Despite having creative concepts and much-loved tropes, this enemies-to-lovers romantasy is a clunky, forgettable read.
This review is spoiler-free.
All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.
Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.
Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion–one that could save their world…or destroy it.
NOTHING IS QUITE RIGHT
On paper, this book is perfect. It’s got a shadow daddy, true enemies to lovers, and a complex, creative world.
In reality, reading it feels like slowly falling down a long flight of stairs.
The romance, in particular, frustrated me, since the two MCs in this novel have every reason to hate and love one another. But the reader is constantly bombarded with the ‘for some reason, Alaric popped into my head‘ and rarely treated to moments of actual bonding. For a trope that absolutely requires slow understanding and empathy of the romantic interest, this romance was shockingly unearned and insta-lovey.
The shadow-wielding male main character had nothing unique or, quite honestly, all that attractive about him. Ignoring the fact that he’s a Kylo Ren cardboard cutout, he has very little character development beyond shit oh no I like Talasyn. But it’s I like Talasyn in a this is weird I feel like a witch has put a spell on me and not as a result of any particular quality of hers (besides that she’s ✨feisty✨). He doesn’t even think about standing up to his father (who actually has the potential to be a really interesting villain in future books I’m not going to read)—his father, for whom he’s committed straight-up war crimes for the better part of a decade.
His characterisation also gets confused because one moment we’re in his head, and he’s a blushing virgin with no idea how to handle a woman, and then next we’re in Talasyn’s head and he’s picking her up and alpha-ing and shadow-daddying all over the place. This isn’t resolved in the (actually very good) spicy scene, when he (well actually, they) are magically pretty good at sexy times despite having literally zero experience between them.
“But this wasn’t just someone. This was Alaric, her husband, her enemy, her dark mirror, and the Lightweave in her veins soared in triumph, recognizing him for what he was, calling out to his shadows, and everything was golden, was eclipse, was forever, was theirs alone.”
THE WORLD, KINDA
In the same way this book’s enemies to lovers was great in concept but not in execution, the world had a great premise. The wars make sense and they’re brutal; the magic system is relatively creative; and I especially liked the patriarchal society Talasyn gets chosen-one’d into as their reluctant next leader. Oh, and there’s also definitely a copy-and-paste vibe between Talasyn and Alina, the sunlight-wielding chosen one from Shadow and Bone. But maybe it’s just their similar powers blinding me. Hah, get it? Blinding?
But it’s far too clunky. From the outset, we’re bombarded with new words—for airships, for armies and countries, for plants and animals and drinks and games. All at once, all with different names, all in a way that reads like a rough draft; like a brainstorming session for a dungeons & dragons dungeonmaster.
And between all this new terminology (like, worse than Crescent City, you guys) we lose the emotional thread with Talasyn. It meant that we’re so busy having a textbook read out to us that the main character that emerges is simplistic and cookie-cutter—though I do say that as someone who reads a lot of romantasy, so I may be over-indexed on cookie-cutter heroines.
Should you read it?
In many ways, this book is the opposite of The Serpent and the Wings of Night—it offers original, interesting ideas, but it delivers surprisingly poor execution. Up to you to choose.
“You’ve been fighting all your life, Your instinct is to strike first, before anyone can hurt you. But, sometimes it’s the blow the molds us. Taking it. Letting it ring against our defenses, until we are assured in the the knowledge that, when it’s over, we will still be standing.”
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