Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers #1) by Nicki Pau Preto

Synopsis:

 

I had a sister, once…

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

I promised her the throne would not come between us.

Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.

But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled.

Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders’ return and intends to destroy them once and for all.

Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Whoa. I did NOT expect to enjoy Crown of Feathers as much as I did. In fact, I never thought I'd read it at all. As much as I love animals irl, I tend to find magical animal-based stories a bit childish and boring. So while I love the cover for this novel, the synopsis didn't intrigue me at all. But after finding the OwlCrate edition of this in a used book store, I thought "what the heck, why not?" and gave this a try. BOY AM I GLAD I DID.

I will admit, this started off rough. Between the constant info-dumping and not especially engaging writing, I really believed I wouldn't get more than 100 pages into this before dnfing. The beginning of this book is so clunky and lackluster, but once it hits its stride, Crown of Feathers ends up being a lot more deep and interesting than its beginning makes it out to be.

Despite the massive info-dumping at the novel's open, I thought this world would be nothing more than what I would expect from a standard YA fantasy - some dead queens, oppression of the magical folks, a past war - as usual lacking complexity and feeling generic and interchangeable with similar titles in the genre. But this book ended up being so politically driven?! Rather than being a backdrop, the repercussions of the dead queens and past war are still felt by every single character throughout the novel in complex and interesting ways. The world-building still didn't blow me out of the water, but it did feel unique.

But even as the characters become more and more entrenched in the politics and consequences of their world, I really appreciated how the characters still felt like teens. This didn't feel like young YA, which I personally don't enjoy, but nor did it feel like YA where the characters act like they should be in their mid-twenties. The three main characters - Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev - were dynamic and complicated, yet still had the uncertainties that come with being young. This was probably one of the most realistic portrayals of teens in fantasy I've seen yet.

Also, can I just shout out how wonderful the LGBT+ rep in this is? It's so organic - perhaps to the point of subtley, but as a queer person that always has eagle eyes on the page for my people, it was really refreshing to read about LGBT+ characters that weren't coded as such through stereotypes or explicit on the page romance. Of course, I expect those romantic elements will kick up a notch in the next book, but I just loved seeing queer people being queer without queerness defining who they are as a person. While those stories are obviously important in literature, sometimes a bi girl just wants to read about queer people without overwhelming romance elements.

Overall, this book took me by such surprise in the best way possible. I expected a younger side of YA story with a generic plot and world, but instead got realistic and complex teen characters, a politically charged world, and LGBT+ rep that really meant something to my little bi heart. I can't wait for the next book!

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black

Synopsis:

 

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I'd like to preface this review by saying that The Cruel Prince is my favorite book of all time. It's stood the test of two years and four reads and still managed to be my #1. So to say my expectations of The Queen of Nothing were high is an understatement. But considering how great The Wicked King was as a follow up to my favorite book and Holly Black's two decades of experience as an author, I had so much hope that this would be incredible.

I was wrong.

I just wanted so much MORE from this novel. Just like how The Wicked King amped up everything that made up The Cruel Prince - more scheming, more bargains, more betrayal - I expected The Queen of Nothing to intensify that even more. I wanted to see Jude raise an army. I wanted Jude to march on Elfhame to steal back her kingdom. I wanted Jude to find some clever way to backstab or blackmail her way back to Faerie, just as she made herself a kingmaker and a queen in the previous two novels. I wanted this novel to be so big and dramatic that I was white-knuckled on the book screaming the entire time I read it. And that just...never happened.

The pacing in this is terrible. With the previous two novels, the events of the books built so carefully, getting crazier and more intense with each chapter, until everything finally came to a head with an insane plot twist at the end. But in The Queen of Nothing, what felt like post-climax events were occurring 150 pages in and it was completely jarring. And, unlike the previous novels that meticulously set up for things to occur, I felt like events in QoN happened and were resolved so quickly that I had no time to feel the weight of them. Holly Black packed A LOT of content into this book, but the novel simply isn't long enough to support the sheer amount of characters and story that happens, so everything that happens in the book feels rushed.

The characters by far suffered the most because this book is too short. Considering what Taryn reveals to Jude within the first few chapters, there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL to explore the similarities between Jude and Taryn - rather than their differences, as the previous two books did - and complicate their relationship. But that doesn't happen. The Bomb and the Roach? Deserved so much more than the three pages their relationship got. And don't even get me started on the 180 Jude and Cardan's relationship takes. While I expected the outcome of their relationship, the development of it was so incredibly weak in this book that it feels almost like it came out of nowhere. Jude and Cardan's relationship was absolutely magnetic in the previous two books, as these two incredibly layered and dynamic characters overlapped. All that chemistry is just GONE in The Queen of Nothing. I'm frankly devastated over it.

Plus, everything felt a bit too convenient. Jude needed x thing? Oh, this super powerful old faerie side character will just give it to her! While I was reading, all I could think to myself was, "what the hell happened to the complicated bargains and clever thinking needed on Jude's part from the previous books?" I have a hard time believing that just because Jude is secretly queen of Elfhame, suddenly all these literally ancient faeries are just going to give her things without extracting their pound of flesh.

And don't even talk to me about that final plot twist. I won't be spoiling anything, but I hate it. I hate it. It's the kind of mediocre, clunky twist I would expect from a debut author finishing up their first trilogy, not a seasoned writer with two decades and a massive backlist of titles under their belt. Not only is it lame, but it's a complete tonal shift away from what the trilogy has been about: politics and the machinations of court. What I love about Jude is how her strength doesn't necessarily come from her physical prowess, but her knowledge of faeries and skill in manipulating them through her own cleverness. I feel like that's the whole point of the books: to show that even though Jude lacks the immortal body and power of a faerie, she can be just as "worthy" and powerful as them because of her intelligence. So the fact that the climax of the final book, the literal PINNACLE of the entire trilogy, has absolutely nothing to do with that...I could scream, friends. For days.

(I also guessed how the final twist would resolve as soon as the twist happened and guess what? I was right. I loved these books because they always caught me by surprise. My disappointment has projected me onto another plane of existence.)

I still have questions too! Like what was the point of Cardan's mom being freed? After the events of The Wicked King, I assumed she'd be a major player in the final book, but she isn't. Why were there no consequences or follow up for what Taryn reveals she's done at the very beginning of the book? And I still don't really understand the Ghost's actions in this book, considering he told Jude he "serves Dain, not her" in The Wicked King. Holly Black set up for several threads at the end of WK and beginning of QoN, yet never follows through on them. It's frustrating, because not only do I lack closure in those areas, but as a result, I was baited to expect a certain direction for the book and it went down a totally different path.

But you know what? I think I could've been okay with this conclusion - still very disappointed, but okay - if the dang novel hadn't been so short. Just 100 more pages, and I think the characters and plot would've been developed enough for me to feel satisfied with The Queen of Nothing, even though I wanted so much more. But the book wasn't. So, completely heartbroken that my favorite book of all time was done so dirty by such a weak conclusion, it's a 2 stars from me.

Side note, but I went to one of Holly Black's tour events for The Queen of Nothing. During the event, she explained that she knew the most about The Cruel Prince and the least about The Queen of Nothing. She also said she threw out her entire outline for QoN and did something else, which is the book we got. It makes me so sad to think about, because I feel like this novel really reflects how unplanned it was.

There Will Come a Darkness (The Age of Darkness, #1) by Katy Rose Pool

Synopsis:

 

For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations―until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.

All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. As chaos takes hold, five souls are set on a collision course:

A prince exiled from his kingdom.
A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand.
A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart.
A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone.
And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.

One of them―or all of them―could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer?

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I'm heartbroken that I didn't really enjoy this. I was SO excited for it before release.

The main reason I didn't care much for There Will Come a Darkness boils down to this: it felt too young for me. I don't expect YA to cater to me as a 22-year-old adult, but I often find YA stories still appeal to me and because this book was described as a more mature version of the Falling Kingdoms series, I thought I'd love it.

The writing style and characters were just too simplistic for me. Not to mention, the pacing as so break-neck that I felt more "wait what?" when a conflict was introduced and solved within 30 pages, rather than engaged.

I heard that the book gets really crazy and twisty around the halfway point, but was I the only one that could see every plot twist from a mile away? The foreshadowing was so obvious with every "twist" that nothing surprised me. In fact, I was more surprised when the novel treated something as a big reveal, when it had already been obvious to me for chapters and chapters before.

Additionally, I really didn't like how the LGBT+ characters were written. I can't exactly put my finger on what exactly made me uncomfy about how they were portrayed. But as a queer person, the LGBT+ rep felt more like the book was trying to win diversity points than boost up the LGBT+ community. The way that the male queer characters were portrayed, especially, felt really off to me. Again, I'm not exactly sure what exactly made me feel that way, only that I did whenever there was a hint of non-straight romance.

I think if you liked Children of Blood and Bone or The Gilded Wolves, you'll love this. But as someone who didn't enjoy either of the aforementioned novels, There Will Come a Darkness just wasn't for me.