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A review by eesh25
Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
4.0
3.75 Stars
It's strange that I decided to read the spin-off of a series that I never cared for. But when it comes to The Dark Elements, other than a few facts, I've all but forgotten it. I remember that I fucking loathed the love-triangle, that the series had gargoyles and demons (the two good things about the whole thing), and that's about it. Oh and, that the demons could be really fucking sappy, and kinda pathetic.
I didn't have high hopes (I feel like that's a Panic! reference) for this book. But it was actually decent. Better than decent even, at times. For one, Trinity is actually a likable protagonist (unlike Layla who, according to my reviews, I hated). Trinity lives in an isolated gargoyle compound and has for years. The place is supposed to keep her safe and protect her secret. She even has a gargoyle protector of her own. And she's been training her entire life to fight as well as she can. So she kicks ass, even with a degenerative eye disease that could slowly cause blindness.
Life at the compound is semi-peaceful. Then some visitors bring news of trouble brewing. And then other shit happens, which I feel like I shouldn't tell you about because it doesn't happen till like 200 pages in. And I don't wanna give away half the book. So let's talk about the good and the bad.
The book didn't impress me in the beginning. In fact, the author started it with an unnecessary display of how badass Trinity is, in a scene that was so obviously a plot device; made worse by the fact that she couldn't make it serious enough to be scarring for Trinity since that wasn't part of the plot. It wasn't a good start. Things stabilized soon after though, but the pace remained slow. Thankfully, JLA's writing is so easy to read that the pace didn't bother me much. Also, there was fun banter, a ghost named Peanut, and a few Supernatural references to keep me happy.
Also, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't like Zayne in the last series, I was fine with him in this one. He's a good guy who has just screwed-up in the past. The relationship between him and Trinity is great. There's a friendship there, beyond the romantic feelings. And even though there were some predictable revelations, I enjoyed the book overall.
One last thing I wanna mention. It's about the writing. I really think the book could have used a final read-through. I noticed at least four typos, for one. Also, this line got approved somehow:
Finally... yes, there were ups and downs. But I'm ultimately left with a positive feeling toward the book as a whole, it's characters, and the future of the series. And that's what really matters, right?
It's strange that I decided to read the spin-off of a series that I never cared for. But when it comes to The Dark Elements, other than a few facts, I've all but forgotten it. I remember that I fucking loathed the love-triangle, that the series had gargoyles and demons (the two good things about the whole thing), and that's about it. Oh and, that the demons could be really fucking sappy, and kinda pathetic.
I didn't have high hopes (I feel like that's a Panic! reference) for this book. But it was actually decent. Better than decent even, at times. For one, Trinity is actually a likable protagonist (unlike Layla who, according to my reviews, I hated). Trinity lives in an isolated gargoyle compound and has for years. The place is supposed to keep her safe and protect her secret. She even has a gargoyle protector of her own. And she's been training her entire life to fight as well as she can. So she kicks ass, even with a degenerative eye disease that could slowly cause blindness.
Life at the compound is semi-peaceful. Then some visitors bring news of trouble brewing. And then other shit happens, which I feel like I shouldn't tell you about because it doesn't happen till like 200 pages in. And I don't wanna give away half the book. So let's talk about the good and the bad.
The book didn't impress me in the beginning. In fact, the author started it with an unnecessary display of how badass Trinity is, in a scene that was so obviously a plot device; made worse by the fact that she couldn't make it serious enough to be scarring for Trinity since that wasn't part of the plot. It wasn't a good start. Things stabilized soon after though, but the pace remained slow. Thankfully, JLA's writing is so easy to read that the pace didn't bother me much. Also, there was fun banter, a ghost named Peanut, and a few Supernatural references to keep me happy.
Also, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't like Zayne in the last series, I was fine with him in this one. He's a good guy who has just screwed-up in the past. The relationship between him and Trinity is great. There's a friendship there, beyond the romantic feelings. And even though there were some predictable revelations, I enjoyed the book overall.
One last thing I wanna mention. It's about the writing. I really think the book could have used a final read-through. I noticed at least four typos, for one. Also, this line got approved somehow:
When he left, he'd be gone, and he's been leaving soon.Even if one were to ignore the grammar issue, it's still such a dumb sentence. Redundancy at it's finest. There were also words like "supergross" or "superweird" or "superfreaky". None of those are real words! And the word "super" is not a fucking prefix! Some readers might be able to overlook that. But I cringed every single time. And it was dozens of times!
Finally... yes, there were ups and downs. But I'm ultimately left with a positive feeling toward the book as a whole, it's characters, and the future of the series. And that's what really matters, right?