The Crow Rider hits the ground running and does not slow down, and while that in itself is a good thing, it can also take away from the book if written in a rushed manner.

It must have peace before you can expect to bring it to others. Namely three things which each took away half a star for me: the beginning, Caylus, and Ericen ( I’ll talk about them separately).Įven your very heart is armed, Auma had said.

There is so much happening in these 350 pages that certain parts start to feel rushed, underdeveloped, and out-of-the-blue. It’s so much easier to just let things happen.”

It’s no secret that I prefer slow-paced to fast-paced, but I can love the latter too, as long as it doesn’t sacrifice its potential for in-depth development just to put you on the edge of your seat. I feel like this series could’ve easily been a trilogy and should’ve been a trilogy. I loved this sequel, and I wish, oh I wish I could give five winged stars to The Crow Rider, but sadly it could’ve done so much more, been so much more. This is an action-packed second installment ( the opposite of its predecessor) peppered with moments of fresh air, bonding, friendship, self-discovery, unity, doubt, guilt, and forgiveness, with a gem named Ericen and only one true hero aka Res, my precious magical crow-no one can convince me otherwise. “Like trying to reform shattered glass.”Īnd what I’m most thankful for when it comes to this duology, is Kalyn Josephson’s acknowledgement of this trickster and its tricky nature. “Some cracks couldn’t be mended they only became a part of you instead, forever places that left you unsteady. You win, but you feel it there every once in a while, poking its head in, luring you with bitter words. This year, reading the sequel, I feel it because I’m experiencing it this very moment.ĭepression is a funny thing ( pardon my insensitivity) because in every single person it haunts, it brings a different battle an ocean of self-doubt, a blanket of exhaustion, a mist of loneliness, a well of pointlessness, suffocating, suffocating, always suffocating you. Last year with The Storm Crow, I felt its theme of depression due to my own past.

The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson