When The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon came out last year, critics touted this book as the “next hit romantasy world.” These words are typically a lot to live up to, especially when older romantasy books, like A Court of Thornes and Roses by Sarah J Maas, continue to get hype from the online book community.
But I was pleasantly surprised by Guanzon’s debut novel, especially because I am not one of her fanfic readers. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say it meets the “next hit fantasy romance” tagline.
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Summary:
The Good Reads description reads –
“All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.
Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.
Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion–one that could save their world…or destroy it.”
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My thoughts
When I realised that Guanzon is a fanfic author, her writing style and storytelling overall, made a lot more sense.
If you didn’t already know, The Hurricane Wars is, technically, a fanfic or character retelling of sorts. It’s based on Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars, more commonly known as Rylo.
This titbit of information does make understanding the world and the characters a little bit easier. But, it’s not critical to even know who Rey and Kylo are.
With that said, The Hurricane Wars does, in fact, read like fanfiction. Good fanfiction, of course. It’s not a badly written book, but Guanzon’s prose tends to lean toward over descriptive, rather than captivating. Certain scenes did grip me and if you can get over the descriptive language, and the lengthy world-building in the first quarter of this book, it’s a truly enjoyable reading experience.
I enjoyed Talasyn as a baddie main character – she’s strong, powerful, and has a lot of surprises for the reader. The dual POV chapters are great! I love it when authors do this, especially when there is an element of enemies-to-lovers in any book.
The romance
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Speaking of the enemies-to-lovers trope, we have to talk about the romance in this book.
As a romantasy, The Hurricane Wars does meet certain expectations. It’s hot, and spicy, and does offer some tension regarding the enemies-to-lovers romantic arc. But I felt a little disappointed by the progression of, or rather lack thereof, Talasyn and Alaric’s romance.
I didn’t feel much angst within the internal dialogue – which is a shame because the royal family has colonized Talasyn’s people. Surely, there has to be more internal struggle with finding your loathsome enemy attractive, especially one who has actively participated in the Hurricane Wars and in destroying home?
Don’t get me wrong, the romance is good. I just felt that it left more to be desired.
Overall
All in all, most readers should enjoy The Hurricane Wars. Yes, several aspects aren’t fantastic, but there are more books in the works, so hopefully, all these little gripes might be ironed out.
You can grab your copy of The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon on Takealot from R460.
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