Review: FURYBORN
Furyborn by Claire Legrand 
Series: Empirium #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on May 22, 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 512
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
Novels that feature strong, independent female characters and dual timelines are nearly always guaranteed to grab my attention and such was the case with Claire Legrand’s YA fantasy novel, Furyborn. Furyborn follows two incredibly independent women, Rielle Dardenne and Eliana Ferracora, who lived centuries apart but who both play a role in an ancient prophecy known to all in their lands. The prophecy states that two magic-wielding Queens will rise to power, a Sun Queen and a Blood Queen, and one will have the power to save their kingdom, while the other will have the power to destroy them all.
Furyborn is an exciting adventure from start to finish as we follow these two fiercely independent women as they rush forward to meet their destinies.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about Furyborn was the way the dual timeline was used to allow each woman’s journey to unfold. With Rielle, we are presented with not only her role in the prophecy, but also the way she meets her end, in the novel’s prologue. Rielle’s journey in the book, therefore, is more of a rewind back to show how she got to the point where we find her as the book begins. Eliana’s narrative, on the other hand, moves more straightforward in that we simply follow her to find out where she fits into the prophecy and to where her story ultimately intersects with Rielle’s.
Out of the two main characters, I’d have to say that Eliana was probably my favorite. As I’ve already mentioned she’s incredibly independent and strong. What I found most interesting about her, however, is that she also falls into the morally gray category. When the Empire came in and conquered her kingdom, Eliana began working for them as a bounty hunter. She’ll slit a Rebel’s throat in a heartbeat if there’s money involved, thus earning herself the nickname “The Dread of Orline.” Although many of her actions are morally questionable, her heart, however, is in the right place because she’s desperate to have enough money to take care of her mother and brother. Eliana could be arrogant and obnoxious at times, but I still ultimately liked her because of that big heart of hers.
Even though I didn’t like her quite as much as I liked Eliana, Rielle was also a pretty likable character. What I liked about Rielle was that she fit so well into that underdog category that I’m always such a big fan of. Rielle lives in a time where most individuals possess some magic and wield control over one of the natural elements. During a horse race, Rielle’s best friend finds himself in mortal danger and when Rielle jumps in to try to save him, she accidentally reveals that not only does she too possess magic, but she wields control over more than the usual one element. In trying to save her friend, she has used her magic recklessly and wreaked so much havoc that everyone in the kingdom is terrified of her. Whispers about the prophecy and that she might be one of the Queens immediately begin. Rielle is brought before the King where he informs her that she must face seven potentially deadly elemental trials. She will either successfully complete each of these trials, thus proving that she is one of the two prophesied Queens or else she will not succeed and she will die. No pressure there, right? I just really admired the way she faced each challenge head-on, almost defiant, at times.
I was also quite intrigued by the world building in Furyborn. This fantasy world and its magical system were quite fascinating, especially the Empirum and how Rielle was able to manipulate it, but I still would have liked a little more detail about pretty much everything. Some parts of it were a little confusing, especially the angels, who were apparently bad and banished. I’m hoping a second book will shed more light on some of the fantasy elements in the series.
The main reason I didn’t rate this higher even though I quite enjoyed the story overall was that it honestly felt like two separate books where I was reading a chapter from one and then a chapter from the other. I would have liked to see more connective threads between them throughout to remind me that the two stories would eventually interconnect.
A second issue I had, and this is probably one of those ‘It’s me, not the book’ scenarios, but Rielle’s storyline started to wear thin on me after a while. Those trials, while initially exciting, started to feel somewhat tedious. I can, admittedly, have the attention span of a gnat, but after the first couple of trials, I kept hoping that something would happen so that we didn’t have to go through all seven of them or that the author would simply gloss over the details rather than give us a play-by-play of everything that happened. I also thought too much emphasis was placed on her costumes, each of which were custom made to match the element of the trial she was about to engage in. It reminded me of the scenes from The Hunger Games when Katniss was dressed up as the Girl on Fire. Since I didn’t particularly care for those scenes in The Hunger Games, it was a little ugh going through similar scenes in Furyborn.
One other area that didn’t set well with me was a scene early on where Rielle, clearly not in control of her magic, cruelly kills an animal. I understood what the author was trying to show in this scene, but it was just very graphic and upsetting.
While it’s not a perfect read, it’s still highly entertaining overall and I do think that Furyborn is a solid beginning to what is sure to be a great new fantasy series.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.
When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.
A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire 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.
About Claire Legrand
Claire Legrand used to be a musician until she realized she couldn’t stop thinking about the stories in her head. Now she is a librarian and New York Times bestselling author living in central New Jersey (although her heart will always live in her home state of Texas).
Her first novel is The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2012. She is also the author of The Year of Shadows, a ghost story for middle grade readers; and Winterspell, a young adult re-telling of The Nutcracker. Some Kind of Happiness, her middle grade novel about mental illness, family secrets, and the power of storytelling, is a 2017 Edgar Award Nominee. Claire’s latest novel, Foxheart, is a classic fantasy-adventure and a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection. She is one of the four authors behind The Cabinet of Curiosities, an anthology of dark middle grade short fiction that was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Bank Street Best Book, and among the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2014.
Her latest novel, Furyborn, debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is the first book in the Empirium Trilogy, a young adult epic fantasy series. Her next book, Sawkill Girls, is a queer young adult horror novel and will release on October 2nd, 2018.
Her work is represented by Victoria Marini of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.
Top Ten Tuesday, the Wanderlust edition: Top 10 Books That Make Me Want to Pack a Bag & Grab My Passport
Created at canva.com
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Top 10 Books that Give Me Wanderlust. Books always make me want to travel so this was a pretty easy topic for me. To make this week’s list a little different from travel lists I’ve done in the past, I’ve selected the books that have specifically added new destinations to my Travel Bucket List. In a couple of cases, I wasn’t even necessarily the biggest fan of the book itself, other than the fact that it inspires me to travel, lol I’ve visited a couple of these places already but would go back in a heartbeat and most of them I’m still dying to visit for the first time.
* * * * *
Top 10 Books That Make Me Want to Pack a Bag & Grab My Passport
SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares
(GREECE)
(CHINA & also SAN FRANCISCO)
(SWITZERLAND)
HUNTING PRINCE DRACULA by Kerri Maniscalco
(ROMANIA)
84, CHARING CROSS ROAD by Helene Hanff
(LONDON, ENGLAND)
(SPAIN & also EGYPT)
(JAPAN, especially TOKYO)
TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
(FRANCE & the FRENCH RIVIERA)
BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty
(AUSTRALIA)
(BARCELONA, SPAIN)
* * * * *
Question: What books have you read that contributed to your travel bucket list?
Review: LITTLE BIG LOVE by Katy Regan
Little Big Love by Katy Regan 
Published by BERKLEY on June 5, 2018
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 384
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
I requested Katy Regan’s Little Big Love from Netgalley primarily because the book’s synopsis describes it as About a Boy meets Parenthood. Parenthood is one of my all-time favorite family-centric dramas and I loved it because every episode took me through a full range of emotions because I became so invested in the Braverman family: joy, sadness, anger, frustration, love, regret – you name it, I felt it. Seeing Little Big Love compared to Parenthood therefore made it a must-read for me. The comparison is apt too because the characters in Little Big Love captured my heart in much the same way the Bravermans did in Parenthood.
Little Big Love follows Zac Hutchinson, a 10-year old boy who is on a mission to find the his father, whom he has never met. Zac knows he has a dad because, of course, everyone does, but all Zac knows about his is that according to his mom and grandparents, Zac’s dad “did a runner” as soon as Zac was born and never came back. Zac has therefore spent his entire life without a dad and is obsessed with what it would be like to have one. The older he gets, the more convinced he is that if his dad could just meet him once, he’d want to stick around. Then, one fateful night when his mom, in a drunken state, confesses to Zac that she still loves his dad, Zac, with the help of his best friend Teagan, sets his “Find Dad Mission” into motion. Now he wants to find his dad, not just for himself, because he also thinks it would finally make his mom happy again.
Zac. 10-year-old Zac was, by far, my favorite character in this story. He’s such a sweetheart, always thinking of others, and just the type of kid who wouldn’t hurt a fly. It broke my heart to watch him obsess so much about not having a Dad in his life, especially once I realized how many secrets about his father his mom and grandparents were keeping from him. For reasons that weren’t revealed until much later, it was as if all mention of Zac’s father had been banned from their household so Zac literally knew nothing about his dad, aside from his name. Zac was also an incredibly sympathetic character because he’s being bullied at school because of his weight and because he doesn’t stick up for himself. The kids are just so evil and relentless, and I cried for Zac several times as I was reading. Regan really got me in the feels when it came to Zac.
Teagan. Teagan is Zac’s classmate and best friend, and she is the spunkiest little firecracker there ever was. She is Zac’s biggest supporter, which makes me love her all the more knowing how low Zac’s self-esteem is because of his weight and because of the constant bullying. Teagan is also a breath of fresh air, frequently using comical expressions like “He just needs a rocket up his bum!” to bring some levity and humor into what is otherwise a pretty heavy story. My favorite thing about Teagan is her enthusiastic support of Zac’s mission to find his dad. She spends a lot of time watching crime and detective shows so that she can share helpful tips on how Zac should conduct his investigation and gather evidence that will help locate his dad. It’s just adorable!
3 Points of View. While the children were my favorite characters in Little Big Love and Zac’s chapters were my favorites because that have that honesty and tell-it-like-it-is bluntness that only an innocent child can bring, I also appreciated that the story was presented not just from Zac’s perspective, but also from the perspectives of Zac’s mom, Juliet, and Zac’s grandfather, Mick. Juliet is a single mom who is struggling to make ends meet and who is also dealing with her own self-esteem and weight issues. All she wants is what’s best for Zac but sometimes finds herself questioning her life’s choices. Mick, Zac’s granddad brings us the perspective of a recovering alcoholic who loves his family more than life itself, but who is weighted down by secrets that if revealed, could cost him everyone he loves. I loved all of the layers that Regan adds to the story by using these three completely different perspectives.
Realistic Issues and Big Themes. As I mentioned earlier, at times, Little Big Love was a heavy read. It deals with some issues and themes that really got to me on an emotional level. They’re issues that many families will face and perhaps they got to me all the more since I have a son Zac’s age.
There is of course the family drama with these secrets that they’re keeping and how those secrets are just weighing everyone down. But then there’s also alcoholism, bullying, loss and grief, and mental health/low self-esteem issues as well. This whole family has been through so much, and as I said with Parenthood, I became so invested in them that their stories – the good and the bad – just really had me so emotional at times. Bless little Teagan and her “rocket up the bum” jokes to lighten the mood and keep things from getting too heavy, lol.
Even though I really enjoyed Little Big Love overall, I did occasionally struggle with the pacing, especially in the beginning. I adored all of Zac’s chapters and just flew through them, but I’ll admit that I struggled to get into Juliet’s story and even Mick’s at first. I was a little put off by the secrets they were keeping because I just didn’t see where any good could possibly come from what they were doing. Ultimately though, they won me over because it became clear that they both loved Zac more than anything else in this world and that they were beating themselves up about their choices just as much, if not even more, than I was beating them up.
Katy Regan’s Little Big Love is a moving story about a flawed but beautiful family and the things they’re willing to do to protect both themselves and the ones they love. They don’t always make the best choices, but their hearts are in the right place, even if their heads aren’t. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys books that feature endearing characters, especially lovable children, as well as messy but realistic family situations.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
About a Boy meets Parenthood in this smart, big-hearted love story about a family for whom everything changed one night, a decade ago, and the young boy who unites them all.
Told through the eyes of Zac, Juliet, and grandfather Mick, Little Big Love is a layered, heartfelt, utterly satisfying story about family, love, and the secrets that can define who we are.
About Katy Regan
Katy Regan was born and brought up in the northern seaside town of Morecambe. Her claim to fame – aside from being possibly the only person in the world to get expelled from primary school – is that at the age of 16 she went to stage school in Surrey with Posh Spice. She worked at 19 magazine for two years before joining Marie Claire in 2002. ‘Highlights’ in that position included spending ten days in the buff on a nudist resort and becoming a footballer’s wife for a week — all in the name of investigative journalism. In 2004 at the height of her career as the office roving reporter singleton, she fell accidentally pregnant by her best mate (who just remained a friend). Seeing the creative possibilities in this unconventional situation, her editor commissioned her to write a column – And then there were three! which proved so successful it ran for two years and inspired many a reader to write in to Katy with their life story. She has now taken her loyal following to her blog – The State She’s In – on the Marie Claire website. She lives in south London and shares care of her son Fergus with his dad who lives across the road.