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The Last of Stormlord

by Glenda Larke

Reviewed by Coral


Granthon is a Stormlord, he creates storm clouds and brings rain to the Quartern’s four quarters: the Red Quarter, inhabited by nomadic tribesmen; the White Qaurter, inhabited by the secretive Alabasters; the cities of the Scarpen Quarter, including the Quartern’s capital Breccia, from where Granthon rules; and the Gibber Quarter, whose inhabitants are too poor to mine the mineral ressources all around them.

With his health failing as he ages, Granthon can no longer create as many storms as in the past. Worse, no new stormlord has been found in many years, not after water sensitive children with potential met tragic fates that some now suspect may have been murder. Without a stormlord to bring the rain, the weather will become unpredictable and rain will once again be random, causing widespread droughts and killing thousands. While the search for a new stormlord continues, drastic and cruel steps may need to be taken to save lives, but at a high cost.

In the lower levels of Scarpen, Terrelle, a girl from the Gibber Quarter who was sold to a courtesan’s house as a child by her father, knows that time is running out if she wants to escape the courtesan’s life. But with limited options, the only door open to her may damn her to a worse fate.

Shale is a poor boy from the Gibber Quarter with abilities he has been taught to fear and mistrust. When discovered, he finds himself caught up in a plot he could never expect, one that costs his family their lives. Someone is determined that any stormlord found will never be brought before Granthon. They intend to use a stormlord to control the storms themselves or, if they can’t control one, to kill him, in order to guarantee a return to the time of Random Rain. Without knowing who to trust, Shale will have to depend on himself in order to survive. And the lives of all of the peoples of the Quartern may depend on it.

This book had a lot of plots, but it never felt disconnected or jumbled. I enjoyed how it progressed, taking some twists that I didn’t expect even when playing with some familiar (bordering on cliché) elements.

I liked that even though I was 90% certain that one character was involved in the plot to control the new stormlord, there was a part of his story that was almost believable so that I wasn't completely sure who could be trusted and who couldn’t.

I wish more time had been spent on the Red Quarter characters. They are a main part of the plot and a lot of the actions related to them (with a character named Davim wanting to unite and control all the tribes, the internal conflict this causes in the Red Quarter, and how he may not be as loyal as his allies in other quarters believe) but they don’t get a lot of chapters spent on them. We mostly hear about what is happening with them through the words of other characters. Maybe that is fitting as to most of the characters they represent an “other” of unknown motivations. But as I reader, I want to know more about that part of the story.

There were some minor characters that I didn’t like, though I don’t think we were supposed to. I thought that the characterization of one of the two was rather weak; a self-centered spoiled brat. I would like to see some more depth to characters if they are going to be villains, or at least adversaries. What I don’t want to see is a redemption arc for either of these characters, because I don’t see how it can be earned.

I didn’t really like Terrelle’s story, but maybe I will change my mind in books 2 and 3 (which I don’t own yet, so it could be awhile before I finish the series). It was just a little too much on top of the examples of water sensitivity we already had in the books.

The last third or so of the book felt a little far-fetched to me. It seemed more author driven, with certain things happening only because the author needed them to happen to get the characters in place for book 2, but that didn’t make any sense given how the story had unfolded. With all of the evidence for one character's guilt, that no one did anything to stop him was ridiculous; that anyone (and not a co-conspirator) could willingly blind themselves to the truth and wave away the evidence as meaningless was maddeningly incomprehensible to me. Then we have two characters who are rainlords (not as powerful as stormlords) who were told to marry to try to guarantee a powerful child, pretty much sacrificing themselves when up until that point the number one priority had been the safety of anyone with water sensitivity, for the simple reason that the author needed them to not be in the way. And so the one character that no one trusted throughout the book is given the responsibility of safeguarding the person who represents the Quartern’s last hope. Which will not end well at all.

It’s a shame, because there was a lot about the book that I liked, but I thought that the ending let it down a little.

Grade: B