ARC Review: The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

I am so excited for my first official review to be posted is for the amazing and soon to be released The Storm Crown by Kayln Josephson. I am so thankful to be a part of BookCrushin and look forward to contributing many more posts.

Review

Trigger warnings: Depression, Minimal self harm in way of religious beliefs, animal death

From page one I was drawn into this book, meeting Anthia and her love of flight on the Crows. There was an immediately relatable confrontation with her Mother who is upset with her not being where she should be and doing what is expected but exalting in the joy of flying on a Crow. We can all connect with not wanting to do what our parents wanted us to but what was fun instead…. And then I turned the page and it was chapter one.

Anthia is where the center of the story lies, so we are taken on her journey of dealing with her loss, learning to live and manage her depression all the while being thrust into an arranged marriage with Ericen from the kingdom of Illucia who is the Kingdom she hates with all her being. Honestly you want to hate Ericen from the get go, but I had this feeling of is he going to pretend to be this awful person from this horrible place but turn out to be this amazingly caring character that Anthia falls in love with (I pictured Rysand from A Court of Mist and Fury for those who have read that book).

The Crow and rider’s emotional connection made me think of the type of connection that was made in the Dragon Riders of Pern series or Eragon. I thought it was super interesting how there are multiple types of crows and they all have different powers which the people of Rhodaire use to live in the land. The Crows are not just “pets” or for combat but a part of the whole culture of Rhodaire.

Anthia must find her destiny as Rhodaire’s savior by finding a way to hatch the egg she finds and become a rider with her trusted friend and guard Kiva and the people she meets along the way. Book two can not come out soon enough for me.

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