You know that crushing disappointment you feel when one of your most anticipated releases of the year lets you down? I am a living embodiment of that disappointment as I write this review. Seasons of the Storm has been blurbed as perfect for fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Laini Taylor, and as an enthusiastic admirer of both their works, I had harboured high expectations of this book. There were some elements in the story that almost convinced me to ignore the (quite long) list of shortcomings I made, but ultimately this was nothing like what the synopsis had led me to anticipate.
The story begins on a cold winter night when a boy named Jack dies, only to be resurrected by Gaia as a physical manifestation of the season winter. Cue a large time jump and we find Jack thirty plus years later; but once again, he is dying. Turns out that Seasons are immortal teenagers who spend their existence hunting down and killing the previous Season and then being killed by the Season after them. The matter of the eliminated Season is preserved and they recharge in stasis chambers only to come back and repeat that same cycle over and over and over again. So now Jack is about to be killed by Fleur, the Spring who ends him every year. In a cruel twist of fate, he has fallen in love with her and strongly suspects that she reciprocates his feelings. But it’s against the rules for different Seasons to touch, let alone be together. Jack is prepared to do anything to escape the seasonal cycle and run away with Fleur, but fleeing their master, a man who can see the future, turns out to be more of a challenge than he’d hoped.
The premise of the story is quite intriguing and well built, the setup fresh and unique. Cosimano wastes no time and jumps straight into action. The narrative ping pongs between Jack and Fleur’s POV chapters as the fast pacing keeps the story flowing steadily and smoothly, never losing momentum. The worldbuilding is solid and pretty straightforward. The readers are made aware of the intricacies of the magic system within the first few chapters, but not in a way that seems info-dumpy. Cosimano strikes a perfect balance between bringing the reader up to speed on the happenings and moving at a brisk pace through a suspenseful plot towards a powerful and enthralling finale. She keeps her prose simple and to the point, there is not much flowery language. The writing style completely matches the tone of the book and helps the reader get absorbed in the story.
The bond all the characters share remains the novel’s most remarkable and beautiful aspect. At heart, Seasons of the Storm is always about friendship, and how fundamentally different people find a way to support each other and lift each other up. The desperate urge to be free brings them together, and on their way to freedom they also find friendship. true and deep. Found family is one of the most beloved tropes in YA literature, and it fits right into this story about people who must stick together (literally) to stay alive. This book also delivers a heavy message- that no matter what, we always possess the choice to do the right thing and be good to each other.
About halfway through, the book suddenly takes a turn for a much more intense storyline than the one it started out with. The stakes are raised all at once, and there are some action-packed scenes that are vividly written, immensely enjoyable, and some of the best parts of the book. And then there are also some highly emotional moments and in those you feel the characters’ ache and their helplessness acutely; those are the times when you feel the closest to them.
My biggest issue with Seasons of the Storm is that everything about it felt sort of incomplete and vague, like half formed ideas waiting to be given a substantial form. We’re fed information at times that we’re supposed to take at face value. This book features a whole bunch of characters, but none of them, including Jack and Fleur, are well fleshed out. We get glimpses into their backgrounds throughout the book, but it’s not enough for the reader to form a connection with any of them. Sure, their chemistry as a group is great, but as individual characters none of them is potent enough to stand on their own or hold the audience’s attention. The main antagonist was the most hopeless out of all the characters in my opinion, as he is supposed to be capable of seeing the future and yet he failed to predict the escape plan people were hatching right under his nose.
Jack and Fleur share a strong and passionate love- which is something we are only told, but not allowed to experience. However, this love never really shines on its own. At the beginning of the book we find them already at that point where they are madly in love and desperate enough to risk their lives to be with each other. This gives the reader an impression of stumbling into the middle of a story and leaves them feeling slightly disoriented. As time passes, we don’t quite reach that level of emotional intimacy with the couple to root for them. Some more romances spring up as the novel progresses- and all of them seem like desperate attempts to pair everyone up just for the sake of it, as these romances serve absolutely no purpose except stifling the plot and making it falter time and again. The book finishes up with an epilogue, and the conclusion is unsatisfying and slightly unrealistic; the epic battle at the end is not done justice, perhaps in favour of making this book into a neatly wrapped package- at least on the surface.
If Seasons of the Storm had more in terms of character building and if the story hadn’t taken several predictable routes (and if it had featured a diverse cast of characters), I believe it would have become a novel thoroughly savoured by a wide range of readers. That being said, it was still well written and will leave the readers with some strong messages. If you think you might end up enjoying this book, go right ahead and pick it up!
Seasons of the Storm is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of June 23rd 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
One cold, crisp night, Jack Sommers was faced with a choice—live forever according to the ancient, magical rules of Gaia, or die.
Jack chose to live, and in exchange, he became a Winter—an immortal physical embodiment of the season on Earth. Every year, he must hunt the Season who comes before him. Summer kills Spring. Autumn kills Summer. Winter kills Autumn. And Spring kills Winter.
Jack and Fleur, a Winter and a Spring, fall for each other against all odds. To be together, they’ll have to escape the cycle that’s been forcing them apart. But their creator won’t let them go without a fight.
