Review: Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke

This review is for the second book in the Watergiver series, titled Stormlord Rising, and is the book that contains more action and meat and potatoes of the story than the first book.

By the end of the first book, the Quartern is at war, the surviving Breccia rainlords are either enslaved or on the run, Terelle is headed with her grandfather to Khromantis and the dune tribes are planning raids and attacks in their attempt to rid the world of water sensitives and return to a time of "random rain".

137 pages into the book and I hit a segment that really stood out to me - that really defines the character Laisa and how underhanded and manipulative she is.

...he asked, "Laisa, if you wanted to gain ascendancy over an enemy too strong to be defeated in battle, how would you do it?" 

She turned her head to look at him.  So cat-like, he thought.  Bruised but sated. 

"That's easy," she said.  "Take hostage what he loves most in the world: his lover, his child, his land his wealth, his power, whatever.  The trick is to find out what he values most.  Then you will have your enemy in the palm of your hand." 

A slow smile lifted his lips as her words seeded the beginnings of an idea.  "of course.  Why didn't I think of that."

That segment means a lot to the rest of the book and the series and tells a lot about not only Laisa, but Taquar as well.  They will stoop as low as they have to to get exactly what they want from a person.  It should have also told Taquar that Laisa wasn't to be trusted, and I think he knew that on some level, but didn't take it to heart.

Jasper (Shale Flint) is full grown and back in the hands of Taquar in this book.  Terelle has escaped and not been able to be tracked by Taquar.  Jasper pines after her, but does his duty as the existing stormlord and with the help of Taquar, continues to bring water to the Quartern.

Similar to the first book, the story jumps back and forth between those in Scarcleft, to Terelle and Russet making their way to Khromantis, to Vera Redmane in the dunes tribes, and to Garnet/Ryka, Kaneth, Elmar and Ravard - who is actually Shale's brother Mica who he thinks is deceased.

The story flows smoother and there are more definitive cut off points - logical places where the story shifts to another part of the story and it makes the transitions smoother than the transitions in the first book.

As I try not to spoil too much of the story (which I may have spoiled a bit above), the war within the Quartern is brought to a partial end by the end of the book, Shale and Mica know each other are alive but are going down very different paths, Ryka has her baby and many other things are discovered and the book has an ending that closes that part of the story and segues into the next book smoothly.

Even though there are plenty of unfinished stories left, the book ends in a good way to make you want to find out how things end in the third book.

This book receives 4 out of 5 stars.  I feel the writing is much improved in this book and the story flows smoother - perhaps due to the fact that all the world building and character defining happened in the first book and didn't have to happen in this book.

If you struggled through reading the first book, I strongly encourage you to read this one as it will give you a better understanding into the first book and why it is the way it is.

You can learn more about Glenda Larke here:
On twitter @glendalarke
On facebook as Glenda Larke
and blogging at http://glendalarke.blogspot.com

Review: The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke

I want to start this book review off with a little bit of an intro into it.  I picked up the last book in the series first and read it and immediately wished I had realized it was a series and picked up the first two at the same time.  Unfortunately, I think when I grabbed it, I didn't pay close enough attention that it was the third in the series.

That being said, book three can, sort of, stand by itself.  You miss the back stories of the characters, but things flow smoothly if you read it first like I did.  I ended up getting the first and second book on the Nook and am now reading through them a second time, which is why I've decided to go ahead and review them - in order - since I have all three.

The Last Stormlord is book #1 in the Watergivers series and is perhaps the hardest of the three books to read.  You are thrown into a fantasy, desert world where life-giving/saving water is distributed to the land by an old and dying "Stormlord."

The world is populated, sparsely, with individuals who can detect or move water.  The lesser of these are reeves and they monitor the water in cisterns and distribution within a city.  Then there are rainlords who can sense water around them to varying degrees and move it.  Then stormlords.

Unfortunately, the last stormlord is dying and the plot of the story focuses on a search for water sensitive youths.

The story jumps between three different areas - the city of Breccia where the dying Stormlord and a number of rainlords live, the city of Scarcleft (sp?) and the Gibber Quarter where the future stormlord and main character of the three books is found.

The book jumps not only between stories of sets of characters and locations, but also in chunks of time.  Several times in the stories months and years jump past, which you may not catch right away if you aren't paying attention to the headers of the story and the locations.

Ultimately, the first book in this series is a lot of world building, introducing us to multiple protagonists and antagonists, telling the back story and launching into the start of the ultimate stories.  It can be a bit hard to get into and to understand if you aren't expecting a thought provoking read.  And this would be why I give this book out of the series a 3 out of 5 star rating.  While world building is important, the way things jump around, the length of time it takes to build the world and the way it's built are not ideal.

That being said, if you are looking for a book that has both strong female and male protagonists and interesting antagonists along with a harsh world, I strongly suggest reading it because the books get better after you get through the first book and things will make more sense.

You can learn more about Glenda Larke here:
On twitter @glendalarke
On facebook as Glenda Larke
and blogging at http://glendalarke.blogspot.com