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

WWW Wednesdays - June 19, 2013 Edition

Here's the answers to this week meme's from Should Be Reading's blog. Feel free to leave your comments with the answers to these questions and be sure to check out their blog as well for other's answers.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions in the comment section or in your own blog then link it from the comments.

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I look forward to seeing your answers below!

What are you currently reading?

Stormlord Rising, by Glenda Larke.  This is the second book in the Stormlord series and seems to be moving at a slightly slower, but more reasonable slower pace, than the first book.  This one, I believe, will move at the same pace as the last book, which I've completed, and will explain some of the other things missing from reading the third book first.

It is nice to see the development of the characters, especially Terelle and Jasper, as they grow up and learn from the folks around them.  And it's a bit disturbing to see just how depraved both Laisa, Taquar and Senya are.  In the third book, it is mentioned repeatedly that Senya is missing a morality compass, or something along those lines - and I have to agree.  Besides being a spoiled brat, she has no concept of right or wrong, good or bad - it's what she wants that matters, nothing more.

I am currently only 100 or so pages into this book on my nook.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Last Stormlord, by Glenda Larke.  This is the first book in the Stormlord trilogy and unfortunately was read out of order of the books, so I know how things will end up due to references in the last book.  As previously mentioned in another blog post, I started the Stormlord Trilogy with the third book on accident.  I picked it up at a store, not having seen a note that it was the last in the Trilogy and read it, enjoying it.  And in all honesty, book 3 can stand alone without knowing the backstory as the story can be pieced together from the third book alone.  That being said, this first book can't stand alone.  There are too many loose ends in it and it definitely has a cliffhanger to take you on to the second book.

That being said, The Last Stormlord introduces you to a harsh world where water makes it to the desert cities with the magical command of men and women who can shift water, create clouds, make it rain where it needs to - unfortunately, the last Stormlord is dying and all the other people who can manipulate water with their power are too weak to control storms and make them go where they are needed.  It causes strife in the cities and dune tribes to rebel because they can't get enough water.  It also makes the Stormlord send out folks to look for a future water sensitive that could become a stormlord - they find one in what turns into the series protagonist - Shale Flint.

The book covers a number of years in a short amount of time - the book is only 675 pages long and ends up seeming rushed at the end to get to the next book in the series.  Despite it being rushed, the backstory needed to be told and I don't really think the details were as necessary as the story.  And as I read Book 2, more of the backstory fills in the blanks left in Book 1.

What do you think you'll read next?

Master of the Dance by T.C. Southwell, book five in The Queen's Blade Series.  I've already read the first four books, just hadn't bought this one till my last trip to Seattle, now I have it and a few others to read and catch up on when I have time.  I still need to pick up the rest of the Slave Empire series, which is more sci-fi than fantasy, but was just as an enjoyable read.

You can learn more about the Stormlord Series here:  http://www.sfsite.com/03b/sl364.htm

Musing Mondays - June 10, 2013 Edition

It's been a little while, okay a couple months, since I've done any of the daily writing themes for review sites.  So tonight I'm back with today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

For this week's musing, I'm going with point three and talking about what I'm reading right now.

I've started reading the Stormlord series by Glenda Larke.  I originally started with book three, on accident, but have finally purchased the first two books for my Nook.  The books in the trilogy are:

• The Last Stormlord
• Stormlord Rising
• Stormlord's Exile

I just finished The Last Stormlord last night and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  A lot of time is condensed through a very short book (only 500 pages).  Unlike the last book (which I read first) it seemed very rushed.  I've only read it once so I'm not sure how I'll feel after I read book two then re-read the books.

Larke tells a good story and I think once I read all three books, it will all mesh together well, but for now, it's hard to say.

Check out more from me later this week as I talk about the books a bit more indepth on Wednesday.