Furyborn ARC Review

I received an advanced copy from netgalley. This book is set for release on May 22nd, 2018!

One of my longer reviews to be honest, but it’s also a good one!

Summary: Two queens are foretold to rise: one of blood and one of light. Both are said to be the only ones with the power to control all seven elements. When Rielle Dardenne has to reveal her power to save her best friend, the crown prince, she must go through trials to prove she is the Sun Queen and if she fails, she dies. A thousand years in the future, magic no longer exists and Rielle’s time is a time of fairytales. Eliana Ferracora is a bounty hunter just trying to ensure the survival of her family under the reign of the cruel Emperor. When her mother mysteriously disappears, she joins with a rebel on a journey to find her. Of course it quickly becomes more complicated than just that though.

This is a more mature story so if you’re not comfortable with the F-word or sex scenes, this is your heads-up.

I ended up loving this book. It had so much action without feeling annoying. Instead, it was well-paced with the main elements of the book always remaining the focus. She balanced all this action without adding too much fluff in that can then often confuse a reader. I enjoyed this because it kept my interest going so it was hard to put the book down.

One character who I think deserved a little more attention was Harkan. He’s Eliana’s boy toy in the beginning and was sweet and protective over her and Remy, Eliana’s brother. He felt like such a genuine character that I wished we received more from him!

This also reminded me: Eliana is bisexual or pansexual! While not emphasized or overly discussed, she talks about a girl who nearly made her black out a few times ;). This quickly made me ship Navi and Eliana a little bit. I really hope to see more from this in the next book as this is important representation.

While Rielle felt a little predictable to me (it’s hard to avoid that when we learn her fate in the prologue and through references made in Eliana’s time), I was still able to come to root for her. I also sympathized with her power because who wouldn’t want to have that much power?

Eliana was my baby though. She was complex and realistic. Even though she was a bit of an anti-hero, I couldn’t help admiring her. I thought Legrand did her characterization so much better than other authors too because Eliana could never have a complete switch between being on one side and then going to the other side. This one is gradual with Eliana’s primary focus always being on protecting her brother.

One thing I really appreciated was the emphasis on female friendships. Rielle and Ludivine had a great friendship about supporting each other and not letting boys come in between. Then Eliana and Navi had a great relationship as well. While they struggled to come together as they were on opposite sides for so long, I am so excited for the next book to see some girl badassery!

Overall, a great book setting up some exciting stuff! This book had so much action that I’m praying Legrand doesn’t fall into the second book slump where my interest ends up lost. She gave me some pretty high expectations for Eliana and Rielle’s future!

5 out of 5 stars!