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Sunday, June 17, 2018

Review: War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

War Storm
(Red Queen #4)
Publication Date: May 15, 2018
Hardcover, 662 pages, HarperTeen
Genres: YA, Fantasy/Dystopian

Victory comes at a price.

Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?

In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive.

My Review

I’ve been waiting for this book to release for so long, yet for some reason(s) I’ve tried to explain to myself, it took me almost an entire month to read this. Not that it was a terrible book or anything. I just have a lot going on during the week, and one of the weekends was BookCon, and I couldn’t take this behemoth of a book on the train ‘cause it’s gigantic, and… you see how my excuses are stacking up, right? But, anywho, I finished it finally, so here is my review.

To start off with, there was not enough Cal in this book. Yes, he was there, but everyone was so mean to him. The poor guy needed strategizers and advisors, yet everyone said, “Nope, we’re gonna do it this way instead. Peace out.” I also wasn’t too thrilled with the direction this book took about three-fourths of the way through. It was a lot of political I-won’t-help-you-unless-you-help-me-bullshit that works soooo well for getting things done. Note my sarcasm. This made the last 25% underwhelming. (Although, I can also attribute some of this to my noisy neighbors who were playing their music so loud that I found it hard to concentrate.)

I still enjoyed this book, despite my grievances with the last quarter where everyone seems out of character. There’s the cool powers and the awesome world-building. And the epilogue, though steeped with remnants from that meh 25% ending, was satisfying overall.

What I didn’t love were the chapters narrated by Iris. Like who the h-e-double-hockey-sticks are you? I don’t care. The book could have been 500 pages instead of 600 without her chapters. Everyone else’s were fine, even Evangeline’s were okay.

Umm… what else? Apparently, there are going to be more books, or at least novellas, set in this world coming in 2019. Not sure how I feel about that. I was happy the series was finished. I just don’t want it to end up, in my opinion, like The Mortal Instrument series or House of Night books where the stories just get dragged out. I’ll still end up reading them, though. *sigh*

All in all, not exactly what I was hoping for in the finale. I think all the characters continuously made stupid decisions, but there was action, cool powers, and Cal, so I guess I can’t complain too much.


*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

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