Take a photo of a barcode or cover
midnightbagel 's review for:
Furyborn
by Claire Legrand
This was super fun, it felt like female-driven, YA fantasy candy to me (and yes, I'm going to say 'fun' too much in this review because it really just encompasses my experience). There's a lot of fun things going on here, from the world, to the characters, to the overall momentum of the plot, to the themes explored. That isn't to say it's all done exceptionally well, but it was a fun ride regardless.
I've seen some polarizing opinions on this book, and I totally get why. This is going to sound harsh, and I don't mean it in the way you may initially think, but don't go into this book thinking it's going to be good. Now, let me backtrack. By that, I mean, go into this book knowing that it doesn't really do any of the things its trying to do incredibly well. This isn't to say any of these elements are done badly, it just feels like a messy foundational book that still managed to be a fun ride despite that. I think if you go in expecting to enjoy a cool, complex (too complex for its own good at times), world, with characters that yes, you've definitely seen before, but being used to explore themes that maybe you haven't seen explored in this way, then you'll have a good time.
As I mentioned, these characters are really nothing unique. The two main characters and our main villain are by far and away the best of them, unlikeable angry female leads that manage to be messy in an intentional way, and really manage to center the story, even when the two feel so disparate at times you think you're really reading two different novels. The side characters are likable enough, but fill fantasy molds we've seen time and time again (which goes along with my whole, comforting, candy, feel the book has). The male characters--main villain aside--are honestly cardboard, so boring, and in Simon's case, doesn't feel like the same character we met at the beginning by the end (and not in a, oh he developed so wonderfully type of way, but in a, this feels contradictory to the way he was initially presented type of way) but if cardboard male characters are what I have to trade in order to get two pissed off female leads, it's well worth it.
This is one of those first books in a series where the plot aside from the final 100 or so pages really doesn't matter and only serves to provide build-up to that point. Which is, not the best, but because everything that comes before it is infused with those fantasy tropes I've come to know and find comfort in, I was having a fine enough time living through that and waiting for the actual story to kick in that it didn't bother me, although I can see why it made many DNF.
The themes and the world go hand in hand in that they're very ambitious, especially for YA, and at times they get ahead of themselves. This book is trying to be a lot all at once and I commend the ambition and I see the vision, it just hasn't all come together yet. I do think that this is very much a first book syndrome thing, and that it will get the time it needs to develop throughout the rest of the trilogy. But, here it did feel a little like throwing a handful of world elements at a wall and seeing if the noodle sticks situation at times. And as for the themes, the main theme of female rage, which I adore more than anything, was so heavy-handed here that I missed the nuances that this theme affords. I hope that it can be viewed in a more dynamic way in future books, because so far it's felt very surface level.
This is all to say that there's a lot of comfortable familiarity here mixed with a lot of ambitious, unfamiliar things. Sometimes these two worlds meld wonderfully, and sometimes they clash in a messy knot. The comfortable was enough for me to feel rooted and let it linger like a piece of hard candy, while also acknowledging how it was scraping the roof of my mouth at the same time. I have a good feeling that this series will only get better and mature in quality as it continues, so I do plan on reading the sequel(s)!
I've seen some polarizing opinions on this book, and I totally get why. This is going to sound harsh, and I don't mean it in the way you may initially think, but don't go into this book thinking it's going to be good. Now, let me backtrack. By that, I mean, go into this book knowing that it doesn't really do any of the things its trying to do incredibly well. This isn't to say any of these elements are done badly, it just feels like a messy foundational book that still managed to be a fun ride despite that. I think if you go in expecting to enjoy a cool, complex (too complex for its own good at times), world, with characters that yes, you've definitely seen before, but being used to explore themes that maybe you haven't seen explored in this way, then you'll have a good time.
As I mentioned, these characters are really nothing unique. The two main characters and our main villain are by far and away the best of them, unlikeable angry female leads that manage to be messy in an intentional way, and really manage to center the story, even when the two feel so disparate at times you think you're really reading two different novels. The side characters are likable enough, but fill fantasy molds we've seen time and time again (which goes along with my whole, comforting, candy, feel the book has). The male characters--main villain aside--are honestly cardboard, so boring, and in Simon's case, doesn't feel like the same character we met at the beginning by the end (and not in a, oh he developed so wonderfully type of way, but in a, this feels contradictory to the way he was initially presented type of way) but if cardboard male characters are what I have to trade in order to get two pissed off female leads, it's well worth it.
This is one of those first books in a series where the plot aside from the final 100 or so pages really doesn't matter and only serves to provide build-up to that point. Which is, not the best, but because everything that comes before it is infused with those fantasy tropes I've come to know and find comfort in, I was having a fine enough time living through that and waiting for the actual story to kick in that it didn't bother me, although I can see why it made many DNF.
The themes and the world go hand in hand in that they're very ambitious, especially for YA, and at times they get ahead of themselves. This book is trying to be a lot all at once and I commend the ambition and I see the vision, it just hasn't all come together yet. I do think that this is very much a first book syndrome thing, and that it will get the time it needs to develop throughout the rest of the trilogy. But, here it did feel a little like throwing a handful of world elements at a wall and seeing if the noodle sticks situation at times. And as for the themes, the main theme of female rage, which I adore more than anything, was so heavy-handed here that I missed the nuances that this theme affords. I hope that it can be viewed in a more dynamic way in future books, because so far it's felt very surface level.
This is all to say that there's a lot of comfortable familiarity here mixed with a lot of ambitious, unfamiliar things. Sometimes these two worlds meld wonderfully, and sometimes they clash in a messy knot. The comfortable was enough for me to feel rooted and let it linger like a piece of hard candy, while also acknowledging how it was scraping the roof of my mouth at the same time. I have a good feeling that this series will only get better and mature in quality as it continues, so I do plan on reading the sequel(s)!