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A review by a_j_torres0
Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes
3.0
This is a Young Adult Epic Fantasy novel Book 5.
Book Cover: 5* - Still loving these covers, especially when this cover has my fave character, Prince Magnus Damora, on it lol. However, it is pretty barren compare to the previous covers, but I'm still going to give it that 5 stars for the work put into it.
Summary/Tagline: 2* - So far, I feel very meh about the synopsis/summaries of this book. They sound a lot more epic than it really is and I'm just not feeling them at all, not since book 1 I'm afraid.
Characters: 2.5* - The chapter titles are still character names, which makes looking forward to specific chapters easier and unbearable lol. There are a total of 5 POVs this time and everyone is various lengths.
Jonas Agallon/6 POV Chapters - Well, I'm still feeling very indifferent for this character. Although he had one very surprising moment, it quickly disappeared by his next chapter as he doesn't at all care about the surprise he received, which, I understand, I think it just goes with his character, but because I never really cared about Jonas I never really cared about how he feels most of the time. He sounded pretty whiny about his situation, but whatever, I was able to tolerate it.
Prince Magnus Damora/9 POV Chapters - Now, Magnus is still my fave, but I thought there was an interesting and stark contrast to Cleo's chapters, and what I mean is, when it comes to the romance scenes with Cleo, we only get what he is feeling about their romance while Cleo gives us the opposite. When alone with his father and grandmother, I'd say those scenes can get pretty intense while also seeing how confused he should be feeling towards them, but also still not trusting them to be safe. I enjoyed his chapters for what they are, but the characters in this book biggest flaw is still refusing to talk to each other to express/explain how they are feeling and allowing other characters to get the wrong idea. It's still the most annoying part of these book, plus the romance has taken a back seat this time around and isn't in my face about it.
Empress Amara Cortas/6 POV Chapters - So, Amara's chapters pretty much sounded the same. I'm Empress now, everyone needs to listen to me, I have power, I should have power, why isn't everyone listening to me, I'm the Empress! I got annoyed that I didn't care one wit about what happens to her.
Princess Lucia Eva Damora/5 POV Chapters - Lucia's chapters were surprising sometimes, mainly about her unborn child, but again, like Jonas, it was immediately gone by the end of the book as it seems . . . Oh wait, I'm worried I will spoil if I explain further, so, just know I kind of rolled my eyes by the end of the book, and no, no romance blossomed between Jonas and Lucia thank GOD!
Princess Cleiona Aurora Bellos/7 POV Chapters - As I stated a little bit with Magnus, with him we got the romance, with her . . . well, she kind of whined and got upset most of the time, especially when it came to King Gaius and his mother. I never got to see how she really feels about Magnus, except that she wants to keep their romance a secret from Nic because she is sure how upset and disappointed he will be of her, which, no lie, I was ticked off when she thought that. The way how I see it, tell him how you really feel about Magnus, let Nic bitch for all I care, I haven't cared for him since book 2. He's become so annoyingly whiny that I didn't care one wit about him either.
World Building: 2* - I think the magic was explained a bit more in this book, but to be honest, the world building still takes a huge back seat in these book so I feel still unimpressed about it. I think it was interesting getting to learn a little bit more about witch magic, but at the same time it's starting to sound like witch magic was originally the watcher magic? If I understood it correctly.
Story: 2* - The story, to me at least, felt all over the place. It was hugely predictable with very, VERY few surprising moments in it. It was hard for me to care about the dangers when I still don't care about most of the characters in this book, and most of the time I just wanted this book to end. Oh well, after this I only have 1 more book to go.
Over All: 2.5* - With very few surprising moments in this book and a lot more I just don't give a d*** moments in this book, it was really hard for me to want to finish this book. It looks like the author no longer has the courage to kill off characters and my biggest gripe in these books is the lack of character communication. I don't like forced drama for the sake of "drama", and it's kind of what this book was, drama, constant distrust, and a bunch of name calling. Anyway, I'm done with this book and will be moving on to the 6th and final book of the series. Here I go.
Book Cover: 5* - Still loving these covers, especially when this cover has my fave character, Prince Magnus Damora, on it lol. However, it is pretty barren compare to the previous covers, but I'm still going to give it that 5 stars for the work put into it.
Summary/Tagline: 2* - So far, I feel very meh about the synopsis/summaries of this book. They sound a lot more epic than it really is and I'm just not feeling them at all, not since book 1 I'm afraid.
Characters: 2.5* - The chapter titles are still character names, which makes looking forward to specific chapters easier and unbearable lol. There are a total of 5 POVs this time and everyone is various lengths.
Jonas Agallon/6 POV Chapters - Well, I'm still feeling very indifferent for this character. Although he had one very surprising moment, it quickly disappeared by his next chapter as he doesn't at all care about the surprise he received, which, I understand, I think it just goes with his character, but because I never really cared about Jonas I never really cared about how he feels most of the time. He sounded pretty whiny about his situation, but whatever, I was able to tolerate it.
Prince Magnus Damora/9 POV Chapters - Now, Magnus is still my fave, but I thought there was an interesting and stark contrast to Cleo's chapters, and what I mean is, when it comes to the romance scenes with Cleo, we only get what he is feeling about their romance while Cleo gives us the opposite. When alone with his father and grandmother, I'd say those scenes can get pretty intense while also seeing how confused he should be feeling towards them, but also still not trusting them to be safe. I enjoyed his chapters for what they are, but the characters in this book biggest flaw is still refusing to talk to each other to express/explain how they are feeling and allowing other characters to get the wrong idea. It's still the most annoying part of these book, plus the romance has taken a back seat this time around and isn't in my face about it.
Empress Amara Cortas/6 POV Chapters - So, Amara's chapters pretty much sounded the same. I'm Empress now, everyone needs to listen to me, I have power, I should have power, why isn't everyone listening to me, I'm the Empress! I got annoyed that I didn't care one wit about what happens to her.
Princess Lucia Eva Damora/5 POV Chapters - Lucia's chapters were surprising sometimes, mainly about her unborn child, but again, like Jonas, it was immediately gone by the end of the book as it seems . . . Oh wait, I'm worried I will spoil if I explain further, so, just know I kind of rolled my eyes by the end of the book, and no, no romance blossomed between Jonas and Lucia thank GOD!
Princess Cleiona Aurora Bellos/7 POV Chapters - As I stated a little bit with Magnus, with him we got the romance, with her . . . well, she kind of whined and got upset most of the time, especially when it came to King Gaius and his mother. I never got to see how she really feels about Magnus, except that she wants to keep their romance a secret from Nic because she is sure how upset and disappointed he will be of her, which, no lie, I was ticked off when she thought that. The way how I see it, tell him how you really feel about Magnus, let Nic bitch for all I care, I haven't cared for him since book 2. He's become so annoyingly whiny that I didn't care one wit about him either.
World Building: 2* - I think the magic was explained a bit more in this book, but to be honest, the world building still takes a huge back seat in these book so I feel still unimpressed about it. I think it was interesting getting to learn a little bit more about witch magic, but at the same time it's starting to sound like witch magic was originally the watcher magic? If I understood it correctly.
Story: 2* - The story, to me at least, felt all over the place. It was hugely predictable with very, VERY few surprising moments in it. It was hard for me to care about the dangers when I still don't care about most of the characters in this book, and most of the time I just wanted this book to end. Oh well, after this I only have 1 more book to go.
Over All: 2.5* - With very few surprising moments in this book and a lot more I just don't give a d*** moments in this book, it was really hard for me to want to finish this book. It looks like the author no longer has the courage to kill off characters and my biggest gripe in these books is the lack of character communication. I don't like forced drama for the sake of "drama", and it's kind of what this book was, drama, constant distrust, and a bunch of name calling. Anyway, I'm done with this book and will be moving on to the 6th and final book of the series. Here I go.