The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

I chose this book because I saw it in a bookstore and thought the cover looked pretty. The more I look at it, actually, the more I like it (don't get me started on my disappointment over the third book cover in the series). I did not realize until after finishing the book that The Hurricane Wars was Thea Guanzon's debut novel after getting her start writing fan fiction, much of which is about Star Wars. It does make sense though, looking back. The Hurricane Wars is a New York Times Bestseller and an Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy. It deals with bullying, child abuse, death, allusions to physical abuse, violence, blood, pregnancy, grief, abandonment, colonization, and war. This is a review for The Hurricane Wars book, if you need a summary or study guide, check out our The Hurricane Wars series page.

Talasyn grew up as an orphan in the Sardovian Allfold's Great Steppes, joining the Allfold's war against the Night Empire as soon as she was old enough. Although Talasyn flies her quick and nimble coracle when fighting, what almost no one knows (not her fellow soldiers or her single friend) is that she is the Allfold's secret weapon. Whenever they decide to unleash her, that is. She is a Lightweaver, someone who can manipulate the aether of the Lightweave, the likes of which have not been seen in decades. Alaric, on the other hand, is the strongest Shadowforged in generations. The Shadowgate runs through his veins and he uses it to fight for his father, the Night Emperor, to end the Hurricane Wars. Once Talasyn's ability is revealed, they will be forced to be mortal enemies. But who will win in the battle between the light and the shadows?

Very rarely has my "Do judge a book by it's cover" mentality done me wrong, but I was disappointed by this book. I found it to be repetitive and unnecessarily confusing. I did like the characters, I found both Talasyn and Alaric, as well as some of the secondary characters, to be likeable. But I am tired of having our main characters be thrust into an important role yet have impulse control that is worse than my four year old's. Please can we get a character who at least tries to think through their actions before fully committing! The world building was great, and it felt like that is where the author spent most of her time. Maybe too much of her time. I think she maybe needed to step back because while she was really good at building her world, she was not great at describing it to the reader. Many of the nations in the novel go by several different names and it took me a good chunk of time to figure out which country was just another name and which was an independent country. It has potential and I'm interested to see where book two takes us, but I wouldn't say that I'm either excited or optimistic.

I'm giving The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon 3.5 stars out of 5. Spice level was a 1. It was just fine. The writing was fine, the story was fine, the ending was fine. I wasn't impressed and much of the time I was a little confused, but I will be reading the sequel A Monsoon Rising before the third book comes out in September. For a summary and study guide for The Hurricane Wars, check out our The Hurricane Wars series page.

For more from the author, check out https://www.theaguanzon.com/

Pairs well with piquant sauce and picking up Tai Chi for the meditation.