The Crow Rider (Storm Crow, #2)

by Kalyn Josephson

The thrilling conclusion to the epic Storm Crow duology that follows a fallen princess as she tries to bring back the magical elemental crows taken from her people, perfect for readers who want fantasy books for teens.

Thia, her allies, and her crow, Res, are planning a rebellion to defeat Queen Razel and Illucia once and for all. Thia must convince the neighboring kingdoms to come to her aid, and Res's show of strength is the only thing that can help her.

But so many obstacles stand in her way. Res excels at his training, until he loses control of his magic, harming Thia in the process. She is also pursued by Prince Ericen, heir to the Illucian throne and the one person she can't trust but can't seem to stay away from.

As the rebel group prepares for war, Res's magic grows more unstable. Thia has to decide if she can rely on herself and their bond enough to lead the rebellion and become the crow rider she was meant to be.

• ISBN10: 1492672963
• ISBN13: 9781492672968
• Publish Date: 7 August 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog coming soon!

So, what am I to do with this one?
Part 1 was pretty cool, and I was excited to read the second part. I had some aspects that I wanted more info on and hoped for The Crow Rider to answer all the questions I had.
Well, the second installment didn't quite deliver. There were some cool moments but overall I didn't love the novel.
Unfortunately, most of my questions went unanswered. In terms of worldbuilding, I am intrigued but I still don't know much about the whole crow concept. There are moments where we explore the different powers a bit more but overall and I am still a bit confused. Sure, there is a glossary at the end of the book with some explanations, but I wish that was included in the story instead.
What we get instead is an abundance of battle scenes. While those were well written, I grew weary of them after a while. There were too many war scenes and it's simply tiresome to read one after the other. This is one of those things that usually simply work better on screen than on paper.
I also was rather annoyed with the love story. I wish we could do just one novel without that. It seemed completely unnecessary and didn't really add anything to the story.

[bookishzelda]

The Crow Rider is the exciting sequel to The Storm Crow. As we join Thia in her fight to save her kingdom.

It has been a while since I’ve read The Storm Crow and even though The Crow Rider picks up where it left off, there isn’t any info dumping from the first book. Even so my memory is jogged pretty easily while reading. Kalyn Josephson does a good job of putting in little reminders that don’t make it feel like you are reading a summary of the first book. I definitely prefer that since a series like this can easily be binged.

I remember having so many frustrations with Thia in TSC and thinking she wasn’t giving Ericen enough credit. It’s funny how TCR starts with those same feelings for me. Where I wasn’t sure if I was ever endeared to Thia previously. I did start to really like her in this sequel. We see her learning and developing as a human. As she understands that not everyone is perfect. She’s mad her own mistakes and ignorance is not always a defense.

I still love Ericen. I don’t think there was enough of him in this story. I would have loved to see Kiva and him get into it more. I love the way they can play off one another. In a non-romantic way. In the we both care about Thia and are just dealing with the other way.

The thing I really liked about this second half of the story is Res. I think he really endeared me to the idea of these crow riders. He’s like some combination of cat, dog and with some human like tendencies that made him sweet.

As far as the plot is concerned. I did enjoy it. There is one aspect that felt a little rushed and I think that’s because it was a sequel instead of trilogy. It was something that could have had a deeper delve but also I was fine with it not. I understood what the element was and their impact. I did really like how so much of the ar is driven by revenge and not because I like revenge. I just think people can get lost in emotions sometimes. Fueled by different things and the fact that Raziel had not just a purpose of gaining power for no reason. She had something that made her the way she is.

There is plenty of action in the story. Being that they are brushing with war. So if you enjoy the battle scene there are few for you here.

I did really enjoy it and I felt like it does wrap up the story. It’s also nice to have it be a two book series that is a fun fantasy to read if you're not looking for something that’s intense and takes a lot of books to complete.

[kalventure]

1. The Storm Crow ★★★★★

The Storm Crow is hands-down one of my favorite reads of 2019, and this book is one of my most anticipated sequels for 2020!



12/20/19: I GOT AN ARC! I GOT AN ARC!
10/10/19: HOLY COVER REVEAL, BATMAN!