Furyborn, book one of The Empirium Trilogy, is the latest YA fantasy novel from Claire Legrand. It is a tale of elemental magic, a prophecy of two queens, and two young women who live a thousand years apart. Claire and Kyle are happy to dive in after hearing it recommended so strongly by the Unassigned Reading podcast. Kyle begins by discussing the western origins of fantasy literature and how the genre’s stories became so male dominated, before telling his own tale of two mighty queens: Ireland’s Grace O’Malley and England’s Elizabeth I. Claire then talks about Legrand’s inspiration for writing the story, her motivation for writing “unlikable” female heroes, and what Legrand hopes people take away from her book. Kyle and Claire conclude with their thoughts on the book, who would like it, and what about it makes it so YA.