• Southeast Asian inspired fantasy
• She is a Lightweaver and he is the Master of the Shadowforged Legion.
• Politically driven arranged marriage
• A true enemies to lovers (the TENSION!!)
• Slow burn (the pining!!)
• Dual POV

When I first heard about this book I was really excited. Filipina author writes a fantasy heavily influenced by our culture? I couldn't hit request faster. I'm happy to say that I very much enjoyed reading this, and I'm a hundred percent invested in this story and characters.

I will admit, though, that it took me a good while to get used to the storytelling. Being a Romantasy newbie, I wasn't sure if I was just not used to the feeling of being overwhelmed with so much information right from the get-go. I decided to push through anyway, and by the time I reached Part 2 (maybe a quarter way through) I couldn't put this book down.

The world-building, I think, is what I appreciated and loved the most; from the customs, to the food, to the names. All these little details that I recognize, being Filipino myself, was really special.

Thrilling, exciting, and filled with delicious tension and banter. The way I need the next book asap isn't even funny.

Thank you so much, Avon, for the ARC!

I received this advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. This novel surprised me! I was definitely enjoying the fantasy storyline and the world building of this novel. Although the love story is built on fairly obvious tropes, it was still enjoyable to read and the story was well designed. So often plots are obvious, but this one managed to eke out a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. This novel almost had a steampunk feeling, between the magical elements and the technological advancements we see throughout the storyline.

I greatly look forward to reading the sequel!

In addition, our two protagonists are flawed but well-rounded in their own challenges and personal stories. I think this is part of the magic in the plot given that the two characters were at one point on two different sides of the war, their ongoing conflicts are fed by mutual distrust and the simple fact of being raised on one side or the other.

I particularly liked at one point how the author included an argument between the two characters stemming from the origin of the wars, and exactly whose country was at fault. It might sound trite, but these are actually the things that would bother two parties in trying to form an alliance after such a conflict. But being raised on either side of the war means their perspectives are completely opposite, and perhaps both have been fed convenient lies. I particularly enjoyed this detail, as it is such a clear-eyed criticism of ongoing challenges in the modern world with truth and accountability. I also think this is a clear jab at colonial rule and how the victors get to write history.

I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a fantasy series set in a magical world, on the brink of ongoing warfare.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon was by far a favorite read of the year so far for me. I cannot wait for everyone else to read this fantasic fantasy book. Everyone and anyone who loves a fantasy romance will fall in love with The Hurricane Wars. It's funny, well-written and overall a very entertaining read. It was really hard for me to pull away from reading it and I just wanted to live in this world for as long as I could. The characters were flushed out and you could see both their sides. Gah, I loved this book and I cannot wait to read more from Thea Guanzon!

The only downside to reading this book was that I will have to wait quite a while for the second book.

I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone I know and I won't ever shut up about it.

The Hurricane Wars tells the story of a girl, a boy, and several kingdoms mired in both earthly and godly conflict. Debut author Thea Guazon (who you might know as Diasterisms) does a wonderful job of creating worlds steeped in old magics and ancient grudges, where temporary truces with your sworn enemies are necessary for the future of your homeland. This is the first book of a trilogy, and while we arrived at the lovers portion of enemies-to-lovers rather quickly, there promises to be plenty of intrigue and conspiracy that will keep readers on their toes. Thank you to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the ARC!

So if you love fanfic writing, I’d say 4 stars, but realistically, we are looking at a 3.5 star rating.
Firstly, it’s an enjoyable read. I will definitely continue the story and support the author in whatever else she publishes!
This is 100% Reylo fan fiction, which there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that as I went into the story knowing this. Just a bit of a disclaimer before anyone else dives in!
The author hit everything right with the slowburn enemies to lovers and pining over one another. I throughly enjoyed that theme of the story and it’s a nice setup for the 2nd book.
I will say that this is extremely heavy worldbuilding- we’re going into a high fantasy setting with this. The first few chapters of the book are extremely hard to follow as it’s setting up the world. We’re being spoon fed the world versus being shown it. I’d say that the first few chapters, if edited right, could change my whole perspective on the book as a whole
Additionally, our FMC loses her best friend in the turmoils of war and isn’t sure if she’s alive or not- the book sets up like we WANT to care about the side characters, but I couldn’t care enough for it to be a driving plot line in the story. And the second half of the book is no action at all. It just goes into the arranged marriage between the two main characters and the politics involved. Very heavy on the tropes!
I think the author is gaining their footing with this book and the second one will be a home run!

I was so excited for this book to come out this year. The synopsis seemed very interesting and had intriguing fantasy aspects.
Starting off I did enjoy the behind the hurricane wars at the beginning of the book.
The story had such a unique magic system I wish we could have spent more time on it than what was given.
The relationship between Talasyn and Alaric was the span of at least 90% of the book if you can even call it a relationship. It is enemies to lovers but it felt like the lovers part never really happened. Talasyn has way to much inner conflict with herself to even begin to potentially fall in love with Alaric. The build up was at a glacial pace and I found myself just not being interested because nothing else was happening in the story to keep my attention occupied.
I also didn't like that the dragons were in the story as decorations. I love dragons. When there are dragons in a book I expect them to be apart of the main storyline but with this plot it just seemed that they were one off mentions to sound cool. There was so much potential to integrate them into the main plot to make it more interesting.
Overall it was enjoyable but lacked the suspense to hold my attention for more than a few chapters at a time. I wish more could have been done with the plot and the ending just didn't fit for me.

Thank‌ ‌you‌ Avon/Harper Voyager, Harper Collins Canada, and‌ ‌NetGalley‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌eARC

Actual rating: 2.75 stars
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I was really unsure about this one based on the synopsis alone so I’m really glad I got the opportunity to read this ARC - because unfortunately, I ended up not being the target audience for this story 😅
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This story was originally a Reylo fanfiction and I think it really struggled to take off from that origin. Not only because it feels like some words are just ctrl+F replaced, but because of the innate feature of fanfiction itself. With fanfiction, the readers are already invested in the characters, they’re already invested in the world - and my biggest gripe with this story is that there was no time given to become emotionally attached to the characters or the world before we were thrown into the plot. Only one character grabbed my attention, Khaede, but she quickly disappeared [I wouldn’t be surprised if she returned in later books tho].
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The relationship between Talasyn and Alaric takes up the majority of the plot and is not very enemies to lovers, but more like one side enemy, one side obsession. Also if you’re not a fan of “omg he’s so very big, and she’s so very, very smol” you will not like the repeated descriptions of them in this book 😂 - though I will admit, the singular spicy scene was pretty darn decent [it did miss enthusiastic consent though].
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Overall, I have no real issues with this book, except for its weakness in attachment - it feels very much like we’re assumed to be attached immediately and that just didn’t work for me.
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I entirely believe this will find its target audience and be a massive hit. I am just simply not a part of that audience.
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Hisses & Kisses 🐍
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*Thank‌ ‌you‌ Avon/Harper Voyager, Harper Collins Canada, and‌ ‌NetGalley‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌eARC. All Opinions are my own*

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

Overall, this book was a fun fantasy. It’s heavy on the Reylo fan-fiction vibes, true enemies to lovers, and unique fantasy world. I loved the shiver-inducing romantic tension and how hard it made me root for the characters to be together.

I did feel like the world building was confusing, especially at the beginning and I just kept reading only half understanding what they were talking about. Later some things were better explained, but others seemed to just be thrown in there and then left without explanation, if that makes sense.

The pacing of the story was also a bit uneven. There would be awesome, tension filled scenes, and then a long lull. Since the book ended on a clear set up for book 2, I feel like parts of book 1 could’ve been edited better and we’d have gotten further in the story by the end of it.

I will definitely be picking up book 2 in the future and I will recommend this to fans of Reylo-coded fantasy!

This book was fine. It was easy to read, the prose was to my liking, the magic system was interesting and tala's relationships with her dad was a highlight.

Overall though I felt like the story lacked tension. In the overall plot and in the romance. The first half had a lot of action but once the war this book is named after is over it becomes all about the romance and not much happens. There's a lot of negotiations and Tala and Alarik denying their instant attraction for each other. There was a lot of this denial that it left me exhausted by the end. I never became invested in any of the characters.

I'm truly sad that I didn't connect with this book since I had requested it because it had sounded like a book I'd really enjoy.

This was everything I need in a book! The story line was captivating and really held my attention! I couldn’t put it down!

A few things to note before I go on to share my thoughts on THE HURRICANE WARS:

1) I was very excited when I saw the book deal for this title because the author is from the same small town in the Philippines as I am and we even went to the same school for some years.
2) I actually didn't know that this had its roots in ReyLo fan fiction until closer to when I picked it up (more on that later).
3) I generally don't look too much into comp titles (unless that's the reason the book hit my radar, which was not the case for this one) or full synopsis after the first time I see them for a book and gauge my level of interest.

Anyway, on to my actual thoughts on THE HURRICANE WARS, and I'll start by saying I had fun reading this book! In the interest of trying to get my thoughts down as coherently and completely as possible given that I just finished it, I'm going to make lists for this review.

Here are the elements that worked for me:

1) the nods to the Philippines and Filipino culture, which showed itself in words, legends, clothing, setting (including climate and weather), animals and food. I feel like I was constantly amused by encountering things that I recognized even when they weren't named on page with the terms I was familiar with.
2) the writing. It's in a style that I tend to be partial to, so I got on with it from the start.
3) the action scenes. Those moments were very vivid, and I could easily picture them in my head.
4) the main relationship dynamic. Each time Alaric and Talasyn were on page together, the chemistry between them (in all respects - enemies, allies and more) was clear. The way that they see each other, and how that develops, was also something that I found interesting. I also had a chuckle over a lot of their back-and-forth repartee, that's for sure!

Here are a few things that didn't work quite as well for me:

1) the world and lore building. I'd have liked more insight into the various kinds of magical ability and the histories, as readers generally just learn what is necessary to drive the story forward.
2) the pacing. I've commented on this in other books too, but I'm just not generally fond of time skips in stories and that happens quite a few times in the first half of the book. The story also starts off with action as we're dropped in the middle of a war, but then tapers off into a very meandering pace when Talasyn and Alaric are forced to work together to achieve a common goal.
3) the plot. It was heavy on tropes, which I don't mind, but it did feel like there were some parts thrown in that contributed some drag to the pace (see #2).
4) the secondary cast of characters. Unfortunately, we didn't get a strong sense of anyone outside of the two main characters (more on them in a moment) -- which was really a shame since readers meet a few promising individuals of interest. It also meant that any relationships outside of the main romance didn't elicit any strong feelings or investment.

Here's the one thing that I'm a little neutral on:

the main characters. I liked Talasyn and Alaric both well enough; it's especially interesting that they are very nearly mirrors to one another in terms of personality and personal traumas in their history. <i>However</i>, because I had ReyLo in mind, I couldn't help seeing echoes of those characters at certain points in the book (though that didn't disrupt my overall reading experience).

I can overall say that THE HURRICANE WARS was a book I enjoyed despite the fact that it didn't quite hit my personal sweet spot for fantasy reads. I can see the potential for all the elements - the world, the story, the characters - to be developed further in the sequel, so I'll definitely be checking it out.

I went into this expecting one type of story, but quickly realizing it’s another altogether.

I was hoping for something more in-depth in the fantasy genre. What I got was this new-ish “romantasy” idea (Fourth Wing, for example). Which is fine, but that’s ultimately not my type of book. I enjoy them, but they tend to focus more on the romance than any actual plot/story. The world-building and story tend to suffer.

While I did enjoy this, and will continue the series, I do wish I’d have been more wholly invested.

“Do you make it a habit to compliment everyone who’s trying to kill you?”
“Not everyone.” His eyes flashed with a hint of amusement. “Just you.”

This is a high fantasy book that will definitely keep you on your toes.

I am giving this god-tier book a solid 5 star, I finished this two days ago so that I can process everything because of how amazingly written it is.

Right off the bat, we were plunged into a scene wherein we were able to get a glimpsed of the supporting characters that shaped the story. Just a note that I am so bad with names so I don’t remember all of them BUT the way Thea breathes life to each characters is really astonishing.

Character wise, Talasyn & Alaric were both well rounded and I am OBSESSED with their enemies to lovers nature, yes this book has done enemies-to-lovers JUSTICE. from start ‘til the end they have been trying to unalive each other with a knife on the throat kind of relationship and I am here for it!! The angst is the main reason it took me two weeks to finish this book because every time they have a good banter and touch I just had to put it down or else I’m going to explode with so much giddiness!

The world building is top notch. I think it’s safe to say that the world has inspirations from South East Asian countries with the animals and food that resembles what we see mostly in the Philippines. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the cultural references here in terms of culture, dating, traditions and family dynamics. Also I forgot to mention that there are DRAGONS here like I didn’t even see that coming!! Besides the dragons there are many mythical creatures here with again a reference from native Philippine species.

Thea’s writing style is impeccable. Only a few author can rival the way she twist the words from sentence to sentence and make it into a cohesive paragraph. It was slightly hard to get into it at first but once you do, you will be woven into it so much you’ll have a hard time removing yourself from it. I have such high praise for her writing knowing that english isn’t her first language to begin with. Every time I open this book and start to read I literally feel like I’m watching a movie because of how descriptive the writing is about the characters, their wardrobe, their eyes, the atmosphere and just everything you can think of.

This book made me emotional so many times. I rarely get attached to characters but I easily got attached here to the point that I constantly think of them even when I’m resting and not reading.

Since this is a trilogy, the plot is way toned down here and it will pick up from the end of this book to the succeeding books. Just a warning that this ends on a cliffhanger that will make you want to yearn for the second book!

While I enjoyed parts of The Hurricane War, I felt for the most part it left the most interesting parts of its premise unexplored, with a plot that barely goes anywhere, an unsatisfying romance, and an ending with little resolution. There was so much more of the different cultures and the moral nuances of the titular war that I would have liked to see explored, but the story focused much more on the love story between the two main characters - and I love romances, and I would have been okay with this if the romance had been more believable and palatable.

Mild thematic/character/romance spoilers (no plot spoilers):
I had trouble buying into the relationship between Talasyn and Alaric because it comes off as a insta-love (and also, "he/she's so hot"). They are both immediately drawn to each other, which then basically turns into love before they've really interacted or gotten to know each other. And maybe the author could have pulled this off, except...Alaric is the heir to the empire that has been destroying Talasyn's adopted country in a brutal war, and they have both been active soldiers/leaders in this war and killing each other's countrymen.

There is perhaps a way to handle this type of enemies to lovers with nuance, but instead the author focused on:
1) Talasyn continuously reflecting on her worthlessness and how she would never be loved by Alaric
2) Talaysn feeling guilty for letting people think she didn't like Alaric (again, the heir to the empire waging brutal war on her country)
3) Alaric wondering how they could have a relationship if Talaysn "couldn't forget the past" (of abovementioned war)
4) Well, maybe Talasyn shouldn't feel resentful about the war because it was just her "adopted" country, not her "real" country

(I'm not saying the above is necessarily what the author thinks or is trying to get the reader to think, but it is what the characters think, and strikes me as a very odd focus for people who have been at literal war with each other for a decade.


Final note: I've tried to review this without focusing on the origins of the story, but this book is aggressively Reylo; I knew the author was a fanfiction writer but I hadn't realized The Hurricane Wars was one of her Reylo fics turned into an original work, and it shows. This likely won't bother anyone who doesn't know who/what Reylo is, but as someone who is really not into this ship, it was hard to distance myself from it (and the numerous times Alaric was described exactly like Adam Driver).

If you're a fan of Sarah J. Maas, you'll love this new fantasy and romance series. The writing style felt a little YA at times, but the character and world building definitely outweighed the cons.

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: violence, war

I wanted to read this book because how it is inspired by Southeast Asia, especially that the author is a Filipina and I wanted to see how my culture would look in this fantasy setting. Thing is it’s not only fantasy but fantasy/sci-fi which I thought was very interesting.

Talasyn is a soldier fighting to keep Sardovia from falling into the hands of the Kesath Empire, but it’s a losing battle because these Kesathese are relentless in their vengeance and desire to rule all. Prince Alaric is as formidable a fighter as Talasyn and when these two clash, my goodness, there are sparks, violence and a great start to an enemies to lovers romance. I loved the romance and it’s push and pull but it’s also a frustrating dance between them. There is one steamy scene between them and I was hoping there to be more but it really is a slow burn. I like Talasyn’s feistiness and I’m still hesitant to trust Alaric since his father really has a big influence on him but I do love all the tension and passion between them.

I did like Talasyn’s story. She’s an orphan with Lightweaver powers and she stumbles upon some information that reveals her past and the path for her future. I love the themes of family in the story also, which I think I relate to as a Filipina as well. I loved the mentions of the foods and culture and even the climate of the islands which reminded me of the Philippines.

Some parts that maybe I struggled with was the sci-fi elements and mostly because I wasn’t quite expecting it. I thought this was going to be pure fantasy, so even thought I thought the stormships and wasps (smaller ships) was cool – I couldn’t quite imagine what this world looked like at first. Also some names would throw me off like Allfold or the Voidfell. Also the story starts off with lots action and it does die down in the middle of the story but I think the tension between Alaric and Talasyn saved it from getting dull. I did like the different magic that Talasyn and Alaric could wield though. I also enjoyed the politics in the story which makes me wonder how long will it take Alaric to push away from his father’s rule. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens in book two.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, enemies teaming up together, slow burn, marriage of convenience

Why you should read it:
*enemies to lovers romance
*fighting scenes
*interesting sci-fi/fantasy world and world building

Why you might not want to read it:
*not into sci-fi/fantasy

My Thoughts:

After getting my bearings with the world building, I did find this story to be entertaining. This one grew on me the further I got into the story and I really think it’s because of the push and pull, enemies to lovers storyline between Talasyn and Alaric. I can’t resist an enemies to lovers trope. I like all the fighting that they do so I’ll definitely be reading book two just to see how Talasyn does in Alaric’s domain.

thank you to netgalley and harper voyager for the opportunity to read this arc. all opinions are my own.

dnf @ 31%

i've been excited for this book since the author announced her book deal so… yeah this is a huge let down.

keep in mind some of the below may improve or change later in the book, but i can’t bring myself to keep going to get to that point.

some overall comments first: if you don’t like reylo, you won’t like this book. if you’re looking for adult fantasy, don’t read this book. if pacing is a big factor for you, know this is paced like it’s intended to be adapted to tv, so the pacing is awkward and different from what book pacing usually is.

things i liked:

- depth of worldbuilding: i absolutely love when an epic fantasy goes super deep with the world building. i love when even professions or items familiar to us have different names! i love when there are idioms created just for that world! it’s not easy to understand but i love when an author puts this much thought into the minutiae of the world, and overall this was just a really detailed and well-developed world.
- unreliable narrators: the two narrators are on opposite sides of the war and both genuinely seem to think they’re on the right side of it. talasyn and the good guys aren’t cartoonishly good and alaric and the bad guys aren’t cartoonishly evil. it makes you question what’s really true, and it’s one of my absolute favorite things in fantasy books.
- evoking emotions: every now and then out of nowhere, there would be something that would just hit like an emotional gut punch. a character you’d only known for a chapter died and it HIT. not sure how the author managed these moments so well but she sure did!

things both good and bad:

- alaric: i actually thought alaric was a pretty interesting and well-developed character, and for the most part i especially enjoyed having his POV. that being said, though, he’s your standard dark broody shadow powers alpha male YA fantasy archetype. apparently he’s supposed to be kylo ren, which surprised me—admittedly i’m not familiar with the fanon mischaracterization of him to know if it’s accurate to that but it’s definitely not canon kylo. also his friends are obvious rip-offs of the inner circle from ACOTAR or slade’s friends from gild, which isn’t unusual but is still frustrating.

things i don’t like:

- talasyn’s age: her being 19 doesn’t make sense logically or narratively. i’m choosing to assume it’s supposed to be a statement on the horrors of war being forced on children, but there’s no exploration of this if so, and i only noticed one single other mention of a child soldier. her closest friend is 23; it would’ve made much more sense for her to be roughly the same age, especially when her love interest is 26.
- character depth: in a lot of ways talasyn feels more like a plot device than a character. i never got a strong sense of her personality or ambitions or drive beyond a bit of telling; she’s just your standard YA fantasy heroine, probably meant to be easy enough for readers to self insert. she also makes a lot of pretty illogical decisions just to drive the plot forward and fails to put together an obvious conclusions in a bad attempt at foreshadowing. her choices and internal monologues don’t always make sense on any level, and serve more as a way to feed the reader information.
- repetition: it’s almost funny how confused i was with the world building in the beginning, since this goes on to explain the same things every few pages. foreshadowing is ruined by how much she beats you over the head with it (ie. talasyn’s connection to nenevar)
- not researched: this is such a nit pick but there were cases where the author would use the english word for some weapon or item or something and just… use it incorrectly. it drove me crazy. the one that bothered me the most (for somr reason) is alaric fighting with a scythe, but the author clearly had no clue what a scythe was. like all you need is one google search.
- genre: there’s nothing wrong with YA. but YA and adult fantasy are separate genres because… they are not the same. it isn’t enough to make your characters technically of age, when everything else about it feels much more YA. it’s essentially a YA, watered down poppy war with no exploration of any themes and more elaborate world building. it’s YA but there’s (presumably) sex, which would usually just be NA, but this isn’t even advertised as NA. if you’re looking for adult fantasy, look elsewhere.

Ever since The Hurricane Wars was announced, it easily became one of my most anticipated fantasy reads. And this was before we even had a release date. As someone who was - and still is - a fan of author Thea Guanzon’s work in transformative fandom spaces, I was eager to see her style translated over to original fiction, and the end result did not disappoint.

The Hurricane Wars is set in a lush South East Asian-inspired world, where the titular conflict had caused more and more territories to fall under the dominion of the Night Empire, whose army is led by the Shadow magic-weilding Prince Alaric - a tall, dark-haired, broody sort, for those of us who are into that sort of thing. Standing against him is Talasyn, a solider fighting for freedom with the opposition, who possesses the ability to wield light magic, something Alaric has never seen before, something that was supposed to have been eradicated. Darkness rises and light to meet it indeed.

Despite taking its name from the major conflict that kicks off the story, The Hurricane Wars is actually not a fighting-and-wartime heavy book. Instead, the focus is given to the smaller - if no less chaotic - war fought between Alaric and Talasyn as the pair join forces to fight back against a much larger threat looming over them all, which threatens to destroy everything. It is much more a political story, filled with courtly intrigue and schemes as both sides of the tenuous partnership seek to outmaneuver the other - even as the two magic-weilders at the heart of it all start to think that maybe that feeling they get around the other isn’t 100% hate and animosity.

Because The Hurricane Wars is also very much a love story. Guanzon excels at writing a delicious slow-burn, drawing out simmering passion in small bursts without letting the dynamic between Alaric and Talasyn lose the tension too quickly. While not a strict “romance novel” per se - this is very much a fantasy-romance series, and the book ends on a cliffhanger - Guanzon pulls from the best elements of the genre, infusing her story with tropes that pull the budding romance into the forefront. Beyond the dynamic between her leads, Guanzon has constructed a complex, lush fantasy world surrounding them, with lyrical descriptions really immersing the reader in this new world.

The Hurricane Wars is a brilliant piece of fiction, drawing readers into a world so immersive, with characters that share a chemistry so electric, that the wait for the next book is already unbearably long.

The Hurricane Wars hits shelves October 3, 2023. Special thank you to Harper Voyager for the advance copy for review purposes.

This novel was, unfortunately, not for me. I read the synopsis and was thinking, "whoa! Shadow and Bone but cooler!? Sign me up!"

However, at about 20%, I decided to DNF this arc.

This was not due to the writing, the plot, or the characters. I just did not have a connection to this novel.

I can see how people have said it is a published fanfic. However, I didn't really get that vibe. Perhaps I've never read the literature this was supposedly a fan fiction of?

I know that books are subjective, and I'm happy to see that others have enjoyed this book. Perhaps I will try reading it again at a later date, but this was just not doing it for me at the current time.

This book had me GAGGED!!! Thank you so much to Harper Voyager for gifting me an ARC of this book, I loved it so so so much and I cannot wait for everyone else to read it this October!

While fantasy is not my preferred genre, I have read a few series that I loved and The Hurricane Wars is now at the top of that list. The world building in this book is incredible and so rich with its history, culture, and the powers bestowed upon people. The story telling in this book is so compelling and sucks you right into the world of Nenavarene, Sardovia, and Kesath. The way that the aethermancer’s powers are described is captivating and keeps you so submerged within this world and on the edge of your seat as more history about these powers is uncovered.

Talasyn and Alaric are on opposing sides of the war, with opposite powers as she is a Lightweaver and he is a Shadowforged. They are enemies who have such complex backgrounds, which adds fuel to their rivalry, but then discover that they can create an even more powerful kind of magic when they combine forces. They are forced into an *alliance* of sorts, which, without spoiling too much, had me kicking my feet up and giggling every single time they bantered and had to interact with each other.

Talasyn is rough around the edges and a little feral but she is such a baddie who keeps Alaric in line, and uses her newfound status and title as a reminder of who she is. I loved watching her grow from someone who is unsure of herself and her place in the war, to someone who knows her worth and wields her power confidently.

Alaric is potentially my favorite male character ever, in any book and across all genres. He’s broody and straightforward, a little mean and a lot socially awkward. He’s a loser, has absolutely zero game, cannot compliment a woman to save his life, somehow angers Talasyn with every word he speaks, etc. He’s the ultimate himbo and I love him!! He served every single time he spoke.

This book is an incredible debut novel, but more importantly, this book is for girls who love losers. Thea has a fan for life and Talasyn and Alaric’s number one stan <3