Claire Legrand (1) (1986–)

Full review: https://wanderinglectiophile.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/review-furyborn-by-clair-l...

This review is going to come off wholly contradictory. I'm well aware. Let me state now: I DID enjoy this book. Let me also state: Some of the things I'm about to mention are going to suggest that I didn't enjoy this book. ...Just roll with it.

First of all, let me help future readers out for a minute; there’s a section at the end of the book dedicated to giving you a little 4-1-1 on the world our characters live in in Furyborn. Check this out first and save yourself some confusion upfront.

Having said that, yes, the beginning is a bit confusing. The prologue was a trip to be sure. Legrand picks your mind up and drops you into her world with little regard to the fall. Fortunately, it’s a short fall into said world; you get caught up to speed at about 30 pages in, give or take…if you chose to disregard my pro tip at the beginning of this review that is….(I took the time to include that gem; don’t waste it!) UNLIKE some other fantasy books I’ve been dumped into…*cough cough*Carve the Mark *cough cough* where I spent more time puzzled over what I just read than actually reading, I was quickly able to grasp the majority of the concepts and magic system and buckle down for the story ahead. Just shy of 80 pages in, I was hooked and unable to focus on anything else.

Alright a few warnings for the unaware readers out there; sex, murder, violence, animal cruelty, immorality, promiscuity, and fbombs abound…

This book has a GOOD premise. I really liked how it was structured in combination with the gap of time between the two women and their stories. With each chapter alternating between the view points of Rielle in her time and Eliana a 1000 years later, it made me anxious to find out how they tied in together. I really liked this. It made me want to read more and more until I understood how they were connected. I also liked how long it took for that connection to be revealed.

The plot was… initially, just okay, but improved a bit over the course of the book. I enjoyed the plot of Rielle’s part of the story, it flowed well and for the most part didn’t make me cringe…the plot, not her character…I’ll get to that in a minute. Eliana’s though….action, fighting, escape, recoup, and repeat for way too many times before we get to the crux of the story – the final battle, if you will. I do enjoy a plight of action and survival, but this one was overwrought. I feel like Legrand really could have cut out at least a few of these set-ups and scenes and still accomplished the same thing. I like the direction the plot is going…now that we’re going there a bit more decisively…there are a few caveats that I’m leaving out at the moment, though. There were some obvious directions the plot was going to go and will probably go but anymore I’ve come to find that some cliches are just part of the gig.

I liked both Rielle and Eliana. They’ve got their flaws, for sure, but I did enjoy reading about them. Eliana more so than Rielle. Rielle…well she needs a little less focus on how powerful she is and more focus on being in control of not only her powers, but her non-powered-human-self too. That chick is all over the place. The more I read from her point of view the more I found myself disturbed by her character…
Eliana. My biggest complaint about her character is that she seems indecisive about who she is. Is she reeeaaally the cold-hearted, cruel “Dread of Orline” or is she fooling herself and everyone else around her?? Either be the badarse bounty hunter you’re made out to be or be the ashamed, angsty girl you crumble into when alone for more than five minutes. I’d be alright with her having moments of weakness, but falling apart every chance she gets is a bit hard to reconcile with the “Dread” persona.
I also enjoyed Simon’s character, he was probably my favorite for most of the book. He kinda got on my nerves in the last action scene and subsequent ending to the book though…some how the strong, mysterious character he’d been throughout the book began unraveling as Eliana came to know more about…well everything. By the end of the book it seemed like we were left with this almost creepily devoted man with a penchant for codependency. The peripheral characters were okay but they definitely could have used some more depth. I’d spend more time introducing them than talking about them so I’m not going to waste my time or yours.
The inter-character relationships could use some improvement. I liked Eliana and Simon’s relationship but I had a hard time connecting with Harkan, Rozen, and even Remy who are all “important” in Eliana’s life. On the other side of our time gap…I was wholly unimpressed by the character relationships with Rielle….Yeah, I’m sitting here trying to pick through my brain to come up with something about them, but the main parts about Rielle’s chapters that I remember are about power and the Sun Queen Trials. How sad.

The writing was good in that I didn’t feel like I was reading, which is always a good sign for me and almost always indicative of a speedy read. However, there were some gag-inducing-what-the-eff-provoking, abominable lines that I though had no business existing but maybe I don't know what I'm talking about either....

…see, I sound like I hated the book. But I didn’t.

In short, I liked it but I didn’t love it. The premise and the writing are the saving graces of this book and ultimately what held my interest the most. It was a quick read despite the towering number of pages – probably due to the writing. It’s got some things I didn’t like and some things I hope improve with the next book in the series. …Which I’m fairly certain I’ll be picking up.
… (mais)

You'll LOVE it if...you crave horror that passes the Bechdel test.

The relationships between Marion, Zoey, and Val are all breathtaking in their complexity, nuance, and relatability. As the girls grapple with the horrifying occurrences on Sawkill Rock and the emerging powers those tragedies evoke, alliances are constantly shifting in ways that feel natural, rather than contrived. Each girl serves a purpose in the slow-forming trio, yet none of them ever come across as stereotypical or predictable. Readers will find something to love (and occasionally pity) in each of these characters; rather than feeling like "chosen ones" set apart from the crowd, Marion, Zoey, and Val develop as normal young women caught in extraordinary circumstances, driven to stand tall when no one else can or will.

Romance and sisterhood both blossom in the group, emphasizing the importance of female friendships at any age, while also providing strong, positive queer and asexual representation. Some moments of girl power and social awareness are a touch on the nose, but this is still a huge step in the right direction for girls in search of heroines who look, act, and feel like they do.
The nameless creature that preys upon the girls of Sawkill Rock delivers on terror in spades. Its predatory zeal would frighten even if it was one of a kind; as the three girls slowly band together and pool their knowledge of the Rock's tragic history though, the mythology behind the creature reveals even greater horrors. This made me think of Stranger Things and it was a great mix of page turner and intrigue because you want to figure out what the girls will do and if the town will survive. I got the suggestion to read this book from a you-tuber I trust and I find myself hoping that the next book by this author is just as great. I am not a young adult book kind of reader but this one I really enjoyed.
… (mais)

Wow! Finally, a recent book I've read that's actually worth the hype. This reminded me of Stranger things, which I love. I can totally see this being adapted as a show or movie. This is dark, but I wouldn't say scary, at least not to me, but then we all have different levels when it comes to scary things. It's told through the perspective of three girls: Marion, Val, and Zoey.

Marion suffered a recent loss in her family, so Marion, her mother, and sister move to Sawkill Island for a fresh start. Unfortunately, for Marion, this isn't the start she had in mind as she quickly becomes involved in the mystery of this island and its disappearing girls.

Val is the queen bee of the island. Known and loved by just about everyone (except Zoey), but Val has some deep, dark secrets of her own.

Zoey has been obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her friend, Thora. She doesn't know how, but she's convinced that Val and her family have something to do with Thora's disappearance, and with the disappearance of all the girls that have gone missing in Sawkill over the decades.

The way that Zoey, Val, and Marion's stories come together and intersect is really interesting. I liked each of the girls, but probably my favorite to see was Val. I just loved her character arc, I loved seeing her change and some of the internal battles she had.

This story does include paranormal/supernatural elements, so if that's not your thing, you probably won't enjoy this much. I had a lot of fun with it.

There are some downsides which is why I gave it a 4 stars instead of 5. One is, while I'm all for women empowerment, I don't like to see men being brought down or bashed on just for being men. Yes, there are a lot of terrible men out there, but there are a lot of great men out there as well; just like not every women is so innocent, there are terrible women out there that do horrible stuff as well. You can't demonize or angelize(?, you get what I'm saying) one gender over another.

The second thing, which is related to the first, is that the men in here don't seem like actual characters. It seems like they're just there to move the plot along, and when a story includes tearing down the opposite sex, it's not surprising that they would be used as just plot devices, but I wish there were more to them. Those were my downsides, but overall I still enjoyed this story.… (mais)