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Daughter of the Wind
by Nora CarmodySeries: Riders of Earth and Sky Trilogy #1
Published by Ace on April 14, 2026
SubGenres: Fantasy Romance
Format: eArc
Pages: 432
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Audience: 18+/Adult
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An ancient evil stirs as a future empress wrestles with a dangerous new magic that threatens her bond with her beloved horse—and a forbidden love for the enemy sworn to protect her.
Zara is First Daughter and heir to the throne in a land where every warrior is soul-bound to their horse. Yet the earth magic of her ancestors has never answered her call, forcing her to question if she was ever meant to rule.
As war rages against the empire’s deadly Eagle Riders, her people edge closer to defeat—until an Eagle Rider comes for her. In a moment of desperation, Zara unleashes a wind magic strong enough to tear giant eagles from the sky. This power could turn the tide of war—but at a terrible cost. It unravels Zara’s psychic bond with her horse.
In exchange for peace, Zara agrees to marry the enemy’s emperor, sacrificing herself to protect her people. But the palace is more treacherous than any battlefield. Hidden there is a monstrous being long buried—and her power-hungry betrothed is determined to set it free.
Sworn to guard the future empress, Commander Talon realizes Zara may be the key to stopping the emperor’s dark ambitions. But he is also drawn closer to her with every breath, fighting between loyalty and a forbidden desire that could destroy them both. With their hearts and lives on the line, Zara and Talon must work together and do whatever it takes to stop the world from falling to darkness. Even if it costs them everything.
It’s true that a cover will grab a reader’s eye because that is exactly what happened when I saw the first book in Nora Carmody’s Riders of Earth and Sky Trilogy, Daughter of the Wind. The cover may have caught my eye, but the synopsis had me intrigued after I read it, which is why I was excited to read this book.
This book had an interesting premise that was promising, but for some reason, I found myself getting bored at times, and I’m sad that I didn’t find myself enjoying this book more. Plus, I know it’s been marketed as New Adult Romantasy, but for some reason, it didn’t read as an NA Romantasy for me, and maybe that will change in the sequel. I will mention right away that if you are expecting spice in this book, there isn’t much. In fact, this is a slow burn and will take a bit for anything to happen between the main characters, and it’s not really heated.
I really enjoyed the world-building and learning about the FMC, Tara, and how she is soul-bound to her horse, and she’s supposed to have earth magic like her mother and their ancestors, but instead, she has another elemental magic that will have their enemy threatened by her. Tara felt she was broken basically the whole book because she wasn’t taking after her mother, especially since she’s supposed to become the leader of the people, eventually. I felt for her character, but was curious about her on finding out why she had another elemental magic. I really didn’t like that her mother was keeping the truth from her about why she had this magic, and maybe in the next book, she’ll grow even more in this power.
When it came to the MMC, Talon, at first, I didn’t like his character because he is targeting Tara and her people, but when he is tasked to be her bodyguard, he ends up caring for her, even though he shouldn’t care for her because she’s supposed to be marrying the emperor, who happens to be his cousin. Talon also has a soul-bound connection, but with his eagle, which was unique too, especially when I was imagining how big the eagles were to carry a human being. No wonder Tara and her people were scared of them. I would be too.
When it came to the antagonists in the book, one of them is the Emperor, whom Tara is being forced to marry, and then there is the creature that is mentioned in the book that is actually pulling all the strings. I don’t want to give anything away, but this creature is not something I would want to deal with, especially with how evil it is. It even scared Tara and her horse, and Talon doesn’t even trust it.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, this book was promising, but I found myself bored, and I almost DNF the book, but I was determined to finish. I’m glad I did because the ending picked up, even if it left me with a cliffhanger. The book was slow in certain parts and very repetitive. One of the things that was repetitive was that Tara was always mentioning how she didn’t have earth magic and had this other elemental magic that had consequences when she used it. It just drove me crazy at times, how many times she mentioned it. The book also had action-packed moments in the beginning and at the end, but the middle was slowed down. The middle is where I found myself bored.
I do plan on reading the sequel because I want to find out what is going to happen next and if the antagonist will be taken care of because it truly needs to be dealt with, so Tara and her people can be safe. There is also the fact that Tara needs to learn her magic that she knows more of at the end of this book. My favorite moment in the book is actually toward the end, but I don’t want to spoil it.
Overall, I give this book 3-stars and will still recommend it. If you are looking for a different kind of Romantasy that has the characters soul-bound to horses and eagles, then check out this first book in the Riders of Earth and Sky Trilogy by Nora Carmody.
POV: Dual POV (Third Person)
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s the first book in a trilogy and needs to be read in order.
What to Expect:
✔Fantasy Romance
✔Forbidden Love
✔Enemies to Lovers
✔Slow Burn
✔Elemental Magic
About Nora Carmody
Nora Carmody lives in South Carolina with her husband and six kids. Before she became an author, Nora worked as a psychotherapist. An avid horsewoman, she grew up riding and competing on her Arabian mare. Her horse riding days may be over, but she’s still a horse girl at heart! When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, Nora takes care of a constantly growing menagerie of pets, including (but not limited to) 2 dogs, 4 cats, 11 chickens, and a bearded dragon.
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My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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