We Ride the Storm

Originally self published it is obvious to see why this series was picked up and rereleased by a major publishing house. We Ride The Storm follows 3 very different POV characters: A princess of dubious lineage, an exiled horse nomad and an assassin/prostitute. All three POVs are written in the first person but all three provide distinct voices and characters. Some of these characters first seem a bit tropey but they are so well written that they are never irritating. Princess Miko, for example, is effectively a princess in name only. Everyone knows she is not the legitimate daughter of the emperor so she is constantly fighting to survive. Princess characters are often irritating to read, but Miko is intriguing and extremely likeable in her driven style. Rah e'Torin, the horse lord, elevates the noble savage idea to an extreme. He comes from a culture where the only way to honor the dead is to remove decapitate them to release their spirit - a brutal idea to everyone else, but one that to him is the only right thing to do. Finally Cassandra, the assassin, uses her position as a prostitute to great effect to get close to people wit their guard down.

Devin has a really nice prose style, easy to read yet engaging and interesting. The pacing in this book is also brilliant, with a nice series of excitements and lulls building in a gradual crescendo towards the finale. The last 100 pages or so are super intense.

Overall a fantastic book that deserves the plaudits it has got and I cannot wait to return for book 2

Perfect for RR Martin's (or Gwynne's) fans, with excellent political fuckery and civil war (Princess Miko POV), very good coming of age epic/military adventures (Captain Rah POV) and, unfortunately, also pretty bad assasin-thief crap (Cassandra the posessed prostitute POV).
The sum is very captivating, still, and even though the author can't really write battles, she is amazing at character development (again, not you, Cassandra, but yes, Miko and Rah).
I am diving straight into book 2 and found myself a new must follow author!

This is one of those times I wish I knew how to write captivating reviews ??? Devin Madson deserves more praise and attention.

I am not usually a fan of big fantasy trilogies based on war between clans, but We Ride The Storm is so much more than that. It's character driven more so than plot driven. The 3 character POVs are intriguing, easy to fall for. They are the lead of their own grueling journey, but Madson weaves these three so beautifully together to present a very compelling world. It was difficult to put the book down. And I need to know more!

The prose is unique and delightful. Raw and brutal.

My only negative is that I felt the ending of book 1 did not have enough resolution for me. Fearing the second book will follow the same recipe I'll postpone it until the third and final book is published.

This book single-handedly put me into a bit of a reading slump. (I say slump but it just took me about 5 days longer than I usually would, so this is a bit overdramatic but still).

There's one POV character that is legitimately interesting, which is Miko. Her opening lines were great and immediately brought you into her story. I think if you had to name a main character, it would definitely be her.

But then there's Rah, whose chapters (and whose character) I found very boring and was only really interesting for the connections to the other POV characters.

There's also Cassandra - who on paper should be a very fascinating character, but it doesn't really work. The situations she got herself in were just so ridiculous at times that I couldn't take her seriously, and the way her thoughts were written she felt way younger than she was supposed to be.

There's a few side characters that cross over between each character's chapters, and I felt that Rah's and Cassandra's chapters mostly served as a purpose to let us know what they were up to or what happened consequences wise after certain events in Miko's chapters. Them as characters didn't get as much development or attention as Miko did, and were mostly our viewpoint for the other characters that just happened to be at their location.

Miko's story is genuinely exciting though, and does have some surprises along the way. I just wish the other characters were as engaging.

Here we follow multiple perspectives; Miko, the bastard princess of an empire. Rah, the exiled captain of a wandering people. Cassandra, assassin, whore, and host to some form of entity and power. Two of these perspectives (Miko and Cassandra) are interesting enough from the off to have lead a solo book. I disliked Rah's initial chapters as his character didn't feel like it acted with the principles and honour he spoke of – and he speaks constantly of principles and honour.

Despite my initial dislike of Rah, I'd say this book is full of strong characters (even without having read the preceding Vengeance Trilogy), with political machinations, both known and unknown, casting shadows over everyone's words and actions, leaving you guessing at people's true motivations and allegiances. I'd potentially even argue that not having read the previous trilogy strengthened the book in some way as I assume some of the accusations being thrown around were events in those books.

We're fairly quickly seeing cross-over amongst the main perspective characters, while not initially directly meeting, supporting cast members cross paths, the same names are mentioned, machinations are spoken about from multiple sides. Multiple perspectives can be a strength and a failing depending on how they're weaved together and here it's a treat. Rather than constantly yearning to move back to another perspective, there's always something interesting happening in each.

If I had to point to any factor in the book that I didn't like, it would be the way that sometimes action scenes were glossed over a bit. These tend to be the bigger battles and it makes some sense that they're less important than the direct conflicts between named characters, but still felt a bit weird for a battle to be done in a couple of lines.

Overall there was little I didn't like about this book as it provides a great opening state of affairs to be resolved in the rest of the quadrilogy and mysteries yet to reveal.

Peranglah yang membentuk kekaisaran Kisian, namun perang jugalah yang akan menghancurkannya.
Tujuh belas tahun berlalu sejak pecahnya pemberontakan di Kisia, membuatnya terpecah menjadi faksi-faksi. Hanya tangan besi Kaisar yang masih membuat kekaisaran berdiri. Namun ketika pengkhianatan menghancurkan aliansi dengan tetangganya Chiltae, semua menjadi hancur berkeping-keping.
Di Kisia, Putri Miko Ts'ai adalah tawanan dalam istananya sendiri. Dia punya mimpi untuk mengklaim haknya atas tahta, namun jalan menuju kekuasaan justru bisa menghacurkan kerajaan dan keluarganya.
Di Chiltae, pembunuh Cassandra Marius terkena wabah suara-suara kematian. Putus asa, dia menerima kontrak yang menjanjikan obat untuknya, apabila dia membantu menjatuhkan kekaisaran.
Di batas kedua negara, kapten Rah O'Torin dan pasukannya dalam pengasingan, dipaksa untuk terseret dalam perang atau mati.
Seiring dengan jatuhnya kekaisaran, tiga pendekar akan muncul. Mereka harus menunggangi badai atau tenggelam dalam darah.
Pembuka seri The Reborn Empire ini menurutku cukup mudah untuk diikuti. Awalnya aku mengikuti tokoh Miko dan Cassandra ini cukup menarik, sedangkan Rah, aku agak ngeri dengan ritual untuk pembebasan jiwa bagi yang sudah mati. Menjelang akhir justru karakter Miko yang menghalalkan segala cara untuk mendapatkan apa yang diinginkannya yang agak menyebalkan menurutku.
Bagi penggemar fantasi aku merekomendasikan untuk mencoba membaca ini sebab buku ini kurang populer dan underrated.

We Ride the Storm is one of the finest works of grimdark fantasy I've ever read. Devin Madson has masterfully crafted a world that is both intricately detailed and brutally unforgiving. Though the characters go through hell in this novel, there's an underlying element of hope that prevents the story from feeling too hopeless.

The book kicks off with a vivid description of Rah e'Torin, leader of the Second Swords of Torin, sawing off the head of a fallen warrior. Rather than simply providing shock-and-awe violence for the sake of “realism,” this scene manages to provide backstory on the Levanti culture, introduce and flesh out the key characters in Rah's early story, and set the stage for conflict soon to come.

Rah is an incredible character, and his unwavering sense of honor manages to get him into trouble more often than not. He holds the Levanti traditions sacred, even when the rest of his people do not.

There are three main viewpoint characters, with each point of view being told in first person. They don't have much in common and each come from a separate culture, but they all struggle to claim what power they can at the fringes of political upheaval. Their separate storylines gradually begin to converge over the course of the book. And as much as I enjoyed Rah, he's probably my least favorite of the three. Miko and Cassandra are some of my favorite characters in fantasy, period.

Miko is a princess of the Kisian Empire. She's also a hostage, unable to leave the palace at will. Miko's an excellent example of a strong female character who is more than just physically strong—though she is physically formidable, displaying a skill for archery that would put Katniss to shame. As a princess, Miko has to thrive in a complicated political structure and learn how to be a compelling leader. Her character arc is a joy to read and when you hit that one scene—trust me, you can't miss it—you'll be hard-pressed not to name Miko your favorite character.

Then there's Cassandra, the whore-turned-assassin navigating the dregs of society and addicted to drugs to drive out the parasitic voice in her head. She could easily be an unlikable antihero, but something about the way she's written keeps you emotionally invested from the start. She's my personal favorite character in We Ride the Storm, and our best glimpse of the world's magic system.

Madson plays her cards close to the vest, only offering hints at the world's soul-based magic system. This is very much a low fantasy story, with occasional displays of magic. When you see them, I think you'll agree the wait was worth it. There's a character known for being a hermit mad scientist that studies souls to understand magic, and I can't wait to learn more about that.

The world feels like it's based off of Feudal Japan, though it's more of an inspiration than a straight adaptation. Similarly, the various cultures feel complex and real, all without being direct analogues to actual cultures.

Madson has said she doesn't see the “movie in your mind” and thus doesn't go into great detail with her imagery and description. That said, she manages to utterly capture the feel of each scene and I felt as if I could picture every scene vividly.

Fans of Kate Elliot, Robin Hobb, and George R.R. Martin will likely find much to love in We Ride the Storm. Though this book takes place after The Vengeance Trilogy, no prior knowledge is needed. We Ride the Storm is a strong contender in this year's Self Published Fantasy Blog Off. And if she wins, it wouldn't be the first time Madson has won a prestigious fantasy award, having won the 2017 Aurealis Award for her novella, In Shadows We Fall.

The sequel, We Lie With Death (how awesome are these titles?), is due to release later this year. In addition, a webserial and audio drama set in the same universe are also scheduled to begin in 2019. Together, the three of these stories make Madson's universe one of my most anticipated fantasy projects of the year.