Review | Furyborn by Claire Legrand

At first glance, Furyborn had everything I wanted in a book: gorgeous cover (yes, I’m shallow), complicated plot, intricate fictional landscape, two female leads, and long enough (a whopping 512 pages) to really delve into events.

The book follows Rielle and Eliana: two women separated by 1000 years (give or take) who share an oddly similar destiny. The story takes place against a backdrop of a quasi-medieval, quasi-dystopian network of kingdoms, and the threat of an angelic invasion.

Expectations were high.

I ended feeling rather meh …

… which I attribute to three causes:

1. World building. Good world building – like the the Old Kingdom in Sabriel and the magic-realism of Discovery of Witches – takes a lot of patience and skill. Equally important: it needs to be communicated efficiently and effectively to the reader. Legrand – I think? – has created a rather interesting world, but she lacks in her execution and communication. I never developed a sense for where we were, the governing rules, and the cultural landscape. Modern? Medieval à la Game of Thrones? Futuristic? Your guess is as good as mine.

2. Characters. Despite being marketed as a kick-ass-female series (see here), I found  myself much more attracted to the male characters. Evil baddie aside, Legrand has done quite a good job developing a cast of unique, multi-faceted leads: flawed yet likeable, with interesting backstories and motivations.

I had less interest in the two mains, particularly Rielle. She was detestable long before the plot intended her to be. She’s a fundamentally flawed character, — someone with an insatiable hunger for admiration, attention, and power — and her “redeeming” and “positive” characteristics are utterly Mary Sue-esque. I couldn’t find any sympathy or empathy for her, even after learning about her personal history.

Eliana was easier to forgive. While she played into the female-kick-ass trope, her actions were more understandable in the context of her plot. She exhibits some significant character growth by the end, and – to my surprise – I found myself liking her at about the 2/3 mark.

3. Plot and Pacing. The book alternates perspectives every chapter – with one chapter from the perspective of Rielle, followed by one chapter from the perspective of Eliana. The result is a rather jagged flow, where the tension builds only to be interrupted by a largely unrelated chapter. The book feels more like two plots artificially mashed together than a cohesive, complementary tale. The story would have been better told either (1) as two books – with Rielle’s story serving as a prequel to Eliana’s (published at a later date, to save some of the surprises), or (2) through shorter flashbacks, similar to the Queen of the Tearling trilogy.

For the record: Rielle’s chapters were B-O-R-I-N-G.

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The Details:

• The Book: Furyborn by Claire Legrand
• Published: 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire
• My Copy: via KRPL
• Read date: January 25 – February 2
• Rating: ★★★☆☆
• You should read this if you like … magical Hunger Game-esque trials
• Avoid this if you dislike … “strong” female characters