Stormsong

After any great and dramatic heroic gesture comes the aftermath, the fallout, the nitty gritty of picking up the pieces of a shattered world, sorting through the detritus of a broken system. Stormsong sits in that discomfort, finding just how much has broken.

The events of Witchmark revealed the rot which underlay their comforts and conveniences, and Stormsong sees them reckon with the messy nature of moving towards justice. Shifting MCs from the first book allows for focus on a different angle. Where Witchmark began as a mystery story then became embroiled in politics, Stormsong starts with the practical and political consequences of the events in the first book, then rapidly transforms into a mystery... of how to deal with those events and also solve a murder. The story was engaging, the characters were great, and the romance was a tender mix of implicit and overt that really worked for me. It's sweet without being cloying. I thought it was going to be more of a political thriller than a detective story, and for the first third it is, but then it turns and becomes this excellent mix of both in a way that reveals there were mystery elements all along. 

This story is deeply concerned with the multifaceted ramifications of what it means to not just stop current atrocities but to bring a reckoning; to break what must be broken and build anew. There was a scene with some political machinations that I was really excited about (and it remains a fantastic scene), but there's an event later on which re-contextualizes it. It's not that the narrator is unreliable, exactly, but she definitely has a perspective that makes her less aware of certain issues, especially early on. However the author definitely was aware, and there are events later in the book which challenge her understanding of certain events. It was a really good portrayal of someone partway through restructuring their worldview, then needing to adjust even more.

As for my usual check whenever I read book two of a trilogy, this is a great entry. It establishes characters well enough to make sense just within this story in case someone missed the first one, but does it in several clever ways to make the plot recaps feel natural. Grace is consistent with her characterization from the first book (where she wasn’t the MC), but her perspective in this book feels pretty complete, and her voice is distinct from Miles, the previous MC. Some events left over from the previous book are settled, there’s a full storyline that fits just within this book, and also there’s a pretty major element left to be handled in the final book. Overall this is a great book and an excellent midpoint to the trilogy.

 Sometimes secrets won't be contained, no matter how hard you try.

I absolutely loved Witchmark, the first installment in this series. I loved it so much that at one point I almost flung it across the room because it made me that emotional. So the moment I knew there was going to be a sequel, I cleared an honorary position on my TBR for it, then proceeded to delay actually reading it for months because I was scared it wouldn't live up to the sky-high expectations.

In some parts, it didn't. In some parts, it totally did. Everything the first book mostly hinted it, the second book delivered in spades. The first book ended in a pretty conventional space, by fantasy standards: "The system is rotten and awful, so we're gonna destroy it." Stormsong delves deep in the nitty-gritty of the aftermath. Okay, the old system is destroyed; what now? How exactly are we going to build something new? Which parts of the old do we preserve? Who is the one paying the price for this big noble change we've wrought? There's also a lot of political intrigue here, deliciously compiled and well-thought-out. The political aspects of this magic-driven society were really interesting for me as I read Witchmark, and I'm happy with this chance to learn so much more about how it functions.

Why wasn't this a 5-star read for me, then? Weeeeell... I really had trouble connecting with Grace, the narrator, until about mid-book. To tell the truth, she was one of my least favorite characters back in Witchmark, and getting to see the world through her eyes didn't really help me like her that much. However, gradually she became if not likeable than compelling enough to me, and by the second part of the book I got invested in following her journey. I still rejoiced every time I saw Miles, the MC of the first book, on the page. There was too little Miles for my liking! I mean, I get it, it's right there in the summary: his protagonist days are over, and he's now firmly in the secondary character part. These transitions are always hard to pull off. Maybe it wasn't pulled off just right, or maybe it's just because I didn't click with Grace. I'm actually inclined to think it was the latter.

Otherwise, the political intrigue, once again, was *chef's kiss*, the writing was beautiful and poetic, and the romance was well-done, if a little rushed at parts. A good read, and I hope I'll get more chances to visit this complex world!