The Storm Crow Book Review

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

From Goodreads:

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.

Gah, this is a review that I’ve had on the tip of my tongue for a while now, and I’m so glad that I’ve finally got a moment to write it down, because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on The Storm Crow. First up though, thanks a bunch to Fairyloot for including an ARC of this book in their December Dragons box. I was so stoked to receive a copy, and it didn’t disappoint!

The book has an awesome premise—there are giant crows that have magical abilities such as creating storms and things, and they live and work with the humans around them. At least, until Rhodaire is invaded by the Illucian empire and the crows are destroyed. Honestly, it speaks to how strong the descriptions and the narrative voice are that I was already so invested only a few pages in. Usually, if there’s a big tragedy at the beginning of a novel, I roll my eyes a little, since it’s like the author expects readers to be invested in a war or a battle or something straight away, but I felt it worked here. I cared about the crows, and even though I went into it knowing they were wiped out, it still hit me when it happened. So, kudos for that. I admit, it was a little bit of a confusing scene, and I wasn’t entirely sure of everything that was going on, since we are launched straight in at the deep end, but I got the general gist of it and it was haunting.

Another strength of this book is the characters. I loved Thia, and I felt like she was a great protagonist. Brave, smart, willing to take a chance. She was a brilliant character to follow around and learn about, and she kept me hooked even during some of the slower parts of the book. I massively appreciate what Josephson does with her character, and how she explores difficult mental health problems like depression. Josephson has put a trigger warning on the book (another huge plus in her favour) so be warned that it might not be suitable for everyone, but I do think she captures a lot of the struggles and challenges of depression.

I also especially liked seeing the intricacies of her relationship with her sister, Caliza, as there was a sense of strain and grief there that definitely made both characters more complex. I also liked seeing how her relationship with the prince unfolded, particularly since he’s supposed to be the enemy. I liked that it didn’t even edge into that area of predictability. Rather, it remained fresh and interesting the whole time. There was only one character I wasn’t massively fussed about—Caylus. He didn’t have enough depth for me, and although I thought that Ericen’s character didn’t really settle properly (he sort of hurtles from genuinely cruel, to sarcastic and seductive to kind and back again) he’s at least got enough about him to keep my interest. Still, I’m aware that this is the first book in the series, so I’m hoping there’s more to come.

And then there’s the whole crow’s egg. It adds a lot of high stakes tension to the novel as you’re trying to figure out if Thia and her allies will ever learn to hatch it, and what the crow will be like. I’m obviously not going to go into any spoilers, particularly because the book isn’t even out yet, but I will say that the plot kept me hooked and turning pages. This is the most invested I’ve been in a novel in a while, and it was great.

Overall, I’m giving The Storm Crow a 9/10 stars. I was lured in by the concept of giant magical crows, and honestly I don’t regret picking it up at all. The book lacks some of the nuance of my favourites, but as a debut novel, it’s pretty dang good. I definitely recommend grabbing a copy when it comes out on July 9th!

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤