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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Set in Carterhaugh at Thornbrook abbey, and narrated by twenty-one year old Brielle; a novice.
Brielle is sent on a quest to retrieve Meirlach, a blade that can kill a god.
While on her quest, Brielle meets Zephyrus, the West Wind.
Brielle is sent on a quest to retrieve Meirlach, a blade that can kill a god.
While on her quest, Brielle meets Zephyrus, the West Wind.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you so much to @simonandschusterUK for making my year by sending me a PR box for one of my favourite authors and book series. You made this reader so incredibly happy with this gorgeous proof; I'm sending you all 5-star read wishes for all the books you read for the rest of the year.
The West Wind is a very different book than its brother. If the North Wind were a mountain, I'd call it Ben Nevis – a little tricky, manageable for most people. Then, I would describe The West Wind as Everest – only the toughest getting out of this book unscathed. I know the letter in the PR box from Alexandria Warwick said (and I quote), 'And if you shed a tear or two, well, I consider that a job well done.' A tear or two, I sobbed and cried buckets. You ripped my heart out of my chest and served it back to me on the last page of this gorgeous green and gold book!
Alexandria Warwick has the perfect recipe for a romantasy – a gripping plot with high stakes, forbidden romance, lush world-building, and rich character development. Her writing style brought a thoughtful, moodier tone with some philosophical theme rooted in the heart of the West Wind. She sucks you into a new distinctive, wild world with terrifying, outcast fae and humans who rule with absolute power and prejudice towards their underground neighbours. She weaves her original lore around myths, legends, and ballads of cultures across the world, focusing on Greek and Scottish in the West Wind.
She invests a lot of energy into the details of her characters to create such incredibly complicated, rich personalities and depths of soul. Her character arcs are masterpieces on the page, and you can see how the characters change throughout the story with high-stakes consequences, painful choices, and horrible sacrifices. What's more impressive is when an author can sculpt their protagonists' story and development arcs around secondary cast characters. Prompting these outlining characters to change with the circumstance rather than shrugging their shoulder and going on with their lives like nothing has happened, which Alexandria Warwick does marvelous with Harper, who's a grade-A mean girl until Brielle's sacrifices and actions bring enlightenment and new purpose to her life.
It's the little things that hook you into being able to relate to her characters on a very personal level – Brielle's discomforts and struggles with her body being a bigger, curvy girl resonated with me at times as they were captured in very visual imagery that sparked empathy and kinship in me because I knew exactly how that felt.
Brielle's character growth from a reserved, polite acolyte who never rocked the boat to a strong rulebreaker who questioned everything was an incredible journey to read. Her growth and change were strong, but it never broke her faith. She only moulded it to work with her changes so she could be her best self.
I thought that Zephyrus was irredeemable after all the terrible things that come to light – not just his antics from the North Wind. How could he become a character I could root for? He's an incredibly complex, morally grey god who hides a cinnamon roll personality and inner light under so many masks and shies away from doing the right things in favour of the easy ones until love gives him something to sacrifice for.
A romantasy full of redemption, journeys of self-discovery, terrifying fae villains, and a slow-burn romance that throws trials, tribulations, and heartbreak at our couple on their long road to happily ever after. Forcing them to grow, challenging their worldviews, and finding something to fight for to become the best versions of themselves and work to earn each other's love.
The West Wind is a very different book than its brother. If the North Wind were a mountain, I'd call it Ben Nevis – a little tricky, manageable for most people. Then, I would describe The West Wind as Everest – only the toughest getting out of this book unscathed. I know the letter in the PR box from Alexandria Warwick said (and I quote), 'And if you shed a tear or two, well, I consider that a job well done.' A tear or two, I sobbed and cried buckets. You ripped my heart out of my chest and served it back to me on the last page of this gorgeous green and gold book!
Alexandria Warwick has the perfect recipe for a romantasy – a gripping plot with high stakes, forbidden romance, lush world-building, and rich character development. Her writing style brought a thoughtful, moodier tone with some philosophical theme rooted in the heart of the West Wind. She sucks you into a new distinctive, wild world with terrifying, outcast fae and humans who rule with absolute power and prejudice towards their underground neighbours. She weaves her original lore around myths, legends, and ballads of cultures across the world, focusing on Greek and Scottish in the West Wind.
She invests a lot of energy into the details of her characters to create such incredibly complicated, rich personalities and depths of soul. Her character arcs are masterpieces on the page, and you can see how the characters change throughout the story with high-stakes consequences, painful choices, and horrible sacrifices. What's more impressive is when an author can sculpt their protagonists' story and development arcs around secondary cast characters. Prompting these outlining characters to change with the circumstance rather than shrugging their shoulder and going on with their lives like nothing has happened, which Alexandria Warwick does marvelous with Harper, who's a grade-A mean girl until Brielle's sacrifices and actions bring enlightenment and new purpose to her life.
It's the little things that hook you into being able to relate to her characters on a very personal level – Brielle's discomforts and struggles with her body being a bigger, curvy girl resonated with me at times as they were captured in very visual imagery that sparked empathy and kinship in me because I knew exactly how that felt.
Brielle's character growth from a reserved, polite acolyte who never rocked the boat to a strong rulebreaker who questioned everything was an incredible journey to read. Her growth and change were strong, but it never broke her faith. She only moulded it to work with her changes so she could be her best self.
I thought that Zephyrus was irredeemable after all the terrible things that come to light – not just his antics from the North Wind. How could he become a character I could root for? He's an incredibly complex, morally grey god who hides a cinnamon roll personality and inner light under so many masks and shies away from doing the right things in favour of the easy ones until love gives him something to sacrifice for.
A romantasy full of redemption, journeys of self-discovery, terrifying fae villains, and a slow-burn romance that throws trials, tribulations, and heartbreak at our couple on their long road to happily ever after. Forcing them to grow, challenging their worldviews, and finding something to fight for to become the best versions of themselves and work to earn each other's love.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Brielle is the saying “no good deed goes unpunished” personified.
Zephyrus did not have the character arc I was hoping for - his path to good was too tenuous, too late in the game, and he did not deserve Brielle’s redemption, imo.
Zephyrus did not have the character arc I was hoping for - his path to good was too tenuous, too late in the game, and he did not deserve Brielle’s redemption, imo.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
This was excellent. The characters are engrossing, believable, and enthrallingly flawed. The character arcs are sweeping and inspiring. The writing is astoundingly good for the genre.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced