Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
4/5 (just about) ⭐ POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD - PROCEED WITH CAUTION
[b:The North Wind|202934233|The North Wind (The Four Winds, #1)|Alexandria Warwick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1701996182l/202934233._SY75_.jpg|89668051] by [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg]
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
Soundtrack that carried me through:
1. As It Was — Hozier
2. Sirens — Fleurie
3. Winter Bird — AURORA
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
I want to start off by saying, I think I maybe made a mistake reading the Crescent City series just before this book. I found the contrast in writing styles between [a:Sarah J. Maas|3433047|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1582137198p2/3433047.jpg] and [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg] a bit jarring, but I see that as a shortcoming on my part. Regardless, for the first 70% of [b:The North Wind|202934233|The North Wind (The Four Winds, #1)|Alexandria Warwick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1701996182l/202934233._SY75_.jpg|89668051] my rating was hovering somewhere between a high 2 and a low 3. If it wasn’t a book club pick, I probably would’ve shelved it as a DNF.
The writing leaned a bit too matter-of-fact for me at first (short sentences, minimal description), and I wasn’t super invested in the plot or worldbuilding. I had so many questions, and not enough answers. Like… Why does the North Wind get to just take a woman every few years? Who agreed to that? What purpose are they actually serving? Why did he marry Wren on this occasion? And the whole "blood for the wall" thing—mentioned a couple of times and then completely dropped. The side characters were a bit flat for me too, bar a couple like Zephyrus and Orla. The lore was murky at best, and I kept waiting for answers that never quite came.
I struggled with Wren’s characterisation at first. She’s introduced as the typical survival-first, headstrong FMC you find in the fantasy genre, but then she’s oddly quick to shift on major decisions. Like, it took one comment from Orla about Boreas having a temper and that’s enough for her to agree to marry him? Shouldn’t that raise more red flags? And for someone with a long history of alcohol dependence, Wren seems to recover… suspiciously quickly from her forced sobriety. I expected at least some struggle with temptation later on but nope. One magical nap and we move on!
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
You’re probably wondering why on earth I still rated this book 4 stars. To put it simply, the romance. The romance is what completely saved this book for me.
Holy fuck. [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg] may have left me cold with the plot, but the romance was absolutely masterful. She writes slow burn with the patience and precision of a woman who understands the assignment. The tension, the chemistry, the longing, it’s just so good. Every little moment of Boreas softening towards Wren had me giggling and kicking my feet. He’s an immortal god, yet also awkward, shy, and kind of clueless about human emotions. It’s SO CUTE. It’s nice to see an MMC that isn’t the typical ‘I have endless lovers and satisfaction and riches’ guy. One of the most satisfying blends of enemies-to-lovers, one bed, slow burn, and mutual pining I’ve read in a while.
Once their story started unravelling, I was all in. When she wakes up to find his arm wrapped around her when they had to share a bed for the first time? Screaming. They still practically hated each other at that point!!! When he reads aloud the smut book she’d been reading in the library DIRECTLY TO HER? I nearly passed out. Also, Boreas saying “Please don’t stab me for this” before kissing her? Sir, I am DELIGHTED. [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg], you knew exactly what you were doing.
The sleep potion scene was my absolute favourite scene in the entire book. I sobbed throughout the whole thing. Wren still being unsure about everything and everyone, and obtaining the sleep potion (albeit hesitantly) from Zephyrus—a way out, just in case. Then when Boreas catches her in her betrayal, he doesn’t get angry. He doesn’t demand explanations or punish her. Just offers her the dagger and puts it to his own chest. The way he made Wren tell him step-by-step how she was planning on killing him, then gave her the choice to ‘free’ herself by ending his life right there. He’s giving her power in a moment where she’s never had any. He’s saying: if you truly see me as a monster, if this is the only way you’ll feel safe, do it. End it. He strips himself down emotionally, leaves himself wide open, and puts the choice in her hands. The silence between them in that scene is deafening. There is so much weight, so much history, pain, tension. I was holding my breath. The fact he lets Wren see his scars, his self-loathing... It went so far beyond just trust at that point, and it still breaks my heart just thinking about it. Probably one of my favourite book scenes I’ve ever read.
By the end, I was in love with both of them. Wren’s growth is powerful and earned, and her confrontation with Elora was so satisfying. And Boreas giving up his immortality to live a full mortal life with her was icing on the cake (pun intended
4/5 (just about) ⭐ POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD - PROCEED WITH CAUTION
[b:The North Wind|202934233|The North Wind (The Four Winds, #1)|Alexandria Warwick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1701996182l/202934233._SY75_.jpg|89668051] by [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg]
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
Soundtrack that carried me through:
1. As It Was — Hozier
2. Sirens — Fleurie
3. Winter Bird — AURORA
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
“What can power give you? It can't care for you when you've taken ill. It can't make you laugh. It is a rigid, cold thing, affectionless and barren. It does not give. It only takes."
I want to start off by saying, I think I maybe made a mistake reading the Crescent City series just before this book. I found the contrast in writing styles between [a:Sarah J. Maas|3433047|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1582137198p2/3433047.jpg] and [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg] a bit jarring, but I see that as a shortcoming on my part. Regardless, for the first 70% of [b:The North Wind|202934233|The North Wind (The Four Winds, #1)|Alexandria Warwick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1701996182l/202934233._SY75_.jpg|89668051] my rating was hovering somewhere between a high 2 and a low 3. If it wasn’t a book club pick, I probably would’ve shelved it as a DNF.
The writing leaned a bit too matter-of-fact for me at first (short sentences, minimal description), and I wasn’t super invested in the plot or worldbuilding. I had so many questions, and not enough answers. Like… Why does the North Wind get to just take a woman every few years? Who agreed to that? What purpose are they actually serving? Why did he marry Wren on this occasion? And the whole "blood for the wall" thing—mentioned a couple of times and then completely dropped. The side characters were a bit flat for me too, bar a couple like Zephyrus and Orla. The lore was murky at best, and I kept waiting for answers that never quite came.
“I am not gentle. I am a creature whose teeth were sharpened on suffering, and above all else, I will survive.”
I struggled with Wren’s characterisation at first. She’s introduced as the typical survival-first, headstrong FMC you find in the fantasy genre, but then she’s oddly quick to shift on major decisions. Like, it took one comment from Orla about Boreas having a temper and that’s enough for her to agree to marry him? Shouldn’t that raise more red flags? And for someone with a long history of alcohol dependence, Wren seems to recover… suspiciously quickly from her forced sobriety. I expected at least some struggle with temptation later on but nope. One magical nap and we move on!
✦•······················•✦•······················•✦
"Patience is for those who know little of what they want. I tell him as much."
You’re probably wondering why on earth I still rated this book 4 stars. To put it simply, the romance. The romance is what completely saved this book for me.
Holy fuck. [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg] may have left me cold with the plot, but the romance was absolutely masterful. She writes slow burn with the patience and precision of a woman who understands the assignment. The tension, the chemistry, the longing, it’s just so good. Every little moment of Boreas softening towards Wren had me giggling and kicking my feet. He’s an immortal god, yet also awkward, shy, and kind of clueless about human emotions. It’s SO CUTE. It’s nice to see an MMC that isn’t the typical ‘I have endless lovers and satisfaction and riches’ guy. One of the most satisfying blends of enemies-to-lovers, one bed, slow burn, and mutual pining I’ve read in a while.
“I stare at the bed.
He stares at the bed.
Of course there is only one bed—again.
Of course.”
Once their story started unravelling, I was all in. When she wakes up to find his arm wrapped around her when they had to share a bed for the first time? Screaming. They still practically hated each other at that point!!! When he reads aloud the smut book she’d been reading in the library DIRECTLY TO HER? I nearly passed out. Also, Boreas saying “Please don’t stab me for this” before kissing her? Sir, I am DELIGHTED. [a:Alexandria Warwick|15371632|Alexandria Warwick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1730129593p2/15371632.jpg], you knew exactly what you were doing.
“The Frost King draws my hand forward, closing it over the hilt. The leather crinkles beneath my sweaty palm as he positions the dagger point to rest over his heart.”
The sleep potion scene was my absolute favourite scene in the entire book. I sobbed throughout the whole thing. Wren still being unsure about everything and everyone, and obtaining the sleep potion (albeit hesitantly) from Zephyrus—a way out, just in case. Then when Boreas catches her in her betrayal, he doesn’t get angry. He doesn’t demand explanations or punish her. Just offers her the dagger and puts it to his own chest. The way he made Wren tell him step-by-step how she was planning on killing him, then gave her the choice to ‘free’ herself by ending his life right there. He’s giving her power in a moment where she’s never had any. He’s saying: if you truly see me as a monster, if this is the only way you’ll feel safe, do it. End it. He strips himself down emotionally, leaves himself wide open, and puts the choice in her hands. The silence between them in that scene is deafening. There is so much weight, so much history, pain, tension. I was holding my breath. The fact he lets Wren see his scars, his self-loathing... It went so far beyond just trust at that point, and it still breaks my heart just thinking about it. Probably one of my favourite book scenes I’ve ever read.
"He, Boreas the North Wind, had baked a cake."
By the end, I was in love with both of them. Wren’s growth is powerful and earned, and her confrontation with Elora was so satisfying. And Boreas giving up his immortality to live a full mortal life with her was icing on the cake (pun intended
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first ever intentional book club read!
It was fun, and I'm glad I got to discuss it with an amazing group of people.
I will be searching out the next book in the series because I want to learn more about the other characters. However, I honestly wouldn't re-read this particularly book because enemies to lovers slow burns bore me, they just don't entertain me. And there wasn't enough fantasy world building and interesting characters around this to build the story on its own.
If you're not like me and do love to the slower burning enemies to lovers sort of relationship, and feel like braving an fantasy Epic then check out The Game of Thrones series. The relationship I refer to is in the third or fourth book I believe.
I loved that every character had their flaws, keeps them more human-like this more interesting to me.
I did really like the short story at the end, that's definitely worth reading, not skipping.
It was fun, and I'm glad I got to discuss it with an amazing group of people.
I will be searching out the next book in the series because I want to learn more about the other characters. However, I honestly wouldn't re-read this particularly book because enemies to lovers slow burns bore me, they just don't entertain me. And there wasn't enough fantasy world building and interesting characters around this to build the story on its own.
If you're not like me and do love to the slower burning enemies to lovers sort of relationship, and feel like braving an fantasy Epic then check out The Game of Thrones series. The relationship I refer to is in the third or fourth book I believe.
I loved that every character had their flaws, keeps them more human-like this more interesting to me.
I did really like the short story at the end, that's definitely worth reading, not skipping.
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TLDR: This book is homebrand ACOTAR. Save your money and just read the real thing.
When Wren’s sister is chosen to be the North Wind’s new wife, Wren will do anything, even sacrifice herself to save her sister from this fate.
Admittedly I only read 65% of this novel before I absolutely could not bear to read anymore (this novel is entirely too long, and the burn is so freaking slow). But here are my thoughts on the 65% I did read:
Wren
Wren is your stereotypical dystopian heroine from a few years ago, the character traits of which has been rising in popularity in the Romantasy genre in recent years as authors flock to where the readers are. As you can probably guess from what I said above, Wren is tough, she’s like a little cockroach doing whatever it takes to survive and she’s not pretty, despite her identical twin sister being the most gorgeous woman in her village (an idea I’ll come back to later). The only way Wren differentiates herself from any typical reader insert is her alcohol addiction, a fact that is mostly ignored or written with a complete lack of nuance.
Wren’s character arc throughout “the North Wind” is incredibly confusing. Despite this cockroach-like character trait of hers and her constantly reminding of how tough she is, Wren constantly has a bleeding heart. There is a part where Wren is, quite literally, nearly beaten to death by the villagers near the North Wind’s palace, and instead of trying to retaliate in anyway (like her tough demeaner would have you believe), she instead decides to throw a party for them after there has been absolutely no change in their behaviour or feelings towards the North Wind.
Similarly, Wren is always poking her nose into things that are absolutely none of her business, despite her insistence that she has no feelings for the North Wind or does not care about how he manages his business. I really struggled with this aspect of her as she is constantly insisting she can’t wait to kill the North Wind, yet instead of doing anything to help her achieve this goal, she busies herself with helping him befriend the villagers (the same ones that tried to kill her) and deal with the shades (souls of the dead). This constant flip flopping of Wren’s feelings and actions got so exhausting and boring and was poorly written that I honestly just didn’t care when they started falling in love for real.
The North Wind
First, the North Wind had too many names. He was called the North Wind, the Frost King, Boreas and many more. Second, the use of “Boreas” as a name really annoyed me. This is because in addition to his powers as being the North Wind, he is also weirdly in charge of the equivalent of the underworld??? For some reason?? It is somewhat explained in the text but god, it is a stretch. I wish the author had of used any name other than Boreas for the North Wind because then I could have justified it as fantasy. However, using the Greek mythology name and other Greek mythology ideas throughout the text, this really annoyed me because where is Hades in this world? I get that this is meant to be a Hades x Persephone reimagining, however I feel like that could have been achieved without the explicit mentioning of Greek mythology.
Additionally, the big reveal that this big bad god is secretly just shy and a bit socially awkward, was incredibly lame and he is also just completely uninteresting too.
Elora
Elain is Wren’s sister. Sorry, I meant Elora. My bad.
Despite being on the cusp of starvation every day, Elora sits at home doing nothing to help, except look pretty and turn down every marriage proposal she receives. While Wren is out in the freezing cold, getting attacked by darkwalkers and risking her neck, Elora does f all. This killed me in so many different ways, the first being just how much similarity it bore to Elain/Nesta in ACOTAR. The second being just how much of a cow she is. Wren has a complete alcohol addition yet Elora does nothing to help her, and nothing to help their situation in life. She is completely undeserving of Wren’s sacrifice and just a horrible, boring, poorly written and thought out character.
The World
The world building in this story makes absolutely no sense because it is not explained to the reader very clearly. There is such little description in this novel that it was only when I got 50% of the way through that it was revealed that the North Wind has blue eyes.
Because the world building is so poor, it’s hard to know where and what everything is. I have no idea what the Deadlands are or where they are situated in relation to the Shade or what either of these things look like. I also have no clue what these darkwalkers look like either. Sometimes they’re described as being humanoid, sometimes they’re describes as being horses, sometimes they’re describes as being complete beasts. I also don’t know what they look like in general. How do you tell a normal human apart from a darkwalker other than the fact that they smell like smoke? I don’t know.
More things that I don’t know: Why does the Shade need the blood of a mortal woman to strengthen it? To be honest, I don’t really know what the Shade is but I really don’t know why Wren needed to marry the North Wind. It’s explained that there have been wives in the past and that they had “happy-ish” lives, but why? Why did these women need to marry the North Wind? It is absolutely never explained and I wish it were.
Overall, I absolutely would not recommend this book which is so disappointing because I saw it advertised all over my TikTok and Instagram and I was really excited to get the opportunity to read it.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read “The North Wind” by Alexandria Warwick in return for an honest review.
When Wren’s sister is chosen to be the North Wind’s new wife, Wren will do anything, even sacrifice herself to save her sister from this fate.
Admittedly I only read 65% of this novel before I absolutely could not bear to read anymore (this novel is entirely too long, and the burn is so freaking slow). But here are my thoughts on the 65% I did read:
Wren
Wren is your stereotypical dystopian heroine from a few years ago, the character traits of which has been rising in popularity in the Romantasy genre in recent years as authors flock to where the readers are. As you can probably guess from what I said above, Wren is tough, she’s like a little cockroach doing whatever it takes to survive and she’s not pretty, despite her identical twin sister being the most gorgeous woman in her village (an idea I’ll come back to later). The only way Wren differentiates herself from any typical reader insert is her alcohol addiction, a fact that is mostly ignored or written with a complete lack of nuance.
Wren’s character arc throughout “the North Wind” is incredibly confusing. Despite this cockroach-like character trait of hers and her constantly reminding of how tough she is, Wren constantly has a bleeding heart. There is a part where Wren is, quite literally, nearly beaten to death by the villagers near the North Wind’s palace, and instead of trying to retaliate in anyway (like her tough demeaner would have you believe), she instead decides to throw a party for them after there has been absolutely no change in their behaviour or feelings towards the North Wind.
Similarly, Wren is always poking her nose into things that are absolutely none of her business, despite her insistence that she has no feelings for the North Wind or does not care about how he manages his business. I really struggled with this aspect of her as she is constantly insisting she can’t wait to kill the North Wind, yet instead of doing anything to help her achieve this goal, she busies herself with helping him befriend the villagers (the same ones that tried to kill her) and deal with the shades (souls of the dead). This constant flip flopping of Wren’s feelings and actions got so exhausting and boring and was poorly written that I honestly just didn’t care when they started falling in love for real.
The North Wind
First, the North Wind had too many names. He was called the North Wind, the Frost King, Boreas and many more. Second, the use of “Boreas” as a name really annoyed me. This is because in addition to his powers as being the North Wind, he is also weirdly in charge of the equivalent of the underworld??? For some reason?? It is somewhat explained in the text but god, it is a stretch. I wish the author had of used any name other than Boreas for the North Wind because then I could have justified it as fantasy. However, using the Greek mythology name and other Greek mythology ideas throughout the text, this really annoyed me because where is Hades in this world? I get that this is meant to be a Hades x Persephone reimagining, however I feel like that could have been achieved without the explicit mentioning of Greek mythology.
Additionally, the big reveal that this big bad god is secretly just shy and a bit socially awkward, was incredibly lame and he is also just completely uninteresting too.
Elora
Elain is Wren’s sister. Sorry, I meant Elora. My bad.
Despite being on the cusp of starvation every day, Elora sits at home doing nothing to help, except look pretty and turn down every marriage proposal she receives. While Wren is out in the freezing cold, getting attacked by darkwalkers and risking her neck, Elora does f all. This killed me in so many different ways, the first being just how much similarity it bore to Elain/Nesta in ACOTAR. The second being just how much of a cow she is. Wren has a complete alcohol addition yet Elora does nothing to help her, and nothing to help their situation in life. She is completely undeserving of Wren’s sacrifice and just a horrible, boring, poorly written and thought out character.
The World
The world building in this story makes absolutely no sense because it is not explained to the reader very clearly. There is such little description in this novel that it was only when I got 50% of the way through that it was revealed that the North Wind has blue eyes.
Because the world building is so poor, it’s hard to know where and what everything is. I have no idea what the Deadlands are or where they are situated in relation to the Shade or what either of these things look like. I also have no clue what these darkwalkers look like either. Sometimes they’re described as being humanoid, sometimes they’re describes as being horses, sometimes they’re describes as being complete beasts. I also don’t know what they look like in general. How do you tell a normal human apart from a darkwalker other than the fact that they smell like smoke? I don’t know.
More things that I don’t know: Why does the Shade need the blood of a mortal woman to strengthen it? To be honest, I don’t really know what the Shade is but I really don’t know why Wren needed to marry the North Wind. It’s explained that there have been wives in the past and that they had “happy-ish” lives, but why? Why did these women need to marry the North Wind? It is absolutely never explained and I wish it were.
Overall, I absolutely would not recommend this book which is so disappointing because I saw it advertised all over my TikTok and Instagram and I was really excited to get the opportunity to read it.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read “The North Wind” by Alexandria Warwick in return for an honest review.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was fun. Wren (Beauty/Persephone) and Boreas (Beast/Hades) fall in love and have some self realizations. They hate eachother then learn to like then love eachother, open up and become vulnerable, kick their habits (alcoholism, really?) and then live happily ever after. Yay. Will read the rest of the series as sexy little breaks from nonfiction/real life books.
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved this and was ready to give it 5 Stars. Until the ending. Felt extremely rushed.
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No