Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn (Empirium Trilogy, #1)

by Claire Legrand

The stunningly original, must-read fantasy of 2018 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.

Reviewed by Renee on

4 of 5 stars

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There were some weird moments in this book, but overall I really liked it. It combines so many fantasy elements without falling short. It has some cringy sex scenes, but I wouldn't say there is a lot of romance. It's mostly lust between two teenagers.

We follow two girls, more than 1000 years apart. At least, that is stated in the text but is never clear from the way the world changed. It could just as easily have been 100 years apart. Or fifty. My other complaint is that there are some trials in this book, that were just not interesting. I didn't feel afraid for the characters involved in the trial and I found the trials to be confusing. I couldn't picture them clearly in my head.

If you like Sarah J Maas her books (at least her Throne of Glass series), you will probably like this one as well. I have negative things to say about both, but I enjoy too much to give a negative review.

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  • Started reading
  • 17 January, 2020: Finished reading
  • 17 January, 2020: Reviewed