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A review by jlennidorner
War Storm by Victoria Aveyard
5.0
I love the lightning in the diamond glass crown on the cover.
Everything that I felt should have happened and needed to happen came through in this speculative fiction/ urban fantasy/ future fantasy book. Though I would still like to know how some blood becomes silver, even though I realize that's just the "mirror" held up to society. This book, the whole series really, is a fantasy version of what happens when one group oppresses another group because they think they're better for whatever reason, and then the oppressed rise up and prove that equality is always more desirable than oppression.
And along the way, the reader gets to decide if they feel bad for Maven or not. Especially when he thinks about killing the oppressed, creating a war, mostly so they don't focus on outnumbering the oppressors, a form of manipulation.
I didn't care for the different point of views of every chapter in book 3 (King's Cage), but it became even more important in this book. Mare just can't be everywhere at once, after all! And the inside of Evangeline's head was far better than I expected.
There's a hidden staircase revealed by tugging a book on a bookcase. #GeekingOut
I'm happy to say that the book ends with hope. I don't know if I'd call it a "happily-ever-after" or not, but certainly hope. There's a scene at the end with Bison, talking about destroying and rebuilding, that I really love and that filled me with hope.
Some of my favorite lines:
"So we can tell our children we did not stand by and watch as children just like them were murdered or condemned."
With the current movement in America to Keep Families Together, a line like that could not possibly have hit harder. Great writing.
"You know, maybe this rebellion would be further along if they didn't rely on teenagers so much."
Ha ha ha, poking fun at all the YA fiction, including this, that has a teenager changing the world. Too funny!
"I can't do anything my body is screaming at me to do. ... Get through it."
It's an anthem for the disabled, chronically ill, and for those who struggle with health or mental issues.
"Are you so threatened by the people you spit on that you can't allow them simple freedom?"
I'm tempted to get that Farley quote tattooed on my arm.
"Because they'd rather bleed themselves than be equal to any blood that isn't the right color."
Replace the word blood with the word skin and you have the world I know, with too much hate and a need for equality.
Everything that I felt should have happened and needed to happen came through in this speculative fiction/ urban fantasy/ future fantasy book. Though I would still like to know how some blood becomes silver, even though I realize that's just the "mirror" held up to society. This book, the whole series really, is a fantasy version of what happens when one group oppresses another group because they think they're better for whatever reason, and then the oppressed rise up and prove that equality is always more desirable than oppression.
And along the way, the reader gets to decide if they feel bad for Maven or not. Especially when he thinks about killing the oppressed, creating a war, mostly so they don't focus on outnumbering the oppressors, a form of manipulation.
I didn't care for the different point of views of every chapter in book 3 (King's Cage), but it became even more important in this book. Mare just can't be everywhere at once, after all! And the inside of Evangeline's head was far better than I expected.
There's a hidden staircase revealed by tugging a book on a bookcase. #GeekingOut
I'm happy to say that the book ends with hope. I don't know if I'd call it a "happily-ever-after" or not, but certainly hope. There's a scene at the end with Bison, talking about destroying and rebuilding, that I really love and that filled me with hope.
Some of my favorite lines:
"So we can tell our children we did not stand by and watch as children just like them were murdered or condemned."
With the current movement in America to Keep Families Together, a line like that could not possibly have hit harder. Great writing.
"You know, maybe this rebellion would be further along if they didn't rely on teenagers so much."
Ha ha ha, poking fun at all the YA fiction, including this, that has a teenager changing the world. Too funny!
"I can't do anything my body is screaming at me to do. ... Get through it."
It's an anthem for the disabled, chronically ill, and for those who struggle with health or mental issues.
"Are you so threatened by the people you spit on that you can't allow them simple freedom?"
I'm tempted to get that Farley quote tattooed on my arm.
"Because they'd rather bleed themselves than be equal to any blood that isn't the right color."
Replace the word blood with the word skin and you have the world I know, with too much hate and a need for equality.