This was a book I knew I needed to read because I have loved the author for years now. And that cover sold me. It is simply so beautiful. It also sounded like such an exciting story, even though it was a little different from what I usually read. But giant eagles. Definitely a story that could be for me. But then it was sadly not.
I am going to have so much to say about this book. And I am not sure where to start. So I will begin by sharing that it was sadly a two star read for me. I wish I had loved it. I so wish I had liked it more. I tried my very best to, but it was simply not to me. But the plus side is that I did not hate anything about this. Which is good.
But yes. I have a whole lot of thoughts to share about this story. The things that I did not like. But there was no hate. There was not anything that made me dislike this book, it was just not for me. And so I shall begin by sharing the things that I did like, as there were parts that were good as well. I liked how very close the horse people were. With each other and with their horses. I loved that they didn't eat meat. I really liked the scenes of flying on eagles in the air. I have always dreamed of flying. I liked the horse riding scenes as well. And I especially love that gorgeous cover. It is simply stunning. That may be all the positive things that I have to share right now, ack. I just had too many small issues. But again, no hate at all for this book. It was simply not for me. For several reasons, though, which I will be describing.
My first problem with this book was the writing. I did not like it. I was not able to connect with the main girl, Zara, at all. I simply didn't care for her one bit. Which was so depressing. The writing also kept changing, which was a little annoying. It ended up telling more instead of showing. There was nothing that kept me interested in the girl or the story. I just did not feel any emotions at all. It switches between Zara, and the boy, Talon. And I did not like him much either, to be honest. I am not sure if the writing is to blame for it.
It also did not help that they both felt like teenagers, around sixteen years old. And I have no idea how old they were actually supposed to me. It is not mentioned, which also bothered me. Talon looks at Zara once and thinks she is in her early twenties. I'm guessing he is older, since he was the eagle army commander. But it is never said. But yes. They felt so very young. It is supposed to be an adult book, but I did not get that feeling from it at all. The word sexy is mentioned twice, which also didn't fit in at all. It was a bit weird.
Anyway. This book tells the story of Zara. She lives with her people on the plains, doing their best to hide from the eagle riders. As their people have been at war for over a hundred and fifty years. I do wish there were some more details about that, as it was a bit too easy to get a treaty done. Zara is a First Daughter. And her mother was Queen of All Queens. And they were Children of Earth. It was a bit too much for me. I liked their customs. I did not like their names at all. I also did not like Zara's mother very much, honestly.
Zara has a horse bonded to her, called Shazeera. It bothered me at first, these bonded horses. For so long they are always mentioned by name by Zara in her thoughts. And they are everywhere with them. Inside all their homes, sleeping with them many times as well. It seemed like it would be so messy, haha. But that is not mentioned. Zara has a mind connection with Shazeera. They have been together since they were small. She calls them heart sisters. And I did like their close bond. But at the same time, not.
Because the horse did not feel like a horse. And that was disturbing. With all the thoughts being shared, it felt like it was a human inside of a horse body. I wish it had been a little more horse like, somehow. Then the eagle riders have that same connection with their eagles. The other point of view is Talon, with his eagle Neo. Also felt like a human inside of an eagle. It was a little weird. I liked the eagle more than the horse, though, oops. But yes. It all felt a little weird to me. Yet I did like their connection to their animals.
Okay. I have written way too much without mentioning the plot. Zara is supposed to have magic powers like her mother, to keep their people safe. But she does not. She feels nothing. Until suddenly she gets the power of the wind instead of the earth. Which she discovers when an eagle rider is trying to kill her, and she blasts him out of the sky. Which was pretty exciting to read about. I wanted more about the wind power. It was too little of it. Because of this, she is now being forced to marry the emperor to get peace.
Which was a little weird. Especially when she knew nothing about their way of life in the city up in the mountain. And so the first part of the book is her on the plains, then it's her in the mountains. Which was a depressing place. And honestly just boring to read about. Not going to share too much more, just that it is about Zara somehow falling in love with Talon, who is guarding her. It was too sudden and no actual romantic moments. It is about a monster being in this place, and them trying to kill it to save everyone.
The villain of this story is a being that they call Ozul. It was a little creepy, but it was also just so weird and I did not get this story much. The Emperor, Altair, had sort of allied with this creature. Whom is somehow eating the souls of people. And then they are all calling these soulless people for a walking corpse. That honestly bothered me as well, since they all called them that. It was a little weird. But it was an interesting villain, in a way. But their plan to get rid of him was honestly all kinds of terrible, ha. And ended so badly.
I have to mention the romance as well. It's meant to be enemies to lovers. I did not see that at all. Yes, their people were enemies. And for one second they tried to kill each other. The next second they were pretty much in love with each other. They were not enemies at all, not in that way. And I did not get the romance at all, sadly. I wish I had loved it. But it was too soon. There was no reason for either of them to like the other. It was so sudden, without any scenes spent together. To me, the romance was not good.
It was also barely there. A few kisses. And sadly not written very well, as I did not feel anything for them. It might just be a problem that I have, of course. I do think others will love this book. I'm just way too picky when it comes to writing. Talon kept thinking he would hurt his cousin to keep Zara safe. This made zero sense to me. Ugh. And to me, everything felt so distant. I did not care for any of the characters or for this world. Though I was curious about the world and the small part of magic it had. I wanted to know more.
A few parts of the writing that bothered me, that I simply have to share about. From the beginning, Zara always thinks about her blood freezing to ice. In several different ways. And way too often. This bothered me. And then later, after they are suddenly in love, she keeps seeing heat in the eyes of Talon. It just felt so awkward, in a way. When the eagles take off the ground it is mentioned as their wings pumping. Which may be the way to describe it, of course, but felt like it was so weird every time. Oops. I failed to ignore it.
Will end my review by mentioning the ending. Some people died, and I did not care one bit. And I did not get why Zara cared about them at all. She had not spent time with them, except having them as guards. Yet she mentions that she trusts them. It was just odd. The deaths were weird, but made sense. Then it ends pretty badly. But it sets up the next book very well. And there was one thing that I liked very much. There was a new eagle being mentioned. And that was my favorite part of the whole book. It was great.
The biggest thank you to the author, Nora, for gifting me this most beautiful ARC copy of this book to read. It means the world to me. I am sorry I did not like it more. But I am so glad that I read it, and I will still be getting my pre-ordered finished copy, as I truly love that cover. And I am curious about the next two books. I will be reading them too. Daughter of the Wind was not as amazing as I had hoped it would be, but it was still a stunning story to read. And I am glad I gave this a chance. I think you all should too.
