I ended up really enjoying this! I went in expecting it to fully go either way, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

For the longest time, I kind of thought this book would be just another YA fantasy that read kinda like all the others except the characters and nations have different names and its crows instead of dragons. Instead, it seems like The Storm Crow flipped a lot of tropes on its head, and I genuinely enjoyed most of the narrative choices! It did take me a while to get into the book, but in the end I really loved and appreciated it for all the things it did differently.

First, this book seemed like it was going into the standard love triangle, and the love interest seemed simple from the start (and to be fair it could still go this way in other books), but then it simply didn't. There's not more to explain here without spoilers, but I seriously dread love triangles so much and seeing this not turn into one was such a relief.

Second, Thia continues to treasure the friends she's had longest instead of suddenly treating a brand new love interest as the only person who matters. This is one of the things I loved the most about this book, Thia and Kiva's friendship and how loyal the two were to each other. This was especially shown in

Spoiler

the intimidation scene between Thia and the Illucian queen. Logically, Thia was closer to breaking and spilling the secrets to hatching crow eggs when her lifetime best friend was threatened rather than her love interest of a few weeks.

However, most fantasy books quickly make the love interest(s) more important than pre-existing friendships, so the fact that this book didn't, and doesn't seem to sidelining Kiva for romance, is something I find amazing about this book.

Third, the love interest isn't who I expected it to be (and hopefully remains that way). Most fantasy books have the rival prince become the main love interest, especially if the MC is forced into an arranged marriage with him. Honestly, until more than halfway in the book, I was still desperately hoping that this would be the romance, as I'm always into some enemies to lovers. In the end though, I'm glad that that relationship is moving towards friendship and camraderie rather than just romance and attraction. It feels like a stronger bond so far, that Thia just genuinely cares about what happens to the Illucian prince, and not just because he's hot. It also meant that there was room for a softer, calmer romance to happen more in the background of things, and it felt like the steadying ground Thia needed in her life.

Additionally, I loved that the magic and its source was actually further explored in this book, and seems to be a focal point of the entire series. Often times magic just exists in fantasy books, and I'm glad that, in a society that knows little about why magic works the way it does, just that it's how it's always been, someone is actually trying to learn more. Of course Thia might be more motivated to deconstruct the system she's been raised in because everyone who knew the rituals are dead (and she therefore has to learn everything all over again), but it satisfies my need to know the 'why' behind things nonetheless.

All in all, I'm super excited to read the sequel, and probably will be jumping right into the sequel now!