A review by mrtvavrana
The Storm Beneath the Glass by Todd Larsen, Robert Wyatt

adventurous challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I would like to thank NetGalley and Gatestone Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC of The Storm Beneath the Glass. 

This novel has certainly been a challenge for me. I loved the premise, and I was fairly excited to read it, but that initial happiness, unfortunately, expired by the time I was finished with the first chapter. 

After years of peace, the Kingdom of Remalia now stands at the edge of a storm. The rising religious unrest and slave raids from the neighbouring Kushaan pave the path towards war, a conflict that was foretold a long time ago. 

After the king falls ill, the fate of Remalia is put in the hands of the crown prince Stephir and his younger brother Adric. Throughout the book we follow them as they try to save the kingdom from chaos and ruin. 

While I do think the plot was pretty good, unfortunately it was buried under a tonne of quite useless information. I am hesitant to call it world-building because it does not add much to the world or the story. The readers do not need to know detailed information about how the prince was choosing his outfit or what he was wearing. They also do not need to be presented with what feels like entire biographies of characters that only appear on a few pages. 

This novel, without any questions, needs more editing. There were many moments where I felt like the last 15, 20 pages were completely meaningless and did not add a single thing to the story. I personally think that this book could have been shorter. Nearly 900 pages for a debut novel seem excessive, and it is definitely overwhelming. I have been reading fantasy for 20 years, but I still struggled to keep up. 

While this book is extremely heavy on information, it did remind me of the old sci-fi and fantasy, mainly Roger Zelazny´s The Chronicles of Amber. 

Despite all the information this book contains, I do not think the important things, like the magic system and religion(s), were well explained. Not to mention that the wiki is incomplete and just as chaotic as the book. 

Another issue I had with this book was that in a few instances, the language used to describe dark-skinned people came off as racist. I absolutely do not think that this was intentional, but it did certainly put me off. 

My biggest issue lies with the number of characters and POVs. I think I counted 8 or 9; I genuinely lost track. This is, in my opinion, quite extreme. I could barely remember or keep up with what was going on, and it was unbelievably difficult to say what information might be important. I also found it difficult to remember or connect to any of the characters. 

Genuinely, I think the authors wrote this book for themselves. It felt like they did not exactly take into account that somebody who is not them and who does not understand the world they created would read it. 

Despite all that, I truly feel like this novel and series are filled with a lot of potential. I am curious about what comes next and what the future novel(s) will bring for the characters. I would also really love to see the authors grow, as the world they have created is quite beautiful. 

I hope that we will get to see the sequel soon.