REVIEW: Furyborn by Claire Legrand! + Update
UPDATE: Hey guys, quick update before we get into this review, after taking a small break, I have decided to change my posting schedule to every two weeks. Over the past couple of months, I haven't been handling the weekly post schedule well which basically means I wasn't advertising my new blog posts in time and as such lagged behind in promoting them. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but lets get into the review.
We begin our story in Furyborn by introducing Queen Rielle who is giving birth to a girl. The baby girls looks like her father, Audric, who Rielle murdered. Knowing that Corien will be after her baby girl, she sends her away a long with a young boy named Simon. Simon uses his magic to travel and as he begins to travel throughout time, the baby is ripped from his hands and we don’t know what happened to her for now.
Two years earlier, Rielle announces the news that Princess Runa of Borsvall is dead to her friend, Tal. Audric thinks that it may be an assassination and so Rielle wants her opinions on it. Soon after, Lady Ludivine has fainted and Tal goes to look after her. Rielle rides away on Ludivine’s horse to prove to her father that she can control her abilities.
1,000 years in the future, we find our second main character, Eliana. Eliana has grown up in the slums of Orline. You see, Eliana has powers that help her heal. She hears somebody screaming and so decides that she would track them down and help them. She finds herself in the middle of an abduction and she fights the men abducting the young girl. When she arrives home, her brother Remy is furious because he knows she captured the people that were executed. She goes out and after an unsuccessful day of tracking the Wolf, comes home to find that her mother is gone and the intruder is still there, the Wolf is still there.
The wolf takes Eliana but he just wants to talk to her. He wants her help and wants to make a deal with her. He will help her find her mother, as it wasn’t him who took her, if she helps him steal something from the castle. Eliana agrees and they begin their work and the wolf says to call him Simon.
Back in the past, Rielle awakes in Ludivines room a couple of days later and found that the extent of her powers has grown. Ludivine tells her of a prophecy that foretells two queens who are able to control the elements and the people start to think that she may be one of them and they are terrified of her because of that. Rielle is brought before the king and tells everyone of her powers. She says that her anger when she was younger was what killed her mother and that her powers are getting stronger. The King says that they will test her powers and decide whether she is one of the prophecised queens, the bad or the good one is yet to be decided. Ludivine tells her that she will be facing 7 trials to see if she can control each of her powers and it will test her loyalty to the crown. Rielle agrees and appears before the king again to agree to his tests. He has faith in her and that she will come out to be the good queen known as the Sun Queen but he just has to be sure so that he can protect his subjects.
Eliana and Simon head to a ball at the palace and find who they are looking for, Navi. Rahazavel attacks Eliana but once he sees her healing power, asks who and what she is. Simon comes in at the right time and fights Rahzavel pushing him over the balcony. Navi arrives and they all flee the castle. They run through the city as the guard is chasing them and finally catch up to Remy and Harkan. Harkan says that he will stay behind and fight the soldiers, with a lot of resistance from Eliana he goes and does just that. She turns and runs away. Simon, who is in league with the red crown rebels, help them escape the city. He tells her that they are taking Navi, the Princess of Asravar, the last free kingdom home.
Rielle is just about to face the first trial when she is drugged in order to keep the location secret. She awakes on top of a mountain, earth shaker elementals are surrounding her as they start an avalanche, her trial is to stop it. Her mind tells the avalanche to stop and it does. She passes the first trial. A voice in her head says he’ll be there when she wakes. Rielle asks the voice what its name is, he replies with Corien. She feels something for him but cannot put her finger on what and then she awakes. Rielle is brought before the king to acknowledge her passing of the first trial. Audric suggests that everyone watches the trials to see what she is like in action. The King agrees but only on certain conditions.
Whilst out trying to help Simon, Eliana finds herself captured. After a daring rescue mission co-ordinated by Simon, Eliana finds her self awaking to Navi’s voice. Eliana asks her what it was like being captured and they have a long talk about their experiences. Whilst hiding in the city of Rinthos, Remy comes to a realisation that Morbae and all the others aren’t human, they are angels.
Rielle completes a few other trials but still finds herself talking with Corien. She is becoming more curious about him with every interaction that they have. Rielle keeps asking him how she can hear and almost feel him. She suspects that he might be an angel and he confirms that suspicion. She wants him out of her head, now. He agrees and leaves her. Rielle goes to the garden for a bit of peace and quiet and finds Audric there. They end up kissing in each others arms but finds out that Ludivine’s father has been watching them. Ludivine eventually asks Rielle to go for a walk and Ludivine reveals that she doesn’t love Audric other than as family, as they are cousins.
Eliana, Navi and Remy continue the conversation about Angels and discuss what Eliana’s powers could make her. Simon and Eliana play a dance around each other but know that there is an attraction there. This is similar between Rielle and Audric as they also play their own dance. Eliana is eventually snatched by the Fidelia. She hears women screaming and that’s when a wraith named Zahra appears. The wraith tells Eliana that she knows Simon and that she used to be an angel but is not one anymore. She reveals to Eliana that Celdaria is her true home and tries to keep her hidden. Zahra shows Eliana of her own history about what happened with her true mother, Rielle and how Simon ran away with her to keep her safe. She sees her mother resurrecting angels and Corien hoped to continue the legacy with Eliana.
Between the tasks, Corien takes the King and her father captive and Ludivine is killed. Rielle demands that her father and the King to be released, Corien agrees but only on the condition that she leaves with him. He tries to manipulate her by using Audric as a pawn, saying that she will hurt him and that everybody will despise her power. She throws her power at him begging him to stop and Corien vanishes. That power that she threw ends up hitting the King and her Father. She doesn’t know what to do until Audric arrives and holds her in his arm. Rielle is crowned the Sun Queen but something arrives in the hall just as it is about to happen. It’s Ludivine, she is alive. Taking Rielle and Audric to the side, she tells them that she is an angel who took over Ludivine’s body when she was dying at age 16. She escaped the angel boundary not long after Corien but wants to help them and protect the humans. The three of them agree that they must work together to stop Corien and the gate from falling.
Overall this book was amazing, apart from the fact of the dual point of views. I usually don’t mind dual POVs but this one felt a bit jarring the entire way through but I loved it nonetheless. Legrand’s writing is something that I’m truly in love with and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
4 out of 5 stars.