About the Book
-
Author:
- Lauryn Hamilton Murray
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- Fantasy
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Illuminoti
BFF Charm: Yay
Talky Talk: Fantas(y)tic
Bonus Factors: Mysterious Loner Dude, Tournaments
Factor: Series Starter
Anti-Bonus Factors: Villain, Mean Girls
Relationship Status: MFEO
Cover Story: Illuminoti
There’s a definite Eye of Providence vibe to this cover, even if the eye-shaped thing is in a circle rather than a triangle.
The Deal:
For 17 years, Blaze Harglade has been kept away from the public eye. Although she’s no villain, and can barely conjure more than a drizzle, during her birth she unleashed a storm that nearly devastated the nation. Outside of the keep, she’s seen as a horror, someone who could destroy the world with a snap of her fingers. But the truth is much less deadly, and Blaze wants nothing more than to reach her 18th birthday and leave Harglade Keep and disappear into the world.
But first comes the competition for the new rulers of the noble houses of their world. Into which Blaze is unexpectedly thrust, all hopes of a future of anonymity gone in a second. That said, even though she’s been hidden from the world, the world hasn’t been hidden from her, and Blaze is not one to back down from a challenge.
BFF Charm: Yay
Although others in her position might be naive and unworldly, Blaze hasn’t let her confinement go to waste. She’s likely read every book in the Harglade Keep library at least twice, and pesters her twin brother, Flint, who gets to be the face of their family to the public, for news of the outside world. She might not have experienced everything the world has to offer, but that certainly doesn’t mean that she goes into situations with wide doe eyes. She’s strong, brave, and eventually finds a powerful confidence that had me fist-pumping in support. I’d absolutely give her a BFF charm.
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Heir of Storms had me rolling my eyes at the quickness with which Blaze seems to find a suitor, especially since it was akin to “you’re the first guy I meet and we’re destined to be together!”, but something happens with said beau that I applaud Hamilton Murray for. I was so quick to just assume this was instalove, like so many other YA books are, and go on with my day; it was a great surprise to find out that it wasn’t.
There is also the other guy, which … there’s a reason I gave this a 7.
Talky Talk: Fantas(y)tic
YA Fantasy can be a hard genre to write (I assume), given both the online community (side eye) and the fact that many books come out seeming formulaic, even when they have great potential to do something more. I’m grateful that Heir of Storms errs on the side of more, even when it’s mostly following the YA Fantasy formula. Hamilton Murray’s writing is clever and witty, her characters well-rounded, and her twists delightful. (Some folks might see the various surprises coming, but I didn’t foresee them all!) While I’m slightly annoyed that I have to wait for sequel(s) to dive back into Blaze’s story, I very much look forward to doing so.
Bonus Factor: Mysterious Loner Dude
The other guy in Blaze’s life is 100% a mysterious loner dude who quickly proved that he belongs in the MLD Hall of Fame. He’s misunderstood, prickly, and aloof, with a soft side that only Blaze can see. (Or did she?) He’s an absolute trope, but I was Team [REDACTED] from the second he sauntered into the story.
Bonus Factor: Tournaments
It’s nice to read about a world in which the Bad Things are fictional, rather than having to dwell on the IRL Bad Things (that I really, really, really, really wish were only fictional). I’d so much rather battle the literal embodiment of all my fears and traumas than have to read about yet another disappointing piece of Idiocracy come to life.
Factor: Series Starter
Me, until the sequel comes out:
Anti-Bonus Factor: Villain
Y’all know how much I love a villain. The villain in Heir of Storms, however, is more the creepy, heebie-jeebie-causing, smells oddly of roses with the scent of death underneath kind of villain. Regardless of how much I love Donald Sutherland (absolute best Mr. Bennet, don’t @ me), I will never find President Snow and his ilk appealing.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Mean Girls
Along the same lines, I am too far removed from high school to ever root for the mean girls. Hamilton Murray has written two who both deserve to eat Kalteen bars and get hit by school buses. I’m so hopeful that Blaze gets the better of them both by the end of the series.
Relationship Status: MFEO
When it hits right, YA Fantasy is my absolute jam. And you hit just right, Book. I can’t wait to spend more time together, and will certainly be pawning you off on all of my friends!
Literary Matchmaking
I well know he’s a problematic fave, but I’ll always err on the side of Team Darkling from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone.
Speaking of Bad Boys, might I suggest Xaden Riorson from Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing?
And, of course, our MVP MLD, Rhysand, from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Mist and Fury.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Roaring Brook Press, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. Heir of Storms is available now.
