I have been excited about this series since I first picked up The North Wind last year and devoured it in a few days. I fell in love with Alexandria Warwick’s writing, and the world she had built in the first book of the Four Winds series. Little did I know that each book that followed would feel like en entirely new world.

In the third book, which can be read as a standalone, we are introduced to Sarai, a princess who is cursed by the Lord of the Mountain to only live until her 25th name day. The story ties together the myth of Minos and Sleeping Beauty.

While navigating grief and her own feelings of inadequacy and lack of freedom, Sarai is faced with the return of her ex, Notus. Notus is the god of the South Wind, and is the third brother of the Four Winds we meet in this series.

Ammara feels atmospheric, rich and golden, and completely distinct from the other settings in the series. The side characters also help to make this world feel real. Roshar, in particular, stands out. I think I want to read an entire book about him.

Sarai is wonderfully flawed. She’s stubborn, insecure, and makes incredibly relatable missteps and bad decisions. There’s a complex web of emotions and insecurities that have led her to this point in her life, and her attempts to untangle and make sense of herself in order to move forward are, at times, emotionally intense.

As for Notus… I’m not sure how, because each of the Four Winds is incredibly distinct from the other, but somehow they’re all my favourite. Notus feels like peak ‘man written by a woman’ to me. I love him. He’s hot. I don’t know how else to say it.

Their love feels steamy and rich and helps balance the emotional intensity with something warm and romantic.

Time is taken to lay the foundations at the beginning of the story so that the world is well established when the plot really takes off. Reading the second half of this book flew by and I couldn’t put it down.

Sarai’s grief, her feelings of inadequacy, and her lack of freedom create a moving emotional core. Watching her untangle her own identity was powerful.

This is a lush, emotional, romantic fantasy with both character depth and wonderful worldbuilding. Alexandria Warwick continues to impress me, and I’ll read anything she writes.

I really enjoyed the other 2 books in this series, and had high hopes for this one - unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations.
The story was very all over the place and disjointed, the characters felt really bland and flat compared to the other 2 books, there was no real development to them with the same conversations happening over and over again
Overall not impressed with this one, hoping it is the curse of the middle instalment of a series and the next will be amazing

Another great instalment in this series. The first book still remains my favourite, but this was also a good read. I loved Sarai and her sass and strength and her the way her relationship with Notus developed had me hooked

I was very excited to get this and enjoyed it as much as the first and more than the second. I liked Sarai and Notus a lot. Notus did feel less God-like than Zephyrus and Boreas though.

Wow… yet another beautiful story in this series, It was a very lovely read.

The relationship between Sarai and Notus made my heart feel so warm even if I did want to scream at them both sometimes. The dialogue was a little repetitive at times but the evolution of the relationship between Sarai and Notus made up for that, along with the surprises that were added to the plot.

Overall I’d say this was a lovely read and it has definitely made me incredibly excited to get to know The East Wind!!!

I really wanted to enjoy this book more as I enjoyed the other ones in the series.
Unfortunately I found its very disjointed. The whole story could have been completed in one chapter if folk actually spoke to each other ( like they keep saying they have too). The fmc is the most annoying one I've had to read. I know that this series is based from fairytales/myth but at this point it felt like random ones continued to be added that did not advance the plot or character development at all.

The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick is a masterpiece! I rated it 5 stars because I couldn't put it down for a second. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.