The Storm Crow #2

This is the second book of a duology. Be warned that there may be spoilers ahead for book one. See my review of book one here.

The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson

Publication Date: July 1, 2020

Summary from NetGalley:

The thrilling conclusion to the epic Storm Crow duology that follows a fallen princess as she tries to bring back the magical elemental crows taken from her people.

Thia, her allies, and her crow, Res, are planning a rebellion to defeat Queen Razel and Illucia once and for all. Thia must convince the neighboring kingdoms to come to her aid, and Res’s show of strength is the only thing that can help her.

But so many obstacles stand in her way. Res excels at his training, until he loses control of his magic, harming Thia in the process. She is also pursued by Prince Ericen, heir to the Illucian throne and the one person she can’t trust but can’t seem to stay away from.

As the rebel group prepares for war, Res’s magic grows more unstable. Thia has to decide if she can rely on herself and their bond enough to lead the rebellion and become the crow rider she was meant to be.

ARC provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was a bit underwhelming for me at first. It took quite a while for me to get into it. But I think that was more of a reflection on me and my mood at the time. The story is a good one and in the end I did quite enjoy reading it.

One of the things I quite enjoyed in the first book was Thia and her struggles with depression. While that story line was not as prevalent in this book, it is still there and there are times that her depression starts to overwhelm her again. Thia’s overall character growth continued in this book. She overcomes her fears and doubts about being a leader and comes out as a strong and resilient young lady. She has a lot to overcome and does a spectacular job at coming out on top.

One of the other things I liked about this book was getting to know Res, the crow better. He also has his doubts and struggles with controlling his magic. There is a wonderful scene where Thia is comforting him and helping him struggle through his issues. Res, and crow magic in general, was one of the more interesting parts of this story. It is an interesting magical system and one I enjoyed learning about.

All of the characters that we came to know in the first book are back, although some fall a little to the wayside. The romance went in the direction I was hoping it would. I really enjoyed both Caylus and Ericen as characters and was glad to see that the love triangle I saw coming didn’t happen. It was also nice that the romance did not overshadow the rest of the plot, as these things tend to do. Kiva is still as strong as ever, and her friendship with Thia was so nice to see.

While the overall plot was somewhat predictable, it was still fun watching it unfold. No big surprises, but a few interesting things happen that were hinted at in the first book which made the story more interesting. The battle scenes were well done and the pacing of the story overall was steady, although a bit slow to start. The ending was well done, and even leaves you with a happy contented feeling that things are going to work out well for all of the kingdoms.

Even though it was a rough start for me reading this book, in the end I was glad I pushed through that. It was a well done duology that is worth reading for the magical system and the world building.