Furyborn

Furyborn by Claire Legrand     512 pages (read an ARC of this book)

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.

This book is a wild, high-fantasy ride. There is war, there is "elemental" magic, there is love-triangle madness, and there is lots and lots of female-badassery. This book felt like a hot-mess to me in a lot of ways, starting with the world building. I could never quite get a handle on the general lay of the land these characters moved about in, nor get a feel for what everyday life is like for the average citizen living either in the "past" portions of the story or the "future" portions. I couldn't really tell if Celdaria was a kingdom by itself or was one of many kingdoms, I couldn't tell what other areas were allies with Celdaria. It was just a lot going on and not a lot well defined. Also, the magic. It never seemed well described to me. Elementals can wield a certain element, but from the descriptions I couldn't tell what "wielding" it actually looked like, and why everyone need a casting in order to do this and how that effects their magic. I also couldn't tell if some people were better at using their element then others, or even how many people are born elemental (like, is it a large portion of the population? Is it genetic? Is one elemental likely to birth a child who is able to use the same element? Do people without elemental ability begrudge those who do have the ability? Does the existence of elementals make ruling the kingdom difficult if you're not an elemental ruler? How are elementals policed so they don't use their elements for bad? I could go on, but that would take too long for this review). All in all, I'm left with lots of questions and no answers. It was a bit distracting while I read this book. I'll be curious to see how the rest of the series goes, since so much of Rielle's story is already given knowledge in Eliana's world. I am definitely curious enough to keep reading the series as it progresses, but I certainly hope the following books will shed more light on the things I want to know. Overall, I would say I enjoy the story this series is trying to tell and I would recommend it to people I know who love high-fantasy (with romance).