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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
A facile attempt at a political romantasy, born from a Star Wars fanfic.
Shallow characters. The author seems to have little understanding of nationalist pride or how deep war trauma really runs. Easy-bake-oven, count-by-numbers fantasy tropes and too-fast romance papered together with a fantasy-Asian backdrop and the occasional dragon.
Definitely won’t be following this series. Contextually, the plot basically boils down to:
A young orphaned Palestinian grows up in the slums of Gaza to become a freedom fighter, where she learns she has the power of ✨sunlight✨. Then when Israel obliterates the resistance (led by what may as well be Netanyahu’s hot son, the Night Emperor, who obviously has the power of
Shallow characters. The author seems to have little understanding of nationalist pride or how deep war trauma really runs. Easy-bake-oven, count-by-numbers fantasy tropes and too-fast romance papered together with a fantasy-Asian backdrop and the occasional dragon.
Definitely won’t be following this series. Contextually, the plot basically boils down to:
A young orphaned Palestinian grows up in the slums of Gaza to become a freedom fighter, where she learns she has the power of ✨sunlight✨. Then when Israel obliterates the resistance (led by what may as well be Netanyahu’s hot son, the Night Emperor, who obviously has the power of
I don’t think I hate this book enough for it to deserve my elite one star status. However I had A Very Bad Time and listened to it at 2X speed to get through it. As I said in my first update, literally less than 30 minutes in, I was perturbed by some unknown thing. I thought it was the writing style. But technically it was fine. I thought it was the overwhelming quantity and underwhelming quality of the world-building. But when I forced myself to focus in, I noticed that the barrage of info was typical, even if it wasn’t memorable. Like literally none of it stuck.
I, still after finishing it, don’t know if it was sci-fi, fantasy, or some sort of unholy fusion. Ultimately, I came out of the exposition feeling like I was missing an inside joke. Not to speak of the terrible pacing, boring encounters, and jarring time skips. It felt like the story started when she was reunited with her family (the second time.) And everything up until that point was a slap dash attempt to drown the reader in neon signs and billboards that screamed “LOOK THEY’RE ENEMIES! LOOK LOOK. They HATE each other a lot…or do they?”
It felt like the author wanted me to be so caught up in the enemies to lovers of it all that I wouldn’t notice it started out as Reylo fanfiction. Let me start out by saying I love that fanfiction can get traditionally published under new names. The more characters to fall in love with the merrier. However, I don’t care about Star Wars and care EVEN LESS about the ship that is Reylo. Once this was pointed out to me, every vague nameless thing that irked me about this book locked into place. I was doomed from the start to not like this based on the source material alone.
The next complaints I have about this book have nothing to do with its origins. Please enjoy.
- Why are the elements wind, water, storm, light and dark or something like that. Surely there is some overlap in the existing. And some that are completely left out. It’s very “earth, wind, fire and air” of you author.
-Is a Wasp literal or a name for an air craft? Why are there flight ships in a world with dragons? Pick one. Or failing to do that, explain better. At least give the obligatory “dragons are a myth,” BS so I can pretend to be surprised when one gets blown out of the sky halfway through the book.
-This girl flip flopped more than a dying fish on a Sandals beach. (Get it? Sandals? Flip flop)
-The only thing worse than a FMC commenting on how small and dainty they are is having the MMC do it for them in their POV. Many times. Barf.
-Did we have to be so contrived and heavy handed with the light/dark motifs? Like, COME ON. I’m not even talking about Jedi/sith comparison. I mean good old fashioned good/evil. BORING.
-The biggest insult to me as a reader is that everything was predictable. So much so, that I could finish this trilogy right now. A. She goes to live with him for a bit. B. Everyone and their mom tries to kill her and he protects her. C. She reveals where her old comrades have been hiding. D. He goes back to daddy dearest because his wife is still his enemy despite the many sexy times they shared. E. He eventually finds out that the members of the “dark side” are actually the aggressors. F. They fall in love (again) and decide to work together on what is effectively “their side” to truly combine their empires in the name of freedom or Whatever.
-This book is to shadow daddies what divergent was to YA Dystopian fiction. The final nail in the coffin. I’m good on this type of male love interest for the rest of my life. The market is over saturated with shadow welding boy toys. Give them (and us) a break. Write something else please.
-I know I missed a whole hell of a lot but why is this called the hurricane wars? Someone explain that to me?
I, still after finishing it, don’t know if it was sci-fi, fantasy, or some sort of unholy fusion. Ultimately, I came out of the exposition feeling like I was missing an inside joke. Not to speak of the terrible pacing, boring encounters, and jarring time skips. It felt like the story started when she was reunited with her family (the second time.) And everything up until that point was a slap dash attempt to drown the reader in neon signs and billboards that screamed “LOOK THEY’RE ENEMIES! LOOK LOOK. They HATE each other a lot…or do they?”
It felt like the author wanted me to be so caught up in the enemies to lovers of it all that I wouldn’t notice it started out as Reylo fanfiction. Let me start out by saying I love that fanfiction can get traditionally published under new names. The more characters to fall in love with the merrier. However, I don’t care about Star Wars and care EVEN LESS about the ship that is Reylo. Once this was pointed out to me, every vague nameless thing that irked me about this book locked into place. I was doomed from the start to not like this based on the source material alone.
The next complaints I have about this book have nothing to do with its origins. Please enjoy.
- Why are the elements wind, water, storm, light and dark or something like that. Surely there is some overlap in the existing. And some that are completely left out. It’s very “earth, wind, fire and air” of you author.
-Is a Wasp literal or a name for an air craft? Why are there flight ships in a world with dragons? Pick one. Or failing to do that, explain better. At least give the obligatory “dragons are a myth,” BS so I can pretend to be surprised when one gets blown out of the sky halfway through the book.
-This girl flip flopped more than a dying fish on a Sandals beach. (Get it? Sandals? Flip flop)
-The only thing worse than a FMC commenting on how small and dainty they are is having the MMC do it for them in their POV. Many times. Barf.
-Did we have to be so contrived and heavy handed with the light/dark motifs? Like, COME ON. I’m not even talking about Jedi/sith comparison. I mean good old fashioned good/evil. BORING.
-The biggest insult to me as a reader is that everything was predictable. So much so, that I could finish this trilogy right now. A. She goes to live with him for a bit. B. Everyone and their mom tries to kill her and he protects her. C. She reveals where her old comrades have been hiding. D. He goes back to daddy dearest because his wife is still his enemy despite the many sexy times they shared. E. He eventually finds out that the members of the “dark side” are actually the aggressors. F. They fall in love (again) and decide to work together on what is effectively “their side” to truly combine their empires in the name of freedom or Whatever.
-This book is to shadow daddies what divergent was to YA Dystopian fiction. The final nail in the coffin. I’m good on this type of male love interest for the rest of my life. The market is over saturated with shadow welding boy toys. Give them (and us) a break. Write something else please.
-I know I missed a whole hell of a lot but why is this called the hurricane wars? Someone explain that to me?
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
epic in scope and somewhere between slow burn and not at all slow burn this romantasy is was so fun! I can see this story having such a wide appeal. I feel like I've read stories similar to this so many times but in almost all instances the woman is being forced to marry and she doesn't want to but slowly falls in love with the man, but I LOVED that the MCs have made the choice to marry together. They choose to do what's best for their countries together rather than being forced in a terrible way. This story retains the same dynamic that I've seen countless times before but blows it out of the water with that subtle agency that makes a huge difference.
I gave it an honest go and I didn’t like the vibes the romance was giving off (too much Reylo fanfiction feel) and I didn’t care enough about the rest of the story to put up with it.
The slowest burn. Place and people names I have only on vibes. Insecurities and magic. I’m excited for the next one.
This didn't hold my attention, and it was starting to feel like a chore to read.