bibliorama's reviews
162 reviews

Yeah, this wasn't for me. I enjoyed the first half of the book, but at some point it all started feeling dragged out and repetitive. And, I get that Joe's personality is that he thinks about one thing only and focuses on that, but for 422 pages I just couldn't deal. Plus, the plot twists weren't surprising, which if they were I probably could've forgiven the repetitiveness. At the end, I was disappointed by this one.

This series holds so much nostalgia for me. I first read this book when I was in middle school and now I'm in college, so going back and rereading it was a trip. I was surprised by how much I remembered, but it was the little details that I had forgotten like how district 11 sent Katniss bread. It just so happened that these little details were the ones that made me the most emotional and brought me back into this story which I thoroughly enjoy.

So for only being 90 pages, I basically took half a semester to read this (college will do ya like that). But, even with long breaks between readings I was able to retain pretty much all of what was happening, and I think that really shows that this is the kind of story that will stick with you. My only complaint is I wished it was a full blown novel.
I would like to do a full review of this story once I think about it overall more and once I have the time.

Don't mind me, just laying in a puddle of my own tears.

My favorite part was definitely the artwork, which was also what made me pick it up in the first place. I thought the story was alright, though I've noticed that whenever I read comics I never connect to the story as much. For me the story always feels a little rushed with not as much build up happening. But, I think someone who enjoys comics would also enjoy the look and feel of this story.

Honestly, the best dystopian book I've read. The reason I liked this so much was because the situation in the book as far the government control is concerned is based on the people making a choice for themselves and then the government followed. I feel like this book really goes into the idea that you can only make a choice for yourself. *Spoilers Possibly* I also felt that the ending was one of the most hopeful dystopian endings I've read simply because there was a sense that even if people make the wrong choice they can always change. *End of Spoilers*

This was kind of long winded and I want to say even more about this book (my fav for a reason). But, I part of the reason why I got such a positive experience from this book definitely has to do with where I was when I read it, so that plays a factor.

More like 2.5 stars. The ending was the only thing that made this book worth reading and made the idea of me reading the sequel possible. I think the writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. The first person narration got kind of grating and was repetitive with a lot of lines. I also felt like a lot of the important scenes didn't have any time spent with them and was rushed through (except for the ending, that scene was well done and makes me hopeful for the second book).

Tangent: I'm not sure what this says about me, but with how I've seen reviews and listened to what people said about this book I expected it to go further and for Jude to go further than what she did. Like she kept saying how she needed to be worse than the faeries to survive but everytime a situation presented itself for her to do that she resisted. I don't think that's bad character dev, I just figured that she would go for it. But, that was an assumption on my part from what I had read in reviews and not the fault of the book.

More like 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed the beginning of this story and thought that the tension during this part of the book was gripping. Also really enjoyed the introduction to Safi and Iseult's friendship and the way it functioned.

Somewhere throughout the middle though the tension dipped out for me and I had to push myself to finish. It wasn't that I didn't have interest in the story, I just didn't feel the driving tension or danger that was pushing the characters. I think this is because in some areas it felt like the characters weren't focused on the danger that followed them, or that it seemed like they were safe and acted as such. Anyway, in that sense it was a slow read for me, but I will be carrying on with the series (just won't be rushing to read the next books right away).

Here's my casual order of my enjoyment for the character povs.
Aeduan - because he was one of the main drivers of conflict in this book. (Characters who cause trouble is always entertaining to me)
Safi and Iseult - I liked their dynamic together and their individual characteristics
Merik - His pov really just didn't do it for me. He seemed to me like a character that was built for the plot points

Safi was able to escape because he needed a trade deal and because romance

Plus the parts of his character that did fleshed him out more just didn't interest me as much as the others. So, I don't think he was badly written necessarily, but he was the weakest in my opinion (which is by no means law)

At the end of the day, I'm not disappointed but not enthralled either. I am interested to see how this series builds.

Really loved this book. I highly recommend this is read during the winter time, or in an outdoor setting (I read a majority of this while out camping and it heightened the nature character of this book).

I think the characters were the strongest aspect of this book. Vasya and Anna had one of the more interesting dynamics for me simply because in some ways they were similar (mainly with the gift of sight), but the way they dealt with the situation was so different. And, the tension built from that was well done. Granted, Vasya's dynamic with every character was a compelling one. I also like how this book handled the family dynamics between siblings, where normally in fairytales the relationship between siblings is more rocky but Vasya's and her siblings have a strong, loyal relationship.

The reason I'm giving this book 4 stars and not 5 is because the majority of this book felt like set up, so it had moments that moved slower not in proportion to the ending. Still, this was an enjoyable read.

After finishing a series that I've been following for a few years, I always find myself in that state of slight numbness. Sometimes I'm ecstatic for how a series ends and sometimes I'm disappointed. With War Storm I find myself, satisfied, not overly happy for the characters and their circumstances, but the story ended with a note of hopefulness for the future. Even though the ending wasn't something that came with a concrete, set-in-stone this is how all the problems are solved solution, I feel enough information was given that I can imagine where things would play out from there. And I like not having everything be completely wrapped up in the long-term and only having the immanent threat (being Maven and the Lakelands) be resolved. One thing I wished did happen was having someone important on the protagonists' side die, even on the antagonists' side too. Really only one important person died

being Maven (which I understand why it happened and I don't mind how it was handled, I just really freaking liked his character. He was pretty entertaining like all the time.)

It just would have been more realistic for the battles, and not having anyone that the reader actively follows die at the end takes away from the severity of it all. Also this book was a lot of planning (almost all planning going back forth with the characters), but I didn't mind that though I can understand if some people do.

I want to make an edit for this review a few days after writing it. There is one story line in this series that never really gets any resolution that I am actually disappointed in.

One of the big parts of the series was the question of why the silvers and newbloods had evolved in the first place to have powers, and from book one it was brought up that Julian was looking for the answer. It made it seem like this plot point was important to the overall story, even though as time went on it seemed clear that the story wasn't evolving in a way that focused on this question, all the books (including War Storm) have lines that reiterate the question. So never getting any semblance of an answer or even a reasoning was the most disappointing part of this finale for me.

Overall I was kind of worried going into this book from the mixed opinions I had seen from small glimpses of reviews, but by the end I don't hate it and I don't feel shorthanded except for maybe a few places. I also appreciate the growth that the characters went through, especially Mare's. At the beginning her chapters were my least favorite to read because she was all anger and petty towards Cal and she wasn't trying to understand where he was coming from, so it made her seem hypocritical. However, at the end her perspective grew and changed and I really liked the thought in that arc.
I'm gonna end it here. I'm not sure how helpful this was, but my thoughts are out and I can officially move on to the next series :D