Crown of Feathers

18 years ago two half sisters went to war over their father’s throne, shadow sisters, born at nearly the same time to two different mothers. One sister, magicless, held the armies and the politicians. The other sister, bonded to a powerful, brilliant Phoenix held hearts, magic, and the might of the great Phoenix Riders.

Both sister died in one night, leaving behind death, destruction, and enemies determined to hunt down the last of the Phoenix riders, and anybody with the magic making them capable of becoming one.

Now, two sisters, orphaned by the wars, survive on the fringes of society, desperately seeking Phoenix eggs, and the possibilities they hold.
But what if one sister manages to bond with a newly hatched Phoenix and the other doesn’t?

What if the last remnants of the Phoenix riders are hidden away in hidden mountains, refusing to allow women to join their numbers?

What is these sisters are not the only war orphans holding the power of animagus which enables them to bond with the nearly extinct magical birds?

What if fate is a mirror, waiting to bring the war between sisters back again?
After all, a Phoenix is the symbol of rebirth, isn’t it.....

For a debut novel, Pau Preto has created a brilliantly layered, world, rich in history. Her characters are well written. While I may have had a moment over the Mulan-ing of a particular character who has to pretend to be a boy in order to join the riders, it never felt forced. Plus the relationships that s/he created were well written and dealt with the “grand reveal” in ways that felt organic and natural.
Pau Preto also created an LGBT relationship that I am almost more invested in than the main one. Please, please, please bring back my boys!

Plus the few great twists which I will NOT in any way spoiler, just made the narrative stronger. Wowee! Nicki, you are now on my auto buy list. 9/10

I do like a good fantasy read and although it is a while since I was a YA I've often enjoyed this sort of book. The book initially introduces us to two sisters, Veronyka and Val, who are animages. Animages are capable of communicating with animals magically. A major war some 16 years earlier has left them orphaned. The war was also responsible for wiping out the Phoenix Riders. These legendary heroes, animages all, rode phoenixes in battle. They were defeated by the Council. The sisters wish to become phoenix riders. All they need to do is hatch two phoenix eggs.

This is a fantasy read so obviously there are journeys to be made, people to meet and challenges to overcome. Val is a controlling person which causes rather more than tension. The Council are still at war with Phoenix Riders and seek to destroy any their troops find. Animages are at best second class citizens and usually enslaved. Family histories are gradually revealed as are more general myths and legends. There is plenty in this to keep the reader entertained.

The writing is fairly straightforward and should be easily understood by the YA target audience. I guess I found some aspects of this fairly obvious however some things did take me by surprise. Veronyka is a well worked character and there are others too than played a very good part for me. While I guess I, as an adult, would rate this as 4 star I imagine that the target audience might rate this more highly. This is the first book in a two part series and I enjoyed reading it. Whatever else I would certainly read book two very happily.

I absolutely, undeniably, irrevocably loved this book. It had everything you could possibly need from a high fantasy book.
The plot was full of twists and turns and I did not see any of them coming, resulting in a lot of hand over the mouth and gasping moments.
The characters were fantastically written and the split narrative really added depth to the story.
It felt like I didn’t take a single breath until I finished the book, it was such a rollercoaster read.
Beautifully written I cannot praise this book enough, 5 stars.

A great debut novel, action, intrigue, fast paced, characters you care about I loved it ! I really look forward to the sequel and can’t wait to see what happens next. Great book.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

*4.5 stars!

Crown of Feathers is an awesome adventure with kick-ass characters. The story is set in a world where the governing Empire prosecute people who are animages: people who possess magic that allows them to connect and influence animals. The most powerful animages were the legendary Phoenix Riders, who were at one point the protectors of the land and of the people before the Blood War saw both phoenixes and their human counterparts executed or imprisoned. At the books opening, anyone who is found to be an animage is either heavily taxed or enslaved, which is why many animages are in hiding.

Meet Veronkya. She and her sister evade the empire by living just outside the empire’s border, and dream of becoming Phoenix Riders. Veronkya is ecstatic to learn there is a small rebellion group who trying to bring back the Phoenix Riders, however, she’s disheartened to learn they don’t recruit girls. However, she decides no gender will get between her and her dreams, so she joins the group under the guise of being a boy. There she meets fellow animages and feels like she has a purpose, but quickly gets on the wrong side of Tristan, the leader’s son.
Meet Sev. He’s a secret animage who is part of the Empire’s military, who gets roped into a plot against the empire when someone uses his secret against him. Whilst this predicament frustrates him, he can’t help being drawn to one of the animage’s who is involved in his blackmail, the very handsome Kade. Sev’s journey involves healing past wounds and questions of morals, which makes for an enthralling read.

This book has inspiring world building and imagery. The setting is “The Golden Empire” which has different regions with varying levels of Empire influence. The regions, such as the landscape and the people, are written so vividly and distinctly, making the story all the more enjoyable. These illustrations were supported with events prior to the novel’s beginning, that act as a backdrop to the main storyline, like the Blood War and the adventures of past king and queens of the realm. It was effortless to imagine the scenes that unfolded, particularly the climax. It was really entertaining.

Also, this deserves recognition for its inclusion of diversity. We have gay romance, a girl with a disability whose attitude is larger than life, and some focus on mental illness through phobias and breaking free of psychological abuse. This diversity made the book all the more enjoyable because the way in which the characters and storylines were written was really brilliant.

I must mention this for anyone who could find this distressing: there is a small amount of animal slaughter. I’m really in two minds mentioning this, because I don’t think it should put anyone off, but it could certainly distress someone who isn’t perhaps prepared to read such scenes, as quick as it is.

I'd say good characterisation is one of the strongest elements of the book, which is achieved by blossoming relationships and terse family bonds.
The book alternates between three POVs; Veronkya, Tristan and Sev. This serves the pace of the book really well, as all three characters are likeable, and beyond the overarching story, their independent stories are interesting too. The development of these characters, and secondary characters, is well done and thoroughly satisfying. I can’t wait to be back with them in the sequel.
And seeing as I’ve mentioned the sequel, I hope to see both of the early and subtle romances pick up in the next book.

Overall, I read this over 3 days and I'm going to give it 4.5 stars. Toward the beginning of the book there was some repetition of details which stood out enough to distract my building enjoyment. I'd actually say this goes down to an oversight in editing. Nonetheless, what we have here is the beginning of an immersing and enjoyable series, as its plot development and characters show promise. The ending was breath-taking and left me wanting more – I’m going to be one impatient lady waiting for the sequel. Definitely recommend to all fantasy lovers!
Thank you kindly to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-copy, in exchange for this honest review.

This is a very complicated book to try to explain but it's kind of split over two timelines. The now where most of the story happens and the past before the war. But either way it focuses on two sisters who only have each other. Then there's the phoenix riders who fell during the war and are hunted to extinction. Only those with the magic to bond with animals can become phoenix riders so they are also hunted. Which means the two sisters are hunted. And yeah. It's complicated but what isn't complicated is how much I loved this book. Sisters who love and hate each other. Phoenixes. Other animal companions. Lots of hard moral decisions and lots of fighting for their lives.

There are 3 POV characters.....Kind of (Like I said, it's complicated). Veronyka, a war orphan that runs away after her sister betrays her and dresses as a boy to become a phoenix rider. Sev, also a way orphan but a soldier in the empire who only signed up because it was that or be imprisoned for his crimes and has to hide his magic at all costs, and Tristan, whose grown up at the secret phoenix rider base as the son of the leader. All three have magic. I loved how all three had complicated feelings and moral decisions to make that affected so much more than just their own stories. And the more we learnt about them the more complicated it got. But these three are only the start of the story and through extracts we also learn more about what happened to the two princesses who died to start the war that affects them all. And that is even more twisty and grey.

There's lots of world building and history here which I normally HATE but honestly it was woven in so well that I actually loved it. There was never a time when the story stopped to dump a few pages of info on me. It was all fed in small pieces when they were relevant. Masterful. Seriously. I'm not sure how this book turned something that normally annoys me into one of my favourite things! The immediate settings themselves were actually quite bland. Countryside and villages, the normal fantasy fare but in a way that made them take a backseat to focus on the characters and story and world filling them.

And then onto the fantastical part of the fantasy…I loved the magic. It wasn't something all powerful or even something that could help the characters much in most situations. Those with magic have a bond with animals. The scope of what it could be used for was only ever touched upon in this first book and the different beliefs of how it should be used and whether animals should be befriended or dominated was an interesting mirror on the characters themselves. All this basically boils down to lots of animal companions throughout. And not just the exalted phoenixes whose eggs are rare and riders revered. But there were owls, llamas… One of my favourite was how a blind girl called sparrow used a crow companion as her guide.

This book has gone straight into my favourite books of all time. The world building was masterful. The characters were twisty, complicated and morally grey. The animal companions were brilliant. I need the next book NOW because as much as I loved this one, I have the feeling the next will be even more epic.

Rep: gay MC, m/m relationship, aro/ace character, and pretty much all the characters are described as poc.

Plot: 4.5/5 Characters: 4.5/5 Writing: 5/5

When I realised that this book was not only about phoenixes but also phoenix riders I knew I had to read it. I probably love phoenixes just as much (or maybe even more) than I love dragons and I really hoped this book would do these ferocious, fiery creatures justice. It sure did. It probably increased my love for phoenixes tenfold. If I could, I would definitely become a phoenix rider without hesitation.

Crown of Feathers told the tale of a people still recovering from the aftermath of a brutal war and trying to live in peace in the face of oppression and discrimination.

Apart from the phoenixes, I loved the world building and the history of the novel. It was clear that the author took her time to fully flesh out her world and all that happened in it. I've seen other people complaining about there being too much info-dumping in the book which ruined their reading experience, however, I actually liked it. It didn't feel like info-dumping to me because the extra information was relavant to the story line and was actually really intriguing.

The plot was quite slow-paced and character-focused which was interesting but some parts felt a bit unnecessary and could have easily been taken out. The book was from three character perspectives which I think was handled pretty well.

16 years before the start of the book there was the Blood War between two sisters: Avalkyra and Pheronia. Avalkyra was an animage and a phoenix rider. After the war, animages were feared by the Empire and any known animages had to pay a tax or become a debt-bonded slave.

POV Characters:

☆ Veronyka was an animage who lived in hiding with her sister Val. Val's love for Veronyka was twisted and she showed it by controlling her life and never allowing her to settle in any place or form long lasting friendships with anyone- all apparently for Veronyka's own good. After having been betrayed by Val, Veronyka left her to join a group of phoenix riders. However, there was one problem: they only accepted boys and men. Therefore, Veronyka disguised herself as a boy to gain entry and fulfill her greatest wish of becoming a rider.

I liked Veronyka- she was definitely my favourite character and the POV character I connected the most with. She was brave and strong without hurting or controlling people, she was compassionate and would never force an animal to do something for her, she would just kindly request. Despite everything that had happened, she was always full of hope that the future would hold better things and her determination to make that future happen knew no bounds. Out of all of the POVs, she seemed to get the most, 'screen time' which was good because her story was fascinating but it also would have been good to give the other two perspectives more time to develop.

☆ Tristan was an animage and an apprentice phoenix rider who was the son of the commander of the phoenix riders. He never felt like he was good enough for his father because no matter how well he did his father would always pick out the one thing he had done wrong and make him suffer for it. I thought he was a kind and understanding character. He valued honesty and tried his best to change the things he thought were wrong. However, he was the POV character I felt the most distant from and it was harder for me to empathise with his emotions in comparison to the other characters. Also, I feel like his relationship with his phoenix could have been portrayed better.

☆ Sev was an animage in hiding who was a soldier for the empire. His parents were phoenix riders who had died in an attack when he was young and ever since that tragic event, Sev spent his life running away from who he was and living in fear. He buried his animage identity deep in favour of living in peace and out of slavery while his fellow animages suffered. During the book, his character develops so much and he realises the importance of having people he belonged with and people he would do anything to protect. He realised that instead of hiding his identity he should embrace it and use it to help others like him. I found him to be a really interesting character and I wish we got to see his perspective more in the book. Also, his relationship with Kade was so briefly mentioned and never got time to develop which is something I hope happens in the next book.

I know this book wasn't perfect in every way but I enjoyed reading it so, so much. What really differentiates a four star book from a five star book for me is the emotions it evokes from me. Whilst I was reading it, every plot twist shocked me to the core (there were so many and I didn't predict some of them!) and I felt the pain, sorrow, happiness and anger of the characters as if it were my own. Crown of Feathers was a truly magical read for me and deserves five fiery, feather-crowned stars!

Thank you to Black & White Publishing and Nicki Pau Preto for providing me with a digital arc of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, the world was amazing and detailed. Im someone that enjoys learning about new worlds, what they believe and their history which is why I enjoy fantasy so much.

I did struggle to get into the book but once I did I flew through.

[To be published on The Nerd Daily on April 23rd]

The Golden Empire was ruled by fierce warrior Queens, built upon the backs of mythical phoenixes and the men and women they chose to become their riders. Until sixteen years ago, when a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

Nowadays, war orphans Veronyka and her sister, Val, are living a less than luxurious life. Both girls dream of becoming Phoenix Riders, just like the legends their grandmother told them about. But when Veronyka suffers a betrayal at the hands of her sister, she strikes out on her own, desperate enough to become a Rider, she pretends to be a boy to hide amongst their ranks.

But nothing good ever lasts forever, and just as Veronyka feels her feet underneath her again, Val shows up, revealing the tangled web of lies surrounding them. And maybe worse, the new empire has learnt of the Phoenix Rider’s return… and they’ve set out to destroy them, once and for all.

Crown of Feathers was… brutal. This is a book that is set less than two decades after a war and really, it reads like one. It didn’t shy away from the death and poverty that often follows the start of a new regime. And - being totally spoiler free here- the betrayal that Veronkya suffers at the hands of her sister? Wow, hardcore messed up. And that's the most eloquent way I can describe it whilst retaining some mystery!

My initial thoughts for Crown of Feathers is that it’s very info-dumpy, the first 50 or so pages felt like the author was throwing information at me, with just enough plot to get the story moving, and to be completely honest, it was a bit hard to get going. In these initial pages, world building swayed towards the “tell, don’t show” method, and it felt like a bit of a drag, but I guess the flip side to that is that Pyra, and the other kingdoms in The Golden Empire felt incredibly well created.

The story is written with multiple POVs, and Pau Preto spends time writing in history and culture into each of the POVs, so you spend a lot of time learning mythology, the details of the war, and the relationship between the Sister Queens: Avalkyra and Pheronia, as well as a history of the Phoenix Riders and how the phoenixes themselves grow, and are cared for. Which all means to say, that, there’s a lot of information in the book. It’s almost as if you’re reading something that’s part fantasy book, part history book. The undeniable result is a solid fantasy world. But it also felt as if you had to put a little too much work into figuring the world out.

As for our characters, we follow three main ones: Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev.

Veronyka is our heroine, and one of my favourite aspects of the novel was watching her develop from the broken shell of a person she is when she first leaves her sister, to a strong and confident young woman. She’s got this real go-getter attitude, but she refuses to knuckle under when someone tries to push her back into line. She’s an animage, as all Phoenix Riders are (they have to communicate with their mounts somehow), and even the way she ‘talks’ to various animals is different than the norm. She’s a little left of centre, and I really appreciate that as a personality trait. One of the other great parts about Veronyka, or Nyk, as she becomes, is that, even as a boy, she questions why the girls aren’t included, or aren’t allowed, but more on that a bit later.

Next up, is the commandant’s son, Tristan. So, I still have unfortunate ‘Commandant’ fear’ leftover from reading An Ember in the Ashes, but while Tristan’s dad expects a lot of his son, he does stop short of being outright cruel. Tristan is desperate to prove to his father that he has the potential to become a great general, but nothing he does gets his father’s approval. With a tendency to be dark and broody (just how we like them), Tristan is at his core, a good person, and a young man who’s fighting an internal battle to overcome something that’s impeding him from being able to become the best version of himself. He’s hotheaded, stubborn, and a little bit of an ass, and I love him. There’s something very refreshing about the “strong male protagonist” fighting his own demons that makes him very human, and his developing relationship with Nyk is just beautiful to read.

Last up, we have Sev. Sev is probably both the most and least interesting character. He’s an animage, hiding in the army for an empire that enslaves animages, and it’s made him bitter and untrusting. Sev is flawed, you’ll see what I mean when you read the book, but because he’s primary place is locked inside the story that’s unfolding across the kingdom, not just with the Riders, and it’s made him bitter and untrusting. He lives in a constant state of fear that he’s going to get caught out and placed into indentured servitude, so much that when he finally gets a part to play in the bigger picture, he’s so reluctant, and yet, so helpful to the main cause.

A lot of the plot of this book is setting up for the inevitable final battle, but I found just a couple of things worth noting. The first is that when I was first reading this book, I was getting very strong Eragon vibes as something about the Phoenix Riders, and how the birds chose the rider… it just reminded me a lot of Eragon. However, that was before it swapped to giving me mad Mulan vibes.

Now, here’s where I need you all to not kill me, because I love a good Girl-Disguised-As-Boy story as much as the next person, but it felt like it didn’t need to be there. It would’ve been enough for the Rider’s to exclude new members based on wealth and their ability to pay for their own training, it didn’t need to be gender exclusive. Even in the book, none of the characters had a reason for why women were being excluded besides “just because”. I understand the point it’s trying to make (an important one), but devices like this need to move the plot forward, not just be there for the sake of the drama.

Overall, I enjoyed Crown of Feathers, the writing style is quite beautiful, and I certainly can’t argue with the depth of the world, but it’s a long book, and I think you have to want to read something quite intense to get the full depth of the story here.

It’s 100% worth a read, especially if you like complex political plot lines, badass women, and phoenixes- but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Crown of feathers is a slow burn that end up lightning the pages on fire by the end.

The book is told through 3 main Pov, Veronyka a girl who dream is to be a Phoenix rider. Sev an animage conscripted to the Army that killed his parents. Finally Tristan a Phoenix rider in training hoping to live up to his father expectations and deal with his fears. All three are interesting characters but I found myself more drawn to Veronyka and Tristan story. Although I have a feeling Sev will play a big part in the next book.

The World that Nicki Pau Preto has created is interesting, colourful and complex. There is a lot going on is it’s a book that best not to rush.

Let’s talk about the ending, it lifted me wanting more especially after the knowledge bomb it dropped at the end. It left me double checking that I had read it correctly.

The main thread in the story for me is friendships, friendship between people and animals. friendship in family and friendships between strangers. 

My rating for Crown of Feathers is 4 out of 5.

I read this as March’s ultimate reading challenge, a fantasy read.

I went back and forth on the rating for this book so many times! In the end, I did really enjoy it, but I can understand why people won’t like it or will DNF it.
It IS slow to start. There’s a lot of information, the names are very similar and hard to pronounce. I would suggest here moving the glossary from the back of the book to the start. I wasn’t really a fan of the history retellings, even though I know they are useful to the story. It makes the book a bit of hard work and too much like Furyborn, which I also struggled with.
I also don’t really understand what the characters motivations are or where the story is going. It’s more a story you read, not one you experience. You see what the characters are doing but you don’t feel involved.

All this being said, I did really enjoy it. I loved the relationships between the animals and the animages.
I also like the human relationships, especially Sev and Kade. The light touch of romance is good, but I do expect it to be ramped up in the next book(s).

All in all, I think this is a book which will divide opinion. I enjoyed it, but I know it’s not going to be for everyone.

Crown of Feathers follows the point of view of three characters in the aftermath of a large bloody civil war that had people with the ability to communicate with animals (animages) villianised and the powerful warriors, Phoenix Riders, to be completely wiped out.

Or so it was thought.

Nicki Pau Preto’s writing is easy to read and wraps you completely in this new world of her creation. The pacing of the plot and the character development was well done, each character seeing the story from completely different parts of life and each twining together to create this detailed story.

The three main characters are Veronkya, a girl who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider; Tristan, part of the resistance, and Sev, a solider for the Empire who has much more to his story than it seems. I adored each of them. Sev was complicated with conflicting thoughts surrounding his current duty and his place in the world. Veronyka is someone who has always been at odds with her much colder twin sister, Val, and her story is one of finding her own footing and deciding on her own future. Tristain is weighed down with expectations and his own ambitions and fear, and over the course of the story, he fights to overcome them.

I loved reading each of their stories and when they overlapped and weaved together when you understood how connected they were, it just made it so much more enjoyable to read.

While this book focuses on current events and how they affect these characters, the importance of the past and how it affects everyone is obvious. The civil war, known as the Blood War in the book, the one of battling sisters sixteen years before and the tragic events that lead to the ending, is incredibly important and influences every event and every character that you meet.

The importance of this is shown at the end of each chapter, where an extract from a book about Phoenix Riders and the history of the world, or a letter from one sister to another, is placed to just enrich this world all the more. It’s such a good way to get worldbuilding and other important information across, without slowing down the pace of the book.

And as for the big reveal at the end of the book? Goddamn, I am excited for the second book in this duology.

I don’t think I had any complaints about this book. There were aspects of the story that had more tell than show, particularly in the characters’ thought processes, but honestly, that didn’t take away anything for me.

Crown of Feathers is a book with a rich world, engaging characters, and fantastic writing. I really enjoyed my time reading this book and I can’t wait to finish reading the story of the Phoenix Riders whenever the second book is released.

Crown of Feathers is a YA fantasy centered around 2 sisters in a land once ruled by phoenix riders.

I almost DNF'ed this book at 25%, i was really interested in the concept going in and the first couple of chapters were pretty good but after that the story slowed and started to drag. It is pretty heavy on the description which i'm not the biggest fan of but i am really glad i stuck with this. Around the half way point this started to really pick up and i was a lot more engaged in the story. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks and thought that telling another story through letters was a really clever idea and done incredibly well.

The world building was excellent and the world itself had a rich and fascinating history that really added depth to the story.
I liked the characters for the most part but i didn't really love any of them. I was intereted in Veronyka's and Tristan's story line but found Sev's to be a little dull at first and far more interesting in his last 3 or 4 chapters.

If you're a fan of YA Fantasy you might like this but do persevere through the first quarter!

Crown of Feathers is an incredible, vibrant high fantasy that has been on my radar for a long time and am so glad that I finally read it.

Phoenixes are a creature that I have been fascinated by for basically my whole life so as soon as I saw a YA book was coming out centred around them, I was on board straight away and absolutely loved this!!

I found Veronyka to be such a fantastic protagonist who I just felt for. She’s been through so much in her life and continues to go through them through this book and I was read for this girl to get happiness.. Out of the three POV’s that we follow, I found hers the most interesting, I was so glad when she got away from her sister and I was just touting for hehr throughout the book. She is so determined and I cannot wait to continue to follow her story arc across the trilogy.

Tristan was such an interesting character! His secret about the fact he was actually scared of fire was such a fascinating arc to follow and I love him with my whole entire heart and the romance between him and Veronyka was so sweet, there were awkward moments between them but it was still so sweet!

Sev wasn’t my favourite, I found his arc the least interesting until the end where it got explosive and tied in with the other two!! I found that I really did enjoy his character towards the end.

I love that all three of our characters had strong story arcs and I am very much looking forward to seeing what we get from them in the future!

3.5 stars

Crown of Feathers is a YA fantasy set in a world where, years ago, fierce warriors patrolled the sky on the backs of phoenixes.

The book has been compared to Eragon, which is one of my favourite books of all time, so I just had to read it – and I was fortunate enough to be approved for an e-arc on Netgalley, so I’m super grateful to the publisher for granting my request. I was fascinated by the premise; I'm a sucker for a good dragon book, dragon riders being one of my favourite tropes, and so the idea of people riding phoenixes instead of dragons really intrigued me.

For the sake of clarity, I’m dividing this review to highlight different areas of the book. Some areas I felt were awesome; others I wasn't so keen on, as you'll see below.

Worldbuilding:

I liked the worldbuilding, I thought it was rich and complex, without being too convoluted to follow. However, I found myself struggling somewhat with the distribution. A lot of the information we needed was given to us throughout the story, which was great – but also, at the end of every chapter we’d be given a chunk of worldbuilding in the form of letters, historical records etc. Being perfectly honest, I skimmed a lot of this. I didn’t have the patience to pay attention to these long-dead characters that I didn’t feel much of a connection to, even though I knew the information would probably be relevant later – especially when I wanted to continue reading about characters in the here and now.

Characters:

The characters in this story were great. The story is multi-pov, and there wasn’t a single character whose perspective I disliked, which is always a plus side – often I find myself rushing through one character’s narration to get to a character I like better, but I didn’t have that problem here. I felt like I understood each character – and I really liked seeing how they perceived each other. Even the characters we don’t like (and damn are there some unpleasant side-characters in this book) are well-constructed. I felt there was some inconsistency with Tristan’s father, where it felt like his alleged character development was told to us rather than shown, but it was a relatively small complaint. I also liked how the animal characters had very distinct personalities as well – really, everyone gets a time to shine. There are some side characters who I would have gladly read an entire book about! The relationships between characters also felt strong and well-developed.

Pacing:

The pacing was my primary issue with this book. I enjoyed the beginning and felt it got off to a great start, although there was a certain amount of info-dumping – but the author lost me somewhere around the middle. For a while, we were mostly just developing relationships between certain characters and there wasn’t a lot of action; I put the book down for almost a week and didn’t feel any real urge to pick it back up. Once we’d got past the muddy middle, though, things picked up quickly and I became a lot more invested in the story.

Plot:

I felt that the plot had its ups and downs. This isn’t a high-action novel for the most part; there’s a lot of training and introspection and discussion of history, but we don’t really get any dramatic battle scenes until the end. I’m a sucker for a fantasy fight, so I found the last part of the book the most satisfying. The final third especially was an emotional rollercoaster; I was reading it during a commute to university and found myself struggling not to cry – it was a real lump-in-the-throat moment. I felt we’d had a very long build-up to get to the action, but ultimately it paid off and I was glad I stuck with the book. The focus on sisterly relationships, which is stated as a huge part of the story, wasn’t quite as integral as I expected but I found it interesting when we did delve into that territory.

The ending was the best part; it felt strong and emotive and had a very satisfying twist. I did kind of see it coming, but that just made it all the more pleasing when I was right. Overall, I found the book to be a little slow at times but the basic idea of it was fine, it could have just used a little fine-tuning to keep things interesting.

Other comments:
- A queer romance is heavily hinted at on the page but kind of gets cut off before it goes anywhere – which was disappointing, because it had been a pleasant surprise for me and I would have liked to see it developed further. Ambiguity isn’t something I’m a fan of when it comes to queer characters.

- This book features a cis character who ‘dresses up as a boy,’ and alongside this there is an incident of a trope which is often applied in a harmful way to actual trans characters ***SPOILER* her identity as a woman is revealed by another character tearing open the girl’s shirt to reveal her breasts. This trope is often used to out trans characters. Although Veronyka is not trans and the incident is not passed off as acceptable, this is still a pretty awful thing to show on the page - and honestly I feel like the whole ‘dressing up as a boy’ thing is a trope that we should probably… not be using in 2019?

I enjoyed Crown of Feathers; I’m interested to see where the story goes and will definitely consider picking up the sequel. I’m curious as to how the author will wrap everything up with only one more book to go, but hopefully this will result in a more streamlined plot for the next book – we’re now familiar with all the characters and don’t need the setup. I’d also like to see certain relationships deepen a little – the phoenixes seem a little bit surface-level considering their alleged importance to the story, and overall I thought they were the least developed, so it’d be cool to see the author expand on that.

Overall, this was a solid 3.5 star read.