The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson
The Storm Crow follows Thia, a Princess from Rhodaire, as she deals with the aftermath of her country being overtaken by a neighboring kingdom hell-bent on domination. She is thrown into statesmanship she is unprepared for while also trying to save her countries source of magic in the form of giant crows.
I am so ready for the next (and final) book in this series. I am in grave need for more crow based badassery.
There were a lot of wonderful things about this novel, and it breaks the mold of many YA fantasies with how it handles the Prince from a corrupt Kingdom meets our heroine.
I really loved our main character, Thia, she was such a wonderful guide through this fantastic (in both senses of the word) world. She has a massive trauma at the beginning of the book and is left physically and emotionally scarred by it. Thia's depression is handled deftly and without a magical "wow the fog of awfulness has lifted, turns out all I needed was love" type resolution. I love her journey of recognizing her own strength. Clearly, I was enamored.
I loved her sister, Caliza, I want more Caliza. Also, I want to meet her man. Seems like they might be cute together.
Ericen, the aforementioned Prince, was interesting. I intellectually appreciated the choice to not have him be the love interest, but also I liked him much more than the love interest? I am a sucker for a 'good rising out of darkness' type. Though I will admit I am not sure that is exactly what is here. Maybe it's just that he tried to impress a girl with baked goods.
Kiva! I cannot believe Kiva has come to my mind so far down the list. Kiva is Thia's best friend and bodyguard, and heir relationship is so wonderfully entwined into the story. A lot of times books will mention a best friend but she will sort of fade away as romance or plot happen to the main character. But Josephson does not commit that sin, she very much has Kiva be integral to the plot and the emotional journey. Also, I was way more interested in her romantic journey. Auma is a badass mysterious lady and I deeply hope she makes an appearance in book two.
Caylus, the love interest, is very David from the Grishaverse. I like David, I am totally fine with Caylus. He does have a totally different backstory to David, so maybe that comparison is a bit reductionist. I like him fine. And I like that he is a part of Josephson writing a story where the main character does not all in love with the first new boy who walks on the page.
I liked the diversity of this book. People’s sexualities are not treated as a spectacle, they are an accepted part of people’s lives, and non-straight characters are talked about normally. I understand the importance of stories where LGBTQ characters are overcoming society’s dismissal or torment, but it is also lovely to have a story where it is just normal. Also, not everyone is white! In fact, most of the main cast are not white! Congratulations on making a multicultural fantasy where everyone isn't white, please remind other authors they have this option.
The world-building was amazing. I want to go to visit Rodaire. I want to see a crow. If someone wants to movie/tv show this book (and the do it wonderfully) I am so ready to see this world. I really felt like the world around Thia breathed.
I didn't love some of the foreshadowing stuff. I thought the solution to hatching the egg was immediately obvious, and even more so when they did the test with iron. It is always annoying when you guess the solution so far ahead of when you should (in my opinion you should know TOPS ten pages before the main character unless there are extenuating circumstances). I also thought the big reveal at the end was not that big a reveal. It was awesome, but not surprising. I am very interested in what will happen with it in the next book. But I was pretty sure it was coming.
Again, I am tremendously interested in book two! I am glad duologies are around again and I am ready to be blown away by book two.
Also, just look at how sexy that cover is! So sexy.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads!
Let me know what you thought of this book!
