Review & BlogTour & Giveaway: War of Storms - Erica Cameron
War of Storms by Erica Cameron
Series: The Ryogan Chronicles #3
My rating: {★★★★☆}
YA Fantasy Fiction
Published November 5th 2018 by Entangled Teen
Source: ARC sent by Publisher via NetGalley
The immortal mages have risen, and they’re out for blood.** I voluntarily read and reviewed a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes used are taken from the review copy and as such may not be present or accurate in the final version**
Khya arrived at the Ryogan coast too late to stop the invasion. Now, cities are falling before the unrelenting march of an enemy army, and Khya’s squad is desperately trying to stay ahead of them. Warning the Ryogans, though, means leaving her brother imprisoned even longer. Time is running out for everyone.
how can her squad of ten stand against an army of ten thousand?
Calling in help from every ally she’s made in Ryogo, Khya tries to build a plan that won’t require sacrificing her friends or her brother. It’s a tough balance to find, especially when the leadership role she thought she wanted sits heavy on her shoulders, and her relationship with Tessen is beginning to crack under the strain.
The immortal mages have risen, and they’re out for blood.
Khya arrived at the Ryogan coast too late to stop the invasion. Now, cities are falling before the unrelenting march of an enemy army, and Khya’s squad is desperately trying to stay ahead of them. Warning the Ryogans, though, means leaving her brother imprisoned even longer. Time is running out for everyone.
The end is coming, and there’s no way to know who’ll be left standing when it hits.
The series finale to The Ryogan Chronicles which began with Island of Exiles is here - and it's GOOD! I've tried to make my review as spoiler free as possible.
This is such an incredibly DIVERSE series. I have mentioned it before in previous reviews but there is such a plethora of diversity I have to mention it again. This series includes sexual diversity (almost every kind you can think of including asexual), race diversity, gender diversity (there is a third gender!) and cultural diversity. The Island of Shiara, where the whole series begins, is far from a perfect world and yet diversity there is so normal, so accepted and so inclusive that it's inspirational.
The series as a whole is incredibly complex and a lot of thought and preparation has clearly gone into the history of the world as well as the day to day function and the society and culture of the people and their language. I think that Erica has done a great job at managing to balance out the relevant information that the reader eventually gets to read, while making it clear that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes. Because of this complexity however it is a fairly involved read - new language and two intricate magic systems, not to mention the various types of mages. There are glossaries included in each book though, and in books two and three there are also character guides at the beginning which can be so helpful, especially when the names are unusual.
The main characters and the basis on which their world exists is what really draws me in to this series and kept me reading.
Khya is a Desosa Mage which means she can manipulate energy and in her particular case she is a fykina ward mage -able to shield herself and others from both magic and the physical world. Her emotional journey and character growth throughout the series was incredibly well done and not only is she becoming more accepting of human attachment and her relationship with Tessen (which is totally swoonworthy by the way) she's also really realising what values and WHO is important to her.
The series is also incredibly realistic - the characters make mistakes, don't make it to certain places in time and they get confused, angry and have to make some incredibly hard decisions.
Leadership is hardest when you’re standing on the precipice of a decision and looking down on all the ways it could go wrong while pretending exactly the oppositeI loved seeing characters that I had become attached to come back into the story and I also loved getting to know other characters even more. Tessen is still possibly my favourite and I loved the fact that as a male lead he was quite content to play to his strengths and let Khya play to hers. I shipped their relationship so hard all the way from the very first book and I was glad it played a slightly bigger role in this, the third and final book.
“What if I told you I was willing?” he asks after so many breaths I’d stopped counting. “What if, for me, suffering that kind of agony is worth it for everything that came before?”
War of Storms finishes the series so nicely; full of strategic, action packed battles and all the feels I needed to get me through to the end knowing that everything was complete and that the characters can now look forward to healing and their futures together.
It’s always been you, Khya, and I’m here whether you want forever or not. I love you, okhaio, and there isn’t any fate I’ve seen or heard of that’s enough to keep me from wanting you as my sukhai.
Erica Cameron is the author of books for young adults including the Ryogan Chronicles, the Assassins duology, and The Dream War Saga. She also co-authored the Laguna Tides novels with Lani Woodland. An advocate for asexuality and emotional abuse awareness, Erica has also worked with teens at a residential rehabilitation facility in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale.
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