[A quick note: This is the sequel to The Merciful Crow, which was a fantastic read. You can read my review to the first book HERE. A friend recommended this duology, and I always trust his recs. Also, this author recently released a new book, Little Thieves, which has a sequel coming out this year. Needless to say, Iโll be racing to read that one very soon!]
โ๐๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฒ.โ โMargaret Owen
When Queen Rhusana steals the crown, Fie is the only thing that stands between her, and the ruin of her people. Fie must infiltrate the palace and fight for the lives of everyone she loves. Crows look after their own, even of all her crows have gone into hiding. Sheโs not alone, even in light of a heart wrenching betrayal. Her allies are with her, and together they will fight for a better world.
OH MY IASELIJSALFDKHAGHILSADFKLJHASDF!!!!! Hold on to your teeth, people! New favorite duology??? Uhm. Yes!! Becauseโฆwow. This one is intense. The title had me. I was nervous going in, afraid I wouldnโt enjoy it as much as the first. Instead? I enjoyed it even more! The world building in this duology is fantastic. Fieโs character?! I love her so much. The magic? Too cool! The plot? OMG the plot. Everything about this book was perfection. Especially the way it uses fantasy to shed light on what systemic oppression looks like.
Let me just say, this book had me in a VICE. My emotions were literally all over the place. I moved from devastation, to elation, to anger, to hatred, to every freaking emotion under the sun. Every time I picked it up, I could not put it down, practically hyperventilating. There was definitely a lot more suspense than in the first.
While the first book is more of an adventure, a race across the kingdom to protect the phoenix prince and his hawk bodyguard, this one mostly takes place within the palace. The level of court intrigue is amped up, and the stakes are higher than ever. It almost felt like a heist book. Fie bands together with a couple of people to overthrow the queen. She does it right under the queenโs nose, in her very own palace.
Queen Rhusana made the PERFECT villain. Sheโs powerful, awful, terrible, cunning, and manipulative, did I mention, evil??? But sheโs amassed a popular following. That makes it difficult to overthrow her.
Okay, I have to talk about Fie and Tavinโs relationship. Holy FUUUUUU-rick. I was not expecting ANY of what happened between them. I felt like I had whiplash. I honestly had NO IDEA what direction the plot would go. There was about 0% predictability. Okay, maybe like 10% predictability since YA. But, hey, I had no idea it would turn out. Sometimes I adored Tavin, other times? I wanted to FREAKING KILL HIM AND RIP OUT HIS EYEBALLS FOR THE CROWS. But in the end?? ๐ฅน (spoiler free emoji??)
I could gush about this duology forever. My favorite aspects are the plot, the magic system, and the characters. I loved that in this one, the plot was unpredictable, and that Fie gets to know the prince better. I loved seeing their friendship deepen.
Oh, and the cats? There were more cats! I already LOVE Barf. Like, love, love. But there were more cats in this one! And they wore vests. ๐ฅน OMG. I die. Kitties in vests!
Anyway, I donโt want to give away spoilers for the first book, so Iโll just say: READ THIS DUOLOGY. Itโs fantastic. I think itโs my favorite. Iโm going to miss it and it is definitely one Iโll read again.
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐/๐โญ๏ธ
Comments