Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
The survivor of a brutal academy must exhume her own past in the first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of the Library Trilogy and the Broken Empire series.
Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.
The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies—known as the kindly ones—against whom even the gods hesitate to stand. Each year a hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three will emerge.
The Academy’s halls run with blood. The few that survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.
My Review
Daughter of Crows was my first Mark Lawrence book, and I can definitely see why he has such a strong fanbase. This is a dark, brutal, and very atmospheric fantasy with a ton of ambition behind it. The concept alone immediately pulled me in—an academy that turns girls into agents of vengeance, layered with multiple timelines and perspectives—and the world itself feels rich, dangerous, and fully realized.
That said, this was a bit of a slow start for me. It took a while to really get my footing with the different POVs and how everything connects, and I found myself feeling a little lost early on. Once things begin to come together, though, the story becomes much more engaging, and you can really see the bigger picture Lawrence is building toward. The writing itself is strong throughout, and the darker tone feels very intentional and consistent. Overall, this didn’t completely hook me the way I hoped it would, but I can absolutely see this being a hit for readers who love grim, layered fantasy with a lot going on under the surface.
THE GOOD:
- The world-building is incredibly immersive—dark, gritty, and full of interesting details.
- The central concept (the Academy + vengeance-driven training) is super compelling.
- The multiple POVs add depth and make the story feel larger in scope.
- The tone is consistently bleak in a way that really fits the story.
- Once the threads start coming together, the story becomes much more engaging.
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
- The pacing is slow, especially at the beginning, and it took me a while to get into it.
- The multi-POV structure can feel a bit disorienting early on.
- I didn’t feel fully hooked or emotionally invested as quickly as I wanted to.
THE NEUTRAL:
- This is a very dark, heavy fantasy—definitely not a light or easy read.
- The structure requires some patience before everything starts to click.
- If you enjoy complex, layered storytelling, this will likely work much better for you than it did for me.
OVERALL RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Daughter of Crows is a dark, ambitious start to a new series with strong world-building and a lot of moving pieces. It didn’t fully hook me, but I can absolutely see it working for readers who love grim, multi-POV fantasy.
PERFECT FOR:
- Readers who enjoy dark, gritty fantasy with high stakes
- Fans of multi-POV storytelling and layered narratives
- Readers who like morally complex characters and vengeance-driven plots
- Anyone looking for a new, brutal fantasy series to dive into
