Review: Ashstorm
My rating: [rating=3]
Blurb:
The Hunter who should have been king.
The Elemental who fears love.
The Seer who is yet to embrace her powers.
Three immortals whose fates are intertwined with that of the oldest and most formidable enemy the immortal and human societies have ever faced.
1599. While hunting a deadly adversary who has eluded him for two hundred years, Asgard Godard falls into an icy tomb that leaves him frozen in time.
1969. After more than a century on the run, Ethan Storm finds himself at the mercy of the man who ripped his family apart and sent him into exile.
2013. Following a hundred years of solitary existence, Olivia Ash wakes from a nightmare to find the home where she has lived her entire life under attack by a deadly foe.
Linked by an incredible destiny and with time very much against them, Asgard, Ethan, and Olivia must keep ahead of their common enemy and the rogue branch of the US army at his command. When an unlikely ally crosses their path, they come into possession of a set of clues that help them unearth their opponents’ devastating plans.
With the future of the whole world at risk, the three immortals and their allies must draw on all their skills and unique abilities to defeat the man who has inflicted so much loss and misery upon their lives.
Review:
[I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]
I read the first three books in this series last year, and found them enjoyable—not the best, but definitely enjoyable, and making me feel like checking if book 4 was out. Which it was.
New characters are introduced here, some of them bearing birth marks (and displaying powers) like the main characters in the previous installments, leading more and more to the gathering of a kind of “league” who, no doubt, will have to fight more and more dangerous odds. Olivia and Ethan complement and enhance each other’s powers nicely, while Asgard is tied to quite a few people among the most important ones, owing to his own birth. If there’s one thing, it’s how little we see of the others as the cast keeps on growing. I can’t help but feel impatient regarding the moment when they’re finally all together (is this book it, or will others appear in the next one?). Such a group is bound to have an impressive dynamics.
The focus was less on Kronos in general, and more on one specific antagonist pursuing goals tied partly to it and partly to his own ambitions. The idea of a secret base and secret experiments was a bit basic, though, so I hope later developments—the kind hinted at by the end of the novel—will go deeper. That Kronos isn’t “only that”. I’m sure it’s not.
I’m a bit torn, too, regarding relationships between the characters. Although the idea of soulmates finding each other is nice, it’s starting to feel like every set of people is meant to find their own love interest in each story. Maybe it’s just me, but at some point I’d like to see something different, bonds that would run very deep without necessary being “couple-love”. We have some of this here with Ethan and Asgard, and I wish we could see more: after all, they fought Jonah for decades, and their loyalty to each other is unswerving. Comrades to death, and all that.
I still enjoyed the blend of action and quieter moments nonetheless, all the more because the characters didn’t completely forget about their predicament (something that tends to happen too often in many books: as soon as the love interest appears, the impending end of the world doesn’t seem so important anymore, and too much time is spent on trifles).
Once again, I’m not rating this novel higher… yet I’ll still seek out volume 5.