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frogggirl2's review
I'm finding this very tedious to read. There's some exciting events that occur but it's not coming together fast enough. I'm not invested in or even interested in any of these characters. I can't put into words exactly what I don't like about this but it just feels off and inconsistent. I can see what other people like about this but for reasons I can't quite quantify it's not for me.
oreoboi's review
4.0
This book is filled with a wide array of characters that makes following it difficult to begin with, however as they become fully fleshed out it becomes much easier. Filled with mystery and action it makes for an excellent read. My one gripe would be, I would have liked to see Serena use her power more but I guess I will have to wait for the sequel. I also hope there will be more of Damien's story.
matt_darksidreads's review against another edition
5.0
“A bounty hunter with a death wish. A girl with fearsome powers. A kingdom on the brink of destruction.
Symphony of the Wind is the first book in a gritty epic fantasy trilogy. If you like hardened heroes, steampunk airships, and dark magic and monsters, then you’ll love Steven McKinnon’s visceral adventure.”
I was provided a copy of the book Symphony of the Wind by the author in exchange for an honest review. I was interested in this title after seeing it scoring highly in the SPFBO last year, seeing several comments about it being a dark steampunk novel. It was more than that as I was blown away by the book. It has everything you need in this one, tremendous world building, wonderful characters, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.
This is Steven McKinnon’s debut fantasy novel and I was captivated from the beginning with steampunk style airships used to collect rainwater to provide water to a kingdom that was decimated by war. Then there is the culture he has created, there is so much lore and backstory included without a huge infodump. The amount of lore and history he has effortlessly pumped in this story really adds a depth that is hard to find.
The story jumps between several POV’s from a third person perspective which I usually don’t care for, but it works with his writing style. The POV’s mainly go between Tyson Gallows, the bounty hunter with a death wish, and Serena, the young girl who is just starting to discover her powers. Some of the side characters get a turn in the POV spotlight and even they are fleshed out very well in a way that makes you care for them as much as the main characters. My favorite being Damien Fieri, the partner of Tyson Gallows, who has his own demons to deal with.
The first quarter of the book I found to be a little slower paced but after that it’s got a very quick pace without feeling rushed. The battle scenes are well done and gritty which is a plus in my book. I didn’t feel that there was an excess of gore or brutality just to have it in there but that it was all done in good taste and relevant to the story. The action is well placed and intense at times I was almost jumping with the events in the book and actually found myself with my mouth hanging open a few times when a plot twist or some other unexpected event showed up.
Overall this is one of the best put together books I have read in a long time. I really was blown away by this debut into fantasy that reads more like a book from a seasoned author. I can’t wait to get into the rest of this series to see how the events unfold. I would give this book a rating of 5 on the grimdark scale.
Symphony of the Wind is the first book in a gritty epic fantasy trilogy. If you like hardened heroes, steampunk airships, and dark magic and monsters, then you’ll love Steven McKinnon’s visceral adventure.”
I was provided a copy of the book Symphony of the Wind by the author in exchange for an honest review. I was interested in this title after seeing it scoring highly in the SPFBO last year, seeing several comments about it being a dark steampunk novel. It was more than that as I was blown away by the book. It has everything you need in this one, tremendous world building, wonderful characters, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.
This is Steven McKinnon’s debut fantasy novel and I was captivated from the beginning with steampunk style airships used to collect rainwater to provide water to a kingdom that was decimated by war. Then there is the culture he has created, there is so much lore and backstory included without a huge infodump. The amount of lore and history he has effortlessly pumped in this story really adds a depth that is hard to find.
The story jumps between several POV’s from a third person perspective which I usually don’t care for, but it works with his writing style. The POV’s mainly go between Tyson Gallows, the bounty hunter with a death wish, and Serena, the young girl who is just starting to discover her powers. Some of the side characters get a turn in the POV spotlight and even they are fleshed out very well in a way that makes you care for them as much as the main characters. My favorite being Damien Fieri, the partner of Tyson Gallows, who has his own demons to deal with.
The first quarter of the book I found to be a little slower paced but after that it’s got a very quick pace without feeling rushed. The battle scenes are well done and gritty which is a plus in my book. I didn’t feel that there was an excess of gore or brutality just to have it in there but that it was all done in good taste and relevant to the story. The action is well placed and intense at times I was almost jumping with the events in the book and actually found myself with my mouth hanging open a few times when a plot twist or some other unexpected event showed up.
Overall this is one of the best put together books I have read in a long time. I really was blown away by this debut into fantasy that reads more like a book from a seasoned author. I can’t wait to get into the rest of this series to see how the events unfold. I would give this book a rating of 5 on the grimdark scale.
kittyg's review against another edition
4.0
* This is one of the SPFBO finalists for 2018 *
I picked this one up and instantly knew I would like it because the writing style was easy to connect with and I found the world to be a lot of fun. This is a book that managed to hook me in early, and keep me guessing throughout because there are a multitude of twists and turns I didn't see coming. I found the characters and world both very likeable, and I enjoyed hearing about the darker side of the world, the corrupt ruling powers and the scope of the story which will inevitably go on for a couple more books.
This has quite a few main characters, Serna, a young woman who is living in an orphanage but she is nearly old enough to join the Raincatcher guild and she has been apprenticing on a ship. She is a feisty one and she has a lot of daring, brave moments in the book which I liked. Later on she also learns that there is a lot more to her than we initially realise.
We also have Tiera, in a relationship with a Captain and a more minor character until she is forced to do something incredibly tragic. Her story from that point takes on a very bleak turn, and I liked seeing her PoV too as I felt that she added a lot of tension and movement into the story.
Tyson Gallows is a man desperate to find out what happened to his fiancé. She vanished and he knows there is more to the story than he has been told, and as the book goes on he discovers a lot more about the darker undercurrents of the society, some nefarious magic, and some nasty testing. His plot interacted well with the others and I found him likeable to read about.
The world is one where water needs to be shipped in by airships, electricity comes from bit giant spires, and people work for hire or for guilds that are fairly corrupt at times. There are brothels and people who pimp others out, and it's a pretty shady place to live to be honest. There is some hints at magic around, some experiments that seem to be slowly sweeping the nation, but it's not widely known yet and our main characters need to uncover what or who is behind it all. There's a lot of moments I enjoyed which come from having a darker world like this, and the imminent threat of war with a neighbouring country too.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and I found it an absolute pleasure to read and would definitely continue to read the series. I was pleasantly surprised by how many things I didn't see coming, and I would like to know what is going to happen next as we're left with some big questions. 4.25*s which is 8.5/10 for #SPFBO.
I picked this one up and instantly knew I would like it because the writing style was easy to connect with and I found the world to be a lot of fun. This is a book that managed to hook me in early, and keep me guessing throughout because there are a multitude of twists and turns I didn't see coming. I found the characters and world both very likeable, and I enjoyed hearing about the darker side of the world, the corrupt ruling powers and the scope of the story which will inevitably go on for a couple more books.
This has quite a few main characters, Serna, a young woman who is living in an orphanage but she is nearly old enough to join the Raincatcher guild and she has been apprenticing on a ship. She is a feisty one and she has a lot of daring, brave moments in the book which I liked. Later on she also learns that there is a lot more to her than we initially realise.
We also have Tiera, in a relationship with a Captain and a more minor character until she is forced to do something incredibly tragic. Her story from that point takes on a very bleak turn, and I liked seeing her PoV too as I felt that she added a lot of tension and movement into the story.
Tyson Gallows is a man desperate to find out what happened to his fiancé. She vanished and he knows there is more to the story than he has been told, and as the book goes on he discovers a lot more about the darker undercurrents of the society, some nefarious magic, and some nasty testing. His plot interacted well with the others and I found him likeable to read about.
The world is one where water needs to be shipped in by airships, electricity comes from bit giant spires, and people work for hire or for guilds that are fairly corrupt at times. There are brothels and people who pimp others out, and it's a pretty shady place to live to be honest. There is some hints at magic around, some experiments that seem to be slowly sweeping the nation, but it's not widely known yet and our main characters need to uncover what or who is behind it all. There's a lot of moments I enjoyed which come from having a darker world like this, and the imminent threat of war with a neighbouring country too.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and I found it an absolute pleasure to read and would definitely continue to read the series. I was pleasantly surprised by how many things I didn't see coming, and I would like to know what is going to happen next as we're left with some big questions. 4.25*s which is 8.5/10 for #SPFBO.
unicornsbookshelf's review against another edition
2.0
Disclaimer: I have voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy from Hidden Gem Books.
Oh boy. I was really trying to get into this book. The description seemed interesting and I always enjoy some good steampunk elements in my fantasy, moreover the ratings on goodreads were really high so I was expecting an amazing adventure.
Sadly I didn’t get it. And as much as I hate to leave books unread, I wasn’t able to bring myself to finish this one.
One word I’d use to describe my experience with the book is “boring”. Despite things happening, there was nothing that would actually get my attention or keep my interest for a little longer. When I would actually get interested in something that was happening the POV would change into another character in some different situation and when it came back to the one I was reading about before, the events in their POV that seemed interesting would resolve in a completely underwhelming way. At 200 pages I still didn’t know what the plot actually was because things were happening so slowly. At some point i accidentally skipped about 100 pages and didn’t realise that I had missed something until I noticed the page number. There was one moment when two characters whose POVs were the main ones were about to be at one place at the same time and I was sure that’s when the story will start properly but the moment passed without them exchanging even a word. That was really anticlimactic and I kind of lost my hopes for the story ever picking up.
The characters are alright, although I found it hard to actually care about any besides Serena and Gallows. Let’s start with the first one, shall we. Serena is a sixteen-year-old orphan who when she’s not bullied by the kids in the orphanage, works at a Raincatcher airship. Raincatchers gather water for the people in the city since most water is gone after the war. She wants to have her own ship at some point and overall seems to think she’s better than others despite having close to no friends. The only one who is kind of her friend is Angelo. Angelo reads books and talks… Sometimes. Serena always knows best and bad adults never listen to her. She was annoying me but that made her interesting because I couldn’t say even that much about other characters surrounding her. Many of them, especially the ones from the crew seemed like minor characters that were supposed to introduce the reader to the world and then disappear as the heroine life changes but somehow ended up playing a bigger role.
Now let’s move to Gallows, who was arguably the best character in the book. An ex-soldier with a snarky sense of humor and deep-rooted issues. He’d lost the love of his life, his job sucks and the city he’d fought to protect is on the brink of collapse. Life’s great. I might have a soft spot for characters that mask their issues with jokes but Gallows’ banter with his partner, Damien, was pleasant to read. I was also curious about Damien’s self-control issues and their past together.
The world building would be interesting but sometimes I felt like the author had it so developed in his mind that he forgot the reader doesn’t know as much as he does. There were many names of people, places and events that were not explained and left you confused. I’m absolutely not a fan of huge exposition info dumps that try to introduce you to the whole world at once but here I found it a bit overwhelming. Sometimes a character would exclaim a name and I would think they’re calling someone when in fact they were just calling one of the many gods. I have to, however, give kudos for the idea - collapsing city without water with steampunk airships responsible for delivering it and scorched land mostly without any plants make some amazing, vivid imagery and I really regret I wasn’t able to get into it and fully enjoy this world.
I also had a little issue with how the book was written. It seemed that the author did his best to make some characters’ speech stylized but then other characters would speak in a normal, modern way which didn’t fit together and often made the book hard to read. However it’s not something that was bothersome in the long run when you already got used to this.
All in all, Symphony of Wind is a book with great premise but it lacks interesting plot and lovable characters. I can see how people for whom a nicely built fantasy world is the most important part may enjoy it but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Oh boy. I was really trying to get into this book. The description seemed interesting and I always enjoy some good steampunk elements in my fantasy, moreover the ratings on goodreads were really high so I was expecting an amazing adventure.
Sadly I didn’t get it. And as much as I hate to leave books unread, I wasn’t able to bring myself to finish this one.
One word I’d use to describe my experience with the book is “boring”. Despite things happening, there was nothing that would actually get my attention or keep my interest for a little longer. When I would actually get interested in something that was happening the POV would change into another character in some different situation and when it came back to the one I was reading about before, the events in their POV that seemed interesting would resolve in a completely underwhelming way. At 200 pages I still didn’t know what the plot actually was because things were happening so slowly. At some point i accidentally skipped about 100 pages and didn’t realise that I had missed something until I noticed the page number. There was one moment when two characters whose POVs were the main ones were about to be at one place at the same time and I was sure that’s when the story will start properly but the moment passed without them exchanging even a word. That was really anticlimactic and I kind of lost my hopes for the story ever picking up.
The characters are alright, although I found it hard to actually care about any besides Serena and Gallows. Let’s start with the first one, shall we. Serena is a sixteen-year-old orphan who when she’s not bullied by the kids in the orphanage, works at a Raincatcher airship. Raincatchers gather water for the people in the city since most water is gone after the war. She wants to have her own ship at some point and overall seems to think she’s better than others despite having close to no friends. The only one who is kind of her friend is Angelo. Angelo reads books and talks… Sometimes. Serena always knows best and bad adults never listen to her. She was annoying me but that made her interesting because I couldn’t say even that much about other characters surrounding her. Many of them, especially the ones from the crew seemed like minor characters that were supposed to introduce the reader to the world and then disappear as the heroine life changes but somehow ended up playing a bigger role.
Now let’s move to Gallows, who was arguably the best character in the book. An ex-soldier with a snarky sense of humor and deep-rooted issues. He’d lost the love of his life, his job sucks and the city he’d fought to protect is on the brink of collapse. Life’s great. I might have a soft spot for characters that mask their issues with jokes but Gallows’ banter with his partner, Damien, was pleasant to read. I was also curious about Damien’s self-control issues and their past together.
The world building would be interesting but sometimes I felt like the author had it so developed in his mind that he forgot the reader doesn’t know as much as he does. There were many names of people, places and events that were not explained and left you confused. I’m absolutely not a fan of huge exposition info dumps that try to introduce you to the whole world at once but here I found it a bit overwhelming. Sometimes a character would exclaim a name and I would think they’re calling someone when in fact they were just calling one of the many gods. I have to, however, give kudos for the idea - collapsing city without water with steampunk airships responsible for delivering it and scorched land mostly without any plants make some amazing, vivid imagery and I really regret I wasn’t able to get into it and fully enjoy this world.
I also had a little issue with how the book was written. It seemed that the author did his best to make some characters’ speech stylized but then other characters would speak in a normal, modern way which didn’t fit together and often made the book hard to read. However it’s not something that was bothersome in the long run when you already got used to this.
All in all, Symphony of Wind is a book with great premise but it lacks interesting plot and lovable characters. I can see how people for whom a nicely built fantasy world is the most important part may enjoy it but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
davramlocke's review against another edition
1.0
I began Symphony of the Wind with the great hope that this would be a book I would love. It has airships and bounty hunters and the world seemed well-thought out and original. The Princess Bride is one of my favorite stories of all time, and anything approaching it will undoubtedly find a soft space in my heart. I even liked the beginning of the novel. I found several of the protagonists likeable, flat-out loved a scene involving a giant snake monster, and was all set to bury myself in this SPFBO entry.
And then, as I went along, I began to find more and more issues with Steven McKinnon’s vision. At 25% in, I was feeling fatigued, and after truly stretching myself to the 50% mark, I simply had to give it up. Not only did I not want to finish Symphony of the Wind, but I was beginning to actively dislike it. I do not like to say such things about any novel, let alone one involved in a contest that is so vital to the fantasy community, but I refuse to go with the flow and simply give a book a pass because everyone else seems to love it.
There were things that I liked about Symphony of the Wind, all front-loaded towards the beginning of the novel. There are some good jokes in the book, William Fitzwilliam being one of the best. As I said before, I love high adventure where airships and bounty hunters abound. There is quite a lot of the book that reminds of me a Final Fantasy game, from the combination of guns and swords to the genetic experiments - similarities that will always draw me in for nostalgic reasons. I love multi-viewpoint narratives in the vein of Robert Jordan, particularly when they can showcase an author’s ability to speak from different viewpoints. As a recipe, I look at this book and assume I will love it, but then it gets whipped together and it’s a conflicted mess with no actual flavor.
As for what I did not like about Symphony, I am going to make a short list. This is not exhaustive, but gets to the point of why I didn’t like this novel.
-Dialogue is all over the place, like each character is from a different era of time. Conversations often feel like they are part of a comedy skit, overwrought and forced.
-Viewpoint switches seem random, haphazard almost, without contributing to a cohesive narrative.
-Format feels serial, as though this was written for a SyFy series, and it almost seems like McKinnon wants to be writing science fiction instead of this mixture of fantasy and sci-fi. He also seems more concerned with blockbuster action than with telling a story.
-Coincidences are all too convenient, contrived in a way that unmasks the author and pulls a reader out of the text, which is the last thing any reader wants.
-Characters keep hinting at their past in inner monologues, but it feels forced and shadowy when we are in this character’s head and would know what they are referring to without the secret keeping. This can be done, but I don’t think McKinnon pulls it off.
-Gallows character is inconsistent, his inner monologue is grim and dark, never happy, but he is constantly cracking jokes and appearing light. Again, this can work if there is a better transition between the inner and outer monologues. In Symphony, it feels like we are dealing with two different characters.
-Even at 50%, I had no idea what the actual plot of the book is. It spends so much time trying to push its characters towards one another that it never actually starts telling a story. Again, this can work so well if the threads are tighter and woven more adeptly.
The argument could certainly be made that I am judging this book too harshly, that maybe a self-publishing contest does not warrant such scrutiny. I might agree with that assessment if there weren’t so many excellent entries into the SPFBO - books that are beautifully written and edited down to the most minute word. And frankly, this is a contest that introduced the world to Senlin Ascends, one of the best books and series that I’ve ever read. I expect the winners to approach its caliber, and Symphony of the Wind regrettably does not.
And then, as I went along, I began to find more and more issues with Steven McKinnon’s vision. At 25% in, I was feeling fatigued, and after truly stretching myself to the 50% mark, I simply had to give it up. Not only did I not want to finish Symphony of the Wind, but I was beginning to actively dislike it. I do not like to say such things about any novel, let alone one involved in a contest that is so vital to the fantasy community, but I refuse to go with the flow and simply give a book a pass because everyone else seems to love it.
There were things that I liked about Symphony of the Wind, all front-loaded towards the beginning of the novel. There are some good jokes in the book, William Fitzwilliam being one of the best. As I said before, I love high adventure where airships and bounty hunters abound. There is quite a lot of the book that reminds of me a Final Fantasy game, from the combination of guns and swords to the genetic experiments - similarities that will always draw me in for nostalgic reasons. I love multi-viewpoint narratives in the vein of Robert Jordan, particularly when they can showcase an author’s ability to speak from different viewpoints. As a recipe, I look at this book and assume I will love it, but then it gets whipped together and it’s a conflicted mess with no actual flavor.
As for what I did not like about Symphony, I am going to make a short list. This is not exhaustive, but gets to the point of why I didn’t like this novel.
-Dialogue is all over the place, like each character is from a different era of time. Conversations often feel like they are part of a comedy skit, overwrought and forced.
-Viewpoint switches seem random, haphazard almost, without contributing to a cohesive narrative.
-Format feels serial, as though this was written for a SyFy series, and it almost seems like McKinnon wants to be writing science fiction instead of this mixture of fantasy and sci-fi. He also seems more concerned with blockbuster action than with telling a story.
-Coincidences are all too convenient, contrived in a way that unmasks the author and pulls a reader out of the text, which is the last thing any reader wants.
-Characters keep hinting at their past in inner monologues, but it feels forced and shadowy when we are in this character’s head and would know what they are referring to without the secret keeping. This can be done, but I don’t think McKinnon pulls it off.
-Gallows character is inconsistent, his inner monologue is grim and dark, never happy, but he is constantly cracking jokes and appearing light. Again, this can work if there is a better transition between the inner and outer monologues. In Symphony, it feels like we are dealing with two different characters.
-Even at 50%, I had no idea what the actual plot of the book is. It spends so much time trying to push its characters towards one another that it never actually starts telling a story. Again, this can work so well if the threads are tighter and woven more adeptly.
The argument could certainly be made that I am judging this book too harshly, that maybe a self-publishing contest does not warrant such scrutiny. I might agree with that assessment if there weren’t so many excellent entries into the SPFBO - books that are beautifully written and edited down to the most minute word. And frankly, this is a contest that introduced the world to Senlin Ascends, one of the best books and series that I’ve ever read. I expect the winners to approach its caliber, and Symphony of the Wind regrettably does not.
eyed's review against another edition
5.0
I have so many great things to say about this book I am at a loss of where to even start. The world is incredible, the characters that fill the world are very fleshed out, there is magic and science and technology. One of my favorite reads of the year, and it even taught me a new word, outwith.
Let's start with the world, the story takes place in a city called Dalthea which is really a very small kingdom. The city is struggling to survive after the war with the Idari. There is no natural water source so a guild of rain catchers who use airships to collect water for distribution. There are corrupt government officials along with the watchmen they command. There are guilds for mages, musicians and hunters.
There are quite a few characters we become acquainted with but the main two are Serena an teenager who lives in an orphanage and is training to become rain catcher and Tyson gallows who was a soldier in the war, he is now a hunter who has PTSD looking for a way out of life.
I knew nothing about this book when I started it but as soon as I read airship I was sold. If that is not enough to peak your interest there are sword fights and shoot outs, airship battles and human experimentation, car chases and mind control. There is a lot of action and a great story to go along with it.
This is the first in a series, but one of the best parts for me is that it had a solid ending. There is definitely a lot more story to come but it ended in a way that told a full story. This is great for me since I am already in the middle of so many series's, this is one that while I am very excited for the sequel I am not pissed that I don't already have it in my hands.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a great story. But if you are looking for something more specific this is a tale that involves a lot of great concepts that may make it the book for you.
Let's start with the world, the story takes place in a city called Dalthea which is really a very small kingdom. The city is struggling to survive after the war with the Idari. There is no natural water source so a guild of rain catchers who use airships to collect water for distribution. There are corrupt government officials along with the watchmen they command. There are guilds for mages, musicians and hunters.
There are quite a few characters we become acquainted with but the main two are Serena an teenager who lives in an orphanage and is training to become rain catcher and Tyson gallows who was a soldier in the war, he is now a hunter who has PTSD looking for a way out of life.
I knew nothing about this book when I started it but as soon as I read airship I was sold. If that is not enough to peak your interest there are sword fights and shoot outs, airship battles and human experimentation, car chases and mind control. There is a lot of action and a great story to go along with it.
This is the first in a series, but one of the best parts for me is that it had a solid ending. There is definitely a lot more story to come but it ended in a way that told a full story. This is great for me since I am already in the middle of so many series's, this is one that while I am very excited for the sequel I am not pissed that I don't already have it in my hands.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a great story. But if you are looking for something more specific this is a tale that involves a lot of great concepts that may make it the book for you.
swiff's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve thought a lot about this book over the past couple of weeks. Not only because I recently finished it, but because I had to compare it to several other excellent novels in Mark Lawrence’s Self-Publishing Fantasy Blog Off contest. We at Fantasy Book Review have decided to push this book forward as our selected finalist, and I think it will do very well against anything else in the competition. And yet. And yet! Even though this book has dominated my headspace for the month of December, I am still at a loss on how to accurately describe this book to anyone else. In a blog writeup from earlier today, I attempted the following elevator pitch:
Steve McKinnon’s debut (!) fantasy novel Symphony of the Wind is a post-steampunk military fantasy with enough stirring action sequences to rival Pierce Brown’s ‘Red Rising’ series. It deals with post-war PTSD, political propaganda and conspiracies, organized crime, celebrity culture, environmental threats, and a smattering of Greek mythology. It has characters you love who will die, and characters you hate that just won’t go away. And somehow, it is also funny as hell.
But that still leaves out so much of the story. I could go into detail about the massive chase scenes, violent sieges, numerous gun-and-sword battles, thrilling air combat, secret underground bunker labs gone awry, human experimentation, non-human experimentation, mind control, radiation-afflicted beasts, and enough breathtaking set pieces to fill a summer blockbuster trilogy at the cineplex. I could talk about how Gallows must be allergic to buildings because every time he enters one, there’s a 50% chance it’s about to collapse. But none of that would matter at all unless the characters weren’t people you cared for, and this is an area where McKinnon excelled.
Two years after an enemy bomb wiped out thousands of lives, the city of Dalthea is a chaotic mix of peoples and races that are struggling to survive. Water is scarce, drugs are rampant, organized crime permeates all levels of government, and the enemy Idari are consolidating forces across the sea. There is a wide cast of characters that runs the gamut in representing this city of the edge of annihilation, but we mostly focus on two: Serena, an orphaned teen, interns on a water-gathering airship while dreaming of running a crew of her own, and Tyson Gallows, a former soldier with a broken soul, who works as a government-sanctioned Hunter but secretly prays for an end to his living nightmare. We also spend time with various airship captains, religious zealots, criminal kingpins, soldiers, scholars, and whatever the hell Damien is. Somehow McKinnon has instilled enough character and personality into nearly his entire cast where it feels like they all have their own desires and agendas and are all given the spotlight to further their own personal journeys as well as the story at large.
The world-building is trickled in at a steady pace throughout the book. There was only one section that could have been considered an exposition dump, but it fit perfectly into the context of the scene to help the characters understand the ramifications of what was really going on. It took a couple of chapters before I was able to start grasping the scope of this story, but once things started to escalate, it was a bullet train of action and emotion for the remaining six-hundred pages.
Yes, this is only the first book in the series, and I understand why some might not want to start something new and then wait years until it’s fully written. Let me stress that this book has a definitive and satisfying ending. There are certainly threads that carry over to future books in the series, but do not hesitate to treat this story as a standalone adventure. Much like Chris Wooding’s The Ember Blade, this book does an excellent job of telling a fully-realized tale, while whetting your appetite for what the future may bring. And for Steve McKinnon and fans of The Raincatcher’s Ballad, that future is bright, indeed.
9.0 / 10
Steve McKinnon’s debut (!) fantasy novel Symphony of the Wind is a post-steampunk military fantasy with enough stirring action sequences to rival Pierce Brown’s ‘Red Rising’ series. It deals with post-war PTSD, political propaganda and conspiracies, organized crime, celebrity culture, environmental threats, and a smattering of Greek mythology. It has characters you love who will die, and characters you hate that just won’t go away. And somehow, it is also funny as hell.
But that still leaves out so much of the story. I could go into detail about the massive chase scenes, violent sieges, numerous gun-and-sword battles, thrilling air combat, secret underground bunker labs gone awry, human experimentation, non-human experimentation, mind control, radiation-afflicted beasts, and enough breathtaking set pieces to fill a summer blockbuster trilogy at the cineplex. I could talk about how Gallows must be allergic to buildings because every time he enters one, there’s a 50% chance it’s about to collapse. But none of that would matter at all unless the characters weren’t people you cared for, and this is an area where McKinnon excelled.
Two years after an enemy bomb wiped out thousands of lives, the city of Dalthea is a chaotic mix of peoples and races that are struggling to survive. Water is scarce, drugs are rampant, organized crime permeates all levels of government, and the enemy Idari are consolidating forces across the sea. There is a wide cast of characters that runs the gamut in representing this city of the edge of annihilation, but we mostly focus on two: Serena, an orphaned teen, interns on a water-gathering airship while dreaming of running a crew of her own, and Tyson Gallows, a former soldier with a broken soul, who works as a government-sanctioned Hunter but secretly prays for an end to his living nightmare. We also spend time with various airship captains, religious zealots, criminal kingpins, soldiers, scholars, and whatever the hell Damien is. Somehow McKinnon has instilled enough character and personality into nearly his entire cast where it feels like they all have their own desires and agendas and are all given the spotlight to further their own personal journeys as well as the story at large.
The world-building is trickled in at a steady pace throughout the book. There was only one section that could have been considered an exposition dump, but it fit perfectly into the context of the scene to help the characters understand the ramifications of what was really going on. It took a couple of chapters before I was able to start grasping the scope of this story, but once things started to escalate, it was a bullet train of action and emotion for the remaining six-hundred pages.
Yes, this is only the first book in the series, and I understand why some might not want to start something new and then wait years until it’s fully written. Let me stress that this book has a definitive and satisfying ending. There are certainly threads that carry over to future books in the series, but do not hesitate to treat this story as a standalone adventure. Much like Chris Wooding’s The Ember Blade, this book does an excellent job of telling a fully-realized tale, while whetting your appetite for what the future may bring. And for Steve McKinnon and fans of The Raincatcher’s Ballad, that future is bright, indeed.
9.0 / 10
thoughtsstained's review against another edition
4.0
Reviewed as part of SPFBO 4, originally posted at Thoughts Stained With Ink:
If you're part of the SPFBO community, you know that this review was meant to go live last Friday, but your girl got sick the week after I started reading Symphony of the Wind by Steven McKinnon, and that derailed my plans a bit. But, after playing a lot of catch-up, I finished the book earlier today and have been able to get this review ready to go for you all! Thanks, first of all, for everyone's patience.
So, Symphony of the Wind.
To sum it up quickly, it's a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I still do have some issues with it that made me not fall completely head over heels in love with it. Did I enjoy it enough to where I'd buy the sequel once it comes out and keep McKinnon on my radar? Oh, absolutely. I feel he's an author who is only going to continue to improve the more books he writes and I definitely want to continue reading his books and supporting him. So make no mistake about that.
Let's start with the positives. What did I like? The fact that this was a rollicking steampunk adventure, that's what. I love the steampunk genre (though, admittedly, I haven't read very much of it and most of those books have been steampunk romances), so getting to read another book within that realm was definitely my cup of tea. I loved having a wide range of characters to form different opinions towards and attachments to and I thought the worldbuilding, on the whole, was pretty solid (the water-rationing aspect of society was intense and really made me think, so I really liked that). Serena and Gallows were my favorite characters, by far, and I thought the tone of the book, as well as the distinct voices of the characters, really stood out. Solid writing, too. Very solid.
Now, before I get into some of the bits that kept this novel from being an a 9 for me, score wise, I do need to offer a little bit of background knowledge. So, I receive a free ebook copy, thanks to being a judge for SPFBO, for this contest (and I appreciate it utterly!). I normally don't read electronically. Like, ever. I much prefer print. As such, I downloaded a free ereader app to read these books, since I don't own a Kindle. I also had to download it at my computer at work, since my computer at home...couldn't handle it, because it's a piece of shit so old and I don't like using my phone for that kind of stuff.
So I only have time to read these books in spurts during my dinner breaks throughout the week. I say this because I think it had a hand in some critiques that I formed, especially since I started the book and got 100 pages in before getting sick for a week and not able to read it, before picking it back up again. Because of that lapse in time and the fact that I had to read it in shorter spurts, I never really got truly get settled into it (as I prefer to read in longer chunks) and I started to get the characters a bit confused, because there were a lot of POV characters. I realize that one is a bit on me, but unfortunately, it still influenced my reading, as your environment always does.
In that same vein, I think the book was trying to do too much within one novel, personally. There were a lot of awesome plotlines going and they all do intertwine by the end, but there is so much going on, I struggled a little bit to keep track, so I think some of the "reveal" moments were lost on me, since I couldn't remember which character it pertained to and which plotline it tied into--especially since there were so many different POVs and, sometimes, we wouldn't return to a POV for 100s of pages, which felt too long of an absence for me.
Personally, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it was split into two books, spreading the plotlines out a bit more, lessening the number of POVs we had to keep track of and thus allowing us to spend more time worldbuilding within this really amazing world that I'm just so darn curious about. Because I definitely wanted to learn more about it. I also wanted POVs to be longer, instead of having shorter POV chunks before switching to another POV, often switching between multiple POVs in one chapter. But that is a stylistic choice that just didn't work for me personally, but I could so others loving it, so don't hesitate to give this book a shot if it sounds up your highly (and I definitely recommend it).
Oh, wait! I forgot something positive that I seriously LOVED.
Chapter 39.
Shit, talk about fantastic writing, character development and bringing something full circle. That was masterfully done and probably my favorite chapter in the entire novel. I got chills once the implications dawned on me.
Anyway, this review is getting a little on the longer side, so I'll wrap up. I think Symphony of the Wind is truly a quality novel. I really enjoyed the story, characters and world, and I'm super curious to see what happens next. Unfortunately, there were just a few things that made me not fall completely in love with this story (and some of them are self-inflicted, I am fully aware of that) but that doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy reading it (because I did) or that I don't plan on reading the sequel (I do!). Whenever the sequel comes out, I look forward to reading a paperback copy at my leisure and seeing what adventures they go on next.
Read on!
If you're part of the SPFBO community, you know that this review was meant to go live last Friday, but your girl got sick the week after I started reading Symphony of the Wind by Steven McKinnon, and that derailed my plans a bit. But, after playing a lot of catch-up, I finished the book earlier today and have been able to get this review ready to go for you all! Thanks, first of all, for everyone's patience.
So, Symphony of the Wind.
To sum it up quickly, it's a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I still do have some issues with it that made me not fall completely head over heels in love with it. Did I enjoy it enough to where I'd buy the sequel once it comes out and keep McKinnon on my radar? Oh, absolutely. I feel he's an author who is only going to continue to improve the more books he writes and I definitely want to continue reading his books and supporting him. So make no mistake about that.
Let's start with the positives. What did I like? The fact that this was a rollicking steampunk adventure, that's what. I love the steampunk genre (though, admittedly, I haven't read very much of it and most of those books have been steampunk romances), so getting to read another book within that realm was definitely my cup of tea. I loved having a wide range of characters to form different opinions towards and attachments to and I thought the worldbuilding, on the whole, was pretty solid (the water-rationing aspect of society was intense and really made me think, so I really liked that). Serena and Gallows were my favorite characters, by far, and I thought the tone of the book, as well as the distinct voices of the characters, really stood out. Solid writing, too. Very solid.
Now, before I get into some of the bits that kept this novel from being an a 9 for me, score wise, I do need to offer a little bit of background knowledge. So, I receive a free ebook copy, thanks to being a judge for SPFBO, for this contest (and I appreciate it utterly!). I normally don't read electronically. Like, ever. I much prefer print. As such, I downloaded a free ereader app to read these books, since I don't own a Kindle. I also had to download it at my computer at work, since my computer at home...couldn't handle it, because it's a piece of shit so old and I don't like using my phone for that kind of stuff.
So I only have time to read these books in spurts during my dinner breaks throughout the week. I say this because I think it had a hand in some critiques that I formed, especially since I started the book and got 100 pages in before getting sick for a week and not able to read it, before picking it back up again. Because of that lapse in time and the fact that I had to read it in shorter spurts, I never really got truly get settled into it (as I prefer to read in longer chunks) and I started to get the characters a bit confused, because there were a lot of POV characters. I realize that one is a bit on me, but unfortunately, it still influenced my reading, as your environment always does.
In that same vein, I think the book was trying to do too much within one novel, personally. There were a lot of awesome plotlines going and they all do intertwine by the end, but there is so much going on, I struggled a little bit to keep track, so I think some of the "reveal" moments were lost on me, since I couldn't remember which character it pertained to and which plotline it tied into--especially since there were so many different POVs and, sometimes, we wouldn't return to a POV for 100s of pages, which felt too long of an absence for me.
Personally, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it was split into two books, spreading the plotlines out a bit more, lessening the number of POVs we had to keep track of and thus allowing us to spend more time worldbuilding within this really amazing world that I'm just so darn curious about. Because I definitely wanted to learn more about it. I also wanted POVs to be longer, instead of having shorter POV chunks before switching to another POV, often switching between multiple POVs in one chapter. But that is a stylistic choice that just didn't work for me personally, but I could so others loving it, so don't hesitate to give this book a shot if it sounds up your highly (and I definitely recommend it).
Oh, wait! I forgot something positive that I seriously LOVED.
Chapter 39.
Shit, talk about fantastic writing, character development and bringing something full circle. That was masterfully done and probably my favorite chapter in the entire novel. I got chills once the implications dawned on me.
Anyway, this review is getting a little on the longer side, so I'll wrap up. I think Symphony of the Wind is truly a quality novel. I really enjoyed the story, characters and world, and I'm super curious to see what happens next. Unfortunately, there were just a few things that made me not fall completely in love with this story (and some of them are self-inflicted, I am fully aware of that) but that doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy reading it (because I did) or that I don't plan on reading the sequel (I do!). Whenever the sequel comes out, I look forward to reading a paperback copy at my leisure and seeing what adventures they go on next.
Read on!
tctippens's review against another edition
5.0
I picked up Symphony of the Wind because it made the finals of this year’s Self Published Fantasy Blog Off competition. It was one of the frontrunners for a while, and for good reason. Fans of Brandon Sanderson, Brian McClellan, and Brent Weeks will love the unique worldbuilding that blends epic fantasy and steampunk, the frantic fight scenes you can picture with crystal clarity, and the constant conflict that builds to a grand conclusion.
This story follows two main characters:
Serena is a green-haired 16-year-old orphan apprenticed to the Raincatcher Guild. Years after a brutal war was put on pause by what’s essentially an atomic bomb, the dystopian city of Dalthea’s water supply is ruined. The Raincatcher Guild flies airships outside the city to collect what little water they can.
Tyson Gallows is a former soldier struggling with severe PTSD after his time in the war, and he now makes a living as a bounty hunter / monster exterminator. When a prominent city official is assassinated, his path crosses with Serena’s and shit hits the fan.
Much of the plot is a multi-layered mystery. Who are the villains? What do they want? Most of my favorite villainous archetypes are touched upon in Symphony. There’s the evil politician committing heinous crimes for the “greater good,” a mad scientist who doesn’t believe a silly little thing like ethics should get in the way of progress, and a ruthless drug lord overseeing a vast criminal underworld. And these are just some of the colorful antagonists opposing Serena and Tyson.
Tropes from epic fantasy, steampunk, dystopian fiction, and mythology are all combined in exciting ways throughout Symphony. Throw in some romance, coming of age, tragedy, and actual zombies and it’s hard to predict where the story will go next. I’m impressed with the author’s ability to juggle so many different concepts with such satisfying results.
We do get answers to most of the questions raised throughout the book, leaving me with little idea how the story will continue. I’ll definitely be picking up book 2 when it releases.
Find this review and more at The Fantasy Inn
This story follows two main characters:
Serena is a green-haired 16-year-old orphan apprenticed to the Raincatcher Guild. Years after a brutal war was put on pause by what’s essentially an atomic bomb, the dystopian city of Dalthea’s water supply is ruined. The Raincatcher Guild flies airships outside the city to collect what little water they can.
Tyson Gallows is a former soldier struggling with severe PTSD after his time in the war, and he now makes a living as a bounty hunter / monster exterminator. When a prominent city official is assassinated, his path crosses with Serena’s and shit hits the fan.
Much of the plot is a multi-layered mystery. Who are the villains? What do they want? Most of my favorite villainous archetypes are touched upon in Symphony. There’s the evil politician committing heinous crimes for the “greater good,” a mad scientist who doesn’t believe a silly little thing like ethics should get in the way of progress, and a ruthless drug lord overseeing a vast criminal underworld. And these are just some of the colorful antagonists opposing Serena and Tyson.
Tropes from epic fantasy, steampunk, dystopian fiction, and mythology are all combined in exciting ways throughout Symphony. Throw in some romance, coming of age, tragedy, and actual zombies and it’s hard to predict where the story will go next. I’m impressed with the author’s ability to juggle so many different concepts with such satisfying results.
We do get answers to most of the questions raised throughout the book, leaving me with little idea how the story will continue. I’ll definitely be picking up book 2 when it releases.
Find this review and more at The Fantasy Inn
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