Calling all bird lovers. Calling all lovers of magic. This is the book for you. This book is grim. I’m not sure how else to put it. However, no matter how terrible the caste system, there is an undercurrent of hope, and that’s what kept me reading.

I read this as a CYBILS 2019 Young Adult Speculative Fiction nominee. Although it did not make the final seven, I enjoyed it a lot and wanted to share it with you all.

Four Stars

You all know I love a strong female lead. Fie is strong but still unique as a girl stepping into leadership, fighting for her people, and learning that there could be more for the world.

The different gifts the bird caste had was really interesting to me. I find groupings of powers interesting in books, especially how authors manage to make theirs unique. This one was unique and believable in the gifts.

I also like that we followed the lowest caste: the Crows. I love birds personally, so I kinda geeked out about getting to read about people whose powers aligned with birds. The fact that they can use the gifts of other castes through their teeth was fascinating, GRIM, and pretty awesome.

I am interested in seeing how the next book goes and if the characters can continue to grow as they did in the first book. I’m also interested to see how the romance develops since I’m a sucker for a magical romance!

I recommend giving this book a read! It was new, not too long, and exciting!