So first of all, I need to begin with a major pet peeve of mine: I *hate* the "ending comes first" opening. It makes me anxious as a reader and I dislike knowing that the story, however it goes, is going to end up in X spot. So when I read the first chapter, my immediate reaction was, "Oh no, there is absolutely no way I can ever get into this." Add that to the fact that one of the characters is literally a thousand years after the other, therefore giving the reader the general conclusion of Rielle's story and how it came to shape the Empire, and I was fairly certain I was going to be super "meh" about this book.
I was deeply, deeply mistaken and I have never been more glad I chose to continue a book. It was seriously only two or three chapters until I was utterly immersed.
Legrand creates two extremely compelling characters and their moral ambiguity-- despite the fact that you "know" which one is the Blood Queen and which one is the Sun Queen (of the prophecy that steers the story)-- only makes them more interesting. Their motivations feel very real at every single turn and the parallels between Rielle and Eliana are great. Neither woman is wholly pure/innocent/a shining paradigm of all that is good or cackling and steepleing her fingers in the joy of evil deeds done; in some ways, this book is a lesson in circumstances and morals.
The book was really fast-paced; alternating chapters that focused on each woman in turn are also something that is usually a turn-off for me, but it really worked for the formatting of this novel and I felt, at times, like I was literally being propelled through it. Furyborn is an engaging, quick read, in spite of its size.
The world-building was also fantastic. I did feel, at times, like I was missing bigger pieces of the puzzle-- I could have done with a more thorough review of the Gate and the angels before everything really got going, but it feels like a more organic approach to immersive story-telling here. Mostly my need to know more stems from my frustration that the second and third books are not already out and waiting for me to read right now.
I was deeply, deeply mistaken and I have never been more glad I chose to continue a book. It was seriously only two or three chapters until I was utterly immersed.
Legrand creates two extremely compelling characters and their moral ambiguity-- despite the fact that you "know" which one is the Blood Queen and which one is the Sun Queen (of the prophecy that steers the story)-- only makes them more interesting. Their motivations feel very real at every single turn and the parallels between Rielle and Eliana are great. Neither woman is wholly pure/innocent/a shining paradigm of all that is good or cackling and steepleing her fingers in the joy of evil deeds done; in some ways, this book is a lesson in circumstances and morals.
The book was really fast-paced; alternating chapters that focused on each woman in turn are also something that is usually a turn-off for me, but it really worked for the formatting of this novel and I felt, at times, like I was literally being propelled through it. Furyborn is an engaging, quick read, in spite of its size.
The world-building was also fantastic. I did feel, at times, like I was missing bigger pieces of the puzzle-- I could have done with a more thorough review of the Gate and the angels before everything really got going, but it feels like a more organic approach to immersive story-telling here. Mostly my need to know more stems from my frustration that the second and third books are not already out and waiting for me to read right now.