Roar by Cora Cormack
Synopsis
Aurora comes from a long line of Stormlings--People who can control and tame the powerful storms that plague their world. She's all set to be the next ruler, except for one problem: She hasn't shown any sign of Stormling magic. To protect her secret and the crown, she arranges marriage to a prince from another kingdom who has strong Stormling powers. But he's keeping dark secrets of his own. One night Aurora follows him to a black market for magic, where she discovers that people who weren't born with storm magic now possess it. Seeing there's another way for her to gain magic and save her kingdom, Aurora flees her home and joins up with a team of storm hunters. But there is more danger than just the storms out in the wilds.
Review
I received Roar in my June FairyLoot box.
First off, the STORMS! Terrible, strong, vicious storms, that can think. Stormlings are people who can control certain types of storms, and this ability is hereditary and restricted to the upper-class... But, as we come to discover, this is not actually the case. I loved the creativity of the storm magic, mixed with some other elemental magic. Carmack really envisions how a world would be impacted by these outrageous storms; how society and culture and religion would be built around the impact of a regular storm season, including how the stormhunters track and fight the storms. It made me wish I had the ability to control thunderstorms! The world was fresh and unique, with new cultures and religions and regional variations. I'm looking forward to learning more about the history of the world in the following books.
Aurora was a great character. She's very naive and gets a bit of a sucker punch to the gut of reality very quickly. I love how she becomes Roar, because who hasn't ever wanted to just get away and become a new person? She finds a solution to her problem and just goes for it, though I found some things a little too easy and convenient. But perhaps that added conflict would have slowed down the story. She's still working out who she wants to be at the end of the book, so we'll see the conclusion to her character arc in the next book.
Cassius is a very interesting villain. He and his family are sneaky and manipulative and powerful and total jerks. I can't say too much about him without giving away some spoilers, but his hostility is prompted by even bigger problems happening in the world. There were hints of a better side to Cassius, and how he struggled to be bad. Definitely an anti-hero, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
My biggest problem was the romance with Locke. Locke by himself was an interesting character with a tragic backstory. With Aurora he started off as this cool, caring dude but instantly got all protective and a bit douchebaggy as soon as he developed a romantic interest in her. I know a lot of women like it when a man is "protective" and takes charge, but I don't, and Aurora's character definitely didn't (ohhh she was feisty!), and yet he kept telling her what to do and manipulated her emotions. It was used as a way to drive up romantic tension, but it just drove me crazy. There was a nicer, soft side to him that we see at the beginning, and then again at the end, and I wish had been his dominant personality. As it was I didn't like their relationship until the very end. Hopefully that improves in the next book
Plot-wise, I am a little fatigued of stories where the girl has to escape marriage in order to begin an adventure. But this book bends the cliché a bit. The situation is Aurora needs magic to rule her kingdom, and marriage at first seems to be the only option to get that magic, but then she finds out you can get magic from capturing storms and she's like, "Never mind marriage!", that's a better way to go. And then we get to go on the road with a band of storm hunters and explore this fabulous and creative new world and I am ALL over that!
The story moved for the first third of the book, then slowed down considerably. I felt like they just wandered around for longer than needed, but I guess when traveling by horse things go slow? It might also be because I didn't read the book in one go. I felt like it had a very open ending, without any resolution except for one aspect about the storms and Aurora's abilities. The writing and prose are great, with evocative descriptions of the storms and emotions.
Overall, it was a fun, new, imaginative read with a good cast of characters. I'm definitely looking forward to the next ones!
Aurora comes from a long line of Stormlings--People who can control and tame the powerful storms that plague their world. She's all set to be the next ruler, except for one problem: She hasn't shown any sign of Stormling magic. To protect her secret and the crown, she arranges marriage to a prince from another kingdom who has strong Stormling powers. But he's keeping dark secrets of his own. One night Aurora follows him to a black market for magic, where she discovers that people who weren't born with storm magic now possess it. Seeing there's another way for her to gain magic and save her kingdom, Aurora flees her home and joins up with a team of storm hunters. But there is more danger than just the storms out in the wilds.
Review
I received Roar in my June FairyLoot box.
First off, the STORMS! Terrible, strong, vicious storms, that can think. Stormlings are people who can control certain types of storms, and this ability is hereditary and restricted to the upper-class... But, as we come to discover, this is not actually the case. I loved the creativity of the storm magic, mixed with some other elemental magic. Carmack really envisions how a world would be impacted by these outrageous storms; how society and culture and religion would be built around the impact of a regular storm season, including how the stormhunters track and fight the storms. It made me wish I had the ability to control thunderstorms! The world was fresh and unique, with new cultures and religions and regional variations. I'm looking forward to learning more about the history of the world in the following books.
Aurora was a great character. She's very naive and gets a bit of a sucker punch to the gut of reality very quickly. I love how she becomes Roar, because who hasn't ever wanted to just get away and become a new person? She finds a solution to her problem and just goes for it, though I found some things a little too easy and convenient. But perhaps that added conflict would have slowed down the story. She's still working out who she wants to be at the end of the book, so we'll see the conclusion to her character arc in the next book.
Cassius is a very interesting villain. He and his family are sneaky and manipulative and powerful and total jerks. I can't say too much about him without giving away some spoilers, but his hostility is prompted by even bigger problems happening in the world. There were hints of a better side to Cassius, and how he struggled to be bad. Definitely an anti-hero, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
My biggest problem was the romance with Locke. Locke by himself was an interesting character with a tragic backstory. With Aurora he started off as this cool, caring dude but instantly got all protective and a bit douchebaggy as soon as he developed a romantic interest in her. I know a lot of women like it when a man is "protective" and takes charge, but I don't, and Aurora's character definitely didn't (ohhh she was feisty!), and yet he kept telling her what to do and manipulated her emotions. It was used as a way to drive up romantic tension, but it just drove me crazy. There was a nicer, soft side to him that we see at the beginning, and then again at the end, and I wish had been his dominant personality. As it was I didn't like their relationship until the very end. Hopefully that improves in the next book
Plot-wise, I am a little fatigued of stories where the girl has to escape marriage in order to begin an adventure. But this book bends the cliché a bit. The situation is Aurora needs magic to rule her kingdom, and marriage at first seems to be the only option to get that magic, but then she finds out you can get magic from capturing storms and she's like, "Never mind marriage!", that's a better way to go. And then we get to go on the road with a band of storm hunters and explore this fabulous and creative new world and I am ALL over that!
The story moved for the first third of the book, then slowed down considerably. I felt like they just wandered around for longer than needed, but I guess when traveling by horse things go slow? It might also be because I didn't read the book in one go. I felt like it had a very open ending, without any resolution except for one aspect about the storms and Aurora's abilities. The writing and prose are great, with evocative descriptions of the storms and emotions.
Overall, it was a fun, new, imaginative read with a good cast of characters. I'm definitely looking forward to the next ones!
Rating
I give this book 4 stars.
Details
Genre: YA, Fantasy.
Language: Mild and not frequent.
Sex: Some intense hormones and kissing, but no graphic sex scenes.
Violence: Some mild violence.
Genre: YA, Fantasy.
Language: Mild and not frequent.
Sex: Some intense hormones and kissing, but no graphic sex scenes.
Violence: Some mild violence.
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