It’s not very often that I pick up books without knowing too much about them. In this case, I picked it up at a conference because of the cover. It’s got this imposing dragon on the cover that just screamed: READ ME! So, without any knowledge or expectations of what was going to happen in this book, I enjoyed the story that I found within its pages!
In Stormrise, Rain would be a great Neshu combat warrior, if her gender didn’t get in the way of that. However, when an army invades the kingdom and all the able bodied men are conscripted into the King’s army, Rain decides to masquerade as a man using magic to join the fight. It’s a dangerous thing, considering that if she’s discovered, she’ll be put to death. When she begins to train at the war camps, she begins hearing a voice; one of a dragon she didn’t believe existed. Soon she becomes part of an elite unit intended to rescue the King, and the dragon secrets that she’s been concealing might be the key to victory.
So when I finally looked at the stories that Stormrise was said to be inspired by, I had a hard time finding the similarities. However, I did feel that it reminded me of a different story altogether. The use of magic to help Rain seem a more believable male was definitely a creative use of the magic system. Actually, the magic system itself was very interesting, as it is based on the usage of parts of the old dragons (the ones that some people don’t believe to exist). It could be their blood, oils, and other things that could be made into powders and things that would help the user become something. I guess it’s not necessarily magic per say, but the qualities that these products have can be considered magical.
I found myself drawn to the characters and wanting to know more about them, but unfortunately, we don’t get to know them for very long. I wanted to know more of Storm and Rain’s backstory, any tenderhearted moments that would make me feel more connected to them. If I’m being honest, if this book had been a little longer, I think it would have achieved a deeper connection. The plot moves very quickly, and I found myself interested in how Rain grows as a young woman, and in the connections she’s making with her fellow army recruits and commander. It’s so fun to see how easily she can command the respect of her peers, until you remember she’s pretending to be a man.
The fact that all she’s achieved while pretending to be a boy is rendered meaningless because of her gender carries a lot of weight in this story, and that struggle and overcoming of the issue felt really positive. It was empowering to see Rain overcome prejudice to help save her family and her fellow soldiers. This would have been the perfect story for a heroine not to have a love interest. I’m sure others will have different opinions though.
Now that I’ve mentioned the love interest, I did have some qualms about how the relationship was developed. I can’t go into it because of spoilers, but there’s definitely some drama going on. In all honesty, I didn’t feel like that was necessary, and it could have been approached differently, and readers would still enjoy reading about the romance. Despite those little nags, it’s still enjoyable to read. I’ll never say no to romance, but I was hoping for something more.
Okay, so there were a couple of things that I couldn’t really let go of while I was reading this book. One of them was how little world building or description there was. There were so many great opportunities to build the world that Rain was in, because I definitely struggled to picture it. I also felt like the beginning of the story was a retelling of Mulan. This is in no way a bad thing, but when you get into some of the character interactions, I struggled not seeing this as its own unique book. Though it does become its own story around the halfway mark, I think readers might have a hard time separating the two.
My rating for Stormrise would have to be a 7/10. It was an enjoyable read, delightful at times even, but I think it had the familiarity of a story a lot of us know very well. If we’d had a little more depth in the world and the descriptions, I think this story would have been a knockout. That said, it was a very quick and fun story to read during an afternoon. I encourage readers to pick this story up, because even though I might not have loved every aspect of it, you might find that this is the story for you.
Stormrise is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of September 10th 2019.
Will you be reading Stormrise? Or have you already? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A combat warrior will risk everything to awaken the dragons and save her kingdom in Jillian Boehme’s epic YA Fantasy debut, Stormrise, inspired by Twelfth Night and perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce.
If Rain weren’t a girl, she would be respected as a Neshu combat master. Instead, her gender dooms her to a colorless future. When an army of nomads invades her kingdom, and a draft forces every household to send one man to fight, Rain takes her chance to seize the life she wants.
Knowing she’ll be killed if she’s discovered, Rain purchases powder made from dragon magic that enables her to disguise herself as a boy. Then she hurries to the war camps, where she excels in her training—and wrestles with the voice that has taken shape inside her head. The voice of a dragon she never truly believed existed.
As war looms and Rain is enlisted into an elite, secret unit tasked with rescuing the High King, she begins to realize this dragon tincture may hold the key to her kingdom’s victory. For the dragons that once guarded her land have slumbered for centuries . . . and someone must awaken them to fight once more.
