Review: Classic fantasy with new twists; thoroughly enjoyed it
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 15, 2012
The Coming Storm by Valerie DouglasI really liked this book (I borrowed it through Amazon Prime Kindle Lending Library) although it feels like a trilogy in one book.  The Amazon description of The Coming Storm says it has approximately 708 printed pages, and there are 2 places in the book where I thought it would break nicely if the author ever did want to break it into 3 shorter books.The things I really liked about the book:1) The writing is fresh, and I quickly came to care about the five main characters.  There is magic in this world, but that does not mean that everything comes easily to these people.  They are a good mix of human frailty and star performers.  They struggle with balancing what they want vs. what is good for others and what satisfies honor.  They are challenged to dig deeper and endure yet more hardship simply because there is no other way to stop those who are clearly wrong.2) The character development, the effortless flow of the story, and the way the characters look deep inside their fallible selves to find more strength put me in mind of the writings of Robin McKinley.  The epic nature of the story and the sweeping political interactions remind me of what I liked best about Robert Jordan's work, although I am grateful to say that The Coming Storm isn't so complicated that I had to write down notes about the characters and locations to keep them straight in my head the way I did with Jordan's Wheel of Time series.3) I thought the world-building was done well.  There is enough that follows traditional fantasy (elves, dwarves, kings, magic swords, struggle against evil) that a fantasy fan quickly becomes comfortable in the familiarity of the world, but there are many differences and nuances, especially in the languages and interactions of the races, relationships between the people, and how the magic of the world works.4) The villain is pretty scary, but the mystery of his very Badness is handled well and at the right pace.  The fear, dread, and disgust at what he is sneaks up on me and makes my skin crawl in the tradition of Voldemort, although I don't think anyone could claim he's in any way a copy of that classic antihero.5) The pace and the blend of action and resolution are nearly perfect.  The author has a good sense of how much tension the reader can take before having to put the book down, and she does a great job of leading the reader along that line between "I can't put the book down because I MUST see what happens next" and "I can't take one more scary thing without a heart attack."6) Without calling attention to it, I think the author also uses the events in the story and the perspectives of the characters to investigate some pretty big ideas, such as the collision of cultures, self sacrifice vs. self fulfillment, and the way popular opinion influences a society's sense of justice.  What the culture of Men accept as just the way the world works, the Elves have difficulty understanding.  The things that the Elves value above life itself are confusing to Men.  The things that are anathema to the Dwarves or Men are simply puzzling to the Elven culture.  Honor is a word used by all three cultures, but the definitions of the word are very different when you see it acted out.  Threaded through the story is the examination of respect for other cultures, trying to communicate past philosophical differences, and delimmas where one must wait for a better time so that communication has a chance of  happening.7) The way the author handles the ending.  I've read a lot of books lately, and I mean a LOT.  Some endings are more satisfying to a reader than others.  There's the happily-ever-after-in-10-pages-or-less ending.  That scratches a few itches but leaves the reader feeling huffy and frustrated.  There's the cliff-hanger ending (my personal most-hated-ending-ever) that at first gives the reader the urge to rush out and get hold of the next book.  But that only lasts about 4 microseconds.  Very fast on the heels of that feeling come the feelings of outrage and of being CHEATED.  There's the why-on-earth-have-I-kept-reading ending.  That one makes me as a reader decide never to pick up that author's books ever again.  And then there is the satisfying-but-not-trite, thinking-person's, appropriate-length-denouement ending  that ties up most of the loose ends of the story, possibly hints at things that the characters will do in the future, and leaves the author's choice of emotion solidly planted in the reader's heart.  Ms. Douglas does a really good job of crafting that last kind of ending in The Coming Storm.  I stayed up way too late to finish this book, and after I put it down, the story and the ending kept custody of my brain.  No matter how many times I went back over it, no matter whether it gave me what I wanted or not, no matter how I agreed or disagreed with what the characters decided to do, I couldn't help but be impressed at how the author crafted that ending.All in all, I found the book very well crafted.  I think Valerie Douglas has a better idea of what readers want than many authors I have read recently.  I find it easy to settle into reading her writing style.  I love her character development, love the way she focuses on relationships without detracting from the action and story line, and just thoroughly enjoyed this book.