Book Review: Let the Storm Break

Let the Storm Break

By: Shannon Messenger

Published by: Simon Pulse

Release date: March 4, 2014

Genre: YA fantasy

400 pages

Buy it at Amazon, IndieBound, Book Depository, or Barnes & Noble

Source: ARC kindly provided by publisher

Read my review of book 1 here.
Read my Book Boyfriend post about Vane here.

I LOVED book 1 in this series, and consequently pounced on book 2. Within a page or two, everything came back to me: all the romance, the sadness, the overwhelming odds stacked against Vane and Audra. Before I knew it, I was swept away once again.

A common pitfall for sequels, for me, is that they often lose track of the main characters' relationship, or they have plots that lag. In this book, Messenger keep us tightly connected to Vane and Audra as she kicks up the plot- and it works. The bad guys get worse, the storms get nastier, and a new character keeps you guessing about whether she is or isn't trustworthy. 

Audra lacked a sense of self-worth in book 1, in favor of a willingness to serve as a Gale. In book 2 she works on developing her identity independent of her duty. This is much-needed plot thread, and provides complications that amp up the conflict. 

Vane is, understandably, struggling with how much of his humanity he can hold onto while learning about his true place in a very non-human society. He also struggles with Audra's absence, and just how little he can do, as a passive Western sylph, about the awful things that are going on around him. 

The big fight scene at the end- take your time while reading. It's worth savoring the description and dialogue. I remember just dying to learn what happened, and speeding through much of the scene. I shortchanged myself in doing so; don't make the same mistake. 

This ending. . . good gravy. This ending will put you into a knot, because you don't get resolution for this cliff hanger for another year! It's a sweet kind of agony, for sure; the best kind of frustrating. Let me know if it has you chewing your nails, too. 

Summary:

Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn’t know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn’t believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who’ve betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?