Before I begin the review, a few things I think everyone should be aware of before going into this book: first, there are a lot of severed heads. For one reason or another, almost every person here either wants a head or saws off heads themselves. Now, this is grimdark fantasy after all, so things only get more gruesome from there as violent acts are described in gory detail, and there’s also a rape scene where the rapists get away without any consequences. Secondly, you probably think cringing and facepalming as you witness characters make bad decision after bad decision is something you’re used to by now, but believe me, these people will really test your patience.
We Ride the Storm is the story of two neighbouring countries on the brink of war, and told from the perspectives of three fundamentally different people with contradictory motives. Kisian princess Miko Ts’ai dreams of ruling her country alongside her twin brother, but she is a prisoner in her own home, as she is not a true daughter of the emperor. However, when her world as she knows it completely shifts, she prepares to forge her path to the throne by any means necessary.
Captain Rah e’Torin and his warriors are Levanti, horse-riding nomad warriors. Exiled from home, they are taken as slaves by the Chiltaens, and get tangled up in a war they have no interest in.
Chiltaen prostitute and assassin Cassandra can hear the voices of the dead. There’s a nameless entity in her head, sharing her body, and she wants nothing more than to be free of it, so when she gets a contract that promises her the relief she seeks, she accepts it. Now, all she’d have to do is herald a war between Kisia and Chiltae that will reshape the world.
For a novel that’s character-driven, I must admit I found a distinct lack of character development here. Miko is perhaps the only multi-layered character out of them; instead of falling into the naive and righteous young royal stereotype trap, she is resourceful, shrewd, and has a somewhat satisfying character arc. Rah on the other hand lacked any depth, he felt one-dimensional and fell short compared to the others. Cassandra emerges as the most interesting and mysterious out of the three POV characters, though the voice in her head sometimes makes her chapters a little hard to comprehend and it takes some getting used to. The secondary characters seemed more compelling than any of the leads with Dom Leo Villius, son of the head of the Chiltaen church, perhaps the most fascinating of them all; I was so disappointed that he didn’t get more page time. There’s so much I want to talk about when it comes to Leo, but most of it gives away some pretty big spoilers, so I’ll just say this, Leo is the reason you want to pick We Ride the Storm up.
Madson’s writing shines when it comes to writing emotionally charged moments or action sequences, and especially when it’s a combination of both, like the battle scenes at the end that pack a lot of emotions in a relatively short expanse of pages. There’s not a magic system to speak of, but some supernatural elements that come into play mostly in Cassandra’s chapters aid the story as it progresses, never taking the centre stage, which makes We Ride the Storm first and foremost a war story.
This mammoth of a book is 500+ pages long, and the pacing ought to have lagged at places, but Madson expertly keeps the POVs bleeding into one another even though none of the three main characters ever interact, the taut, sharp narrative immersive and thrilling from cover to cover. There are plot twists every so often to keep the readers on their toes, and they mostly serve their purpose, though the novel does take some predictable turns. These plot twists usually come in the form of major characters deaths (the author has absolutely no qualms about killing off the fan favourites, so if you find yourself attached to a particular character, there’s a high chance she is going to make you sob).
However, as I never really found myself caring for any of the characters, the onslaught of character deaths felt a bit unnecessary and became almost monotonous after a while. When it comes to the worldbuilding, we are provided with basic information about the two empires and the Levanti customs and traditions, but I feel like both the characters and the world could do with more background for them to seem convincing and for the readers to connect with them.
We Ride the Storm has quite a few shortcomings, but if you like political intrigue and low romance books or are a fan of dark fantasy fiction, you’ll be too engrossed in the story to pay attention to them. So if it sounds like something you’d enjoy, go forth and read it!
We Ride The Storm is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 23rd 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
In the midst of a burgeoning war, a warrior, an assassin, and a princess chase their own ambitions no matter the cost in Devin Madson’s visceral, emotionally charged debut.
War built the Kisian Empire. War will tear it down.
Seventeen years after rebels stormed the streets, factions divide Kisia. Only the firm hand of the god-emperor holds the empire together. But when a shocking betrayal destroys a tense alliance with neighboring Chiltae, all that has been won comes crashing down.
In Kisia, Princess Miko Ts’ai is a prisoner in her own castle. She dreams of claiming her empire, but the path to power could rip it, and her family, asunder.
In Chiltae, assassin Cassandra Marius is plagued by the voices of the dead. Desperate, she accepts a contract that promises to reward her with a cure if she helps an empire fall.
And on the border between nations, Captain Rah e’Torin and his warriors are exiles forced to fight in a foreign war or die.
As an empire dies, three warriors will rise. They will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood.
