Crown of Feathers

Well life is too short for The Crown Of Feathers by Nikki PauPreto.I think her agent made a mistake by publishing this book, I believe it to be premature as Ms Preto ramble aimlessly through huge quantities of unnecessary ponderings by protagonists and pseudo-historical trivia. Perhaps the writing needs to be honed down and tightened up. Some action starts to happen and you think, “oh good” and sit up in your chair, then you get 3 pages of descriptions and lose the plot and the will to live.Get a grip, girl.I feel that one (maybe?) has to have a few terrible and wonderful life experiences in order to write successfully, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of G.O.T gratuitous violence. Then you have the bank clerk who comes out with something astonishing, compelling and wholly imaginative. So, who knows?I have been reading fantasy for 30 years I think, and this is one of the very few books that I have thrown aside in exasperation.It is actually a great shame, because the story idea is good, although a bit hackneyed, (the girl dresses up as boy to do her thing, etc, etc) apart from the phoenixes. There were a few unexpected twists and turns which I enjoyed, but when I started to skip whole paragraphs without ever missing any of the action.... I knew that i was on a loser, sadly.The cover is very nice though.

So I'm going to *attempt* to form my thoughts into coherent sentences that isn't just me constantly gushing about this book.This story is kind of like Mulan meets GoT in South America. I'm not saying the world is meant to be like South America but that's the vibe I got and I'm sticking with it 👍So a few things that I ADORED about this book were;VeronykaThe trans acceptanceSev being gay AFTristan being the cutest little bi cinnamon rollTHE TWISTSThe charactersThe world buildingThe relationshipsThe multiple POVsThe hugs & affection 😭 (this is something I don't think we see enough of in Fantasy books and I really enjoyed it)The writing style was excellent and genuinely Very funny in places. The battle scene at the end felt so tense and exciting and that's not an easy thing to achieve.The magic style was also unique. An affinity with animals isn't a new power idea as such but for it to be the protagonists main power and for the book to identify the good and bad ways it can be used felt very refreshing.My only qualms with this book are that Avalkyra should have been older. She was a very intense and mature character and for her to die after a war at the age of 18 felt off. I assumed her and her sister would at least be in their mid-20's, if not older. (Avalkyra is already dead when the book starts, this isn't a spoiler)My other qualm is that as animages, I thought it was a bit odd that they still ate animals. It was sort of quickly explained that all creatures have their place but, as a vegetarian, I was like hmm, could've just not eaten meat 🤷‍♀️Either way, I'm so excited to read the sequel!

Loved this book, just finishing reading the second aswell. Cannot wait for the third!!

Received quickly. In very good quality.

4.5/5Have you ever wondered how it would be to have a magical companion? What if you were destined to see the world and go on an adventure? What if you dare to become more than you already are? Crown of Feathers take us on a real journey of discovering oneself and the meaning of a team, and ultimately, it shows us a unique side of what it means to love someone beyond words.The story is told by three POVs: Veronyka, Sev and Tristan. These three are quite different from each other, but the thing they have in common is that they’re animages, which means that they can communicate with animals, and big creatures such as the phoenixes.Nyka wanted to become a phoenix Rider since she was little but her sister is always kept her away and belittled her even if she doesn’t notice at first. Sev, on the other hand, became a soldier so he would survive, since the previous war left animages two choices: to be a soldier and fight their own people or become or to submit to slavery. And Tristan is the son of a Commander who might not be what he expects, in fact, he has a secret that might change the whole game.In this world, once they are bonded, phoenixes and Riders can feel the same as their companion and both gain something from their intertwined magic. But after the war, there were scarcely any phoenix eggs left, so when Veronyka and her sister, Val, found a couple, they feel lucky.Fortunately for Nyka, her egg hatches and she instantly bounds her soul to Xaphira, a beautiful, smart female phoenix. They were getting along until Val decided to kill her in front of Veronyka, changing her destinies forever.I want to add that Val is a character that I could never understood because she’s a bully to her own sister. She takes decisions that harm her but she always says that “it is for her own good”. Even after revealing her true persona, I was more convinced that she was no good.Anyway, Nyka leaves Val and finds herself a Rider training camp. In there she meets Tristan and after disguising herself as a young man, they train together and become friends that support each other.Now, I know this totally reminds you to Mulan or Eragon, and it certainly has some similar elements, but I couldn’t help to love the book as a whole because it has an entertaining world building, remarkable character development and the magic system is just the cherry on top.I know that there are some fantasy tropes we’ve seen in other books but I just couldn’t help but to love this story in particular. I mean, we rarely see phoenixes as magical companions, and I’m always up for books with female protagonists that show that it doesn’t matter where you came from, or how you look like, you can always become something better.Also, I want to give this book credit because most of his characters are POC, which is something I always appreciate (yeah, representation does matter!!! And I’m tired of seeing white, blue-eyed folks in every single fantasy book). And I think there might be a queer romance as well!I honestly cannot wait to read the sequel and I would totally recommend you to give this one a try! Nicki Pau Preto has become one of my favorite authors!