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A review by probablyjenna
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
For the first hundred or so pages, I thought this was going to become a new historical fiction favorite. Unfortunately, the second half of the book was just missing too many key elements for me to feel that way upon finishing. This is a fine enough book, but one that lacked the necessary depth in order to truly understand the motivations behind character decisions.
Here’s what I really liked:
- This is a WWII novel NOT centered in Europe! I learned a lot while reading this, and Chan did an amazing job embedding that history in an organic way.
- I love flawed, messy female characters and we certainly have that here in MC Cecily.
- I liked that Cecily’s chapters were mainly flashbacks to before Japan took over Malaya. Having the current timeline paired with the past timeline really helped me see how drastically things changed, as well as how the propaganda from Japan was so effective.
Here’s what missed the mark for me:
- While I enjoyed Cecily being a complicated character, I feel the book lacked in making it clear why she was that way. Upon finishing the novel, it’s hard for me to articulate what motivated her to act in the ways she did. It’s brushed on, but never really dissected. I would have loved to understand her more, and it really would have been easy to add those moments in.
- I think there was one too many MCs; with the amount of trauma each one was enduring, there were just too many storylines happening which prevented any of them from feeling fully developed.
- The ending began to feel like a soap opera. It started to feel almost fantastical with the amount of major coincidences that happened. I think it’s possible to have sequences like that, but there needs to be some sort of acknowledgement on the part of the characters in order to not lose readers.
- The estranged romance had way more time than necessary. There were so many more interesting things happening that I would have loved to seen better explored.
I think if you like historical fiction but maybe don’t love deep character analysis, this could be a good for. Other than the last 50ish pages, I was really hooked into the story and eager to see what happened next. I feel like this might end up being a buzzy book because it is quite moving, but not so much so that you need to think too hard.
Here’s what I really liked:
- This is a WWII novel NOT centered in Europe! I learned a lot while reading this, and Chan did an amazing job embedding that history in an organic way.
- I love flawed, messy female characters and we certainly have that here in MC Cecily.
- I liked that Cecily’s chapters were mainly flashbacks to before Japan took over Malaya. Having the current timeline paired with the past timeline really helped me see how drastically things changed, as well as how the propaganda from Japan was so effective.
Here’s what missed the mark for me:
- While I enjoyed Cecily being a complicated character, I feel the book lacked in making it clear why she was that way. Upon finishing the novel, it’s hard for me to articulate what motivated her to act in the ways she did. It’s brushed on, but never really dissected. I would have loved to understand her more, and it really would have been easy to add those moments in.
- I think there was one too many MCs; with the amount of trauma each one was enduring, there were just too many storylines happening which prevented any of them from feeling fully developed.
- The ending began to feel like a soap opera. It started to feel almost fantastical with the amount of major coincidences that happened. I think it’s possible to have sequences like that, but there needs to be some sort of acknowledgement on the part of the characters in order to not lose readers.
- The estranged romance had way more time than necessary. There were so many more interesting things happening that I would have loved to seen better explored.
I think if you like historical fiction but maybe don’t love deep character analysis, this could be a good for. Other than the last 50ish pages, I was really hooked into the story and eager to see what happened next. I feel like this might end up being a buzzy book because it is quite moving, but not so much so that you need to think too hard.