eARC Review: A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon
Please make sure you’ve read The Hurricane Wars before proceeding (or read anyway if you don’t mind spoilers).
Release date: 10 December 2024
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis: Two hearts circle each other in the eye of the storm in this highly-anticipated follow-up to The Hurricane Wars—prepare for more enemies-to-lovers romance, magical adventures, and political schemes in this Southeast Asian-inspired world.
After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting; however, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. When the time comes to act, can she trust him, or must she ignore her heart for the sake of so many others?
As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat—the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it, with a powerful merging of light and shadow that they alone can create together. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes, and his wife is a burning flame in the darkness, tempting both his loyalties and his desires.
The Hurricane Wars aren’t over. It’s time to choose what—and who—to fight for. The world holds its breath amidst a whirlwind of new magic and old secrets that could change everything.
Review
I kept my expectations intentionally low for this one upon beginning my journey through it, as the first book in the series generated quite the buzz and no small amount of enthusiasm and acclaim only to completely fizzle out and fall flat for me. I wound up having a bear of a time getting through it. Surprisingly, A Monsoon Rising didn’t fare as terribly with me, for a portion of the book. The first 60% or so was meh, flip the page; but after that mark, I dare say the story blossomed into beautiful, action-packed, butt-kicking flower. Forget the romance in this one, the build-up in the last half of the book for the general storyline was fantastic. I really hope the last book in this series follows closely the vein that the latter 40% of AMR; if so, the struggle may have been worth it.
Talasyn and Alaric now enjoy a state of matrimonial bliss. Each spouse holds interests in direct opposition to the other. I’ll admit, it’s a pretty good conundrum for tension building. If you’re reading for the romance, you’ll like the scenario. If you’re reading for plot development, it’s a bit of a slog bog. However. The overarching plot must eventually come to the fore.
Because I only really care about the world building and plot, I’ll shift focus. Otherwise, I’ll descend into a deep pit of nitpicking and criticism. The whole point of this story, really, is the aversion of a global catastrophe. Secondary to that, Alaric’s father seeks to take Talasyn’s power somehow and use it for nefarious, presumably world-dominative purposes. For a fantasy novel, these two conflicts pique my interest. With the multiple layers of intrigue and conflict, and the absolute cliffhanger dropped at the end, I’ll definitely keep reading the end of the trilogy.
Overall, I'm teetering back and forth between 3.5-4 stars on this one. The first half bored me to tears, but the second half really picked up the pace and kept me on the edge of my seat.
My thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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