Reviews

She Who Rides the Storm by Caitlin Sangster

Only show reviews with written explanations

leopardsummer8's review against another edition

4.0

When I saw that She Who Rides the Storm was compared to There Will Come a Darkness, it immediately moved to the top of my TBR and less than a day later my hold was ready from the e-book library.
I'm honestly still not sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, it was a bit of a slog to get through. Some of the chapters in the e-book version I had were 68 pages long. Parts of it were relatively fast-paced while others I had to force myself to continue reading. But then I got to the end...
I did call one of the plot twists for ironic reasons (

Spoiler

I made a highlight saying that it was nice that Mateo's dad actually cared about him and then realized there was probably a reason for that

), but the other one I was completely blindsided by and I still can't believe it.
I think the main issue I had with the book was that it was advertised as a "heist" novel, so I had very high expectations going into it. However, the heist itself was a very small percentage of the novel...like, there was never a "big heist."
The characters themselves were probably my favorite part of the book. I liked the backstories because they were very intricate and all tied together in unexpected ways. I will say that my opinions on the POVs shifted throughout the book, but Anwei's was probably my least favorite, followed by Lia. I liked Knox a lot at first, but he was steadily replaced by Mateo by the end of the book (because apparently, I have a type in favorite book characters ... sarcastic sad boys).
While She Who Rides the Storm isn't exactly the grand heist novel that I expected, it still packs a punch with crazy plot twists and really intriguing worldbuilding. YA fantasy readers looking for a gateway into adult fantasy should check out this duology.
3.75/5
Link to Libby Annotations

literary_rose's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book was so incredibly slow. I can’t believe that I finished it. I really like the characters, but I’m still looking for the plot. I couldn’t begin to tell you what happened in this book. It really felt like nothing happened. And that’s saying a lot considering it’s a 600 page book.