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A review by briarrose1021
Arianna and the Spirit of the Storm by Stephen Landry, Robbie Ballew
5.0
Arianna has struggled her entire life with the lightning magic she has inside of her, always seeking to suppress the anger and destruction that the voice seems to want to inflict. She has not had an easy life thus far. Her mother died giving birth to her, and the day she was born marked the beginning of a drought that has cursed the land ever since. As a result, many blame Arianna for the curse. When her father, who has been investigating the curse ever since in the hopes of finding a way to end it, is found killed - supposedly be a satyr - suddenly the situation for Arianna changes very rapidly. Not wanting to leave her village, Arianna plans to work in the mines. However, on her first day of work, two knights try to kill her when she shows up. She is able to escape, and she and her best friend leave the village on a quest to end the curse.
This was a really good book and I really enjoyed listening to it. The author did a wonderful job with the characters and the world-building that it was easy to visualize what was happening. I also really liked the way the author handled Arianna's struggles with how she views the satyrs, which has been greatly influenced by propaganda put out to increase the tensions between the fauns (satyrs) and the elves. The cunning of the bad guys was very well-done, and by the end I was moving him up my list of most hated villains. He did not surpass Professor Umbridge as my most-hated character in a book, but he did get pretty close. (Also, I'm avoiding naming the bad guy so I don't give away any spoilers).
Finally, I was able to listen to the audiobook version of this book and loved it. The narrator, Shannon Hobby, did a wonderful job. Indeed, she's one of the few narrators that I have found I do not have to speed up in order to have them approach a normal speaking speed. LOL. The only issue I had with the audiobook was that there were a few places where parts of sentences were repeated in sequence, most likely as a result of a mistimed pick-up. A quick run-through with an audio-proofer would fix that. That being said, it didn't happen often and didn't interfere with my listening. So don't let that be the reason you avoid the audiobook.
This was a really good book and I really enjoyed listening to it. The author did a wonderful job with the characters and the world-building that it was easy to visualize what was happening. I also really liked the way the author handled Arianna's struggles with how she views the satyrs, which has been greatly influenced by propaganda put out to increase the tensions between the fauns (satyrs) and the elves. The cunning of the bad guys was very well-done, and by the end I was moving him up my list of most hated villains. He did not surpass Professor Umbridge as my most-hated character in a book, but he did get pretty close. (Also, I'm avoiding naming the bad guy so I don't give away any spoilers).
Finally, I was able to listen to the audiobook version of this book and loved it. The narrator, Shannon Hobby, did a wonderful job. Indeed, she's one of the few narrators that I have found I do not have to speed up in order to have them approach a normal speaking speed. LOL. The only issue I had with the audiobook was that there were a few places where parts of sentences were repeated in sequence, most likely as a result of a mistimed pick-up. A quick run-through with an audio-proofer would fix that. That being said, it didn't happen often and didn't interfere with my listening. So don't let that be the reason you avoid the audiobook.