Storm Bride [Kindle Edition]

A compelling read from start to finish, with unique characters, a non-standard fantasy world, and poetic prose. War has come to a peaceful city of fishermen and traders, and standing in its way is a blind woman with a tenuous connection to unseen Powers, and her pregnant sister.

J.S. Bangs paints the horror of war with the unflinching gaze of George R. R. Martin, and, also like Martin, humanizes both sides of the struggle by alternating viewpoints. We feel the pains of the pregnant woman, and "see" the world through the senses of her blind sister, while also entering the mind of the warlord who seeks their lives, who is indeed bound by his own heartaches and tribulations.

Unlike Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire," this book stands alone. I read it over the space of a few days, pulled along by the trials of these characters, putting the book down only reluctantly. Though it is published by a small publisher, it deserves to be widely read and discussed. I hope to read many more works from J.S. Bangs in the future.

Highly recommended for fantasy readers who crave something different from the traditional European fantasy setting, and for readers who enjoy deep characterization.

This was a truly interesting story. It is a fantasy world, but not what you would typically expect. In fact, it reminded me of a pre-modern United States, where settlers and tribes were just trying to survive.

Uye lives with her people in a peaceful city, filled with fishermen and traders. One day, while out collecting mussels, Uye sees orca drop Saotse (a blind girl) off at Six Pine Rock, and a rescue party is quickly sent to save her. Uye quickly feels a kinship to Saotse and, even though they do not speak the same language, Uye adopts her as her sister. As time goes by, they become quite close and things are going well. Everything changes when a group of traders leave home, and get attacked and killed before reaching their destination. One person, Uye's husband, is left alive, kept as a slave of the Yakhat war bands. When they learn of his home, they attack the peaceful city, killing almost everyone, and kidnapping the now pregnant Uye. And that's where the real adventure begins.

I really like the way that the author writes - he does a great job introducing us to the characters, made even better by the fact that he switches point of views with each chapter, sometimes with the "good" guys and sometimes with the "bad," allowing us to understand what both sides are going through. His writing is beautiful and eloquent. The way he describes the war and the surroundings kept me captivated, and I had a hard time putting the book down, wanting to know what would happen next.

My favorite characters were Saotse and Uye, but I have to say that, even though he was a "bad" guy, I liked Keshlik, too. There was just something about him.

The only thing that bothered me about the story is that a significant amount of time passes between the end of chapter one and the beginning of the chapter two, which makes things rather confusing. I had to go back and re-read a couple of parts, just to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Please remember that this review is my opinion based on my personal impressions of the book.

***Disclaimer: I received a copy in exchange for a review.***

Suffering, Sacrifice, Redemption, Retribution, Forgiveness- the Gods move in mysterious ways.

What's Good: The story takes place in an non-medieval world, sort of a mashup of Mongol raiders and Native American hunter/gatherers. The author put a lot of effort into creating and developing the world. The story flows evenly, switching perspectives between principal characters. Even in the introspective, quiet moments things move along. Characterizations are good; you get to know the key personages pretty well. Their hopes, fears and ambitions are all tangible and recognizable.

What's Bad: Too much happening with little to no context to place it in. You're thrust into these cultures with no idea what's going on or what these strange words refer to. Saotse's race is referred to as the Swift People- because they age 'normally' instead living for one or two centuries as the other races in the story do. Yet this only serves as a cheap plot device to explain why she's old and decrepit while everyone else remains hale. Other than a few moments it really didn't impact the story that much; things would've played out much the same if she were as youthful as everyone else. And for a race of people who lived so long, it's strange how they don't retain as much of their history as you'd think. But then, those who forget history...

The key to the story is Saotse being 'Kept'- a person blessed by the Powers to be able to commune with them somewhat and channel their magic. It's odd how no other tribes- not even the warlike Yakhat who've been rampaging across the lands for over a century- have anyone to work magic for them. It didn't have to be on the scale Saotse did (would've been interesting, tho) but after referring to others with lesser abilities, why not see any of them in all the time spent with other tribes?

What's Left: There's no surprises here; if you're paying attention you can see where the story's going and how it'll play out. You're really just along for the ride.

Overall, Storm Bride's a quick, kinda fun read, especially if you're looking for a non-medieval fantasy setting. It'll do for ya on a warm, lazy afternoon.

When Uya alerted her small fishing village that three Orca's had brought a woman to their shores, she was a young girl. Soatse was tall, had orange hair, but her blue eyes were blinded with cataracts and Uya decided they should be sisters. In chapter two apparently fifty years had passed by without much mention. Uya has been married for ten years and is pregnant with her first child. This was a little hard for me to reconcile in my head because of a lack of transition. Perhaps I was just slow catching on to this, I had to start the book over from the beginning to see if I misunderstood and where I went wrong.

J.S. Bangs has created an elaborate world and mythology of Powers that are only accessible to a chosen few who can hear them. Soatse can hear the Powers whispering but can't understand them. That is until she hears an earth power that overwhelms her with sadness, she names it Sorrow. It was a devastatingly powerful force that could move tons of the earth. This power comes to her as she is trying to escape a pillaging, murdering horde, named the Yakhat, who have invaded the peaceful city of Prasa. The Yakhat fight for Golgoyat, the Storm Power, who wants vengeance. They are skilled warriors on horseback who show no mercy and take no prisoners. That is until Keshlik takes Uya hostage to be his pregnant wife's personal slave.

Soatse tries to control her new found Power to rid the world of the warring Yakhat tribe. There is death, warring, and devastation throughout this epic fantasy. I learned that I am not the ideal reader for this kind of story.. The author has a way with words, with some nice descriptive prose illustrating the landscape and the fight scenes. However, I had trouble liking any of the characters. Uya was weak and reminded me of a spoiled child who felt entitled. Keshlik was a monster and I couldn't believe he could ever change his ways, even though the author did try to soften him around the edges. Soatse, well she seemed a bit too clueless to me. I can't say one way or the other if more time developing her character a little differently would have helped me like her more or not. If you don't care about the characters, it's tough to care about what happens to them.

Format/Typo Issues: I read an advanced readers copy so I can't comment on this.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy.** March 12, 2015

A beautiful, bitter tale of fantasy and war, Storm Bride drags you in from the first page, sinking you into it's beautifully tragic depths, just like the ocean at high tide.
The writing is flowing, beautiful and almost musical. You won't realize until you reach the end that you've been reading for hours, absorbed into the perfectly described world that Bangs created.
The characters are all unique, each one emotional, realistic, and likable. Even the unlikable ones will grow on you in time.
You get taken into the horror of war, described not as horror, but as fact (though it gets bloody). This isn't for shock value, it just is. I might not recommend this book to young people, at least not under the age of sixteen, but I think its pure beauty is enough to bring in even the most reluctant of readers.