Book: War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

Published May 2018 by Harperteen|662 pages

Where I Got: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Red Queen #4

Genre: YA Fantasy

Victory comes at a price.

Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?

In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive.

I wanted to like this one so much more than I did.  I think a lot of it is that I started to lose interest in the series the more I read it.  By the time I got to read War Storm, I just didn’t care anymore.

It definitely felt long and drawn out, and I had a hard keeping up with all of the names and changes in narrator.  I had a hard time remembering the newer characters, and though the book has several narrators, I found that there was nothing to distinguish them.  They all sounded exactly the same to me.  I get it’s showing how some of the characters feel, and since they are in different locations, it is showing what’s going on.

For a last book, there was not enough action.  It’s a doorstop, that’s for sure.  And unfortunately, it’s a boring one.  It was really slow, and I struggled to get through it.  I expected more of a…well…a war storm, and this was not that book.  I expected things to end with a bang, but with a whimper.  I think I’m getting that quote right- but it so accurately describes this book.  I was pretty disappointed with the ending, and I wasn’t expecting more discussions and meetings and strategy.

It’s the last book!  It’s titled War Storm!  It should be exciting and have more fighting that’s actually memorable.  The book is definitely a blur, and I will completely admit to skimming parts of the book because I just couldn’t do it at times.  I also felt like I was reading the same thing over and over for almost 700 pages, so parts of it were definitely unnecessary.

I was also really bored with Mare, though I did like Farley and Evangaline.  They kept it going for me, and I felt pretty invested in their characters, even though I could care less about the other characters.  It’s not a good sign when you don’t care about the main character.

2 stars.  I feel pretty disappointed in how this series ended, which is a shame, because the concept introduced in Red Queen was really cool.  I definitely lost interest by the end this book, and I’m glad this series is over.