I hate to be negative but I simply could not get into The Hurricane Wars. I thought this was going to be a fast paced, gripping read, but the world building felt very heavy for the first 30% of the novel and the subsequent info dumps kept taking me out of the storyline. I therefore found it quite difficult to be invested in Alaric and Talasyn’s relationship, and although both the plot and the characterisation got stronger as the novel went on and the world Thea Guanzon has build became more fixed in my head, that first third of the book really was a slog to get through!

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for early copy read,
This story is not as bad as I feel it’s being made out to be I gave 4.0 stars it’s a very well built up world by the author with an amazing enemies to lovers storyline I’m going to definitely continue the series because I’m invested in the story and the characters could it have been better yes but I find with every fantasy romance that the first is always a tough read!

Sadly this was a DNF for me at 23%

I felt that that we dove straight into quite complicated battles and wars too soon and I didn’t yet understand any of the characters or their motivations.

I also felt the too many characters were oddly similar to Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars and I couldn’t quite see past it!

2.5 stars for what I did read! Thank you for the opportunity.

I LOVED this book. Although I initially found it somewhat difficult to get into, the world building was fantastic and began to grow on me quickly. I loved the relationship between the main characters, and seeing how it developed from enemies to lovers, but I also enjoyed reading about the different background characters as I found that the characters were very well-developed. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

I don’t even know where to start this review. I am a Reylo stan, and ever since I heard about The Hurricane Wars, I have anxiously been anticipating it.

It sounded like such a cool concept, but it was just that – a cool concept. The execution leaves SO much to be desired.

Let’s start with the good. I don’t think Guanzon is a bad writer. Some scenes really gripped me, and I truly enjoyed some of the writing. However, most of the prose is way too descriptive, and the overall structure of the story needs some work.

I want Reylo in space
My biggest gripe with this book is I think the Reylo elements were too stripped down. Essentially she had to take sci-fi characters and mold them into fantasy characters. Reylo is so much more than just large dude and tiny girl (in fact I don’t think their respective body sizes have anything to do with why the ship dynamic works). It’s also so much more than grumpy dude, sunshine girl, because at their core that’s not who Rey and Kylo Ren are.

And because this was a Reylo fanfic adapted for a broader audience, we have to look at the aspects of Reylo. The key thing missing for me was that pull between them, how there is light in darkness and darkness in light. Sure they have their shadow and light magic pulling them together, but it doesn’t play nearly as big a role as the Force does. There was just something missing between Talasyn and Alaric, and I really could not see the echoes of Reylo in them.

Fantasy World or Florida? Who knows?
My other gripe was the worldbuilding. I’m not afraid of complicated worldbuilding, and I get some aspects of this book, but honestly it was just all over the place. It made very little sense, and not enough worldbuilding was done in my opinion. This book might have been better if it were actually set in space. Why does no one do Reylo in space? Where they actually belong?

The plot and pacing was all over the place. For a large chunk of the book nothing happens, and when something does happen, it gets glossed over. Most of the actual Hurricane Wars happens in the first third of the book, and nothing that I read made me actually care about the rebels.

I see a bad redemption arc in your future…
I’m all for redemption arcs (Zutara being one of my favourite ships), but this one feels too far-fetched. Yes, it’s an enemies-to-lovers story, but Alaric was an active participant in the war. He razed an entire village to the ground while Talasyn was in it. He is the colonizer, STILL by the end of the book operating under the delusion that they “had to” colonize the other lands or they would have been killed. And that he can make things better now that he is Emperor. Sir? Please. This enemies to lovers might stretch too far. Obviously, he’ll change his mind in the coming books, but like Talasyn said: “Your empire will always be built on blood”.

I don’t realistically buy a romance like that, and it gave me the ick.

This book gets two stars for making me read “my wet little wife” with my own two eyeballs. I’m not usually one to comment on the sex scenes, since I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum, but this was not it. It made me deeply uncomfortable and after slogging through this book, I was disappointed.

I thought this had a really promising start but it seems to pitter out after the first 30% after which is just became really indulgent in the characters and the relationship which yes, was enemies to lovers in a sense but I didn't really feel it. It lacked depth in story and narrative for me

A slow burn enemies to lovers romantasy.

I really wanted to give this book more stars but I have a number of issues with it.
1) the world building was a bit convoluted and needed a bit more in some aspects
2) Talasyn and Alaric need to speak more
3) I wasn't sure what exactly the storyline was building to. In the end I wanted a more climactic ending but I guess that will happen in the next book?
4) the storyline is really slow, needs more action or to be more fast paced, keep things moving along
5) feels like a Reylo inspired book

Things I did like:
1) the enemies to lovers aspect - even though it feels a bit forced at times
2) an engaging fantasy that has potential

Overall the storyline was a bit lost and needed more character development. Hopefully a second book would rectify that.

** I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review **

This book was an engaging fantasy read that i thoroughly enjoyed! The writing was magical and gave similar vibes to some of my favourite books in the genre, nostalgic feel like from ACOTAR universe. Although the pacing started out a little slow and I found initially there wasn’t much to love, it quickly picked up and after the first hurdles within the beginning 100 ish pages, I really loved this and would recommend. More of a taste for seasoned fantasy and romantasy readers as it had a slight high fantasy element and wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for a beginner dipping their toes in, but otherwise a perfectly versatile and transformative read.

The Hurricane Wars is, quite obviously, a ‘Reylo’ inspired enemies-to-lovers fantasy slow-burn romance. Heavy on the slow burn, light on the spice and a large dash of angst in the second half. Thea is by no means the first popular author with ‘Reylo’ AO3 origins (*Cough* Ali Hazelwood *Cough*) to develop a cracking novel from the inspiration. However, I would say that there are more obvious hints to the Star Wars (and other Sci-fi) fandoms than I expected. Although this might be my fault that I didn’t see it coming when the blurb literally reads:

“One lone light stands against the empire.”

And we are thrown into the middle of a battle with the ‘Night Empire’ from the start. I did have to laugh out loud when Talasyn (our fab FMC) grabbed a ride in a ship called Serenity though. But hey, I didn’t mind the nerdy references, it was fun, and in many ways, Thea made this world her own.

I loved the descriptive tone and stunning worldbuilding, full of dragons, islands and power vortexes. The East Asian inspirations were amazing, and you could see Thea’s voice come through in the writing. I mean I was pretty sold just with the term ‘Hurricane Wars’. While light and dark are common fantasy vibes, I liked learning about Thea’s light weaving with her and exploring her roots and history. Once I got started reading I found it hard to put down.

There were a few aspects of the story that I enjoyed but felt like it fell prey to the ‘first book in a series’ problem:

The development of the romance- Talasyn developed her character ARC more than we got to see Alaric (our MMC) develop (although I enjoyed the switching POV’s) but it felt like they were both held back, especially at the end, from developing together as if to make sure there were still meaty bits in book 2.

Alaric’s world view- Alaric starts to go through some low-key reflection from the moment he met Talasyn and was forced the consider the opposing side to the Empire. Towards the end of the book, this increases in frequency, but again, I feel like we’re kept from going too deep so it can be explored further in later books. But it needs depth here, they’re both dealing with different and difficult issues with grief, colonialism and living in war and half of this book is about ‘the after’- how do you deal with surviving all that? We get a taste but, as always, I want more.

All in all though, it does make me quite excited for book 2 😂

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for this e-ARC. This review is my honest opinion.

This was a lot different than I expected!
I thought it would be an epic fantasy, akin to the mythology retellings that have been so prevalent in the last few years, but instead I got sci-fi tinged very unsubtle Star Wars fan fiction, with added romance. But...I'm kind of here for it?!
The story definitely started off a little eye-rolly, but as it developed there were some original touches which I appreciated, and I kind of liked the romance itself, although the stakes are high (we are told many times) I never really felt the weight of the consequences and just wanted them to get together quicker! It was also very difficult to clear my mind of the image of the main character as Adam Driver as he was so obviously described to look like him - this didn't bother me too much, although I can certainly see how it would annoy some people.
Overall, a somewhat enjoyable start to a new SFF series (labelled as adult, but other than one mildly spicy scene, read very YA) and I am interested enough in the plot to read the next one.
3.5 stars.

I had high hopes for this one but sadly it didn’t live up to the hype for me. Not what I was expecting and I just couldn’t get on with it at all.

The cover on this book is absolutely stunning and so are the special editions they have made for it,

Talsyn’s life hasn’t been easy having grown as an orphan in the Hurricane Wars but she wields light magic which has been thought to have disappeared. Prince Alaric has been forged into a weapon by his father and stronger with his Dark magic. When light and dark magic meet on the battlefield they enter twine and a new magic may have been created.

I really loved the first 30% of the book, the initial meet with the main characters was pretty epic and the politics and the world building were really engaging. I would say after that the main characters felt thought they changed too quickly and the enemies to lovers vibe could have been more teased out. However, it was addictive reading and a little bit spicy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated from start to finish. Although the plot isn't groundbreaking, and I've encountered similar narratives, I remained engrossed. The development of the relationship between the main characters unfolded at a well-balanced pace—not too swift, yet not dragging—which kept my interest piqued. Now, I find myself yearning for further exploration of these characters and the world they inhabit.

DNF.

I really wanted to like this book it sounded amazing but it was just flat and boring and barely any world building or character connection 😔



Thank you to netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review.

This was an interesting book. I loved the world building and prose itself. That really carried the books. I thought the politics was well thought out and there was some compelling commentary. The magic system was AWESOME and one of the best parts of the book! even though the prose was very repetitive at times and the world building put too many unnecessary details, it was still GOOD and the better parts of the book.

However, after the 20% mark, the book really fell off for me. I almost dnfed at 60%. the dialogue and romance was so cringe and so forced, especially the "banter". It was like our MC switched to a different person in a bad way--the most stereotypical YA teen cringe cookie cutter protagonist when alaric comes onto page. and he was honestly pathetic and weird in his extremely colonial colonizer mindset. there was so much repetitive filler with them I was getting very frustrated. this started as fan fiction but remained as fan fiction in style in a bad way.
however after the 60% mark, things improved and something in my mind switched where I accepted this as fan fiction. i do wish the author would make alaric original in his description and stop describing him as adam driver which is so cringe and weird. and stop white washing talaysn in her physical description as reylo and keep her original.
the ending of the book was good and compelling and improved the rest of the book. the character arcs started to get interesting and im always good for angry sex scenes. this was entertaining enough for me to give 3.5 stars.

The hurricane wars is a deep rich fantasy world that I loved getting lost in.

This would have been 5 stars if the book was marketed as fantasy not romantasy as the romance only really picks up at the 90% mark in the book.

Thea has such a talent for creating gorgeous fully fleshed fantasy landscapes that take you to a whole new world.

I loved the elemental magic system and the way light and darkness are juxtaposed throughout the book is stunning.

All Talasyn knows is war and terror shes lost everything and it’s all because of the night empire. All she knows is survival until she comes face to face with its insufferable prince her true enemy and he lets her live.

Its an intriguing enemies to lovers story but I feel like the romance will ramp up in book 2 as I would have loved more in book 1

Overall a fantastic fantasy read!

I found myself gripped throughout this. While the plot isn't unique and I've read similar before I was still invested.
The build of relationship between the main characters was a good pace. Not too fast and not too slow. Enough to keep me interested.
I'm left wanting more from these characters and world.

Look, Reylo fanfiction is clearly a ~vibe in publishing these days, but at least most of the time there's at least something of an attempt to file off the serial numbers. This was really disappointing in that it didn't even manage that.

Let me just start by saying I rarely want to re-read books within a few weeks of finishing it the first time, but damn I can’t get this book out of my head. Slow burn, enemies to lovers and complementing powers, what more could a girl want? Oh yeah right, book 2! 😭 I loved this book so much 😭 and that’s it, that’s my review 😂

PS, what stunning special editions this book has!

“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.”

If you are a fan of enemies to lovers then this book is for you. Thea builds the tension between Talasyn and Alaric brilliantly, with a slow burn that is wickedly delicious.

Talasyn is a lightweaver fighting against the Night Empire of which Alaric is the prince who is unrivalled in his Shadow magic capability. They meet in a battle and Alaric is determined to defeat Talasyn until they realise that a combination of their magic can save the continent.

Talasyn is strong, spirited character that wants the best for her people while Alaric is the perfect blend of dark, brooding, strong and protective. There are other popular tropes included in this like found family and marriage of convenience. The worldbuilding was done well although a little information heavier than I’d prefer but you are able to follow quite easily.

This was a great debut by Thea and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my review