Ratings Explained

 Title: Furyborn
By: Claire Legrand
Published: May 22, 2018
Rating: 4 stars

Summary (Goodreads):

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. 

Review:

Wow this book was such a pleasant surprise. I had seen some conflicting reviews, so I wasn't sure what to expect. One interesting aspect about this book is that the prologue tells you a lot about Rielle's journey and how it ends. Although some people might find this problematic because it would ruin the end of her story. I found it to be quite the opposite. Rielle has had control over all 7 elements since she was 5 years old when she accidentally killed her mom in a fire she started. Ever since this incident, her father and Tal (her friend and instructor) have tried to suppress her magic, so nobody finds out since only the prophesied queens can control all 7 elements. When she saves her best friend the Prince Auldric, she exposes herself. Her story is one of accepting the parts of herself that she has hated for the past 13 years and learning to trust herself. We learn in the prologue that she turns out not to be the Sun Queen but the Blood Queen. It makes me sad to see that she struggles so much by trying to keep control of her magic, but somehow over the course of the series she must lose it. Even in this book, the angel Corien is seen trying to influence her to let go and not let anyone hold her back. I am very curious to see how their relationship will play out in future books.

On the other hand, Eliana is a bounty hunter a thousand years later in a world where magic is gone due to the death of Rielle. Eliana is someone who grew up learning to kill and push her feelings and heart deep down, but throughout the story she learns to start trusting people (okay maybe not really but trying too). I personally like her love interest better than Rielle's because I enjoy the slow burn romances more. I also loved her relationship with her younger brother; Remy might almost be my favorite character. Although he knows that his sister is a killer, he tries to show her how to be good and that she can overcome the things she has done. 

I loved each of the worlds that were explored in this novel. However, I did find it a little difficult to understand how Rielle was able to use her magic. Since she learned to suppress it, I found it hard to understand in the trials how she was able to know exactly how to use her magic instead of just controlling it. Overall, it was a great book and I will definitely keep reading the next 2 books in the series!