This is a double review! I reviewed Crown of Feathers but only posted it on Goodreads as it was before I made my blog, so I'm posting that on here, and then reviewing Heart of Flames also! I had a sister, once… In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart. I promised her the throne would not come between us. Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks. But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled. Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders’ return and intends to destroy them once and for all. Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken. Crown of Feathers is an epic fantasy about love’s incredible power to save—or to destroy. Interspersed throughout is the story of Avalkyra Ashfire, the last Rider queen, who would rather see her empire burn than fall into her sister’s hands. Crown of Feathers4/5 Stars** Spoiler Alert ** Crown of Feathers is a strong start to what is shaping up to be a delightful trilogy with a very interesting concept. I love novels where humans have special bonds with animals especially magical animals like dragons and the like so this was right down my street. It is told in multiple POV chapters which I usually don’t like as a personal preference of mine but I'm so glad that it was done this way because otherwise I never would have got a look into my favourite character's head in the way that I did. Of the POVs we see Sev was by far my favourite. I wasn’t really taken with Tristan, he was nice and all, just boring. The other one is the main character, Veronyka, who I liked even if there were moments when she frustrated me. Her relationship with her sister, Val, was particularly interesting and fraught with tension and I can't wait to see how things progress. As I said before, Sev was definitely my favourite. His budding relationships with Trix and Kade were fantastically written and out of all the characters I think his arc shows the most character growth. And the chemistry he has with Kade? Off the charts and so well written. It's so nice to see some LGBTQ representation in fantasy books where the character being gay isn't a big issue. I did feel like the POV chapters were a bit unbalanced. Veronyka is the main character so she is the most featured, but because there are multiple POVs it kind of feels like it's also trying to be an ensemble cast at the same time, which doesn't work with the amount of focus on Veronyka. (Lauren from the future is happy to tell you that having read Heart of Flames, this is fixed to an extent, I don't know if we actually saw more of Sev or if it just felt that way, but it felt more balanced overall). Heart of Flames4.5/5 Stars** Spoiler Alert ** Heart of Flames is an absolute brick of a book with cover art as beautiful as the art on Crown of Feathers. There are over 600 pages of action, tension and worldbuilding. I gave this a 4.5 because I enjoyed almost every aspect about the book apart from one, but we'll get to that later. First of all, I liked Tristan a lot more in this book than I did in the first. He's grown up and grown on me quite a bit which is very relieving because I was kind of dreading reading his POVs. I loved that Eliott was given POV chapters too, it helped to get more in his head and understand his motivations for his actions in the first book, and also to see as he started to make amends and bond with Sparrow (who, by the way, is literally one of the best child characters I've come across). I also really liked the part that Val played in the story, although the ending makes me very nervous. It was frustrating to see Veronyka and her go back and forth in what felt like the same dance multiple times but as a character I find her enchanting (I have a thing for bad bad lady characters, so sue me). It was so interesting to find out more about her background, how she and her sister interacted, and I loved seeing more of her old crew. The worldbuilding is, as always, great. And of course, the best part about this book was Sev and his continued (and working) efforts to worm his way into my heart as the best character in the entire series. His relationship with Kade started to blossom, his courage continued to grow, and just when I was ready to shout for joy he made a hard, but right, decision which left him and Kade seperated again. I absolutely love slow burn romances. I love them. When they're done right, as this one was with all the build up and will they won't they, it's the best thing. This leads me onto the thing I wasn't so keen on. It's not the biggest issue ever but I'm really not a fan of the relationship between Veronyka and Tristan. It just feels a bit?? I'm not sure. I didn't have any problems with it in the first book, even though I wasn't exactly a big Tristan fan, but something about it just doesn't sit right with me in this one. It might be because I hate the fact that he prioritises Veronyka over his existing group so easily. One of the characters in the books even points it out himself. I'm a really big fan of the found family trope so I feel like this book missed out on having their phoenix troop be their own little family. I would have liked to see Tristan respecting his fellow riders a bit more, especially as his position as their leader and especially considering that yes sure Veronyka is cool and all but some of these other people have been training a hell of a lot longer than her, and it must feel to them like she just waltzed in, lied to everyone and then kind of took over all of Tristan's attention. Overall though, I can't wait for the third book and for Sev and Kade's reunion. I want to find out what the discovery at the end means for everyone, I want to see Kade do that thing that he was going to do with that thing he was given (it's a big spoiler okay, even I can't give that away so easily haha), I want to know what happens with Sev and Tristan and I want... you know what? I want Sparrow to be a phoenix rider haha, that's my final want.
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Reviewer26. Capricorn. INFP. Hufflepuff. Archives
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