Reviewer: @wickedly.bookish (Instagram)
Rating: 4/5
“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶?” “𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦.” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.” 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”
I had been seeing this book blow up all over TikTok over the last few months and was so excited to get my hands on it and it definitely lived up to the hype.
I am always so happy when I read a book that has dual POV, it just adds so much more depth to the story when you are able to read from two different perspectives.
What I really enjoyed about this book is that it is based on Reylo fan fiction and the fact that it isn’t heavily based on the romance aspect but rather the political intrigue and magical systems.
The authors writing style is beautifully lyrical and she creates such incredible imagery with her choice of words.
If you are looking for an enemies to lovers, romantasy with a cast of diverse characters I highly recommend you pick up this book.
𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮:
- Dual POV
- High fantasy
- Southeast Asian mythology
- Court intrigue
- Marriage of convenience
- Enemies to lovers
- Slow burn romance
- Forced proximity
Favourite Quote:
“𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘴. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.”
Reviewer: @rozanne_visagie (Instagram)
Rating: 3.5/5
“𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊 𝚑𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘’𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞?” “𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎.” 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝. “𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”
The Hurricane Wars is a debut high fantasy with Reylo vibes and strong enemies to lovers. With a cover as stunning as this, you know the writing will be next level and it certainly is. Guanzon creates a world and just as Alaric, the Master of the Shadowforged Legion, boards his flying ship, the reader boards the ship and is swept away by the details.
Getting into the story took me a while as the first few chapters left me confused. High fantasies usually have me tripping through the first few chapters, but once I understood the story, I enjoyed it. The dual POV, marriage of convenience and the tension between Talasyn and Alaric had me flying through the pages. Once that first plot twist dropped, I was rubbing my hands together in anticipation and knew things were about to become real.
“𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚜𝚞𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕, 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚊 𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚞𝚜.”
The characters are so well written and I felt that both Talasyn and Alaric developed throughout the story; I like character growth and Guanzon did it well. The imagery of this world is so rich that I wish I could just see a glimpse of it in real-time. There is a lot of court intrigue and it adds to the tension and mystery of the story. I found the story unpredictable and the plot twists left me reeling.
I adore the small ship illustration at the bottom of the pages which acts like a flipbook. I have flipped it several times just for fun, and then some people still say books are boring – they must get a copy of The Hurricane Wars.
Reviewer: @book.barbarian (Instagram)
I really enjoyed this slow burn romantasy.
- New Adult Romantasy
- Enemies to Lovers (SLOWEST BURN)
- Arranged marriage
- Incredible world building
- Politics and Magic
- Cliffhanger
The war time setting, the slowest burn, interesting characters – I could not put this book down, I’m not sure what it was but there was a quality to this novel that had me racing to see where the pieces fit.
If you love slow burn, war setting and incredible characters, this book is for you!
Reviewer: @reading_in_the_dark_za (Instagram)
Rating: 4/5
I really enjoyed this book.
I’m not going to lie, I feel like it’s either been over hyped or judged too harshly and I can honestly see why.
The story was a bit confusing as the author wrote as if we already understood the magic system. It took me a while to get into it and understand what was going on. But once I was in it, I devoured it all! I think with better world building this could have been avoided but overall it was so good.
My favourite part was the enemies to lovers with a touch of forced proximity via arranged marriage. I would read the next book purely so I can see where the two main characters land up because the tension had me.
I’m curious to see where this storyline leads these two characters and if they will in fact, manage to end this war.
The Hurricane Wars is available at:
