Rielle’s story is clearly set in a chivalric fantasy court setting, concerns the power plays between noble houses, and is dominated by her powers being tested in a series of elemental magic challenges – this was always going to be the storyline I preferred to read about, and I think just even how much of this review I plan to devote to Rielle’s storyline shows this. “We live in a world where good kings die and those foolish enough to hope for something better are killed where they stand.”Īs is often the case in dual POV stories, I think I preferred one to the other. It is unflinching in its exploration of darker themes and topics and although Furyborn has the feel of a YA fantasy and will definitely appeal to readers of YA, I think it errs on the more mature end of that spectrum, purely for some of the more difficult and visceral topics which are confronted during the course of the book. The societies which these women inhabit are very different and it is through the alternating of POVs between the two women in a dual narrative style that allows readers to begin to piece together what must have happened in one society to lead to the other. The legend of the Sun and Blood Queens has long been prophesied in this world and Furyborn is the setup of a trilogy which will undoubtedly explore what it means to be idolised in such a position of power and the effects this has on the choices you make as an individual.

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.” ( Synopsis from the trilogy’s website)įuryborn is an epic and ambitious opening to a fantasy trilogy which spans the lives of two young women separated by a millennium but undoubtedly bound by their fates. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire’s heart is more terrible than she ever imagined. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable―until her mother vanishes. One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials.

“ When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood.

Furyborn goodreads