Wings of Fury by Emily R. King

Title: Wings of Fury

Author: Emily R. King
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Wings of Fury # 1

Paperback, 302 pages
Publication: March 1, 2021 by 47North
Source: I received a review copy from WunderKind PR in exchange for a honest review.
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Cronus, God of Gods, whose inheritance is the world. Among his possessions: women, imprisoned and fated to serve. The strong-minded Althea Lambros controls her own fate and lives to honor her dying mother’s plea to protect her two sisters at all costs. Althea’s journey toward crushing the tyranny has begun. It is a destiny foretold by the Fates. And she is following their visions.

On the southern isle of Crete, hidden among mortal women who have fled the Titans, is the Boy God, son of Cronus and believed dead. He shares Althea’s destiny to vanquish the Almighty—fate willing. Because Cronus has caught wind of the plot. He’s amassing his own forces against Althea’s righteous rebellion and all those who will no longer surrender or run. There will be war. If she’s to survive to write their history, the indomitable Althea must soar higher than any god.

My Thoughts

Greek mythology is back y’all. I remember Greek mythos was all the rage in YA and Middle Grade back around 2010. And I honestly haven’t encounter many Greek mythology inspired novels since then, that is until now with King’s Wings of Fury. Wings of Fury is a coming of age and self-discovery story of Althea Lambros. As with most heroine in a story, Althea is destined for greatness and on her journey to greatness she is prophesied to bring down the tyrannical Titan Cronus with the help of The Boy God.

Many Greek inspired novels are centered on the Gods and Goddess. I love that Wings of Fury took a different route and focused on the Titan…and womanhood. This past year it was all about girl power and femininity taking center stage and Wings of Fury is no exception. Althea is a very independent and headstrong character. While she is the middle child of three sisters, she is a true lioness when it came to protecting her family and those she cared about.

I love that we were right besides Althea as she set out to discover herself, not only her true identity but what she’s capable of. Even a tribe of so-called warrior women was not match for Althea, she didn’t back down to any man, woman or god. I liked her fieriness. However, the supporting cast wasn’t as interesting as our lead. While Theo and Zeus played an important role and I enjoyed their banter, they easily faded into the background. And Althea’s sisters were sadly the least memorable of the cast. I never connected with them and hope the sequel will heavily focused just on the trio: Althea, Theo and Zeus.

Overall Wings of Fury was a solid start to a brand new series. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing more titans and gods and what King has in store for Althea. If you like female, feminist driven novels with a dose of Greek mythology then Wings of Fury is for you. It’s a fairy short novel that offered a few hours of escapism. Which was exactly what I needed.

 

 

The Last Uncharted Sky by Curtis Craddock

Title: The Last Uncharted Sky

Author: Curtis Craddock
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Risen Kingdoms #3
Hardcover, 448 pages
Publication: August 11, 2020 by Tor Books
Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.
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Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l'Empire Celeste. But Isabelle, as a result from a previous attack that tried to subsume her body and soul, suffers from increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent, and Jean-Claude is seperated from the expedition.

In a race against time, Isabelle must figure out how to ward off her ailment before it destroys her and reunite with Jean-Claude to seek the fabled treasure as ancient secrets and a royal conspiracry threaten to undo the entire realm.

It felt as if it was just yesterday when I started The Risen Kingdom series. I didn’t know what I was getting into. Only to discover a world full of sky islands, magic and courtly intrigue. I definitely didn’t expect this to be one of my favorite series. The Risen Kingdom series follows Princess Isabelle and her musketeer, adoptive father Jean-Claude as they navigate the political and social sides of the royal court.

In The Last Uncharted Sky, the final installment of The Risen Kingdom readers find newly titled Capitaine Isabelle, Marie, Jean-Claude and Major Bitterlich on a quest for the legendary and mythical Vault of Ages; a place of riches and power…and supposed key to the end of the world. As the new Capitaine, Isabelle’s role and responsibilities haven’t changed or decreased. The weight of the world and people’s dependency seems to rest more heavily upon her and so is the long list that wish her incapacitated. Isabelle’s crew aren’t the only one looking for the Vault. Isabelle fly across the skies in a race against pirate and time itself.

Craddock finishes the series strong, delivering another action packed adventure while keeping true to the essence of the characters. Isabelle has came a very long way from the first book, under the supervision and restriction of her father and certainly made a name and charted a path for herself, however fraught it may be; she always came out swinging and on top. I still love seeing the relationship between Isabelle, Marie and Jean-Claude grow and their banter always brings a smile to my face. We see a lot of old and new characters enter the picture, expanding more on the world. I especially enjoyed seeing Djordi’s tribes and seeing Marie enter the challenge for the title of Fellhand. That was amazing.

The Last Uncharted Sky was a bittersweet ending to a beloved series. While this book concludes the trilogy, there is so much potential for additional books within the world or another trilogy arc. I’m crossing my fingers for more books in the world! If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend that you do. Definitely an underrated gem with a strong and brilliant female protagonist.