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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this book more than I expected to. The world building was absolutely fantastic and it really drew me in. The concept of Birthright and the concept of teeth power was amazing. The plot is common enough but the pacing and worldbuilding doesn't let you realize that as you're reading which is a big plus for me. The characters are also pretty interesting though I wish there was a development of Jas' character earlier in the story but considering how antagonistic Fie and him were, it makes sense that she would not be privy to his complexity but I do think it's a missed opportunity. The pacing kinda drags in the middle and there's bits where I was confused as to what was happening because there was too much at once but overall really liked it !
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I am sad not because of this book but for this book. The whole time I was convincing myself that it had my attention but it never really did. It started out fine. The world itself is strong in concept. Each person is born into one of the 5 castes. There are the Phoenixes, the splendid caste, hunting caste, common caste, and Crows at the very bottom. Each caste can wield a magical ability called a Birthright. For example, the Phoenix birthright is fire and the Crane birthright is truth. Vultures can track humans and Hawks can heal. For each caste there are witches who possess more powerful abilities. The Crows are called bone thieves because witches can wield all the other Birthrights by burning the bones of other caste members (usually teeth). Fie is training as a bone witch and is prepping to become a chief herself. We are first introduced to the MC Fie and her band of Crows and thrown into their routine of answering plague beacons, smoke signals throughout the kingdom. Crows report to these sites to deal the plague victim mercy and dispose of the body to keep the disease contained. They are the only ones who cannot catch the lethal disease, traveling throughout the country in their respective clans and living off of the “viatik”, which is the village’s payment for disposing of a plague body. Without the Crows, the plague would spread to the rest of the inhabitants, the livestock and the crops until the town became an empty wasteland. Although crucial to the realm, they are shunned for their magic, supposedly extorting villages when they collect the viatik, and generally just existing as the lowest caste. So there are no friendly faces for Crows except for their own. With this context, the first scene details a unique occasion: the plague has hit two of the gentry, and the Crows find themselves called to duty in the seat of luxury, the palace of Sabor. Though once they wheel the cart out with their fresh new viatik (a tabby cat and a bag of teeth) Fie is met with a surprise. The two corpses aren’t actually dead. They’ve faked it to escape the cunning Queen Rhusana. The prince and his bodyguard strike a deal with the Crows: get them to their allies, and they will grant Crows protection from violence. For the Crows lie at the bottom of the tiered caste system, seen as the scum of the earth, and are treated as such to the point that a terrorist group called the Oleanders want them gone, targeting and brutally killing them in the night. So that was the premise. Part 1 was basically that and Part 3 was okay. What brought this down was Part 2. It was simply incredibly boring. Fie travels with the prince and his bodyguard to get to a target location and are basically hiding from people sent to track them. And for 100 pages they’re constantly making campfires, hiding in caves or the forest, hiking through rough terrain eating meager food, and under the threat of getting caught. With their lives at stake, it is supposed to be intense (survival montage or something), but I straight up could not get into it because it was just so repetitive. The real kicker was the back and forth and back and forth arguing ALL THE TIME. When royal prince meets Crow all you have is arguments about privilege and power. I get that they hate each other. I get that they won’t be friends after two days. Everyone is so defensive and rude all the time. Pt 2 seemed like it was dedicated to character development where they start to “put their differences aside” and expand their worldviews and whatnot. However it felt like mood swing whiplash. They are having fireside chats in the evenings about random chill stuff to only yell at each other the next second when someone says one wrong word. Fie learning how to read from someone she’s never had a positive conversation with. The trauma bonding is the only way I can connect the dots, but overall, it was very forced. The conversations, the tensions, don’t get me started on the randomly thrown in romance. It’s entirely inconsistent with Fie’s personality as she seems consumed by purely anger and resentment and fear to suddenly be emotionally attached to someone, let alone someone of her number one enemy the upper class. No, it doesn’t make sense that they would willingly die for each other. Please no. At least there wasn’t a love triangle. With Tavin and Jasimir I was ready to see some deep childhood bonds and interesting personalities, but they are also one dimensional. I’m sadly disappointed that the plot and character work fell flat.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good story, but I felt the final 75-90% kind of dragged. The pacing may have just shifted but it slowed me down significantly.
En un mundo dividido en castas los Cuervos son la más baja de todas. Encargados de los muertos y de repartir piedad a los moribundos, reciben más maltratos que monedas.
Fie y los suyos son llamados para retirar los difuntos cuerpos del príncipe y su guardia, pero pronto descubrirá que su muerte es fingida y que huye de la despiadada reina. Con un trato que no podrá rechazar forma una alianza proteger al príncipe y a cambio él protegerá a los Cuervos cuando llegue al trono.
Era un libro que tenía muchas ganas de leer y tal vez las expectativas me han jugado una mala pasada. No he conectado con los personajes. No me ha gustado la pluma de la autora, se me hacía muy difícil imaginarme lo que estaba leyendo y creo que no es una autora para mí.
Ha sido una lástima puesto que la idea de organizar castas en base a las aves me parece muy original pero el worldbuilding se me ha quedado un poco desdibujado y sin sacarle el máximo partido.
Fie y los suyos son llamados para retirar los difuntos cuerpos del príncipe y su guardia, pero pronto descubrirá que su muerte es fingida y que huye de la despiadada reina. Con un trato que no podrá rechazar forma una alianza proteger al príncipe y a cambio él protegerá a los Cuervos cuando llegue al trono.
Era un libro que tenía muchas ganas de leer y tal vez las expectativas me han jugado una mala pasada. No he conectado con los personajes. No me ha gustado la pluma de la autora, se me hacía muy difícil imaginarme lo que estaba leyendo y creo que no es una autora para mí.
Ha sido una lástima puesto que la idea de organizar castas en base a las aves me parece muy original pero el worldbuilding se me ha quedado un poco desdibujado y sin sacarle el máximo partido.
adventurous
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
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I screamed every time I read the word ‘betwixt’. I screamed a lot.