Book Review: Daughter of Crows (Academy of Kindness 1) by Mark Lawrence


5/5 stars. Mark Lawrence is one of my favorite authors and this new book reinforces my opinion of his writing. Lawrence started his career with Prince of Thorns, one of the best Grimdark stories I have ever read. In Daughter of Crows, Lawrence creates another Grimdark world filled with dark beings and the people who follow them.

This story has three main points of view: girls in the Academy of Kindness, a younger girl kept as a hostage and tortured in a mansion, and an older-aged woman (Rue) who, we learn, once served as a Kindness. The Academy of Kindness trains young women to be the physical representatives of the Furies on Earth, carrying out vengeance on those who violate the rules of hospitality and kindness. Only three girls from each class of 100 survive to become Kindnesses. Lawrence has crafted an entertaining dark story that kept me turning the pages late into the night.

I also want to say that it is refreshing to have a main character who represents the oldest generation in the world. I think we do not have enough older characters in fantasy. I know there are some, but this seems like an untapped potential source of fitting stories. With Rue, we witness her coming to terms with her age, seeing what has happened to others whom she might have called friends, and realizing that the fate for all of us is to watch our friends and families fade away before us. This character was such a great part of the story, not to mention that she is still a badass, maybe just a little slower than in her youth!

This story releases on March 24, 2026, and I highly recommend it!

#NetGalley #AceBerkeleyPublishing #DaughterofCrows

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