the storm crow by kalyn josephson

I honestly wish I could read the second book now but I have to wait until next year. Thank God it’s a duology because I’m really excited for The Crow Rider.

The Storm Crow is about a kingdom called Rhodaire who’s culture is mostly centered around magical crows. So the night of a holiday where they hatch new crow eggs, they’re attacked by another kingdom, losing their the crows and their queen. Months after the tragic event, the main character, Anthia has fallen into depression and has not left her room while her sister takes the new role as queen and try to recover as much as their kingdom as possible. When a marriage proposal between Anthia and Ericen, the prince of the kingdom who attacked Rhodaire, occurred, Anthia is sparked and inspired to find a way to save her kingdom and stop the marriage between her and Ericen but before she leaves her kingdom to go to his, she comes across a crow egg, the first one since the night of the attack.

That’s the biggest summery I made in a book review and I kind of had no way of shortening it anyway I really enjoyed this book and it was a good start to the duology.

I would describe this book as The Children of Blood and Bone but almost done right. What I meant by this is that they both share a broody dark misunderstood prince but in COBAB, the prince is super wishy-washy and annoying, whether in The Storm Crow, Ericen isn’t.

I also like the fact that even though it’s a hate-to-love trope in here, the prince doesn’t get the girl in the end. I like how it shows, just because you’re a butthole towards me in the beginning doesn’t exactly mean you can easily win me over as a lover or even as a friend. Not all mean love interest deserve the main character, even if he does show signs of redemption. I like how Anthia accepts the fact he’s a misunderstood prince but still doesn’t exactly fall for him because of his moral and values.

I think that’s something we see too much in YA is heroines who at first, hate the love interest, the guy who burned down her kingdom and killed her whole family leaving her an orphan, and then eventually gets the know him, thinking he’s just misunderstood and that his father/mother forced him to do that, and start easily falling for the love interest just because they see some humanity in them and then get shocked when the love interest betrays them because of “honor” and “duty”.

If authors are going to pull a Zuko, at least do it right. In this book, it was done well. Our prince actually picks a side and REMAINS on that side even though he knows he’s wrong and doesn’t become wishy-washy just because they want to get in the heroine pants.

*COUGH COUGH* THE CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE *COUGH COUGH*

I still want Anthia and Ericen together though because just like everyone else in the book community, I am TRASH for the “hate-to-love” trope and I just feel bad for him. I don’t mind love triangles, it’s just I feel bad for the second guy but I think that’s going to change in the second book, hopefully.

I really enjoyed the characters and the representation in this book. You get both male and male relationships, female and female, female friendship, and female empowerment. I also like the message it sent, or the message I got from the book, is that we can all be the villain in someone else’s story and someone can think they’re the hero in their story also and the book shows that not everyone is perfect.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and it told a great story and introduction. I will be reading the second book and I hate that I’ll have to wait next year!

I feel like I was all over the place with this review.

I rate this book four stars!

Thanks for reading! 💛

-Cayla

In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life…until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother’s death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

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