a better plot and more in depth politics, I think you'll really enjoy this. It definitely has an audience, I just don't think that consisted of me. The author is really creative, and I look forward to seeing what they write next :)
I'm writing this review immediately after finishing this book, and truthfully I'm really not sure how I feel about it. I liked it, it wasn't bad. Some parts of it I adored, and some parts I really didn't. I'm trying a new format to my reviews, so I'll break it down into its parts.
Prose/Writing
The prose in this was.. odd. I didn't love it, I'll be honest. It was difficult to read at points and it felt clumsy - almost as if the author was trying to channel a book like Priory of the Orange Tree and not quite hitting the mark. As the story went on, I think it settled and became more natural, but the beginning was quite difficult to get through because of that. It wasn't difficult in the way that the classics are difficult, I've read a lot of them and didn't struggle too badly with the prose. It just felt unnatural? Also, it was very info-dumpy, especially in the beginning, with some pretty confusing head hopping going on.
Character
I do have some positive things to say about the characters. Again, in the beginning I didn't feel anything for them. Things moved so fast that I didn't really care about them, and I felt especially the first FMC we meet, her character was weirdly inconsistent. But as we entered the second half of the book, I found myself absolutely in love with the cast of characters that was introduced. All of them were fantastic, there was some amazing banter and all in all I really enjoyed reading about them.
Plot
I... enjoyed the plot? Again, the beginning was a real miss for me personally. It felt so rushed and disjointed, and I feel we really didn't get enough time to care what was happening. In my personal opinion, this book could really have done with starting at around the 50% mark and spending WAY more time fleshing that out, and then the first half of the book would have made a killer prequel, and would have (again) benefitted from being WAY more fleshed out. The redeeming thing for me is that the concept of the plot itself was VERY good. A real mishmash of a bunch of myth and legend that really appealed to me. I just wish it would have slowed down and taken its time a little more.
World
Now, the world itself is where this REALLY redeemed itself for me. The whole concept was fantastic, the magic was amazing. The folklore, all of it was brilliant. Again, if this was slower and it took its time it would have almost certainly been a 5 star read.
Conclusion
This book has so much promise. Queerness (always a plus in my book), interesting worldbuilding, compelling characters (in the second half), and WILD and interesting family dynamics. Whilst this wasn't my favourite, if there is a sequel at any point I will probably read it simply because I found the world itself so interesting, and I really hope the author will slow things down and give us time to love the characters before giving them stakes to come up against.
If you like ACOTAR or Fourth Wing and you're looking for something with a better plot and more in depth politics, I think you'll really enjoy this. It definitely has an audience, I just don't think that consisted of me. The author is really creative, and I look forward to seeing what they write next :)