I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Review: Storm of Arranon

Posted by Charlene // Tags: , ,
Storm of Arranon
by R.E. Shehan

Plot Summary:

Beneath Erynn's petite build, curly red hair, and startling blue eyes, lies a deeply hidden secret.If the truth about her were revealed, her life would be in danger. Her dream to be a fighter pilot would tailspin,crash, and burst into flames. Jaer's wise brown eyes reflect his smoldering strength. An enigma, charismatic and moody, he is a physically powerful warrior who defends his world. A warrior afraid to love because of mistakes in his past.

When the presence of a marauding alien society is discovered on their planets, a struggle of life and death begins. Both Erynn and Jaer's worlds face annihilation. A mysterious force plunges Erynn into Jaer's cold, dangerous, and beautiful world with its magical essence and living consciousness. Both the alien enemy and this strange inexplicable power purse Erynn.

Review:

This is a highly detailed fantasy adventure with a clear enemy and a very strong female protagonist.  The world-building is also very layered and complex, and I was impressed by the new language the author developed for the world.  It added a lot of realism to the story, and I was even picking up on what often repeated words meant before it was revealed.  There's actually a lot to the world that is created in this story and at times I felt it wasn't set up or explained very well.  It felt like the story was rushed at times to advance the action in the plot, when a little more detail might have helped me take in the story better. At times I did even wonder if this was the first book in the series (it is) because of the times I felt a little lost.

With the lack of details, I felt the characters suffered a little as well.  It was easy to get to know the main roles most of the characters would play in the story, but I never really connected to any of them, except for Erynn.  And the romance that is developed between Erynn and Jaer is also pretty abrupt.  I wasn't even aware they knew each other before they seemed to be falling in love.  The romance aspect bothered me because it seemed rather drawn out and yet I wasn't sure why they were so attracted to each other aside from physical attraction.  I don't feel like the romance is a main feature of the story though, as the development of Erynn's powers and the fight to save her world features the most.

Although the rushing over of details made it difficult to become invested in the story, there were great moments where Erynn was able to showcase her abilities and I enjoyed reading about how she overcame her enemies.  And as I mentioned before the world-building is complex and I admired the way the author brought it to life.  I think this story would improve if it was developed more and really embraced the intricacies of the world.

review copy kindly provided by the author

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