Book Review: A Monsoon Rising

Last year I read and enjoyed The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon. The sequel, A Monsoon Rising, came out in December and I just read it this week. Also note that I bought my copy from the UK because I thought their cover and stenciled edges were so gorgeous and, in my opinion, superior to the US version! And the naked cover?! Beautiful.

So to be honest, I didn’t remember a lot of The Hurricane Wars before starting this and I didn’t feel like rereading or find recaps so I just went in. Things definitely came back to me as I started reading, at least enough to be able to follow along without issue. And luckily I did remember major plot points.

The novel picks up where The Hurricane Wars left off. Alaric, the Night Emperor and master of the Shadowforged Legion, and Talasyn, a lightweaver and princess, are from warring kingdoms and entered into an arranged, marriage of convenience in book 1. They learned in the first book that combining their powers of light and dark they could save the world when the Moonless Dark, a potentially cataclysmic event, is set to occur.

Alaric and Talasyn learn to work together, but both have secret struggles. They are both attracted to one another and can’t stop thinking about the wedding night, but both of them answer to their families who want them to betray their spouse as soon as the Moonless Dark is over. Can they both resist each other? Or can they find a way around their family’s wishes and save their husband/wife whom they are starting to have real feelings for?

The first half of this book was pretty slow for me and I felt like nothing was really happening, but in the second half things really started to happen and I became invested and hooked. I thought things would be a little faster paced from the get-go since this is a sequel and not the first novel in the series where more information needs to be given and explained. So the pacing was a little bit of an issue for me, but as I mentioned before, after the halfway point it started to pick up and I really got into it.

The novel ended on a cliffhanger, so I’m hoping that the next book will be faster paced and action packed right from the start. My other hope for the third book is for Alaric and Talasyn to be completely honest with each other and truly work together without secrets! They both are so beholden to their families but they are the ones ruling and I want them to remember that! And they’re such a power couple both in ruling their kingdoms and in their powers so I want them to really show everyone not to mess with them!

I’m looking forward to see what will happen in the next book when it comes out.

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