Daughter of Crows

By Mark Lawrence and Mark Lawrence

Book Overview

The survivor of a brutal academy must exhume her own past in the first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of the Library Trilogy and the Broken Empire series.

Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.

The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies--known as the kindly ones--against whom even the gods hesitate to stand. Each year a hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three will emerge.

The Academy's halls run with blood. The few that survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.

Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue ... she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman's doorstep.

That was a mistake.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593818946
• ISBN13: 9780593818947
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Disappointing Start to a Series I Really Wanted to Love

The premise of Daughter of Crows sounded like everything I enjoy in fantasy: a dark world, assassins, multiple points of view, and a seasoned protagonist with years of elite training. Unfortunately, while the concept had a lot of potential, the execution just didn’t work. My biggest issue was the lack of emotional connection to the characters. I never became invested in anyone’s journey, and because of that, many of the major moments landed with little impact. The multiple POVs also felt more disjointed than cohesive. I usually love books with several perspectives, but here they never came together in a way that made the story feel stronger. Rue, in particular, was difficult for me to believe. We’re told she spent years training at an elite academy, yet many of her decisions didn’t reflect the instincts or competence I’d expect from someone with that background. Flawed characters are great—but I still need their actions to feel consistent with who the story tells me they are. I also found parts of the writing confusing. There were several scenes where I had to reread passages because I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Rather than feeling mysterious or layered, the storytelling often felt disjointed and pulled me out of the world. Ultimately, this was a book I finished more because I wanted to understand the hype than because I was eager to keep turning the pages. While I can appreciate the interesting premise and understand why it may work for other readers, it simply never clicked for me. I won’t be continuing the series, but I hope readers who connect with the characters and writing style have a much better experience than I did.