When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.
The Review
Furyborn follows two women one thousand years apart that are tethered to each other by fate. I'm not usually a fan of angels in fiction, I just have no interest in them whatsoever. But the angels in this world aren't your average divine beings led by a greater power. In fact, I quite enjoy this spin on them. One notch taken off is that I don't understand their reason for anything. Maybe they ARE divine and it just didn't touch on that in this book, led by a god or something, but it never mentions that and I feel like that knowledge would really come in handy to better understand the point of this epic war that's been going on. The war that the book is centered on, the big plot, the reason for everything being what it is. To me it just seems that they are called angels without actually having anything angelic about them. Take away the divinity and are they really angels as you and I know them, or just a race of super powerful people who want to control the world? It was easier for me to ignore "angel" and view them as the latter, but maybe it will make better sense in the next book.
I really enjoyed the heavy action, I mean it didn't stop. The book really flew by because it seemed that it was tumbling down a mountain gaining momentum through the entirety. I appreciate that, but I do like things to slow down and get into the characters' heads when they aren't running for their lives. The mythology is exciting and fresh, and I love Eliana and Rielle. I'm curious to see exactly how everything fell apart and where the pieces will come back together. The sex really surprised me.
As an adult who reads YA, I gotta admit that I love how steamier the romance is becoming in the genre. There is one in particular that I felt a little hot and bothered, giggling uncontrollably while my boyfriend stared at me with a "wtf?" expression on his face. And side-note, is it weird that I am SO IN LOVE WITH THIS VILLAIN?! If I had to choose between Audric and Simon, I would say Corien. Don't ask me what it is, but he's attractive as hell. Ha.
I saw another review say that readers of Queen of the Tearling would enjoy this book and I have to agree, but also add the Throne of Glass series. If you enjoyed either of those, check this one out. I honestly couldn't put this book down and can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. 4 out of 5 stars.
