House of Beating Wings (1) (The Kingdom of Crows)

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I'm starting to sincerely doubt that I read the same book as everyone else. If I'm being completely honest I was bored from the beginning. Something about the heroine and how naive she comes across made it really hard for me to root for her in any way. After a while, I realized that that's just how she's written. The romantic side plot is moving at a glacier's pace and I don't even know if I like the guy because he's barely in the story up to this point. The actual story is also at a standstill and has been for quite some time. It only just now started to start (which with how bored I already am is just too late in the book for me) The people she surrounds herself with, for the most part, either have an attitude toward her or are just plain mean or boring. The one thing I disliked about the heroine that left a bad taste in my mouth was how she went out of her way to s*ut shame and profession shame (the other woman was a sex worker) another woman because she was jealous. Like... I'm sorry but in this house, we don't shame other people for doing what they need to do to survive. Hell, if sex work is what someone wants to do go right ahead. As long as you're not hurting/endangering yourself or others I won't be commenting on it because it's none of my business nor anyone else's. Here is the thing. I like certain aspects of this book. I think the world is so incredibly fascinating and well described, and the plot is intricate and thought through. THE BEST THING about this book was definitely the world-building. It was very well thought-out and I appreciated all the little details. I think the magic and the different cities/races were all well explained and kept me interested in the story. We kept learning more and more about the history and the different races and it was a nice and steady release of information. I’ve stolen a mythical, murderous creature. I shudder as the depth of what I’ve done folds over me like dark water.

The Kingdom of Crows Series by Olivia Wildenstein - Goodreads

THE ROMANCE WITH the real love interest didn’t really start until over halfway through the book. Honestly, I question his sanity because I don’t know how he can be even remotely interested in Fallon. Because of their mind connection, he could read all her thoughts, and boy did she have a lot of dumb thoughts. If I had to listen to her incessant daydreaming about Dante and how she’s going to marry him and be queen all day long then I would definitely NOT be interested. But I guess she’s probably BeaAuTiFUl so why would a personality matter 🤡 And the 'War scene' it was so perfectly done!!🤌 I mean it has been ages scene I've seen a good well build war scene or fighting scene where everything is taken slowly and there is desperation in our hearts that if the mmf or fmc are going to survive or no. Yeah, Loved that about this book. The plot FINALLY started to get interesting around 60% and I started liking the story again, but the MC still made me wanna scream at her to open her eyes :))) Fallon was a magicless halfling who was given a prophecy, free the crows and they will make you queen. Being loathed by the full blooded fae, Fallon was intrigued to go above her station. Especially since she saw a chance with having a future with her friend, Dante. Who was brother to the crown. Fallon's world was changed forever when she started her quest to free the crows! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, provided by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*It´s a question of knowing the loyalty of the males around me. They´ll do anything to protect their prince. Anything." One such example if the narrators constant stream of side thoughts. Dozens of lines which add nothing but word count. Yes a decent editor should have advised it all be left on the cutting room floor but a write of Wildenstein's usual caliber should also have seen at second glance of her manuscript that it was all utter rubbish.

House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildenstein | Goodreads

Other than that, we do get some romance. Well, hints of a horrible love triangle. Spoiler alert: I didn't like either guy. I feel like she should leave them both in the dust and go off with the bird. Just saying. I feel like she would be happier, and I would be too.

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Polubiłam Fallon ze wszystkimi jej wadami, naiwnością czy młodzieńczym zaślepieniem, ale to drugoplanowi bohaterowie, a zwłaszcza jeden gbur, całkowicie mnie oczarowali. Zarówno czytałam dla samej fabuły, niesamowicie wartkiej i wciągającej, jak i dla jednego z jej bohaterów. Chociaż byli i tacy bohaterowie, którzy bez kawy potrafili mi mocno podnieść ciśnienie i rozbudzić, abym mogła czytać dalej do 3-4 w nocy. This book has a prophesy, magic, Fae, Crows, Serpents, someone who sees the future, banter, action, ghosty/phantom hands, and questions left to be answered. The cliffhanger leaves you excited and ready for book 2!

House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildenstein - online free at House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildenstein - online free at

There were so many amazing shoot offs Wildenstein could have explored here, but she ignored a grand total of all of them and chose to waste readers time with silly things. - Don't get me started on the weird "you should sell your virginity" path we headed down for no reason." I think what ruins a lot of this book for me, well besides the MC being VERY naive and immature, is the fact that we as readers can see where the story is going from the very beginning. It’s not hard to sus out which characters we should be wary of and which direction the plot was gonna move. I was lowkey just waiting for the MC to catch up with what I assume most readers had already suspected from the start. After meeting her own Prince Charming—in a Parisian discotheque of all places—she decided to put fingers to keyboard and craft love stories for a living. None of her characters have ever met in a Parisian nightclub... as of yet. So far, I think this is Wildenstein’s best world building. We have politics, a war, magic, multiple supernatural creatures and more… (and all of them were well done).

Right off the bat, I immediately recognized the difference between the writing style in this book and in the author’s other works (the last book I read by her being Starlight). Although I love that series, I have to say that the writing worked a lottt better for me here. It just seemed much more mature (which makes sense given this is a NA/adult novel instead of YA). I personally love it when characters curse and speak freely and plainly in my books —they just seem more relatable to me once they curse lmao— which is probably why this worked so well for me. GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/s Olivia is the byproduct of a meet-rude in a Parisian discotheque that turned into an epic love story spanning several decades. Naturally, this shaped the way she viewed romance. The main character Fallon has no clear purpose or character growth, she just goes blindly into literally everything without a second of questioning. And not to mention every character conveniently adds into the plot in the most seamless and unproblematic way it makes no sense.