Furyborn (Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand

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Synopsis:

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.
When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

I had my doubts when I began reading Furyborn because I wasn't sure that I would enjoy reading a book that switches between points of view that happen in different points in time. I thought that it would be confusing and that I would get lost within the story. Someone had told me that wasn't going to happen and I should have believed them. I was hooked from the first page and could not put it down until the story ended.


I noticed elements in Furyborn that were familiar in other YA fantasy books. There are others books out there that have elemental magic, royalty, and chosen ones but Furyborn offers a fresh twist on this genre. 

I loved both of the main characters and I was shocked by the amount of depth that was added to the story because of the amount of time separating the two of them. I came to appreciate Rielle's point of view because it explained the world beautifully. She and Eliana were each wonderfully written, each having flaws that made them both relatable and frustrating at times. There were times where I found myself shouting at each of them to wake up and realize what was happening around them. 

I thought that the connection that is hinted at in the synopsis of the book was obvious as was who was which queen in the story but it didn't take away from the book at all. I loved the characters, the plot, and the author's writing style. I can't wait to read the next book and it is horrible that I have to wait! I hope that the author keeps the book a dual point of view because I feel like Rielle has more story to tell in the next book. I have a feeling that things are about to get crazy on both sides of time!