Review of Daughter of Crows
We recently gifted an advanced copy of Mark Lawrence’s new book, Daughter of Crows, to Imaginarium regular Char, in exchange for an honest review.
For those that don’t know, Mark Lawrence is an American British fantasy writer, currently living in the U.K. He is the author of the Book of the Ancestor trilogy, and more recently, The Library trilogy. We read the first of this series, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, in our SFF book club, and it became a firm favourite for some of our members.
Lawrence has been signed by Harper Collins for another series, and the first book is out in March. The Academy of Kindness series starts with Daughter of Crows, and here’s what Char had to say about it.
“Daughter of crows is the first book in Mark Lawrence’s newest fantasy series. Lawrence combines real world mythology with an imaginative setting to create a dark and gritty book, but one that still manages to tug at your heart strings.
Daughter of crows follows Rue, the survivor of a brutal training academy, who just wants to spend her last remaining years in a simple farming village, far removed from the horrors of her youth. When her village is attacked she learns that age has not dulled her desire for vengeance as she sets out to find those responsible.
Despite the tagline of the book - it takes a monster to catch a monster- Rue is an absolute delight to follow. While she has done, and continues to do, horrific things, the core of the story really looks at what you would do to save the ones you love, and the lengths you would go to avenge them once they are gone. You get to see Rue in the current timeline and back whist she was training at the academy. The differences in perspective provided by the age gap were fascinating to watch, as was watching how the past has shaped Rue. I also loved the world building surrounding the magic system, and the way part of the magic had almost horror undertones. I have always found The Furies fascinating and I loved how there were woven into this book, the role they had in the society, and the way the academy tried to mould its students into their image.
The changing timelines do, however, slow the story down, with the book as a whole feeling like a set up book. By looking at the events that made Rue into who she is today, and with the present timeline feel more like a preparation for future books rather than it's own story. The start of the book is also confusing, I found that switching timelines and trying to determine whose perspective you are in did take some time to get used to.
To me, this was a book filled with the themes of: rage, the power of memory, actions in the name of love and the family that you make for yourself. It also looks at aging and the sadness it can bring. I would highly recommend Daughter of crows and already cannot wait for the sequel!”
Daughter of Crows is released on 26th March, in Hardback.