A fantasy retelling of a girl in disguise, war and dragons... Stormrise by Jillian Boehme (Review & #Giveaway) @The_FFBC


I love books with dragons and I also generally love books published by Tor... Stormrise
is a combination of both! 😉 Check out my review and the tour giveaway below...

Stormrise
By Jillian Boehme
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 230 Pages
September 10th 2019 by Tor Teen

Summary

A combat warrior will risk everything to awaken the dragons and save her kingdom in Jillian Boehme's epic YA Fantasy debut, Stormrise, inspired by Twelfth Night and perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce.

If Rain weren’t a girl, she would be respected as a Neshu combat master. Instead, her gender dooms her to a colorless future. When an army of nomads invades her kingdom, and a draft forces every household to send one man to fight, Rain takes her chance to seize the life she wants.

Knowing she’ll be killed if she’s discovered, Rain purchases powder made from dragon magic that enables her to disguise herself as a boy. Then she hurries to the war camps, where she excels in her training—and wrestles with the voice that has taken shape inside her head. The voice of a dragon she never truly believed existed.

As war looms and Rain is enlisted into an elite, secret unit tasked with rescuing the High King, she begins to realize this dragon tincture may hold the key to her kingdom’s victory. For the dragons that once guarded her land have slumbered for centuries . . . and someone must awaken them to fight once more.

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My Review

STORMRISE is a story of a girl's fierce love for her family who sacrifices herself to a war that she believes she won't come home from. Readers will find much to love with this motley crew of characters and a plot that is thrilling from beginning to end. 

I loved this story from the start. Rain's family is an important piece of the story as her purpose began with them and with them is where this story begins. It allowed me to easily relate to Rain and see who she is as a character, such as what drives her and what her strengths and weaknesses are. Her character continues to develop as she is vulnerable in trying to keep her disguise intact and excel as a soldier. I love stories with good character development and where friendships and camaraderie are strong points. I liked how Forest is introduced in the story as well and how Rain slowly gets to know him and the others in her group over time. Their relationship grows naturally and they're friends before anything else.

I know in the summary it says this story is supposedly based on Twelfth Night, but to me it felt much more like a Mulan retelling. The similarities are quite strong. Regardless, I liked how this story was reimagined and how the author made it her own, particularly in regards to the dragons. The myths behind them and their magic were interesting. I also liked that the dragons weren't exactly what you might expect. The overall plot had moments of character development, romance, and then some intense training and action. It felt balanced, besides just being quite entertaining.

The beginning of this story all the way through to almost the end I loved. However, towards the end I had a few issues. There was one character that the author let have more reign than I liked and there was a part that was pretty crude, vulgar and descriptive that I felt could have been more vague while still making the point or carrying out the scene. It went from a completely clean book to one I can't let my daughter read. That same character continued to be a thorn in Rain's side and then there was a suggestive scene added as well. I just didn't feel it was needed. The story would have felt more realistic to me without the scene under the situation and the romance could have remained sweet (as well as not trying to take over the story). It also seemed that some of the characters towards the end weren't consistent. Such as a tough, smart leader suddenly letting emotions rule and letting his soldiers get out of hand. It was like the steadiness he had at the beginning disappeared. I got the situation and shock he was under, but it just didn't feel consistent to his character up until that point.

In the end, was it what I wished for? This was definitely a page-turner. I loved most of the story and definitely loved the characters. If you're a YA fantasy or Mulan fan, you'll find much to enjoy about this story.

Content: Lots of b-words, one attempted rape that is fairly descriptive, a non-descriptive love scene, violence.
Source: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley and the Fantastic Flying Book Club, which did not require a positive review nor affect it in any way.

About the Author


JILLIAN BOEHME is known to the online writing community as Authoress, hostess of Miss Snark's First Victim, a blog for aspiring authors. In real life, she holds a degree in Music Education, sings with the Nashville Symphony Chorus, and homeschools her remaining youngster-at-home. She's still crazy in love with her husband of more than thirty years and is happy to be surrounded by family and friends amid the rolling knolls of Middle Tennessee.


Tour Schedule
Tour-Wide Giveaway

Win (1) of (4) finished copies of STORMRISE by Jillian Boehme (US/CAN only)
Ends September 24, 2019

There's also an Instagram giveaway going on over at FFBC's Instagram page here. Go check it out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Is this one on your TBR? What did you think of my review? Do you have a favorite book with dragons?

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