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A review by sarahsbooklife
The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
5.0
Trigger warnings: violence, death, death of a loved one, mentions of ritualistic self harm, war, gore, blood
I received this Advanced Readers Copy in the Fairyloot Decemeber 2018 book box. The Storm Crow is now published (as of 09/07/2019).
Winter solstice is always the night that the crows' of Rhodaire hatch. This year Thia will finally have her own crow. Or at least that was how it should have gone. Instead everything goes wrong.
Thia and her sister Caliza, now Queen, are left to pick up the pieces left behind after that disatorious night. Their country's way of life revolves around the crows without them it might not survive.
In an attempt to save their country from invasion and ruin, Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Ericen. When Thia stumbles upon a hidden crow egg in the burnt out rookery, she is spurred into action. The sisters begin to devise a plan to hatch the egg in secret to win back what has been taken from them and so that they might stand a chance in the war to come.
_______________________________________
The Storm Crow is an utterly brilliant, imaginative, fantasy that I enjoyed reading from start to finish. I think that this might be one of the best books that has been published (so far) this year. I truly fell in love with this book as I was reading it. I honestly didn't think that I would enjoy this book at all when I read the blurb. But it didn't take long for me to be hooked when I started reading this book.
This book left me with so many emotions after I finished reading that I struggled putting what I felt into words. I knew that I loved reading this book and that it was a 5 star read for me. But I just didn't know how to put into words just what it was about this book that I loved so much.
There were a number of things that I loved about this book. One of those was the characters. I loved the friendship between Kiva and Thia. It was a really beautiful strong female friendship, filled with lots of inside jokes, and they were both so willing to fight for each other and try to help the other. Both of them are also brilliant characters on their own.
Thia's arc centred around her being able to work through her grief, battle her depression, and being able to feel more like herself again before Rhodaire was attacked by Illucia. She finds a purpose and a bit of happiness, helped by those important to her. I thought that Thia's depression was written very realistically. Like how she struggled getting out of bed, didn't have any motivation to do anything. It really resonated with my own experience with depression, and it felt very real.
I do wish that there could have been more between Thia and her sister working through their grief and helping each other pull through it. There was some but I would have liked more. I did like that the author showed that they were working through what happened differently and that they were grieving in different ways. As well as the fact that they didn't really understand how the other was feeling or coping because they were grieving and doing something completely different to the other. Thia was depressed and struggled to get out of bed and find any motivation whereas Caliza was focusing on how to make sure that their country survived and didn't allow herself time to show any emotions or how it had effected her. Possibly because she was trying to show people that she was just as strong a queen as their mother had been.
*SPOILER TIME*
Going into this, I did except that there would a romance between Thia and Ericen. As it's a pretty common trope, where a romance stems from a forced engagement and marriage but this didn't happen. Thia doesn't develop any romantic feelings for Ericen but rather begins to see him as a friend and potential ally against his mother, Queen Razel. I'm glad that they didn't have a romance between them. Because Ericen is her enemy at the start, then she doesn't know if she can trust him and she also begins to see him as being a friend.
Ericen is a very conflicted character as wants to be respected and a seen as a strong Illucian warrior. Being strong, a good fighter, ruthless, willing to do anything for power etc. He doesn't agree with what his mother believes or what she's doing, but he doesn't know any other way other than to suffer through it and plan to become a better ruler than her in the future. I thought it was really interesting to see this conflict in his character and to see how it grew throughout the book. I'm hoping that in the next book there's more because I'm really interested to see if he'll pick a side and fully commit to his decision or if he'll waver.
I think that he is going to be a character that ends up possibly first becoming a villain and then having a redemption arc. Possibly trying to get his mother's approval and show her that he can be respected as an Illucian and will be the king similar to her. Then coming to realise that that's not right for him and what he believes in. An example of a similar character would be Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. I saw quite a lot of parallels and similarities between the two characters.
There is a romantic subplot between Thia and Caylus. That I loved. As soon as Caylus was introduced I knew that there was going to be something between him and Thia. I feared a love triangle happening but thankfully it didn't. Instead there was unrequited feelings rather than a hint of a love triangle which I felt was more realistic.
Caylus I thought was great. He's so sweet and kind, exactly what Thia needs I think after what see has seen and experience. I loved that they started off as being friends and that neither of them pushed the other to being in a romantic relationship. It felt like it was a very natural progression of going from friends to lovers. I trope that I honestly love.
I thought that Caylus came across as a kind, caring, man that was a bit obvious at times but paid attention to what matter to him and those he cared about. Like at one point Thia mentions that he's learnt what time of tea she likes and always has it ready for when she's there. Which I thought was just adorable.
*END OF SPOILERS*
I think that the only thing I didn't like about this book was that I struggled a little bit when I first started reading it. Probably just because there were some things that just needed a bit more explanation; e.g. the magic system and the reliance that the people of Rhodaire had on the crows in the Prologue. But it was thankfully quickly explained in the following chapter(s).
I think this book will be one of my favourites of 2019. I loved every second of this book. Once I had begun reading this book I couldn't bring it down. I thought it was an absolutely brilliant story that I wished I had read sooner (it's just been sitting on my bookcase for months). I can not wait for the sequel to come out. Especially as this book ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. So much happened in this book and so much is still left be done in the next that I am looking forward to reading.
I received this Advanced Readers Copy in the Fairyloot Decemeber 2018 book box. The Storm Crow is now published (as of 09/07/2019).
Winter solstice is always the night that the crows' of Rhodaire hatch. This year Thia will finally have her own crow. Or at least that was how it should have gone. Instead everything goes wrong.
Thia and her sister Caliza, now Queen, are left to pick up the pieces left behind after that disatorious night. Their country's way of life revolves around the crows without them it might not survive.
In an attempt to save their country from invasion and ruin, Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Ericen. When Thia stumbles upon a hidden crow egg in the burnt out rookery, she is spurred into action. The sisters begin to devise a plan to hatch the egg in secret to win back what has been taken from them and so that they might stand a chance in the war to come.
_______________________________________
The Storm Crow is an utterly brilliant, imaginative, fantasy that I enjoyed reading from start to finish. I think that this might be one of the best books that has been published (so far) this year. I truly fell in love with this book as I was reading it. I honestly didn't think that I would enjoy this book at all when I read the blurb. But it didn't take long for me to be hooked when I started reading this book.
This book left me with so many emotions after I finished reading that I struggled putting what I felt into words. I knew that I loved reading this book and that it was a 5 star read for me. But I just didn't know how to put into words just what it was about this book that I loved so much.
There were a number of things that I loved about this book. One of those was the characters. I loved the friendship between Kiva and Thia. It was a really beautiful strong female friendship, filled with lots of inside jokes, and they were both so willing to fight for each other and try to help the other. Both of them are also brilliant characters on their own.
Thia's arc centred around her being able to work through her grief, battle her depression, and being able to feel more like herself again before Rhodaire was attacked by Illucia. She finds a purpose and a bit of happiness, helped by those important to her. I thought that Thia's depression was written very realistically. Like how she struggled getting out of bed, didn't have any motivation to do anything. It really resonated with my own experience with depression, and it felt very real.
I do wish that there could have been more between Thia and her sister working through their grief and helping each other pull through it. There was some but I would have liked more. I did like that the author showed that they were working through what happened differently and that they were grieving in different ways. As well as the fact that they didn't really understand how the other was feeling or coping because they were grieving and doing something completely different to the other. Thia was depressed and struggled to get out of bed and find any motivation whereas Caliza was focusing on how to make sure that their country survived and didn't allow herself time to show any emotions or how it had effected her. Possibly because she was trying to show people that she was just as strong a queen as their mother had been.
*SPOILER TIME*
Going into this, I did except that there would a romance between Thia and Ericen. As it's a pretty common trope, where a romance stems from a forced engagement and marriage but this didn't happen. Thia doesn't develop any romantic feelings for Ericen but rather begins to see him as a friend and potential ally against his mother, Queen Razel. I'm glad that they didn't have a romance between them. Because Ericen is her enemy at the start, then she doesn't know if she can trust him and she also begins to see him as being a friend.
Ericen is a very conflicted character as wants to be respected and a seen as a strong Illucian warrior. Being strong, a good fighter, ruthless, willing to do anything for power etc. He doesn't agree with what his mother believes or what she's doing, but he doesn't know any other way other than to suffer through it and plan to become a better ruler than her in the future. I thought it was really interesting to see this conflict in his character and to see how it grew throughout the book. I'm hoping that in the next book there's more because I'm really interested to see if he'll pick a side and fully commit to his decision or if he'll waver.
I think that he is going to be a character that ends up possibly first becoming a villain and then having a redemption arc. Possibly trying to get his mother's approval and show her that he can be respected as an Illucian and will be the king similar to her. Then coming to realise that that's not right for him and what he believes in. An example of a similar character would be Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. I saw quite a lot of parallels and similarities between the two characters.
There is a romantic subplot between Thia and Caylus. That I loved. As soon as Caylus was introduced I knew that there was going to be something between him and Thia. I feared a love triangle happening but thankfully it didn't. Instead there was unrequited feelings rather than a hint of a love triangle which I felt was more realistic.
Caylus I thought was great. He's so sweet and kind, exactly what Thia needs I think after what see has seen and experience. I loved that they started off as being friends and that neither of them pushed the other to being in a romantic relationship. It felt like it was a very natural progression of going from friends to lovers. I trope that I honestly love.
I thought that Caylus came across as a kind, caring, man that was a bit obvious at times but paid attention to what matter to him and those he cared about. Like at one point Thia mentions that he's learnt what time of tea she likes and always has it ready for when she's there. Which I thought was just adorable.
*END OF SPOILERS*
I think that the only thing I didn't like about this book was that I struggled a little bit when I first started reading it. Probably just because there were some things that just needed a bit more explanation; e.g. the magic system and the reliance that the people of Rhodaire had on the crows in the Prologue. But it was thankfully quickly explained in the following chapter(s).
I think this book will be one of my favourites of 2019. I loved every second of this book. Once I had begun reading this book I couldn't bring it down. I thought it was an absolutely brilliant story that I wished I had read sooner (it's just been sitting on my bookcase for months). I can not wait for the sequel to come out. Especially as this book ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. So much happened in this book and so much is still left be done in the next that I am looking forward to reading.