Scan barcode
A review by _onemorechapter_
War Storm by Victoria Aveyard
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
๐ญ I finally made it to the end of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series with War Storm! War Storm brings us to the epic conclusion of this quartet.
I liked Red Queen, was disappointed with Glass Sword and got some hope with King's Cage. Would War Stom be the book to save the series?
I was expecting an action-packed book, but War Storm was disappointing. I love the cover and the title but sadly what's inside didn't live up!
King's Cage ends with a somewhat big twist and then War Storm drags on and on and on and almost nothing of importance (or nothing interesting) happens for the first half of the book.
Overall this finale is disappointing. We had to read 4 books to get there, the tension between Mare and Maven kept building, the hate between Cal and Maven ran deeper with each book, and when we finally got to the big end, it was just "meh...".
Reading about how they(Cal & Mare) love each other, but can't be together so they ignore each other because Cal is too stubborn to abdicate and Mare is too invested in her cause. I understand it's not an easy situation, but the on-and-off relationship and the never-ending internal debates were getting on my nerves by the end of the book. Both of them were so frustrating! I would have rather read more about Maven.
The battle sequences were too long, colorless and dull. The endless scheming and discussions about battle plans laced with veiled threats and innuendos made me huff in frustration. I found myself skimming the pages, waiting for the sparkle that would turn my world ablaze, that would make me cheer and scream and clap and live in the story, fight next to the coalition, ravage and burn and destroy, eager for the final confrontation that would steal my breath, but everything, even the ending, was underwhelming. It was a case of quantity over quality, and I can't help but think that perhaps a fourth book was not that necessary.
Needless to say, this book got pretty political in the fantasy sense. Perhaps that's why I felt like things were taking so long to move forward. Though pacing was another issue I had with this book. Things just didn't move forward at a fast pace. Every moment was analyzed down to a conversation, to a warmup battle, to a small battle and beyond. I just felt like you could still get the points across with less description and time spent on analyzing every angle.
Victoria Aveyardโs writing and character development get so much better! I didn't hate Mare(When I read Glass Sword and Kingโs Cage, Mare was pissing me off so much I didnโt even want to continue with this series). Mare finally became a decent person I could root for, her development was apparent, a pleasant surprise, but she never stopped being a special snowflake (and if I drank a shot every time someone said "lightning girl" I would suffer from cirrhosis of liver by now).
But I guess some things don't change and in this case, it was Cal for me. I still feel indifference towards him. I have never liked or hated him. In simple words, I still don't give a damn about him and that's constant throughout this series!
War Storm has split POVs, which really helps lower Mare on the irritation scale. Along with Evangeline Samos, Iris Signet and also a couple of chapters from Calโs and Mavenโs perspective, it made for a really interesting read.
Iris, whose PoV was rather tedious, could vanish into thin air and I wouldn't give a darn. Yet they are justified in the plot. I just wanted to skim them to go to the end and know what would happen.
On the other side, Cameron is almost absent for the whole book and she used to have her chapters in King's Cage. She went from a super useful Newblood to a forgotten nobody.
The only silver lining was Evangeline( Definitely one of my favourite characters of all time!), I loved her and her sarcasm, her character growth since Red Queen has probably been the most monumental. I hated her during Red Queen but throughout Kingโs Cage and War Storm? I kept reading for her! She was so relatable. A character always used for her parentsโ schemes and planning, never left to feel and never left to do what was best for her. So when the chance comes? She took it and I love her for it. She struggled throughout the entire series to find her place and Iโm so proud and happy for her for finally finding it and keeping her loved ones with her.
Her spirit and the reluctant camaraderie, if not friendship, that bloomed between her and Mare. The girl power was truly something to behold!
There were so many POVs in this book that Victoria could have added Kilorn's POV, I would have loved that but like previous books in the series, this book also didn't do justice to his character development.
There was also not enough description and interactions between the electricons. I think Tyton and the others were really good and interesting characters to explore and write about. But Aveyard missed that chance to make this gang as famous as the 'Inner Circle'.
I got to love Maven in the other books. He was twisted but as a product of a mad queen. He had an intensity. He was obsessive. He was scheming and winning. He had a presence. He had charisma.
In Warstorm it's like the flame is extinguished. He was a pale copy of his former self. A mockery.
Yes, he was still obsessed and scheming but it was written in such a way that he seemed like a five years old toddler being a brat. He was so much more than a monstrous and foolish boy king painted in this story!
Where was my ideal "in shades of grey" villain?
I do wish we could have gotten more to Mavenโs story. There was so much potential there, but it felt as though it didnโt quite hit the mark!
Maven is the kind of character you can never hate, no matter what he does. His POV made me feel so much sympathy for him and itโs heartbreaking how he canโt help to be the way he is.
He deserved better.
Overall, So it is not all that bad, I was just expecting more for the grand finale, especially with the book being called War Storm. I was expecting more heart-pounding battles and plot twists and less never-ending and frustrating emotional struggles.
With that, goodbye to the Stilts, to Calore kings, to memorable earrings, to Silent Stone and remember โanyone can betray anyone.โ
๐.๐. Another series has come and gone and yet again I am feeling relatively unimpressed about the whole experience!
Itโs been a long time coming, Iโm also glad to be done with it.
Goodbye Lightning Girl โ I wonโt miss you at all.
๐ธ๐ด๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: โญโญโญ.5
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: 3.83 (161557)
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐: Fantasy & Young Adult Fiction
๐ธ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐: Red Queen (Book 4)
๐ธ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: Good, but not too good, the series doesn't deserve the hype!!!
But if you enjoyed "Red Queen, Glass Sword, and King's Cage then you should definitely read "WAR STORM"!
๐ธ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐:
โLove can be exploited, I guess, used to manipulate. It's leverage. But I would never call loving someone else a weakness. I think living without love at all, any kind of love, is a weakness. And the worst kind of darkness.โ
โNot all crowns are worn where people can see.โ
โBut there's always something left to be broken.โ
โIgnorance is a burden I do not intend to carry.โ
โCal is built from his fatherโs dreams, and Maven from his motherโs nightmares.โ
โInches for Miles. Change can be quick, or it can be slow. But the movement should always be forwardโ
"Everyone is someone else's pawn, Mare. whether we know it or not.โ
โIf there's one thing I should forget, it's him.โ
โI ache for my ability the way I ache for Mare, for Thomas, for who I was supposed to be.โ
โIf. I hate that word.โ
โItโs cruel to give hope where none should be.โ
โLove has a way of cutting us apart like nothing else.โ
โWe destroy. Itโs the constant of our kind.โ
โWe destroy, but we also rebuild.โ
I liked Red Queen, was disappointed with Glass Sword and got some hope with King's Cage. Would War Stom be the book to save the series?
I was expecting an action-packed book, but War Storm was disappointing. I love the cover and the title but sadly what's inside didn't live up!
King's Cage ends with a somewhat big twist and then War Storm drags on and on and on and almost nothing of importance (or nothing interesting) happens for the first half of the book.
Overall this finale is disappointing. We had to read 4 books to get there, the tension between Mare and Maven kept building, the hate between Cal and Maven ran deeper with each book, and when we finally got to the big end, it was just "meh...".
Reading about how they(Cal & Mare) love each other, but can't be together so they ignore each other because Cal is too stubborn to abdicate and Mare is too invested in her cause. I understand it's not an easy situation, but the on-and-off relationship and the never-ending internal debates were getting on my nerves by the end of the book. Both of them were so frustrating! I would have rather read more about Maven.
The battle sequences were too long, colorless and dull. The endless scheming and discussions about battle plans laced with veiled threats and innuendos made me huff in frustration. I found myself skimming the pages, waiting for the sparkle that would turn my world ablaze, that would make me cheer and scream and clap and live in the story, fight next to the coalition, ravage and burn and destroy, eager for the final confrontation that would steal my breath, but everything, even the ending, was underwhelming. It was a case of quantity over quality, and I can't help but think that perhaps a fourth book was not that necessary.
Needless to say, this book got pretty political in the fantasy sense. Perhaps that's why I felt like things were taking so long to move forward. Though pacing was another issue I had with this book. Things just didn't move forward at a fast pace. Every moment was analyzed down to a conversation, to a warmup battle, to a small battle and beyond. I just felt like you could still get the points across with less description and time spent on analyzing every angle.
Victoria Aveyardโs writing and character development get so much better! I didn't hate Mare(When I read Glass Sword and Kingโs Cage, Mare was pissing me off so much I didnโt even want to continue with this series). Mare finally became a decent person I could root for, her development was apparent, a pleasant surprise, but she never stopped being a special snowflake (and if I drank a shot every time someone said "lightning girl" I would suffer from cirrhosis of liver by now).
But I guess some things don't change and in this case, it was Cal for me. I still feel indifference towards him. I have never liked or hated him. In simple words, I still don't give a damn about him and that's constant throughout this series!
War Storm has split POVs, which really helps lower Mare on the irritation scale. Along with Evangeline Samos, Iris Signet and also a couple of chapters from Calโs and Mavenโs perspective, it made for a really interesting read.
Iris, whose PoV was rather tedious, could vanish into thin air and I wouldn't give a darn. Yet they are justified in the plot. I just wanted to skim them to go to the end and know what would happen.
On the other side, Cameron is almost absent for the whole book and she used to have her chapters in King's Cage. She went from a super useful Newblood to a forgotten nobody.
The only silver lining was Evangeline( Definitely one of my favourite characters of all time!), I loved her and her sarcasm, her character growth since Red Queen has probably been the most monumental. I hated her during Red Queen but throughout Kingโs Cage and War Storm? I kept reading for her! She was so relatable. A character always used for her parentsโ schemes and planning, never left to feel and never left to do what was best for her. So when the chance comes? She took it and I love her for it. She struggled throughout the entire series to find her place and Iโm so proud and happy for her for finally finding it and keeping her loved ones with her.
Her spirit and the reluctant camaraderie, if not friendship, that bloomed between her and Mare. The girl power was truly something to behold!
There were so many POVs in this book that Victoria could have added Kilorn's POV, I would have loved that but like previous books in the series, this book also didn't do justice to his character development.
There was also not enough description and interactions between the electricons. I think Tyton and the others were really good and interesting characters to explore and write about. But Aveyard missed that chance to make this gang as famous as the 'Inner Circle'.
I got to love Maven in the other books. He was twisted but as a product of a mad queen. He had an intensity. He was obsessive. He was scheming and winning. He had a presence. He had charisma.
In Warstorm it's like the flame is extinguished. He was a pale copy of his former self. A mockery.
Yes, he was still obsessed and scheming but it was written in such a way that he seemed like a five years old toddler being a brat. He was so much more than a monstrous and foolish boy king painted in this story!
Where was my ideal "in shades of grey" villain?
I do wish we could have gotten more to Mavenโs story. There was so much potential there, but it felt as though it didnโt quite hit the mark!
Maven is the kind of character you can never hate, no matter what he does. His POV made me feel so much sympathy for him and itโs heartbreaking how he canโt help to be the way he is.
He deserved better.
Overall, So it is not all that bad, I was just expecting more for the grand finale, especially with the book being called War Storm. I was expecting more heart-pounding battles and plot twists and less never-ending and frustrating emotional struggles.
With that, goodbye to the Stilts, to Calore kings, to memorable earrings, to Silent Stone and remember โanyone can betray anyone.โ
๐.๐. Another series has come and gone and yet again I am feeling relatively unimpressed about the whole experience!
Itโs been a long time coming, Iโm also glad to be done with it.
Goodbye Lightning Girl โ I wonโt miss you at all.
๐ธ๐ด๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: โญโญโญ.5
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: 3.83 (161557)
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐: Fantasy & Young Adult Fiction
๐ธ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐: Red Queen (Book 4)
๐ธ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: Good, but not too good, the series doesn't deserve the hype!!!
But if you enjoyed "Red Queen, Glass Sword, and King's Cage then you should definitely read "WAR STORM"!
๐ธ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐:
โLove can be exploited, I guess, used to manipulate. It's leverage. But I would never call loving someone else a weakness. I think living without love at all, any kind of love, is a weakness. And the worst kind of darkness.โ
โNot all crowns are worn where people can see.โ
โBut there's always something left to be broken.โ
โIgnorance is a burden I do not intend to carry.โ
โCal is built from his fatherโs dreams, and Maven from his motherโs nightmares.โ
โInches for Miles. Change can be quick, or it can be slow. But the movement should always be forwardโ
"Everyone is someone else's pawn, Mare. whether we know it or not.โ
โIf there's one thing I should forget, it's him.โ
โI ache for my ability the way I ache for Mare, for Thomas, for who I was supposed to be.โ
โIf. I hate that word.โ
โItโs cruel to give hope where none should be.โ
โLove has a way of cutting us apart like nothing else.โ
โWe destroy. Itโs the constant of our kind.โ
โWe destroy, but we also rebuild.โ