An epic adventure full of drama, ambition, secrets, action, and mysteries. An intricate tale that holds an aura of truth, that this is history not fantasy. A solid and substantial book that is satisfying, but will leave you looking eagerly towards the next installment. Masterful storytelling from a unique and welcome voice.

El mundo de los libros autopublicados es vasto, oscuro y alberga horrores. En los ochos años que tiene el blog he leído de todo y he recibido mensajes y ofertas que os horrorizarían. Pero cabe decir que de este modo también he descubierto a autores excelentes (incluso algunos ahora son buenos amigos). Por ello siempre echo un vistazo y leo a todos los autores autopublicados que me escriben o me sugieren la lectura de sus obras. Creo que como divulgador (o lo que sea) de lecturas es una leve responsabilidad que tengo a bien considerar. Si no me equivoco, el que os traigo hoy es el primer libro autopublicado en inglés que reseño en el blog, y es una autora australiana a la que tenía unas ganas inmensas de leer. Se trata de We Ride The Storm, de Devin Madson.

Aunque seguía a la autora desde hacía un tiempo, este ha sido mi primer acercamiento a su trabajo. We Ride the Storm es una novela de fantasía ¿épica? que comienza de un modo brutal, tras una batalla, el bando vencedor decapita a los caídos enemigos para llevarse los trofeos. Lo hacen metódicamente, con cuchillos de sierra, y la autora en un manifiesto que deja claro que no va a escatimar en vísceras, detalla el proceso. Esta primera escena me parece muy inteligente, pues en unas pocas páginas nos ha presentado los conflictos del lugar, las tribus y culturas que la habitan, la guerra brutal que puebla el lugar y detalla la atmósfera que va a cubrir toda la novela. El cominezo del libro es denso, la cantidad de personajes y eventos históricos que se referencian, la situación política y social y los acontecimientos actuales son apabullantes (y al mismo tiempo fascinantes). La novela está estructurada en tres puntos de vista, por lo que conoceremos los acontecimientos desde tres personajes, y esto ayuda a digerir mejor la enorme dosis de información de los seis primeros capítulos, cuando las historias de los tres personajes se interconectan. Ah, ¿os he contado que pese a ser un libro pseudomedieval tiene una ambientación que recuerda más a pueblos nómadas de Asia Central?


Vuelvo sobre los puntos de vista, y es que todos están escritos en primera persona. Algo que me ha llamado la atención es el sutil pero notable cambio de estilo para cada personaje, algo que le da mucha riqueza y color a cada uno de los tramos. Tenemos a Rah, el lider de un grupo de soldados nómadas exiliados que cruzan parajes inhospitos con sus monturas y que se encuentran en medio de una guerra imprevista. Cassandra es una prostituta y asesina, maldita con una segunda voz en su cabeza que pelea por controlar su cuerpo. Y os aseguro que es un personaje fascinante. Y después tenemos a la princesa de Kisia, Miko, hermana gemela de la heredera del trono (aquí se va a liar muy fuerte). A partir de aquí la trama se desarrolla en la ya mencionada intriga palaciega, juegos tras el telón, batallas épicas y muchos duelos de fuerza e intelecto.

Una de las cosas que me ha gustado del libro es que Devin Madson no repara en cuanto a ambición. La novela es una montaña rusa, a partir de poco menos de mitad del libro, cuando ya estamos familiarizados con la historia, hemos vivido aventuras y intrigas palaciegas y conocemos a muchos personajes, todo comienza a sacudirse. Personajes principales que mueren, estructuras sociales que se desmoronan y el caos comienza a apoderarse de todo. Esto hace que la segunda mitad del libro se lea en casi un suspiro, porque el ritmo es tan trepidante que apenas puedes soltarlo. Y os aseguro que hacía tiempo que esto no me ocurría de una forma tan bestia. Qué viaje.

Por desgracia, este tipo de libros dudo que acaben llegando al mercado español. La saturación de libros de fantasía de autores de renombre es ya de por sí grande, y todavía tenemos lagunas grandes que llenar con otros muchos autores la mar de interesantes. Es cierto que autoras como Becky Chambers (recordemos que su primer libro fue autopublicado) han llegado al mercado español, y que no es una sentencia definitiva, pero no voy a mentir, me sorprendería mucho que una editorial se animara a traducir We Ride The Storm. Sería una grata sorpresa, eso seguro, ya que se trata de una novela interesantísima, muy bien escrita, atrevida, ambiciosa y divertida. Si algo tiene el libro, es que se lee con mucha facilidad de lo entretenido que es. Pura literatura escapista. Quizá mencionar que no me ha gustado demasiado que la autora dejara unos cliffhangers bastante malvados al final del libro, pero oye, las ganas de leer el segundo tomo son enormes. Así que si leed en inglés, y os gusta la fantasía, creo que este libro os va a sorprender para bien.

“Be careful what you say, Rah,” he said. “Be careful what you do. Open your eyes. Watch before you speak. Speak before you act. Trust those who have earned your trust. That is our way.”

I don't know if my expectations were too high, or what, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed every single other of Madson's books. The novel is brilliantly written, so this really just came down to my personal taste. Something just didn't click in We Ride the Storm for me. And with this review I will attempt to discuss what it was.

It didn't help much that I only enjoyed one character out of three. In my opinion Cassandra was the only one who brought something new to the story. With the strange voice in her head Cassandra was interesting, to say the least. Although I just couldn't buy her "assassin" side, if you will. It lacked development in the beginning and in the end it just felt too easy, too staged.

​Didn't care one bit about Rah, his chapters were a chore to get through. 90 percent of the time Rah is there just sewing head off the bodies, and there's only so much excitement in that. He was too righteous for my liking, but also at the same time I found him to be the weakest character. Both in development and in character strength.

“Lesson number four. Sometimes those who seek to help you are the worst enemies of all.”

​Miko. I don't know how to feel bout Miko, mostly because I just don't get it. I don't get the drive that she (and Hana) for that matter had for the empire. Although Hana had more reasons than Miko did for sure. Everything these "royal blooded" characters do is always for the empire, but we don't get to see the empire in the story much. Only when it's burning. But there is never any interaction between regular people, who compose the empire, and the ones who rule it. All of the action is always of political nature and is always done in the court of the palace. That is the big reason as of why I don't understand the drive, because to me it seems like they care nothing about the empire and it's people, they only want the throne.

For about 80 percent of the book Miko is very much like Hana - they both make very stupid decisions, and they both are driven by the same things. Even the way Miko took the throne was very similar to how Hana did. Altogether, to me We Ride the Storm was way too similar to the Vengeance Trilogy. I know the all of the things were just supposed to be nods to the other books, but with so many of them - they just became very repetitive. Most of the time I felt as I've "been there done that". Characters make a lot of the same choices, the driving force and reason are very much the same for both stories, there's the same war going on - I just feel like I didn't get anything new out of this.

​Now for the only character I truly enjoyed, even though there was barely any of him in the book - Leo. Leo was great! That is all I have to say about him. I did like how the ending took a few interesting twists and am intrigued to see where it takes some of the characters. Particularly Cassandra and her new "companion".

All of Madson's book series can be read in any order - I read them starting with the novella, then Vengeance Trilogy and then We Ride the Storm. Reading them this way gives the most insight and background as stories just keep layering on top of each other, but you don't have to. You will discover all of the secrets anyway, no matter which order you choose.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Devin Mason for a digital ARC of the book. All opinions are my own, honest and come from the heart.

First, the warning: cliffhanger ending. I want to put this out first because if I would have known, I would not have pick this to read. The story ends with all the major players going out of the field of battle with the war still unresolved.
But as a whole, the story and created world is your typical fantasy saga. Too many point of view to keep track. When a chapter starts, you have to read through a page or two before figuring out who’s POV you are reading.
Rah supposed to come out as the noble knight but he just ended like a whining kid who is not getting his way. Still, he is the one who went through the whole book unchanged. Which is good as he started out as a good guy. Unfortunately, he has to be forced into action by events or people into action.
Cassandra also is a puzzle I kept hoping would be explained as the story goes - the other voice/identity part - but was left out there still a puzzle to the end. I liked her though. Unlike Rah, she affects action in the book, not always since she has limited options but when she can, she does kick the figurative hornet’s nest well and leave her enemies scrambling for their footing.
Princess Miko on the other hand is a creature of the court, she used people well just as she was being used. But what I like in her best is that she is a consistent character. Of the three narrator, she is the one who changed most from a prisoner of her world to a power on her own.
As a whole the book is a good fantasy read, good pacing with no wasted or repeated monologue, and distinct characters.

There has been quite a lot of hype surrounding this book in the blogger circles I run in. I simply had to try it. And yes, it lives up.

We follow three characters - Rah, a disgraced but honourable captain of the Levanti; Miko, a young Kisian princess perpetually in the shadow of her brother; and Cassandra, an assassin-whore possessed by a mysterious entity. Alternating chapters of each, all in first person.

The book has a very Malazan-like, figure-it-out-along-the-way approach to worldbuilding and how the chapters connect wasn’t clear until four or five chapters in, which also made it somewhat harder to connect to the story and especially the characters. Even when I got a hold on all the names and cultures and factions, I still wasn’t connecting as much as I would have liked. It was, perhaps, simply not a right book for me at the moment.

Still, fans of epic fantasy, politics, and grimdark would find plenty to love. It’s fairly dark, with violence abound. The prose is solid and the plot is so full of twists and turns and surprises my poor heart could barely take it. The ending was excellent as well, stopping at a point where it made sense, but leaving some things open to the sequel. A sequel I would gladly read.

Recommended to grimdark fans, political fantasy fans and military fantasy fans. Those looking for lighter/easier reads would probably not find much to like, also: there’s a rape (not graphic), and a lot of violence (sometimes graphic) so if that’s a no for you, avoid it.

Through war empires rise and fall. War is ready to tear down the Kisian Empire. Some like Princess Miko, a daughter of a traitor, will fight to preserve the empire. Some like exiled Rah e'Torin will fight because he has no choice. One woman, Cassandra, fights to make the voice in her mind go away. Blood will be spilled as a storm wipes away an empire.

We Ride the Storm reads like a low magic version of A Song of Ice and Fire. There are bastards, traitors, secrets, horse lords, and so many lies. If that was where the similarities ended I wouldn't mind, but two of the three point of view characters felt heavily inspired from A Song of Ice and Fire.

Princess Miko was perhaps the most naive and needy character I've seen since reading Sansa Stark in A Game of Thrones. Miko seems to go through Sansa's arc as she begins as considerably naive with some plots of her own and becomes massively manipulative as the story continues. She seemed to be too naive to survive, but like Sansa she kept managing to stay alive. Miko did have some differing qualities from Sansa as she was incredible with a bow and she has some political sense.

Rah e'Torin, the exiled Levanti captain, hung on to his honor more than any character I've seen since Eddard and Robb Stark. Rah would rather be executed than submit and it was only the threat of death to those under his charge that got him to go along at all. Rah is stiff necked and determined. Honestly he seemed like a gigantic pain to have around. He and the rest of the Levanti felt like a slightly more civilized version of the Dothraki from A Song of Ice and Fire. They love their horses and are deadly fighting from them. They are nomadic people who care nothing for wealth and civilization as a whole.

The third point of view character, Cassandra, is the one who received the least amount of page time. Cassandra happened to have the only story I felt was truly intriguing, but she gets massively ignored in the second half of the book. It seems Cassandra has another woman's mind living in her body and in order to ignore it she drinks. The other woman can take control of Cassandra's body at times and she largely disagrees with everything Cassandra does. The other woman can do even more interesting things than that, which is why I wanted a lot more of her and a lot less of the Kisian War. I forgot to mention Cassandra is also a whore assassin and apparently very good looking despite her being a little old for a whore.

Dom Leo Villius is the one other character of note. He has an interesting arc and he's incredibly mysterious. He has some power or someone powerful backing him and I would have much rathered see his point of view rather than Miko or Rah.

The war storyline was largely predictable. Nothing happened that truly felt like a shock. Nothing happened that even excited me. Generally I enjoy a good war story, but I found myselt wanting to know the origin of the other woman in Cassandra's head or how Leo could do the things he did.

We Ride the Storm is a story that had quite a bit of under used potential. I'm curious to see if the sequels will focus more on the interesting tidbits rather than being a lesser version of A Song of Ice and Fire.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A new gale of hope for self-published fantasy blows with all its might as Devin Madson summons a new triumphant tornado in We Ride the Storm.

Open up your thesaurus and look up the word “underrated.” Devin Madson’s name truly belongs there. I bloody loved this book, even more than all of Madson’s previous works which were great themselves. You can check my review history and you’ll see that for self-published/indie books that I've read and reviewed so far, I’ve given a full 5 stars rating (without rounding up on Goodreads) to literally only one book, The Mirror's Truth by Michael R. Fletcher. We Ride the Storm is the second occurrence.

We Ride the Storm is the first book in Madson’s newest series, The Reborn Empire. It takes place more than a decade after the end of Madson’s previous trilogy, The Vengeance Trilogy. The story this time felt more epic in both scope and tone and it was infused with efficient storytelling and addictive pacing that never neglects crucial characterizations. The first chapter immediately introduced us to the Levanti culture and their method of equality in honoring the dead in the name of their god, Nassus. The method? Decapitation of the head in the most vivid and intricate descriptions of the act that I’ve ever read. Madson has become a grim goddess of infusing palpable tension into the scenes within each chapter. I’m serious, every page was fantastic to read and brilliantly paced. Almost every chapter was well-structured and given its own start, middle, and climax sequences, which made every sentence a constant propulsion to continue reading. Every single chapter has important scenes that function as a fuel that pumped adrenaline through my blood.

“Even the smallest cog is important in the workings of a clock.”

The magic system from Madson’s Vengeance Trilogy—Empathy—didn’t play a role here but my empathy towards the characters was real; I was trapped in a turbulence of feelings and I enjoyed every moment of it. The emotions imbued into these pages can truly be felt and the circumstances forced upon the characters truly made me care about their journey, which is the most dominant sign of a fantastic book for me. When the characters’ actions truly make me grit my teeth and drop my jaw several times, it’s a sign that I’m drowning in a maelstrom of marvelous pages and I don’t want any lifeguard to save me. Madson achieved this result by making sure that the characterizations were extremely well-written. I thought it would be hard to move on from the characters in the previous trilogy but I was proven wrong immediately. Starting from the first three chapters, I actually enjoyed reading the new set of characters’ POV even more than those before. Same as Madson’s previous trilogy, the story was told from three characters—Rah, Cassandra, and Miko—perspectives in first person storytelling narrative. Despite being told in first person narrative, all three of them have highly distinct inner voices and cultures. I thoroughly loved reading each characters’ perspectives; they all hold the same crucial and prominent weight in helping the book to reach its peak level of greatness. However, my favorite characters were definitely Rah e’Torin and Miko.

Rah e’Torin, the leader of the Second Swords of Torin, has an inspiring code of honor that tells a story of survival. After being exiled, Rah and his herd of Swords have been forced to act against their codes in order to survive in a foreign land. I absolutely love Rah’s POV; all of Madson’s characters have a grey moral compass but Rah is the only protagonist that has a truly good moral compass, despite the gruesome actions he had to do. He was like a light in the darkness of Madson’s world. Not that I mind the bleak and the grim tone, I adore them actually, but Rah (and Miko) did bring a new complexity and some positive aspects to the book that were not present in the Madson’s previous works, they give the readers someone truly worth rooting for in her series.

“We are the Swords that hunt so your hands may be clean. We are the Swords that kill so your soul may be light. We are the Swords that die so you may live.”

I have no doubt the book will be well-received by a lot of readers. But for me personally, the book reached a new level of quality because I had already lived through the world-building and histories of the book because I have read all of Madson's prior works already; the result was tremendously impactful in enhancing my experience reading this book, especially during Miko's POV. Her POV was filled with massive bonuses and homage for anyone who has read Madson’s previous books. This doesn’t mean that you have to read them to understand but it would absolutely be beneficial in enriching your experience. Not only did a lot of familiar faces and names make an appearance, but for instance, there was also one character's farewell scene in the book that simply won’t be as significant and poignant if the reader hasn’t read The Vengeance Trilogy. As for Miko herself as a character, she’s such an empowering female character. Unlike Hana from the previous series, I found Miko to be non-infuriating and a much more engaging character to read; I was truly invested in her struggles weaving through the court politics of Kisian Empire. In a place that’s heavily ruled by men, she simply won’t bow down and her gradual character development was truly spectacular, making her easily one of the best heroines I’ve ever come across in my fantasy reading.

“Lesson number four. Sometimes those who seek to help you are the worst enemies of all.”

Like a serrated blade that thrust its edges into my heart, threats and perpetual tensions were reflected not only in the battle scenes but also in the compelling dialogues. The last 100 pages of the book were a final gale of pulse-pounding rides and converging perspectives that solidified my reasoning to alternate my reading between traditionally published and self-published fantasy novels.

When you've read a lot of the popular, highly-acclaimed adult epic fantasy, you'll probably notice that the majority of them are set in a Medieval European setting. I don't have a problem with the setting but it's always gratifying to find an incredible trilogy written by an author who is brave enough to stray from the popular setting. All of Madson’s books are powerfully Asian-inspired, taking a lot of inspiration from Feudal Japan. The setting and environment were utterly vivid and the prose made me feel like I was totally there inside the story.

Madson’s prose has always been great, but here? It was even more meticulous and immersive than before. It astounds me how she keeps on getting better with each new installment. This book is definitely Madson at the peak of her career so far and I expect to see her improve even more in future installments. With every sentence she crafted, she displayed her wonderful skill as an author. For example, the way she utilized the effectiveness of the word “silence” and the deafening of sounds to create “A calm before the storm” or “sunshine after the rain” situations were absolutely first-class. The pacing between lulls and tense moments was masterfully executed to create several memorable scenes. Plus, the philosophical lessons on what it means to be a leader were profoundly relatable.

“Do not make assumptions about things you know nothing about. An emperor serves his people. The day the people serve the emperor is the day the empire falls. Remember that, Miko, if nothing else. War profits no peasant.”

I finished binge reading ALL Madson’s published works (four novels and one novella) within nine days and I must say, it currently is hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with self-published books. Being inside her imagination was a bloody and delightful experience and I can’t believe I don’t have any more books written by her. Now that I own and have finished everything written by her so far, I plan to do the same with every single of her future works. Usually, when people asked me to recommend top-notch female fantasy authors, I always recommend Robin Hobb, Rebecca Kuang, N.K. Jemisin, and Rachel Aaron. But now, I will definitely be putting Devin Madson on that list. Together with The Poppy War by Rebecca Kuang, Madson’s books currently sit at the top of my recommendation list for anyone who's looking for an impeccable Asian-inspired low-fantasy series. Also, none of Madson’s books received anything below a 4 stars rating from me, which I think speaks volumes for her work.

Seeing that this book is also an entrant in this year’s SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) competition held by Mark Lawrence, it’s only fair that I enlighten you with a few personal statistics before I close this review. I’m not a judge for the competition this year but based on my assessment, this book has a strong chance of becoming the champion or at least ending up in the final round’s top three. I’ve read the majority of the past top books and champions of the competition, and in my opinion We Ride the Storm triumphed over every single book and top contender I’ve read within the history of SPFBO; this is in fact the first full 5 stars rating I’ve ever given to a book that’s been entered into the competition. Luck is definitely a heavy factor in SPFBO but regardless of the result, I’m genuinely confident that this is a book that will win the hearts of many fans of the genre, as it has definitely won mine.

Combined with the experience of reading her Vengeance Trilogy, We Ride the Storm has given me a whirlwind of emotional temerity to chant that Devin Madson deserves a crowning achievement not only for self-published fantasy but for the entire genre of character-driven grimdark fantasy. She has now become one of the very few indie authors whose careers I'm willing to follow. Bravo, Devin Madson, bravo. We Ride the Storm is a breathtakingly triumphant book. Not only is it one of the two best self-published fantasy I’ve ever read, it has become one of my favorite books of all time. This book is truly a serendipitous and glistening hidden gem oozing with brilliant cinematic set pieces and a gripping, evocative hurricane of emotions that constantly took my breath away. Buy it and read it as soon as possible. Thank me later.