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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed this world. I like the concept of dark angels. The characters were lacking, in my opinion - either too good, or too angst-y, or too wishy-washy. I also think that some things that were (probably) supposed to be surprising felt very obvious.
DNF -
I was so excited to read this book but I just couldn't get into it. I thought maybe I was in a reading slump but I read 5 books since I started this one. I tried to give it another try but I just can't seem to like it or concentrate on it.
I will shelf it for later. Maybe it's not this books time for me yet.
I was so excited to read this book but I just couldn't get into it. I thought maybe I was in a reading slump but I read 5 books since I started this one. I tried to give it another try but I just can't seem to like it or concentrate on it.
I will shelf it for later. Maybe it's not this books time for me yet.
adventurous
slow-paced
That. Was. Amazing.
It’s been so long since a book has felt EPIC. This book felt exactly like that. War, magic, romance, blood, and my precious swear words...all wrapped up into one bundle of goodness.
I couldn’t have asked for more.
I’m also still kicking myself for having waited so long. Damn that was good.
Spoilery bits coming at ya...
Rielle was amazing. I loved her. I loved her carelessness and somehow still her carefulness. She was careless when it was necessary and carful when it was necessary. Such as when she wanted to go out and live life, she did what she wanted without a care, and when she ignored her love for Audric for Ludivine’s sake, she was extremely careful to keep her feelings tucked away (but Ludivine isn’t dumb so it still failed).
The elemental trials were so fun. I enjoyed them so much. Each one was action packed and kept me yanking at my hair in the hopes that Rielle would survive, and she did. All of them. Yessss.
Her relationship with Aurdic was wonderful. They had to hide for so long. I even questioned if he actually had feelings for her until they both couldn’t take it anymore and made out in the garden. Furthermore, when they finally get intimate I enjoyed how Claire wrote it. It wasn’t cringy or weird. It was lovely and I SHIP. THEM. SO. HARD.
Ludivine being an angel shocked the shit out of me. Holy crap. She just walks in all dead-looking after falling off a cliff and everyone is like WTF, including me! That was...wow.
Also Corien being an angel inside her head. I hate him. He tried to ruin her life so that’s an automatic no for me. Obviously he’s the enemy because in the prologue he kills Rielle...I think. Anyway, I hope he doesn’t get to Eliana!
Moving on to Eliana.
I liked the little killer. She reminded me of Celaena when she was with Sam. And Harkman was her Sam. They were cute, but I knew he would die. And he did die saving her and her brother Remy.
Simon entered the picture quite interestingly. You meet him in the prologue as a kid from 1200 years ago and then he appears in the future as “the wolf”. I tell you, I have never wanted to find out who someone was so much. I knew it was him! And then when he says he’s Simon, I’m like HOW DID YOU GET TO THE FUTURE?! HOOOOOW?!! When he finally tells Rielle that she is Eliana’s mother and that he brought her there because he used to be a half angel and used his powers to get her there though he struggled, I was relieved more than shocked. I just needed to know, god damnit.
Simon and Rielle had an interesting romance. I missed the part where they solidified their feelings, however, because as far as I’m concerned, her lover died and she never really showed and true attraction to Simon for any legitimate reason. So they felt a little random to me. Still though, she pulled it off so well by the end that I honestly didn’t give a shit. I want them to be together too. Lol.
Gah, I’m jumping into book two as soon as I end this review so....that should tell you how I felt about it.
It’s been so long since a book has felt EPIC. This book felt exactly like that. War, magic, romance, blood, and my precious swear words...all wrapped up into one bundle of goodness.
I couldn’t have asked for more.
I’m also still kicking myself for having waited so long. Damn that was good.
Spoilery bits coming at ya...
Rielle was amazing. I loved her. I loved her carelessness and somehow still her carefulness. She was careless when it was necessary and carful when it was necessary. Such as when she wanted to go out and live life, she did what she wanted without a care, and when she ignored her love for Audric for Ludivine’s sake, she was extremely careful to keep her feelings tucked away (but Ludivine isn’t dumb so it still failed).
The elemental trials were so fun. I enjoyed them so much. Each one was action packed and kept me yanking at my hair in the hopes that Rielle would survive, and she did. All of them. Yessss.
Her relationship with Aurdic was wonderful. They had to hide for so long. I even questioned if he actually had feelings for her until they both couldn’t take it anymore and made out in the garden. Furthermore, when they finally get intimate I enjoyed how Claire wrote it. It wasn’t cringy or weird. It was lovely and I SHIP. THEM. SO. HARD.
Ludivine being an angel shocked the shit out of me. Holy crap. She just walks in all dead-looking after falling off a cliff and everyone is like WTF, including me! That was...wow.
Also Corien being an angel inside her head. I hate him. He tried to ruin her life so that’s an automatic no for me. Obviously he’s the enemy because in the prologue he kills Rielle...I think. Anyway, I hope he doesn’t get to Eliana!
Moving on to Eliana.
I liked the little killer. She reminded me of Celaena when she was with Sam. And Harkman was her Sam. They were cute, but I knew he would die. And he did die saving her and her brother Remy.
Simon entered the picture quite interestingly. You meet him in the prologue as a kid from 1200 years ago and then he appears in the future as “the wolf”. I tell you, I have never wanted to find out who someone was so much. I knew it was him! And then when he says he’s Simon, I’m like HOW DID YOU GET TO THE FUTURE?! HOOOOOW?!! When he finally tells Rielle that she is Eliana’s mother and that he brought her there because he used to be a half angel and used his powers to get her there though he struggled, I was relieved more than shocked. I just needed to know, god damnit.
Simon and Rielle had an interesting romance. I missed the part where they solidified their feelings, however, because as far as I’m concerned, her lover died and she never really showed and true attraction to Simon for any legitimate reason. So they felt a little random to me. Still though, she pulled it off so well by the end that I honestly didn’t give a shit. I want them to be together too. Lol.
Gah, I’m jumping into book two as soon as I end this review so....that should tell you how I felt about it.
I REALLY tried to like this book I REALLY did and the first chapter (the prologue really) had me hooked and I thought "wow this is gonna be GREAT" OH WAS I WRONG!!! I thought I could finish it just for a hate read but I got 318 pages in and I just couldn't do it anymore. The only perk to this reading experience is that I decided to right down my thoughts as I read it so these examples of why I hate this book will have exact page numbers. 
Let's start with the world building.... there really isn't any. for a story that takes place in the span of a thousand years there seems to have been very little change in terms of the world (I mean there's guns in the "future(?)" but they're like hella expensive cause apparently they're new but I mean it's a fantasy and everyone knows guns don't go into fantasy so like "the world is so advanced now look guns! but we won't use them!!" That's it for world building. It was a generic fantasy landscape with like a religion that everyone seems to follow (cause why have more than one religion?) with a number of gods that do vague things and are just there in the past and not the future again to poorly show a "passage of time"
The two main characters are Eliana and Rielle and.... neither are likable. Eliana is this "cold blooded killer" who in the first couple chapters made sense and I liked that she was doing what she had to do to survive and damn everyone that wasn't her family. Nice. But then she turns into this "we have to save the children!" "Where is your moral compass!?" hypocrite who thinks she's a monster and has to be told that "no sweety you're good" by some random princess she just met. Like you sent a kid to the chopping block at the beginning of this book don't preach about "saving the children" now!
Now I have a lot more problems with Rielle who is honestly borderline Mary Sue (or at least super OP). Here's this girl who was hiding her powers pretty much her whole life and therefore has no real training on how to USE them but once she starts to she's just a MASTER at it?!?!? Like there is NO training within her chapters there's more time talking about the outfits she wears for the trails than there is of her training and honing her magic.
SPEAKING of magic what the hell is this magic system??? I personally like my magic systems to have a shit ton of rules, it helps with the whole "this thing happened because MAGIC" problem that fantasy stories can have, but i'm not gonna shit on a book for lacking rules with their magic. My problem with this book is that the powers/magic is very vague like there’s types of magic (think Pokémon) and you have to have an object to channel them but if the people are the ones with the magic then why do they need objects????? but also the magic is in the earth so then why do the people have magic??? I'm confused.
Relationships: Reielle's relationship with Audric is... frustrating. Again a personal thing I don't like friends to lovers (it's a stupid trope; just give me platonic relationships dammit) but I'm not going to hate on an entire relationship just because it falls into a certain trope. HOWEVER this relationship falls into a number of tropes that I hate: Audric is engaged to another person so Rielle and him can't act on their feelings except they do and they get caught (chapter 27 as a whole is a mess) but IT'S OKAY cause both parties within this arranged marriage relationship don't like each other that way and in fact Ludivine (the girl Audric is engaged to) ships the hell of of him and Rielle!! Because of course she does. Also he calls her "wicked" TWICE (chapter 27) like idk what is going on between this and ACOTAR series trying to make this word like a sexy thing but stop it.
Simon and Eliana is also just... why?? it's like "here you're the main girl so get with the main guy" like I saw NO kinds of chemistry between their interactions like the closest there is was a scene where she sees him shirtless and he makes some stupid comment (page 277-78) “oh Eliana I want so much more than simply a peek [of your naked body]”.
There's also this angel dude named Corien who was also giving me ACOTAR vibes with the whole "mind conversations" with Rielle but also page 248 has a literal Twilight scene where Corien is all "you know what I am... say it" "an angel". I died.
Also the "bi rep".....................
page 294: Eliana: “Harken was my 2nd best bed bud cause there was the girl -by the way I also like girls even tho this has never been mentioned or even “foreshadowed” or anything- who was a prostitute at some brothel who was a BEAST in bed”
I know the word "problematic" get's thrown around a bunch but damn what else can I called that????? It sexualizes w/w romances, it does that stupid trope where "bi people sleep with everyone cause they can't pick a side" AND it makes the relationship seem cheap cause it was with a brothel girl and therefore Eliana paid her for the sex and (I'm assuming cause you know it's a girl in a BROTHEL) that girl was not there of her own free will. It's a common thing in fantasy for girls to be sold off to brothels and shit and with no real world building to correct or clarify this, I'm going to assume that this world shares that rule.
AND ANOTHER THING! While the prologue was easily the best part, it also gave SO MUCH away like I guessed the "twists" by page 10 because they mention that Simon being half angel/human can time travel. This book takes place between two different time periods and it starts with a baby being born and there just so happens to be a kid in the room who can time travel.... what do you THINK is going to happen???? SPOILER Eliana is Rielle's kid. Also if it wasn't obvious enough by the end of the prologue than page 40 talks about Eliana having a necklace that Rielle had in the prologue which was not subtle foreshadowing AT ALL.
TL;DR World building nonexistent, characters flat and annoying, cringy romances, etc. etc.
This book sucked and I will not finish or continue with this series.
Some of my favorite notes that I took while reading:
page 256: ah common tongue; the simplest way to name your language that every fantasy has to have now thanks to GRRM
page 267: Rielle doing some REALLY excessive Catholic-esque nonsense with the water to forehead, temple, chest, throat, palm, nape of neck, AND both closed eyes. Like c’mon 🙄 also what even is this religion like is it “fantasy Christianity” or is this God like different from this world’s God??
page 269: “[Audric] put his shirt back on, she noticed with deep regret”
page 270 Audric: “we all have darkness inside us, that’s what it means to be human” I told yall chapter 27 was a mess.
page 271 Audric: “there is a wickness inside you and I shall treasure it as I do every other part of you” 😂 I actually snorted at the wicked part. God Audric and Corien really out here doing some Rhysand bullshittery 😂😂
page 275 Navi: “instead of whore I refer to myself as a spy cause it “helps me fend of the nightmares”” there are better and less cringe ways to say that.
page 280 “the silence was deafening. The whispers were worse” it’s not silence if there’s whispers.
page 285: another SJM influence: the allusive “contraceptive tonic”
page 287: Rielle POV chapter where she and LuLulemon go for said tonic: why is the reveal that the kids name is Simon seen as “shocking?
1. we KNOW who Garver is cause of the prologue
2. We KNOW he has a son cause again prologue
3. We KNOW the kids name is Simon cause again PROLOGUE
page 315: Eliana: “Rahzavel... you’re ALIVE?!?!” Yeah no shit he fell off of a building everyone knows that’s no longer a death sentence unless you’re a Disney villain
“Alive and so very excited to kill you” god the lines in this book are so cheesy
Let's start with the world building.... there really isn't any. for a story that takes place in the span of a thousand years there seems to have been very little change in terms of the world (I mean there's guns in the "future(?)" but they're like hella expensive cause apparently they're new but I mean it's a fantasy and everyone knows guns don't go into fantasy so like "the world is so advanced now look guns! but we won't use them!!" That's it for world building. It was a generic fantasy landscape with like a religion that everyone seems to follow (cause why have more than one religion?) with a number of gods that do vague things and are just there in the past and not the future again to poorly show a "passage of time"
The two main characters are Eliana and Rielle and.... neither are likable. Eliana is this "cold blooded killer" who in the first couple chapters made sense and I liked that she was doing what she had to do to survive and damn everyone that wasn't her family. Nice. But then she turns into this "we have to save the children!" "Where is your moral compass!?" hypocrite who thinks she's a monster and has to be told that "no sweety you're good" by some random princess she just met. Like you sent a kid to the chopping block at the beginning of this book don't preach about "saving the children" now!
Now I have a lot more problems with Rielle who is honestly borderline Mary Sue (or at least super OP). Here's this girl who was hiding her powers pretty much her whole life and therefore has no real training on how to USE them but once she starts to she's just a MASTER at it?!?!? Like there is NO training within her chapters there's more time talking about the outfits she wears for the trails than there is of her training and honing her magic.
SPEAKING of magic what the hell is this magic system??? I personally like my magic systems to have a shit ton of rules, it helps with the whole "this thing happened because MAGIC" problem that fantasy stories can have, but i'm not gonna shit on a book for lacking rules with their magic. My problem with this book is that the powers/magic is very vague like there’s types of magic (think Pokémon) and you have to have an object to channel them but if the people are the ones with the magic then why do they need objects????? but also the magic is in the earth so then why do the people have magic??? I'm confused.
Relationships: Reielle's relationship with Audric is... frustrating. Again a personal thing I don't like friends to lovers (it's a stupid trope; just give me platonic relationships dammit) but I'm not going to hate on an entire relationship just because it falls into a certain trope. HOWEVER this relationship falls into a number of tropes that I hate: Audric is engaged to another person so Rielle and him can't act on their feelings except they do and they get caught (chapter 27 as a whole is a mess) but IT'S OKAY cause both parties within this arranged marriage relationship don't like each other that way and in fact Ludivine (the girl Audric is engaged to) ships the hell of of him and Rielle!! Because of course she does. Also he calls her "wicked" TWICE (chapter 27) like idk what is going on between this and ACOTAR series trying to make this word like a sexy thing but stop it.
Simon and Eliana is also just... why?? it's like "here you're the main girl so get with the main guy" like I saw NO kinds of chemistry between their interactions like the closest there is was a scene where she sees him shirtless and he makes some stupid comment (page 277-78) “oh Eliana I want so much more than simply a peek [of your naked body]”.
There's also this angel dude named Corien who was also giving me ACOTAR vibes with the whole "mind conversations" with Rielle but also page 248 has a literal Twilight scene where Corien is all "you know what I am... say it" "an angel". I died.
Also the "bi rep".....................
page 294: Eliana: “Harken was my 2nd best bed bud cause there was the girl -by the way I also like girls even tho this has never been mentioned or even “foreshadowed” or anything- who was a prostitute at some brothel who was a BEAST in bed”
I know the word "problematic" get's thrown around a bunch but damn what else can I called that????? It sexualizes w/w romances, it does that stupid trope where "bi people sleep with everyone cause they can't pick a side" AND it makes the relationship seem cheap cause it was with a brothel girl and therefore Eliana paid her for the sex and (I'm assuming cause you know it's a girl in a BROTHEL) that girl was not there of her own free will. It's a common thing in fantasy for girls to be sold off to brothels and shit and with no real world building to correct or clarify this, I'm going to assume that this world shares that rule.
AND ANOTHER THING! While the prologue was easily the best part, it also gave SO MUCH away like I guessed the "twists" by page 10 because they mention that Simon being half angel/human can time travel. This book takes place between two different time periods and it starts with a baby being born and there just so happens to be a kid in the room who can time travel.... what do you THINK is going to happen???? SPOILER Eliana is Rielle's kid. Also if it wasn't obvious enough by the end of the prologue than page 40 talks about Eliana having a necklace that Rielle had in the prologue which was not subtle foreshadowing AT ALL.
TL;DR World building nonexistent, characters flat and annoying, cringy romances, etc. etc.
This book sucked and I will not finish or continue with this series.
Some of my favorite notes that I took while reading:
page 256: ah common tongue; the simplest way to name your language that every fantasy has to have now thanks to GRRM
page 267: Rielle doing some REALLY excessive Catholic-esque nonsense with the water to forehead, temple, chest, throat, palm, nape of neck, AND both closed eyes. Like c’mon 🙄 also what even is this religion like is it “fantasy Christianity” or is this God like different from this world’s God??
page 269: “[Audric] put his shirt back on, she noticed with deep regret”
page 270 Audric: “we all have darkness inside us, that’s what it means to be human” I told yall chapter 27 was a mess.
page 271 Audric: “there is a wickness inside you and I shall treasure it as I do every other part of you” 😂 I actually snorted at the wicked part. God Audric and Corien really out here doing some Rhysand bullshittery 😂😂
page 275 Navi: “instead of whore I refer to myself as a spy cause it “helps me fend of the nightmares”” there are better and less cringe ways to say that.
page 280 “the silence was deafening. The whispers were worse” it’s not silence if there’s whispers.
page 285: another SJM influence: the allusive “contraceptive tonic”
page 287: Rielle POV chapter where she and LuLulemon go for said tonic: why is the reveal that the kids name is Simon seen as “shocking?
1. we KNOW who Garver is cause of the prologue
2. We KNOW he has a son cause again prologue
3. We KNOW the kids name is Simon cause again PROLOGUE
page 315: Eliana: “Rahzavel... you’re ALIVE?!?!” Yeah no shit he fell off of a building everyone knows that’s no longer a death sentence unless you’re a Disney villain
“Alive and so very excited to kill you” god the lines in this book are so cheesy
adventurous
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:
Complicated
I am interested
Little slow moving at the beginning but the story starts to come together and I couldn’t put the book down. I am interested enough to buy the next book.
Little slow moving at the beginning but the story starts to come together and I couldn’t put the book down. I am interested enough to buy the next book.
3 years. That's how long it took for me to finally pick up and read Furyborn, but needless to say I got hooked with only just a few chapters in. Fair warning, before you pick this up yourself, you have to know that this book has mature themes that may be triggering or uncomfortable to some.
⚠️ TW: Ab*se, v**lence, s**ual content
This was labeled as YA but with its heavy themes, it borders closer to NA.
An action-packed fantasy drama, Furyborn is told from two main characters perspectives living in the past and present timelines.
Rielle, bearing witness to a prophecy; and Eliana, fighting for freedom in a world dominated by evil.
If you enjoy fantasy, you should definitely read the Empirium Trilogy. The world of Avitas will astound you with its characters, creatures, plot twists and unique magic system.
⚠️ TW: Ab*se, v**lence, s**ual content
This was labeled as YA but with its heavy themes, it borders closer to NA.
An action-packed fantasy drama, Furyborn is told from two main characters perspectives living in the past and present timelines.
Rielle, bearing witness to a prophecy; and Eliana, fighting for freedom in a world dominated by evil.
If you enjoy fantasy, you should definitely read the Empirium Trilogy. The world of Avitas will astound you with its characters, creatures, plot twists and unique magic system.