Our evil queen is most decidedly evil, but I suppose even she has her story but I do like that Josephson didn’t use that as an excuse for the Queen’s behaviour and the relationships between Anthia and her sister and friends felt so natural and real. Josephson did a lovely job of worldbuilding and character development because even when Anthia is not in the midst of an episode of depression she still carries it with her, it doesn’t get ‘magicked’ away and I found that to be such an important factor. I now want to become a crow rider, though, I don’t see that happening unless I shrink to the size of Thumbelina in our nonmagical world lol. I really enjoyed the storyline and the concept of the crows and their magic. I also was surprisingly in Prince Ericen’s corner from the start, I know what it’s like to be an a**hole to cover the pain inside lol so maybe I connected with him in more ways than I would have cared to admit! The toxic relationship between him and his mom is just heartbreaking. The story is beautiful and raw and Josephson normalizes Thia’s depression in a way that doesn’t smooth it over or constantly portrays Thia as a victim.Īnthia’s torn between juggling herself after the trauma that’s changed her life and the possible trauma that has yet to occur in the marriage of her to the son of the one who caused so much pain. I could connect with Anthia so much because of this, it’s a slow-moving story to start in a lot of ways due to its focus on her and handling her depression. I’ll start off by saying that my review of this could be biased due to my own experience with mental health.ĭoes this book’s plot bring anything new and amazing to the table as far as fantasy concepts go?ĭoes this book highlight mental health in the most positive way I’ve seen yet while still giving me a solid fantasy? My Review Content/Trigger Warnings: Mental Health Focus: Depression, Self-harm, animal deaths. 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. 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.īut when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. GoodReads: In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life…until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything. I’ll start off with the first one and work on to the main feature, The Crow Rider!

So today I’m giving you not on my review of The Crow Rider, releasing next month, but the review for the first book in the Duology as well, The Storm Crow.

The crow rider book