BOOKS ¦ Review: The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

Name: The Storm Crow
Author: Kalyn Josephson
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Date Published: July 2019
Rating: 4/5
Note: This book has a trigger warning for depression.

In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life...until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.
That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother's death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.
But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

- From Goodreads.

The Storm Crow was a very exciting story, I read it in two days because I kept saying to myself, "just one more chapter, just one more chapter" every time I considered putting it down. I felt very invested in the book and I really cared about what was happening to the characters.
The setting and world of the story was very fascinating, there was a lot of depth and backstory for each kingdom mentioned and that made the world feel real and intriguing. The idea of the magical crows and the magic system in general was amazing and was something I do not think I have read anything similar to. It was really heart-warming to read about how much the main character, Anthia, loved the crows and their magic and how passionate she was about them.
Anthia was a wonderful main character, I really loved her and understood the pain that she went through. I liked that it was explicitly stated in the book that she suffered from depression, and I liked that the friends and family that truly loved her did not blame her for feeling the way that she did, or at least came to understand that it was not her fault, and helped her to learn that there was no shame in her emotions.
I think one thing I was disappointed by in the book was the romance. There was something like a love triangle and I am afraid I never really enjoy reading those. I felt most interested in her developing relationship with the person she did not end up with, and I did not find myself wanting her to have anything more than friendship with the person she did end up with, and unfortunately that did mean that I enjoyed the story a little less.
Hopefully the problems I did have with this book will work themselves out in the sequel and I will find that an improvement on this book, because I did enjoy most of this story and I am looking forward to finding out what happens next to the characters.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in Fairyloot's December 2018 box, which I bought for myself. There are no gifted or sponsored items in this post.