Daughter of Crows

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.