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A review by maddiemarie
Storm by Amanda Sun
3.0
I feel like it's been two years since I actually read this book, but in reality it was only, like, two weeks ago.
What is there to really say about these books? There really isn't a lot to talk about one way or the other. My biggest complaints and questions from the last book were mostly resolved and answered, so I can appreciate the work Amanda Sun put in to make this finale as good as she could.
And for the most part, it was pretty good. If these books didn't have their redeeming qualities then I wouldn't have read all three of them. They are certainly very fluffy and satisfying in a way that will always appeal to me no matter how cheesy the plot or characters are. I love the whole "bad boy who's secretly a smol bean" trope, and I always will- regardless of the fact that it can be found in nearly every YA fantasy-ish book.
I also really enjoyed Ishikawa's character in this! Even from the very first book, I could see something special in his character and I'm glad that I was able to see more of him and his personality in this book. He definitely was my favorite character in the series and I almost miss him a little bit, as strange as it sounds! Although it was very out of nowhere, I was really pleasantly surprised when Ishikawa revealed his true feelings for Tomo! There were hints towards it in Rain, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. However, I am a little disappointed that Tomo never found out about these feelings, and I also wish that Ishikawa wasn't just left all by himself! He deserves so much better :(
Of course, I have my complaints about this book and the series in general. I would have to say that my biggest one would have to be that the magic system is really underexplained and inconsistent. Rules were never really fully established, so I didn't have a very firm grasp on what was going on when a Kami would do something that I had no idea they could do. I addressed this a bit in my review of Rain, and my feelings still remain the same on the subject.
Another complaint that I have is that this story is so completely and overwhelmingly underdeveloped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, this is the finale of the series, and yet it is barely 300 pages long!!! By no means did this book need to be 700+ pages, but you'd think it would be at least as long as the first book in the series! I could tell while reading this how rushed Amanda Sun was, just trying to wrap everything up as quickly as she could.
What could have really made this book good would be to slow things down a little bit more and let things really develop instead of just BAM! one thing happens and then BAM! another and then before you know it BAM! the book is over because the actual story itself is less than 300 pages long. I had this feeling that Amanda Sun was so ready for this book and series to just be over. Maybe she was working on another project on the side and couldn't focus on this? Maybe she had just lost interest in the story? There are so many things that were just briefly touched on that could have been really interesting side plots and mini-conflicts! As I said before, Ishikawa's feelings for Tomo!
Take Tomo and his dad for example. We know that they have a lot of conflict with each other. We have read all about the tension between the two of them. And yet, it goes nowhere and is just accepted. There was so much that Amanda Sun could have done with so many aspects of this story that she created. I feel like first-person POV was a bit of a mistake in this series. I mean how cool would it be to get inside Tomo's head? Ishikawa's? Jun's? Even that one pregnant girl whose name I forgot? At the end of the day, we only got a look at Katie's perspective, which quite frankly gets boring after a while.
I'm really torn over this series. As a whole, I would give it 3 stars because while it can be easy to read and quick, it can also be really disappointing given how interesting and creative the concept for it was. I really wish that Amanda Sun had written this when she had more experience under her belt and could create a more polished and put together story. This series grew on me a bit, probably because I really love Japan and I have actually never read a book set there. If there ever was a follow up to this book I would read it, but I highly doubt that will happen given how it appears that Amanda Sun was so quick to get this one over with.
What is there to really say about these books? There really isn't a lot to talk about one way or the other. My biggest complaints and questions from the last book were mostly resolved and answered, so I can appreciate the work Amanda Sun put in to make this finale as good as she could.
And for the most part, it was pretty good. If these books didn't have their redeeming qualities then I wouldn't have read all three of them. They are certainly very fluffy and satisfying in a way that will always appeal to me no matter how cheesy the plot or characters are. I love the whole "bad boy who's secretly a smol bean" trope, and I always will- regardless of the fact that it can be found in nearly every YA fantasy-ish book.
I also really enjoyed Ishikawa's character in this! Even from the very first book, I could see something special in his character and I'm glad that I was able to see more of him and his personality in this book. He definitely was my favorite character in the series and I almost miss him a little bit, as strange as it sounds!
Of course, I have my complaints about this book and the series in general. I would have to say that my biggest one would have to be that the magic system is really underexplained and inconsistent. Rules were never really fully established, so I didn't have a very firm grasp on what was going on when a Kami would do something that I had no idea they could do. I addressed this a bit in my review of Rain, and my feelings still remain the same on the subject.
Another complaint that I have is that this story is so completely and overwhelmingly underdeveloped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, this is the finale of the series, and yet it is barely 300 pages long!!! By no means did this book need to be 700+ pages, but you'd think it would be at least as long as the first book in the series! I could tell while reading this how rushed Amanda Sun was, just trying to wrap everything up as quickly as she could.
What could have really made this book good would be to slow things down a little bit more and let things really develop instead of just BAM! one thing happens and then BAM! another and then before you know it BAM! the book is over because the actual story itself is less than 300 pages long. I had this feeling that Amanda Sun was so ready for this book and series to just be over. Maybe she was working on another project on the side and couldn't focus on this? Maybe she had just lost interest in the story? There are so many things that were just briefly touched on that could have been really interesting side plots and mini-conflicts!
Take Tomo and his dad for example. We know that they have a lot of conflict with each other. We have read all about the tension between the two of them. And yet, it goes nowhere and is just accepted. There was so much that Amanda Sun could have done with so many aspects of this story that she created. I feel like first-person POV was a bit of a mistake in this series. I mean how cool would it be to get inside Tomo's head? Ishikawa's? Jun's? Even that one pregnant girl whose name I forgot? At the end of the day, we only got a look at Katie's perspective, which quite frankly gets boring after a while.
I'm really torn over this series. As a whole, I would give it 3 stars because while it can be easy to read and quick, it can also be really disappointing given how interesting and creative the concept for it was. I really wish that Amanda Sun had written this when she had more experience under her belt and could create a more polished and put together story. This series grew on me a bit, probably because I really love Japan and I have actually never read a book set there. If there ever was a follow up to this book I would read it, but I highly doubt that will happen given how it appears that Amanda Sun was so quick to get this one over with.