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koistyfishy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 Blade Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️/5
This is very much the definition of it's not you, it's me.
And as much as that sounds cliché, there isn't another way to frame how I feel about this without saying that I'm the problem. It's not the book, it's me. Suppose I have to separate the writing, worldbuilding, characters, and plot and look at it objectively without my personal preference. In that case, it is an incredibly well-written book with a superb redemption arc and complex character growth. I really did love the writing. It is clean and descriptive while still giving a balance of character and plot.
However, there is a large religious aspect in this book. A religion which wasn't necessarily Christian but pulls on a lot of the Christian faith, practices and beliefs. It just felt a bit much. I didn't particularly like reading a book about a woman who questions her faith and goes on a journey to finding herself through romance. Which I know I am hypocritical since The Sound of Music is one of my all-time favourite movies, but something about this just didn't vibe with me.
This book follows Brielle, who in my mind is quite boring as a character at the start. She doesn't really have much of a personality and her personality flip flops a little bit in that one moment she stands up for herself and then she doesn't. We meet her when she is overly obedient, weak and avoids conflict. She is bullied and verbally abused by the others at the Abbey and just lets this happen to her with no fight.
One day she meets a mysterious man who has been beaten and is left for dead, and she breaks one of the rules by bringing a man into the Abbey to heal him. After a while, he gets better and to repay her he offers to take her into Under (the Fae Realm) to have questions answered. Given she wants nothing more than to become an Acolyte and cannot understand why she has yet been chosen to ascend, she follows him.
This really does have a decent character development arc, which is why I say that if I separate my own dislike of religion in stories, this is really good. You have a woman who questions her place in the world, questions her beliefs, her understandings, what she's been told, and taught and above all questions what's been indoctrinated into her. She acknowledges that she is naive and she hasn't experienced the world for what it is. So when she is given the opportunity to do so, she discovers who she really is meant to be.
Some aspects of her growth did feel a little fast, especially when it came to her relationship with Zepherus, I think she flips the switch to loving him too quickly... I think this is due to the fact that I didn't really feel the spark was fully there. The hypocrisy of her actions between breaking her vows to still believing in her vows and the constant switch back and forth made me feel something was missing.
In the end, the romance was sweet and I appreciated the redemption arc that Zeph went through. I mean, he was very much the villain in Book One. So it was great to see how he got his own story and hear the explanations for all the multifaceted layers of what actually drives the motivations of his actions.
I do have to give credit to Alexandria Warwick for how amazing the worldbuilding was because I believed it. I believed the religion. I believed there is this world where this faith exists. A world with a Christian-like religion within an abbey, close to a fae realm and I believed these worlds are all connected. I also appreciated that this was its own unique story with its own unique dynamics. It wasn't the North Wind Book 2 - this was The West Wind, a book that can very easily be read as a standalone.
Ultimately, if religion in books doesn't bother you, you might really like this book. It feels like Chick lit set in a fantasy world, as the romance isn't as forward facing. This felt more like a coming-of-age story for our girl Brielle. The romance was added in as extra motivation and an explanation of why Brielle grew and how she grew and I am curious to see where the wind blows and the next story goes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Alexandria Warwick for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
All thoughts and feelings are my own
Spicy Level: 🌶️/5
This is very much the definition of it's not you, it's me.
And as much as that sounds cliché, there isn't another way to frame how I feel about this without saying that I'm the problem. It's not the book, it's me. Suppose I have to separate the writing, worldbuilding, characters, and plot and look at it objectively without my personal preference. In that case, it is an incredibly well-written book with a superb redemption arc and complex character growth. I really did love the writing. It is clean and descriptive while still giving a balance of character and plot.
However, there is a large religious aspect in this book. A religion which wasn't necessarily Christian but pulls on a lot of the Christian faith, practices and beliefs. It just felt a bit much. I didn't particularly like reading a book about a woman who questions her faith and goes on a journey to finding herself through romance. Which I know I am hypocritical since The Sound of Music is one of my all-time favourite movies, but something about this just didn't vibe with me.
This book follows Brielle, who in my mind is quite boring as a character at the start. She doesn't really have much of a personality and her personality flip flops a little bit in that one moment she stands up for herself and then she doesn't. We meet her when she is overly obedient, weak and avoids conflict. She is bullied and verbally abused by the others at the Abbey and just lets this happen to her with no fight.
One day she meets a mysterious man who has been beaten and is left for dead, and she breaks one of the rules by bringing a man into the Abbey to heal him. After a while, he gets better and to repay her he offers to take her into Under (the Fae Realm) to have questions answered. Given she wants nothing more than to become an Acolyte and cannot understand why she has yet been chosen to ascend, she follows him.
This really does have a decent character development arc, which is why I say that if I separate my own dislike of religion in stories, this is really good. You have a woman who questions her place in the world, questions her beliefs, her understandings, what she's been told, and taught and above all questions what's been indoctrinated into her. She acknowledges that she is naive and she hasn't experienced the world for what it is. So when she is given the opportunity to do so, she discovers who she really is meant to be.
Some aspects of her growth did feel a little fast, especially when it came to her relationship with Zepherus, I think she flips the switch to loving him too quickly... I think this is due to the fact that I didn't really feel the spark was fully there. The hypocrisy of her actions between breaking her vows to still believing in her vows and the constant switch back and forth made me feel something was missing.
In the end, the romance was sweet and I appreciated the redemption arc that Zeph went through. I mean, he was very much the villain in Book One. So it was great to see how he got his own story and hear the explanations for all the multifaceted layers of what actually drives the motivations of his actions.
I do have to give credit to Alexandria Warwick for how amazing the worldbuilding was because I believed it. I believed the religion. I believed there is this world where this faith exists. A world with a Christian-like religion within an abbey, close to a fae realm and I believed these worlds are all connected. I also appreciated that this was its own unique story with its own unique dynamics. It wasn't the North Wind Book 2 - this was The West Wind, a book that can very easily be read as a standalone.
Ultimately, if religion in books doesn't bother you, you might really like this book. It feels like Chick lit set in a fantasy world, as the romance isn't as forward facing. This felt more like a coming-of-age story for our girl Brielle. The romance was added in as extra motivation and an explanation of why Brielle grew and how she grew and I am curious to see where the wind blows and the next story goes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Alexandria Warwick for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
All thoughts and feelings are my own
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
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