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A review by justjeanettelee_reads
Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins
3.0
While I absolutely loved the book overall and its concept, there are certain elements that made it become a 3/5 rather than a 4/5.
So there are five daughters, and all of them have their own personality, their own fantasy trope.
You have:
Bluebell: the Warrior Princess. Doesn't give a fuck about anything but blood and her family. Apparently can't feel any "real love". Is prided upon her fighting capabilities. Acts masculine and asks to be treated like a man in return. 'I'm not a fucking princess,' to quote her. She's the apparent main protagonist. Called "Unkillable", but can be slain, according to a randrman (Seer? Wizard?) that she can be slain by her kin. Cue prophetic doom/triumph of protagonist. AKA The One Who Should Have Been A Son.
Rose: the One Who Follows Her Heart. She's been used as a peace bargaining tool between her father's Kingdom and her new husband's. Seemingly happily married for five years going into the story, with a little daughter named Rowan. Only, Rose is having an affair. With her husband's nephew. The child is his. Her storyline is the archetype of "Unfaithful Woman". She's selfish, oblivious to other people around her, and takes no responsibility for her actions. AKA The "Perfect" Princess.
Ash: the Witch/Undermagician. Her powers start out as soft stirrings of a prophetic nature. She's training to become a Counsellor (Healer? Nun-like-person?). She abandons the training when she receives word about her father, after hearing Bluebell call out to her (Magic!). As she journeys with Bluebell and Rose to save their father, she learns she's more powerful than she thought. She's an Undermagician and her special power is controlling the elements and elementals. She's predicted her own "Becoming" (Death) and it is blighted/doomed to kill hundreds of others. She takes herself into self-imposed exile with another Undermagician. AKA The Self-Sacrifice/The Spare (Kill the spare!)
Ivy: the One Who Follows The Cock. A twin, the elder of the two I'm guessing. She's just past sixteen and because she is considered the most beautiful (along with Rose) out of her sisters, she uses that beauty to her advantage. She sleeps around, and her lustful desires and petty, teenage jealousies caused many unhappy things to unfold. Like Rose, she is selfish and has no regard for others, as well as being extremely childish, she thinks only of her own desires. AKA The Spoilt One.
Willow: the Religious Fanatic. The other twin. She's devoted herself to the Trimartyr faith (a small religious group in the world this is set). She "hears" the voices of the "angels of Maava" and does their will. She cuts herself, punishing herself because of her "heathen" family and to prove her devotion to Maava. She sleeps with Wylm because she thinks it's her destiny to bear a Trimartyr king. She has tried to kill Bluebell (until the conclusion of the book, it still appears that she is under the impression that she has killed her sister). AKA The Betrayer.
And then you have Wylm, the Wronged Step-Brother. The One With Desires For The Throne (but adamantly claims that he never had those kinds of ambitions). The One Who Wants To Kill Bluebell. The Snivelling Coward. Or as Bluebell likes to call him, 'a fucking weasel'. He sleeps with Willow. And he is killed by Bluebell, after she learns that Wylm killed her lover, Sabert and threatened his son, Eni.
And Gudrun, Wylm's mother, the girls' stepmother, and Æthlric's second wife. She too has ambitions to displace Bluebell as the rightful heir and put her son on the throne. That's why she is the one who caused the king to get sick. All she wanted to do though (apparently) was charm him to think about making Wylm his heir instead of Bluebell.
With all of these characters, plus many others, what you read is an interesting fantasy that reads almost like a historical fiction. My main problems is that at times, some chapters are slow and/or unnecessary, and there was way too much swearing on Bluebell's behalf. Most chapters with her in it contained the word "fuck" or one of its many forms, at least five times. I'm not a prude when it comes to swearing. What annoyed me about it, is that it seemed that Wilkins thought it was the only way to character develop Bluebell, as if it was the only word Bluebell could used to express her emotions. Oh, she's a woman who acts like a man? Let's make her vulgar and curse a lot. Was it not enough that she became the Warrior Princess? The unpleasant stereotypes of men had to be added as well? If it weren't for this poor choice in character creation, Bluebell would without question be the favourite character. I found that Ash was my favourite.
Overall, a good start to a series that I'm interested to see how it ends, and hopefully, Wilkins moves on from basic tropes, and bland development.
So there are five daughters, and all of them have their own personality, their own fantasy trope.
You have:
Bluebell: the Warrior Princess. Doesn't give a fuck about anything but blood and her family. Apparently can't feel any "real love". Is prided upon her fighting capabilities. Acts masculine and asks to be treated like a man in return. 'I'm not a fucking princess,' to quote her. She's the apparent main protagonist. Called "Unkillable", but can be slain, according to a randrman (Seer? Wizard?) that she can be slain by her kin. Cue prophetic doom/triumph of protagonist. AKA The One Who Should Have Been A Son.
Rose: the One Who Follows Her Heart. She's been used as a peace bargaining tool between her father's Kingdom and her new husband's. Seemingly happily married for five years going into the story, with a little daughter named Rowan. Only, Rose is having an affair. With her husband's nephew. The child is his. Her storyline is the archetype of "Unfaithful Woman". She's selfish, oblivious to other people around her, and takes no responsibility for her actions. AKA The "Perfect" Princess.
Ash: the Witch/Undermagician. Her powers start out as soft stirrings of a prophetic nature. She's training to become a Counsellor (Healer? Nun-like-person?). She abandons the training when she receives word about her father, after hearing Bluebell call out to her (Magic!). As she journeys with Bluebell and Rose to save their father, she learns she's more powerful than she thought. She's an Undermagician and her special power is controlling the elements and elementals. She's predicted her own "Becoming" (Death) and it is blighted/doomed to kill hundreds of others. She takes herself into self-imposed exile with another Undermagician. AKA The Self-Sacrifice/The Spare (Kill the spare!)
Ivy: the One Who Follows The Cock. A twin, the elder of the two I'm guessing. She's just past sixteen and because she is considered the most beautiful (along with Rose) out of her sisters, she uses that beauty to her advantage. She sleeps around, and her lustful desires and petty, teenage jealousies caused many unhappy things to unfold. Like Rose, she is selfish and has no regard for others, as well as being extremely childish, she thinks only of her own desires. AKA The Spoilt One.
Willow: the Religious Fanatic. The other twin. She's devoted herself to the Trimartyr faith (a small religious group in the world this is set). She "hears" the voices of the "angels of Maava" and does their will. She cuts herself, punishing herself because of her "heathen" family and to prove her devotion to Maava. She sleeps with Wylm because she thinks it's her destiny to bear a Trimartyr king. She has tried to kill Bluebell (until the conclusion of the book, it still appears that she is under the impression that she has killed her sister). AKA The Betrayer.
And then you have Wylm, the Wronged Step-Brother. The One With Desires For The Throne (but adamantly claims that he never had those kinds of ambitions). The One Who Wants To Kill Bluebell. The Snivelling Coward. Or as Bluebell likes to call him, 'a fucking weasel'. He sleeps with Willow. And he is killed by Bluebell, after she learns that Wylm killed her lover, Sabert and threatened his son, Eni.
And Gudrun, Wylm's mother, the girls' stepmother, and Æthlric's second wife. She too has ambitions to displace Bluebell as the rightful heir and put her son on the throne. That's why she is the one who caused the king to get sick. All she wanted to do though (apparently) was charm him to think about making Wylm his heir instead of Bluebell.
With all of these characters, plus many others, what you read is an interesting fantasy that reads almost like a historical fiction. My main problems is that at times, some chapters are slow and/or unnecessary, and there was way too much swearing on Bluebell's behalf. Most chapters with her in it contained the word "fuck" or one of its many forms, at least five times. I'm not a prude when it comes to swearing. What annoyed me about it, is that it seemed that Wilkins thought it was the only way to character develop Bluebell, as if it was the only word Bluebell could used to express her emotions. Oh, she's a woman who acts like a man? Let's make her vulgar and curse a lot. Was it not enough that she became the Warrior Princess? The unpleasant stereotypes of men had to be added as well? If it weren't for this poor choice in character creation, Bluebell would without question be the favourite character. I found that Ash was my favourite.
Overall, a good start to a series that I'm interested to see how it ends, and hopefully, Wilkins moves on from basic tropes, and bland development.