Crown of Feathers

Every time I think about this book my head is just filled with insistent, incoherent screaming and every time I think about what I want to say in a review the screaming just gets louder so my initial thoughts after finishing this were just: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But also: I NEED TO FORCE EVERYONE I'VE

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EVER MET TO READ THIS BOOK.

Alas, that would be a really shitty review so let me try to put my thoughts into words. Crown of Feathers comes with three perspectives: Veronyka, a girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can join the phoenix riders, Sev, an animage in the empire's army who inevitably gets swept up in a traitorous plot, and Tristan, a boy currently training to be a phoenix rider. Those are very brief descriptions of very complex characters, but I don't want to go too in depth in order to avoid spoilers. Among the three main characters we get a plethora of interesting side characters that further the plot and make the lives of the main characters very interesting. One of my favorite characters is Kade, a boy at the forefront of the traitorous plot that Sev gets caught up in and someone I have a lot of feelings about that, like many of the feelings I have for this book, can generally be summed up with: AHHHHHHHHH.

While interesting and well written characters are at the forefront of the novel, it's not all we get. For a debut fantasy novel with a lot to explore, we really do get fantastic world-building, an interesting magic system and brilliant history all wrapped up within an intriguing plot. Seriously, the history is so in-depth and well done I would love to see an entire book solely expanding on the empire's rich history. That's how much I love this world. While Nicki Pau Preto gave us a rich world filled to the brim with information, she didn't have to sacrifice the plot to do so because everything was integrated perfectly. Every time I felt like the plot was about to start dragging, something happened to pick up the pace and keep me on the edge of my seat.

I honestly can't think of anything about the book that I hated; I loved every aspect of it. Is every person who reads the book going to love it as much as I did? No, that's entirely unrealistic. But this is a fantasy novel that truly felt as if it was made for me. It's exactly what I'm looking for in fantasy and I am so glad it was owlcrate's book last month because that's how I learned about it.

If you're a fan of Tamora Pierce, like I am, you will almost certainly love this. If you're looking for your next big high fantasy novel or if you're just looking for something to spice up your TBR, I highly recommend you at least give Crown of Feathers a shot. It definitely deserves at least that much and maybe you'll find your next favorite read.

Side-note: if you loved this book and want someone to scream about it with, please scream about it with me. I have so many feelings and this review doesn't do all of them justice.

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First off, have you ever seen a more gorgeous cover? That phoenix is everything and a perfect indicator of what you will find between its pages. Fiery women unwilling to accept the status quo any longer, a secret society, magic, slaves, a class war, a former matriarchal society, politics, and

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phoenixes – Nick Pau Preto’s novel enflames a primal instinct to fight against injustice and arbitrary class and gender distinctions. Veronyka’s determination to become a phoenix rider makes you want to take up jousting, while her experiences have you crying out in anger and justice. Crown of Feathers is everything you want it to be after staring at its mesmerizing cover, and it is glorious. Long live women who never take no for an answer!

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I really really liked it.
My emotions hurt.
I don't want to wait until next year for book two.
*cry face*

This has a really cool twist, I mean the idea enters the head, but with so much going on and how the main character's story collide together, you kind forget about it. Veronyka is one cool cucumber, Val is a b*tch, Triston is wishy-washy, and Sev is closeted. Oh Yeah, Trixxy is the wise, crazy,

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secretive old lady. I loved this cast of characters and the side line narrative in each chapter.

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This particular read caught me by surprise. While the very beginning of the book was quick to catch you and pull you in, the beginning-mid to the actual mid slowed down for me, but it was building the world and the characters in an amazing manner. Once the middle hit everything started falling into

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place. Character connections and revels started coming to light that completely flew over my head in the initial part of building the world until just the right moment when they connected and it just made you sit back and go "WOW, how did I not catch that" And that very last page, that reveal was so head turning and just mind blowing, I didn't know how to react.

The story didn't fall into the YA instalove nonsense and I could not be happier about that. The story focused on the actual STORY and wasn't a YA romance novel being disguised as fantasy. So many YA books fall to this and its frustrating so for this not do that is amazing. The relationships that are "present" are building slowly and naturally and that flows so much better with the story, but its not the focus.

The characters are all so well written, every character is like-able in their own way, expect for Val she gets negative points because she mean and rotten as hell. The character I liked most was Tristan, he started out as a hot head but then slowly his real personilty shown through and he was just a big sweetheart.

*Spoiler*
The way Tristan was written for handling the reveal of who Nyk really was, was amazing. I was so thankful the author did not go the route of making him turn into some mean, angry, unforgiving brute. He listened to Veronyka and he understood her reasons and why she did what she did, he didn't dismiss her or her concerns and he didn't make her feel bad about them. The aftermath of the reveal and how it was handled was so amazing and it just made Tristan's character even better for me.

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The start of "Crown of Feathers" was rather heavy with all the information the author was giving the reader and for a while I was wondering whether it was worth persisting, or not. However, I am glad I did because the book improved A LOT! Veronyka was a worthy protagonist - strong, compassionate

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and intelligent. I thought she was a great role model for girls. The other characters were varied and complex and the stories of Sev, Tristan and Val, that weaved through the novel, were interesting. However, Veronyka's story was definitely my favourite.

The world-building was rich and detailed and it was obvious that Nicki Pau Petro had put a huge amount of time and effort into creating her world. I was touched by the bond the animages had with their phoenixes and I loved the descriptions of these majestic birds. Before I had finished the novel I wanted one of my own.

Full of intrigue, adventure and magical creatures, and with an unexpected ending, "Crown of Feathers", despite its length was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I look forward to the next book in the series.

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More than anything, Veronyka longs to be a phoenix rider. The only problem? The riders disappeared nearly two decades ago, and even in lands outside the oppressive empire, animages like Veronyka and her sister Val are treated with suspicion.

Even though life is tough, we don't start the story

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feeling too down for the sisters, cause guess what, they've found a pair of phoenix eggs! So, the eggs hatch, Veronyka bonds with her beautiful bird, and then it's off to the hidden enclave of phoenix riders to train....Or not.

Right in the beginning, there is a huge twist, which I was not expecting.

While this is first and foremost Veronyka's story, her journey is connected with those of Sev and Tristan. The POVs felt well-balanced, in both intrigue and importance to the story. And even though soldier Sev and phoenix rider Tristan know information which is secret to Veronyka, this information is rarely shared with the reader until Veronyka discovers it for herself. Honestly, this was one of my favorite things: getting to see different sides to the action, but still feeling invested in the big reveals.

Lots of Phoenixes, names with the letters K and X, and stubborn horses. Sadly, no epic training montage.

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It wasn't until the very end what I realized what kind of book this was. All along the way, the hero's journey kept me guessing. We see the story unfold from several characters POV, each with backstories, motivations, trials, and contributions to the main conflict and resolution. Yet it's not until

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the end when we see the front of the woven tapestry for what it is. I very much enjoyed the rich mythology, world building and created history as well as the different characters we meet along the way. Losing some of the characters was hard, but they all seemed to further the plot without being gratuitous.

I'm very much looking for the saga to continue as there are so many open questions and potentials to explore!

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I'm officially DNFing this one. The few pages I read were kinda interesting but I felt the writing to be too heavy for me, to much history and details, much telling and little showing, so even thou I was interested, every time I read a couple of pages I felt tired and didn't felt like picking it up

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again.
I thought I was in a slump, but I re read my favorite book without issue, so I'm DNFing this one for now, maybe I'll pick it up again in the future.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy to review.

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