I started this book, appropriately, on the day a massive snowstorm came to town.

I had fun reading this book, but it wasn't spectacular...which kind of stumps me.

The characters were, mostly, very well done. Everyone who seemed flat and one-dimensional on first sight became more complex as I read further. We've got Jordan, the main character, who we're told only lives to look pretty...but she does anything but swoon when fate comes knocking. We've got a romantic match...but neither is actually sure they're in love, though they do like and enjoy each others' company. We've got a heartless, torturing villain...who decides to take in an orphaned daughter he didn't know existed, who shines lights in the cracks of his life until he doesn't want to ignore them any longer.

So why don't I like this story more?

I think a major part of it was the bait-and-switch back cover text, which seemed to imply that this was Jordan Astraea's story, when it very much isn't, and that it would be set mostly on an airship, which only happened at the very end. (I'm not counting it as a spoiler in here, since it's on the jacket text.) The former is especially ironic, because I actually really like large casts of characters with interwoven stories--but I spent so much time wondering when Jordan was going to show up that it distracted from the story itself.

Part of it is also the complete lack of ending. I know most publishers won't sign a fiction author without a series deal, but this is getting ridiculous.

I was also incredibly unimpressed with the fact that no one seemed to notice the reason why Jordan's magic appeared so suddenly. The big "reveal" made me scoff, not satisfied to finally understand what was happening--and that's with the dose of generosity I give books for younger people.

I can't really figure out what age level this is aimed at. It seems like it should be YA--there are some incredibly bloody and dark moments. Weirdly, though, a couple of torture scenes are barely alluded to. This doesn't make sense to me, given the violence of other scenes, and left me wondering what kind of torture the characters were undergoing that left them pretty much physically functional and mentally clear when it wasn't actively happening.

The world building was a bit confusing--I couldn't figure out why so many things were capitalized until a long way into the book--but fresh. A steam-punk novel in which steam is dismissed as a waste of research and resources, since magic is so readily available. It took me a bit longer to than usual to feel like I understood the rules of the world, but not so long that I gave up (as I did with Secrets of the Fire Sea).

So yeah: a good bit of fun, some nice feminist moments despite its appearances to the contrary, a decent cast with some oversimplified and some unusually complex characters, and much-needed character growth on at least three counts. But not a book I'll be shouting from the mountaintops

Quote Roundup

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"You have been babied for far too long. As my youngest everyone has provided you with everything you might ever want for and--I daresay--a bit more. But you have chosen a path of your own. Finally. Now grow into it. Grow up and do things yourself." ( )

This had so much potential to be an amazing story but it fails miserably. The world building is lacking non-existing. I was so confused at first and it just got worse through the book. More and more stuff is revealed but it didn’t help the world building and it seemed like a lot of great ideas that were only partly explored. It was such a shame and I wanted to know more without having my wish fulfilled. So many new words were introduced and used as if the reader knew all about it and since they are never fully explained, they didn't really matter – they are just fancy words.

The blurp makes it seem like the book is about Jordan. That is not correct. She is part of the story and actually rather important, but she is in no way the main character. No one is. There are several storylines and they are very different and could be interesting if it had felt like the story was going somewhere, but it felt like a long short story. An introduction before the real story could begin.

Jorden is a pain in the ass, quite frankly. She is stupid, arrogant and naïve and all she worries about is her reputation, her clothes and shoes and who is going to rescue her. I disliked her so much that I considered skipping her chapters. Rowen is a weird character. I didn’t understand him one bit and it seemed to me that he changes his way the second Jordan gets taken away. Then there are some other random storylines that are mildly interesting, but so weird that I stopped caring. Lastly there is Bran. He is kind of cool at first, but by the end I just thought he was stupid as well. And the ending – OMG. So weird, confusing and fast. Everything has to happen within the last 5 pages so it seems rushed and not at all well done. Such a shame! I liked the writing, though, and the story had its funny moments. Mostly weird-funny or ‘stupid-funny’, but funny nonetheless.

The thing about this book is that the premise is brilliant. The idea that witches are being exploited and used as slaves is fascinating. Especially because we get to see it from different points of view. But the lack of world building, the annoying characters and the confusing story almost completely destroys it. I do, however, still have a fragment of hope that the story will pick up and become amazing which is why I’m going to give the second installment, Stormbringer, a chance to blow me away.
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Thank you netgalley.com for the chance to read this.

I just couldn't do this one. The first chapter seemed to come out of nowhere and lacked the world-building that I need to really get into a book. By the second chapter I was really struggling with the writing and had a hard time with who was doing what. I gave it just over 50 pages, but I couldn't force myself to keep going. It just didn't work for me at all. ( )

This is the first book in the Weather Witch series. Magic is forbidden, and those who posses the power are enslaved to provide electricity, and other things that magic can produce. Jordan coming from a prominent family is taken when she test positive for being a witch. Jordan had her moments where she was strong, she tries to help her follower prisoner and seems to be a sweet girl. Rowen is the boy that Jordan has feelings for, and he might not feel the same way exact way but he does do as much as he can to help her prove that she isn’t a witch.

It is told from multiple POV’s and with the different POV’s comes several different sub-plots and most of the time I was a little on the confused side, however they do all come together later on. Even at the end, I am still not sure what exactly what the weather witches do. And even more so, why were they shunned and magic forbidden. Hopefully in the next book there will be the answers that we didn’t get this time around. There were few secondary characters that will be great to learn about, I would like to have been able to connect with the Jordan, Rowen more, but there wasn’t enough about them to be able to get to know them. This had a unique and interesting plot, unfortunately, it took till almost the end of the book for me to grasp it all. The ending was abrupt, leaving me with so many questions. With such a promising premise I really want to enjoy this, and it isn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t really for me. But it has some steampunk, and magic yielding and Jordan was a pretty good character, so I say give it a try.

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Disclosure: I received a free copy from the Miss Literati site.

There was nothing that was terribly original, but I liked the set up.

Although this seemed aimed at teen/college age, I still quite enjoyed it. It sucked me in (so much so I missed my subway stop one day). I liked that the author was willing to kill off characters and disillusion others (two of the main protagonists are rather naive and privelleged, so they kind of deserve it).

My biggest problem was that this was not a stand-alone novel, it merely felt like the opening to a longer book. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Don't release it on its own, or clearly mark it as "book 1 of a trilogy". Even Harry Potter novels managed to resolve each book before starting the next one. The "ending" was rushed, unsatisfying, and not really an ending but was clearly a set up for the next novel. I felt cheated at the end.

That said, I was entertained enough that I will be looking forward to the next one.

Since I received an ARC, I'm presuming the homonym error of using "shown" instead of "shone" for lighting has been fixed. Also, hopefully the editor has inserted some much neeeded commas to clairfy some of the longer run-on sentences.

Also, I'd like to say that I liked the cover. Gothy enough to fit the theme, no stereotypical steam-punky corset clad girl w/ googles" or pink fairy crap ( )