18 years ago two half sisters went to war over their father’s throne, shadow sisters, born at nearly the same time to two different mothers. One sister, magicless, held the armies and the politicians. The other sister, bonded to a powerful, brilliant Phoenix held hearts, magic, and the might of the great Phoenix Riders.

Both sister died in one night, leaving behind death, destruction, and enemies determined to hunt down the last of the Phoenix riders, and anybody with the magic making them capable of becoming one.

Now, two sisters, orphaned by the wars, survive on the fringes of society, desperately seeking Phoenix eggs, and the possibilities they hold.
But what if one sister manages to bond with a newly hatched Phoenix and the other doesn’t?

What if the last remnants of the Phoenix riders are hidden away in hidden mountains, refusing to allow women to join their numbers?

What is these sisters are not the only war orphans holding the power of animagus which enables them to bond with the nearly extinct magical birds?

What if fate is a mirror, waiting to bring the war between sisters back again?
After all, a Phoenix is the symbol of rebirth, isn’t it.....

For a debut novel, Pau Preto has created a brilliantly layered, world, rich in history. Her characters are well written. While I may have had a moment over the Mulan-ing of a particular character who has to pretend to be a boy in order to join the riders, it never felt forced. Plus the relationships that s/he created were well written and dealt with the “grand reveal” in ways that felt organic and natural.
Pau Preto also created an LGBT relationship that I am almost more invested in than the main one. Please, please, please bring back my boys!

Plus the few great twists which I will NOT in any way spoiler, just made the narrative stronger. Wowee! Nicki, you are now on my auto buy list. 9/10

I do like a good fantasy read and although it is a while since I was a YA I've often enjoyed this sort of book. The book initially introduces us to two sisters, Veronyka and Val, who are animages. Animages are capable of communicating with animals magically. A major war some 16 years earlier has left them orphaned. The war was also responsible for wiping out the Phoenix Riders. These legendary heroes, animages all, rode phoenixes in battle. They were defeated by the Council. The sisters wish to become phoenix riders. All they need to do is hatch two phoenix eggs.

This is a fantasy read so obviously there are journeys to be made, people to meet and challenges to overcome. Val is a controlling person which causes rather more than tension. The Council are still at war with Phoenix Riders and seek to destroy any their troops find. Animages are at best second class citizens and usually enslaved. Family histories are gradually revealed as are more general myths and legends. There is plenty in this to keep the reader entertained.

The writing is fairly straightforward and should be easily understood by the YA target audience. I guess I found some aspects of this fairly obvious however some things did take me by surprise. Veronyka is a well worked character and there are others too than played a very good part for me. While I guess I, as an adult, would rate this as 4 star I imagine that the target audience might rate this more highly. This is the first book in a two part series and I enjoyed reading it. Whatever else I would certainly read book two very happily.

Crown of feathers

Characters - as ever there was more characters that I haven't mentioned and I did like a few of them.
Veronyka - kind and a little naive.
Val - older sister and she was a little cruel.
Sev - Scared for the most part.

Likes
- map, timeline and glossary - I love when books have these in them.
- concept of Phoenix riders - it just sounds great and I liked how it was shown. I could tell it was well thought out and a lot of time went into the world building. Also the phoenixes I thought were done well.
- diversity - it felt natural and I really enjoyed it.
- the ending - Phoenix action was amazing.

Disliked
- info dumping - it is a fantasy and the world building has to be done but it felt a little long in some places and it didn't help with the pacing of the plot. Also some things felt repeated.
- I wasn't overall fond of the romance but I'm not a fan of romance in general. But I didn't think it was really needed, there is nothing wrong with just friendship.
- wasn't much Phoenix action and my interest wasn't held in some places.
- I found some info a little confusing but it may be because I had to keep putting it down.

It felt like a long read to me and I didn't really connect with the characters all that much but I still mostly enjoyed the story. If you like world building and phoenixes then this is for you.