Book Review: Stormrise by Jillian Boehme
Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: Stormrise
Author: Jillian Boehme
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: Hardcover; 320
Release Date: September 24, 2019
Source: Publisher / FFBC Tours
Content Screening: Mild Violence
HDB Rating: 4*
Recommended to: Readers who love stories with strong female characters who beat the odds.
Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
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.
I don’t know about Twelfth Night vibes, but Stormrise definitely channels its inner Mulan. In fact, it’s fair to say that this is pretty much a retelling of that story, with dragon lore involved. If that seems like your cup of tea, then let me tell you right now that you’re going to love this book. I had a ton of fun with it!
Rain is my favorite kind of character. Brave, loyal, and kind to a fault. She’s the type of girl who is more than willing to throw herself in harms way, if it means protecting the people that she loves. More than that though, is the fact that she’s willing to sacrifice everything for what she believes in. It’s tough not to love a character like that, and I promise that you’ll willingly follow her into every fray. She’s that charismatic.
The dragon lore in this book is also wonderful. I thought that Boehme did an excellent job of laying out why Rain’s link to these great beasts was so important. I would have loved a little more background, but we’ll get to that in a minute. For now, I’ll just say that the majesty and terror of dragon kind definitely comes through on these pages. Like I said above, this is basically Mulan with epic dragons involved.
Now to the part that made me rate this book lower than I expected. This is a very flimsy story overall. Sure, Rain is a fabulous character. Yes, her training is exciting and the addition of dragons is fantastic. However there’s really no depth to this book. It lacked world building, and actually a lot of character building as well. The story ran on the rails of a very thinly described world, and I missed that connection. I wanted to sink deeper, but there was nowhere to go.
So why did I still give this four stars? Truth be told, it was a lot of fun to read. I’ve been needing an escape and, for better of for worse, this was there for me when I needed it most. If you’re looking for a book that is an easy read, with plenty of nostalgia vibes to see you through, this is what you’re looking for. Trust me.
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FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.
