War Storm by Victoria Aveyard | Not perfect, but pretty close {Yomna's Review}

Sorry guys, I don't have a picture of War Storm!

My rating: 4/5

This review contains spoilers, you have been warned!

I enjoyed this book way more than the other Red Queen books. I thought the writing was really captivating, the pacing was excellent, I didn't feel bored or tired while reading. It would've 100% gotten 5 stars from me if this had continued until the end. Unfortunately, I was not that lucky. Despite the brilliance of everything else in the book, this book is not a masterpiece; the ending ruined any chance of that. It's not that it was a terrible ending, but I expected so much better. I really really hate how Victoria left all these plotlines open. Mare and Cal for example! She couldn't write one more chapter for our OTP? She couldn't delete one Iris POV chapter and put another Cal one? It was pretty heart-breaking. To me, inconclusive endings are only okay if there's going to be more books. In this case, however, it's over, so whyyyyy? I was also furious at Mare for telling Cal that he didn't have to wait for her. Do you really think that have 3 books pining at you he's not going to wait a few months? I understand Mare needing time to recover, I need time to recover after this book as well, but couldn't we have the epilogue happen after recovery? After all we've waited and suffered for this series, I think we deserved a bit more closure than we were given. And it wasn't just Mare and Cal that were unresolved, but also the future of Norta! How are they going to fix this mess? This ending feels rushed and cut short...

Enough with the negatives, though, I have to say I really loved the rest of this book. (Except for Iris POV chapters which bored me sometimes but it's okay.) I loved the romantic tension between Mare and Cal, it made the book very emotionally involving. I've always admired Victoria Aveyard's ability to show emotional depth and aptitude in her characters, especially in her villains like Maven. Also, let's not talk about how funny it was watching Mare and Cal try to ignore each other! It was honestly so interesting. Actually, that brings me to Evangeline, one of my favorite characters in this book....and the matchmaker? The amount of effort that she put into getting Mare and Cal together was insane and added a lot of levity to what is otherwise a pretty intense book. Unfortunately, we don't get any romantic lightning storms in this book (If you don't know what I mean, reread King's Cage :), or better yet, just read my review here for a quick recap) I also loved how whenever Cal was angry or mad or Mare was in the room, the temperature literally rose! I love how readable he is... And I know this series isn't all about the romance, but it's one of my favorite parts of it, and I loved it in this book!

I enjoyed immensely the different perspectives in this book. It was very interesting reading from Evangeline's, Cal's and Maven's point of view, and I feel it was extremely central to the story. The switch was a bit abrupt sometimes but overall it really worked. Ultimately, the plot in this book was excellent and the characters carry it well. It's very action-packed but not repetitive. It's not a perfect book, but I enjoyed it very much. I don't think Victoria Aveyard is an automatic buy for me, but she did a good job on this series!

Thanks,
Yomna