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mermaird's review
5.0
It took me a single day to finish reading this book, and after being in a reading-slump for a few months, that really says something. I'm glad I went into the story without making any notes from the blurb (honestly, I've already forgotten why I chose to review this book when Pansing contacted me) because the moment it was revealed that the nobles in this kingdom are able to transform into birds that represent their bloodline (not a spoiler, it's obviously in the synopsis), I was immediately hooked. Unfortunately for our main character Aderyn, she had a reason for being unable to transform into a bird like she's supposed to.
I would say that Aderyn is one of the best main characters that I've encountered in books. I believe that the authors successfully made her personality realistic, despite the fact that this book is set in a high fantasy world. I rarely ever hate main characters, but I've stumbled upon a few that are just too fictional to be true: either too ambitiously nice or too cold due to past incidents. But Aderyn is a beautiful character; she might have been left in ignorance over royalty matters because of her father, but she was smart enough to fend for herself. She's independent, loving, selfless yet also selfish when needed—and she's definitely a badass lady as well. She might not fit to lead at first, but her character development is so good that I can't wait to know more about her in the sequel (how do I survive until then?).
Even though I consider Aderyn to be independent, realistically, she definitely needs good support around her, no matter how small they might be. She has a good friend, Letya, who is not a noble and flightless, but is truly loyal to Aderyn and I appreciated her so much for that. Letya may just be a side character, but I believe that her role in the story is big enough for Aderyn's character to grow more. I appreciated Aderyn's cousins, Odette and Aron as well. Their characters are complex enough despite not being main characters, and I don't find it hard to put my faith in them from the start till the end.
Then there's Lucien, Lord Rookwood. His title may just be Aderyn's clerk, but his role is much larger than that. I believe that his first appearance in the story was one of the best parts of the book. He would appear to be patronising at first (oh I truly enjoyed the bickers and snarky comments made between Aderyn and Lucien) but his prideful personality does have a good reasoning behind it. Of course, love would be inevitable when they kept working (and arguing) with each other, but I love the fact that the story was not focused too much on the romance. Certain stories focused too much on building the romance that they somehow overshadowed the important elements that should be the main part of the story.
When I read a fantasy, I want those fights between the royals or kingdoms, the rebellions, the revenges and the ruled rising up against the rulers—with a touch of romance, and that is exactly what A Throne of Swans is about. Or at least it feels that way in my opinion. The slow burn romance was what made the ending of the first part of this duology more impactful (I don't want to spoil anything but Lucien's condition at the end broke me to pieces).
Although it was quite hard for me to grasp where the story is leading towards to in the first few chapters, I would gladly say that the whole plot and world-building are definitely well built. I admit that I do enjoy more on fantasy plots where the ones that were ruled rise against their rulers, and even though Aderyn is fighting with the kingdom for her dominion and people, the inequality is still obvious. There seemed to be nothing for the flightless to do to fight back, but I'm putting high hopes that somehow this point would be focused in the sequel.
A bonus: I find that the true villains of this story reminded me of an element from Crimson Peak. If you've watched the movie, you'll find out what I meant once you read A Throne of Swans. It definitely blew my mind.
Overall, I'm very much in love with A Throne of Swans. It is a wonderfully written book, and I cannot wait for it to be released for the whole world to read!
A thousand thank yous to Pansing for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I would say that Aderyn is one of the best main characters that I've encountered in books. I believe that the authors successfully made her personality realistic, despite the fact that this book is set in a high fantasy world. I rarely ever hate main characters, but I've stumbled upon a few that are just too fictional to be true: either too ambitiously nice or too cold due to past incidents. But Aderyn is a beautiful character; she might have been left in ignorance over royalty matters because of her father, but she was smart enough to fend for herself. She's independent, loving, selfless yet also selfish when needed—and she's definitely a badass lady as well. She might not fit to lead at first, but her character development is so good that I can't wait to know more about her in the sequel (how do I survive until then?).
Even though I consider Aderyn to be independent, realistically, she definitely needs good support around her, no matter how small they might be. She has a good friend, Letya, who is not a noble and flightless, but is truly loyal to Aderyn and I appreciated her so much for that. Letya may just be a side character, but I believe that her role in the story is big enough for Aderyn's character to grow more. I appreciated Aderyn's cousins, Odette and Aron as well. Their characters are complex enough despite not being main characters, and I don't find it hard to put my faith in them from the start till the end.
Then there's Lucien, Lord Rookwood. His title may just be Aderyn's clerk, but his role is much larger than that. I believe that his first appearance in the story was one of the best parts of the book. He would appear to be patronising at first (oh I truly enjoyed the bickers and snarky comments made between Aderyn and Lucien) but his prideful personality does have a good reasoning behind it. Of course, love would be inevitable when they kept working (and arguing) with each other, but I love the fact that the story was not focused too much on the romance. Certain stories focused too much on building the romance that they somehow overshadowed the important elements that should be the main part of the story.
When I read a fantasy, I want those fights between the royals or kingdoms, the rebellions, the revenges and the ruled rising up against the rulers—with a touch of romance, and that is exactly what A Throne of Swans is about. Or at least it feels that way in my opinion. The slow burn romance was what made the ending of the first part of this duology more impactful (I don't want to spoil anything but Lucien's condition at the end broke me to pieces).
Although it was quite hard for me to grasp where the story is leading towards to in the first few chapters, I would gladly say that the whole plot and world-building are definitely well built. I admit that I do enjoy more on fantasy plots where the ones that were ruled rise against their rulers, and even though Aderyn is fighting with the kingdom for her dominion and people, the inequality is still obvious. There seemed to be nothing for the flightless to do to fight back, but I'm putting high hopes that somehow this point would be focused in the sequel.
A bonus: I find that the true villains of this story reminded me of an element from Crimson Peak. If you've watched the movie, you'll find out what I meant once you read A Throne of Swans. It definitely blew my mind.
Overall, I'm very much in love with A Throne of Swans. It is a wonderfully written book, and I cannot wait for it to be released for the whole world to read!
A thousand thank yous to Pansing for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
audrey_n's review
4.0
This was surprisingly good! I would recommend this to those who enjoy fantasy romance and story tale retellings.
One thing that I disliked however was that it was pretty obvious who was evil. There was also a bit too much foreshadowing. Nevertheless, there were still many events which shocked and surprised me.
In terms of characters, I loved both Lucien and Aron, and even Aderyn was quite interesting.
Overall, 4 stars. One star deducted for the clichés and incest
One thing that I disliked however was that it was pretty obvious who was evil. There was also a bit too much foreshadowing. Nevertheless, there were still many events which shocked and surprised me.
In terms of characters, I loved both Lucien and Aron, and even Aderyn was quite interesting.
Overall, 4 stars. One star deducted for the clichés and incest
janaybrazier's review
4.5
The storyline was really interesting. I do love a fantasy book. This idea that those of noble birth could turn into a particular bird depending on their family and that those who were not of nobility were labelled 'flightless' was an idea that I was invested in immediately. If you read the synopsis above, you will know that the main character's ancestral bird is a swan. However, she has not been able to transform since the death of her mother, which puts her in a very vulnerable position if the other nobles were to discover this secret.
The first part of the book seems to focus on world-building, giving descriptions of the kingdom of Solanum. This allowed me to really immerse myself in this fictional world before getting into the finer plot details and getting to know the characters more. I liked that there was a map and a family tree included at the front of the book. I do love a map and the family tree was very helpful at the beginning when you're having lots of new, unfamiliar names thrown at you. They both allowed me to see how people were linked and how close their lands were. The second part of the book is definitely more character-driven, which I loved.
I liked the main character of Aderyn. She had a good story arc, great development for a young girl who has lost her parents and you can really see how far she has come when looking back to the opening pages.
There were a lot of other great, well-written characters. I honestly wouldn't say there was a single character that I didn't enjoy reading about, because even if they weren't the nicest person they added so much to the story. I really liked Letya, Aderyn's 'flightless' lady-in-waiting, who was such a good friend to Aderyn. I also like Aderyn's cousins, Aron and Odette. I especially liked Odette and the nod it had to The Swan Princess.
I could honestly talk about every character as I didn't really have a favourite, but I loved all of their interactions and relationships so it's hard not to mention everyone. The last ones I will mention in this post are Lucien and Siegfried, who are both very different from each other in so many ways but I think they are both brilliantly-written characters.
Katherine and Elizabeth Corr's joint writing style makes for a beautiful read. I struggled to put it down because of how easily it flowed. The only thing that got me to put it down one night was the fact that I was going back to work after having two weeks off over Christmas and needing to get a good night's sleep before going back. It was really addictive in parts and I read the entire book in only a few sittings.
I also really like the book cover, despite knowing that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover (but I am a sucker for a nice book cover!)
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I am really looking forward to reading the second book, A Crown of Talons, when it's released.
The first part of the book seems to focus on world-building, giving descriptions of the kingdom of Solanum. This allowed me to really immerse myself in this fictional world before getting into the finer plot details and getting to know the characters more. I liked that there was a map and a family tree included at the front of the book. I do love a map and the family tree was very helpful at the beginning when you're having lots of new, unfamiliar names thrown at you. They both allowed me to see how people were linked and how close their lands were. The second part of the book is definitely more character-driven, which I loved.
I liked the main character of Aderyn. She had a good story arc, great development for a young girl who has lost her parents and you can really see how far she has come when looking back to the opening pages.
There were a lot of other great, well-written characters. I honestly wouldn't say there was a single character that I didn't enjoy reading about, because even if they weren't the nicest person they added so much to the story. I really liked Letya, Aderyn's 'flightless' lady-in-waiting, who was such a good friend to Aderyn. I also like Aderyn's cousins, Aron and Odette. I especially liked Odette and the nod it had to The Swan Princess.
I could honestly talk about every character as I didn't really have a favourite, but I loved all of their interactions and relationships so it's hard not to mention everyone. The last ones I will mention in this post are Lucien and Siegfried, who are both very different from each other in so many ways but I think they are both brilliantly-written characters.
Katherine and Elizabeth Corr's joint writing style makes for a beautiful read. I struggled to put it down because of how easily it flowed. The only thing that got me to put it down one night was the fact that I was going back to work after having two weeks off over Christmas and needing to get a good night's sleep before going back. It was really addictive in parts and I read the entire book in only a few sittings.
I also really like the book cover, despite knowing that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover (but I am a sucker for a nice book cover!)
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I am really looking forward to reading the second book, A Crown of Talons, when it's released.
storythreads's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
dennisam's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
3.75
madelinelurene's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
librariancollections's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
sarasbooktalk's review
3.0
It was okay, I liked it but it wasn't super intriguing. I did get a Swan Princess (Disney 1994) vibes with Odette. (not gonna say more about that) I did like the last 20% of the book best. That was interesting and I'm gonna pick up the next book.
leasey23's review
3.0
Thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for the advance copy.
This book was well crafted and interesting. I could tell the author had taken great pains to make sure everything was perfectly in tune with each other, and that is definitely an achievement. I like the story, the mechanics, and the settings. I'm listing all these great things because it truly is a good book, but I don't think it was for me. I didn't get sucked in like I usually would, and it wasn't particulary 'unputdownable'. I didn't feel very connected to the main character, possibly because we don’t tend to spend much time with her on her own, but really I couldn't really tell you why. I hope someone else will enjoy this book!
This book was well crafted and interesting. I could tell the author had taken great pains to make sure everything was perfectly in tune with each other, and that is definitely an achievement. I like the story, the mechanics, and the settings. I'm listing all these great things because it truly is a good book, but I don't think it was for me. I didn't get sucked in like I usually would, and it wasn't particulary 'unputdownable'. I didn't feel very connected to the main character, possibly because we don’t tend to spend much time with her on her own, but really I couldn't really tell you why. I hope someone else will enjoy this book!
abi_grace_5002's review
2.0
3.5 starts - However, it could have been a 4.5 to 5 star book (and that is what I rated it until just over half way)!
Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed the book and it truly helped me to get out of my reading slump. However, there were some major aspects of the storyline that I feel pure hatred towards. And these unfortunately outweighed nearly all of the positives that this book offered.
SPOILERS AHEAD...
Why oh why did the characters have sex, straight after confessing their love!!??!?!?!??! Is it just me who thinks that this is ridiculously unrealistic and toxic? I personally like a love story to be well developed and not rushed. I love it when it takes the characters time to reach certain milestones in their relationships and the fact that the authors had this come straight after the main characters confessions was just a major turn off for me. I feel like it presented the main characters as immature through the excuses of being "unable to control their feelings for one another". I feel like this just paints the completely wrong picture for any person reading this. Also, I feel like the love interest was also quite really rude and belittling towards Aderyn at points and they never showed any love/feelings towards each other until BOOM they confessed their love kinda out of nowhere (bar the few times the female protagonist said she missed the dude).
Okay, now onto the other aspect of the book that I purely hated. So I understand that this "trope" (why this is even a trope I don't know) is popular with some people, but I think it is very strange and almost unhealthy. MAJOR SPOILER COMING.........
The bad guy is engaged to one person, confesses his love to another, but having an affair with his half-sister! Why did this even need to be included??? They could've had some other sort of "forbidden romance" trope, why did these characters have to be RELATED??!?!?!?!!! They did have to add the half-sibling aspect. One of the characters was already married, so why add this? Also, why does the main character have to marry her cousin? This is incest. Oh and the main characters (who became each others love interest) were distant relatives. So, that was another part of their relationship that I really did not love.
However, all that being said...
I liked most of the characters.
The book did have hooked me from the beginning.
I liked the world/world building that was shown.
And I thought that the writing style was good.
Despite those major aspects of the book that I hated, I wouldn't say don't read it as I did enjoy it overall and will be reading the second. I have a feeling I am going to enjoy the second one more. fingers crossed.
Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed the book and it truly helped me to get out of my reading slump. However, there were some major aspects of the storyline that I feel pure hatred towards. And these unfortunately outweighed nearly all of the positives that this book offered.
SPOILERS AHEAD...
Why oh why did the characters have sex, straight after confessing their love!!??!?!?!??! Is it just me who thinks that this is ridiculously unrealistic and toxic? I personally like a love story to be well developed and not rushed. I love it when it takes the characters time to reach certain milestones in their relationships and the fact that the authors had this come straight after the main characters confessions was just a major turn off for me. I feel like it presented the main characters as immature through the excuses of being "unable to control their feelings for one another". I feel like this just paints the completely wrong picture for any person reading this. Also, I feel like the love interest was also quite really rude and belittling towards Aderyn at points and they never showed any love/feelings towards each other until BOOM they confessed their love kinda out of nowhere (bar the few times the female protagonist said she missed the dude).
Okay, now onto the other aspect of the book that I purely hated. So I understand that this "trope" (why this is even a trope I don't know) is popular with some people, but I think it is very strange and almost unhealthy. MAJOR SPOILER COMING.........
The bad guy is engaged to one person, confesses his love to another, but having an affair with his half-sister! Why did this even need to be included??? They could've had some other sort of "forbidden romance" trope, why did these characters have to be RELATED??!?!?!?!!! They did have to add the half-sibling aspect. One of the characters was already married, so why add this? Also, why does the main character have to marry her cousin? This is incest. Oh and the main characters (who became each others love interest) were distant relatives. So, that was another part of their relationship that I really did not love.
However, all that being said...
I liked most of the characters.
The book did have hooked me from the beginning.
I liked the world/world building that was shown.
And I thought that the writing style was good.
Despite those major aspects of the book that I hated, I wouldn't say don't read it as I did enjoy it overall and will be reading the second. I have a feeling I am going to enjoy the second one more. fingers crossed.