The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars if pressed… ironically the fantasy world building is not bad. The romance is a bit cringy and our leading gal somewhat annoying at times. Which confuses me as this is Julie Johnson’s first foray into fantasy (she usually does contemporary romance, a genre I tend to avoid) and I’d have expected the exact opposite. Or maybe it’s that, as a long time fantasy reader, I’m still getting used to this Romantasy ‘thing’ in which decent fantasy books suddenly have heated romances.
The Wind Weaver is a tad long, has sometimes uneven pacing (but fantasy often does so I wasn’t bothered), and the most annoying spelling of magic (maegic). For me, I can’t figure out why you’d spell a couple words different (including fire as fyre) but not develop more lore and change up more items? Instead the choices of ‘made-up’ words or spelling feels awkward and unnecessary. Either embrace it and go all in; or avoid it entirely.
And yet I was flipping pages like mad! I was invested, curious, engaged, and all around on edge for most of the book. Now, that doesn’t make a book ‘good’ necessarily. It makes a book ‘readable’ (my choice of made up words). Or better yet accessible. Like Fourth Wing this is a very accessible fantasy debut. It has enough character interaction, mild spicy moments (not very many), and a lot of yearning and longing to bring you through the journey across the continent and into the lands where our leading man originates. I felt the romance was a bit abrupt (once kissing actually happened)… but it wasn’t awful. Interestingly the most intriguing character, Soren, is the one we see very little of; but appears to be a major player in book two.
However, Soren appears to get a bigger chunk of the pages in book two. Thus, I will continue on. I’m not enamoured but I do like both our leading men enough to balance out the annoyances of our main girl (she’s naive in dumb ways… I dunno she bugs me a bit). And I will get over the use of magic spelled stupid for the sake of wanting to find our other (possible?) elemental and see what twists the prophecy may give. I’m wary… as complex fantasy takes planning and thought. But I didn’t think Rebecca Yarros could pull it off after her Fourth Wing set-up, and I was wrong. So I’m willing to gamble here too; if only because I love a fast paced fantasy novel with powerful men!
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars if pressed… ironically the fantasy world building is not bad. The romance is a bit cringy and our leading gal somewhat annoying at times. Which confuses me as this is Julie Johnson’s first foray into fantasy (she usually does contemporary romance, a genre I tend to avoid) and I’d have expected the exact opposite. Or maybe it’s that, as a long time fantasy reader, I’m still getting used to this Romantasy ‘thing’ in which decent fantasy books suddenly have heated romances.
The Wind Weaver is a tad long, has sometimes uneven pacing (but fantasy often does so I wasn’t bothered), and the most annoying spelling of magic (maegic). For me, I can’t figure out why you’d spell a couple words different (including fire as fyre) but not develop more lore and change up more items? Instead the choices of ‘made-up’ words or spelling feels awkward and unnecessary. Either embrace it and go all in; or avoid it entirely.
And yet I was flipping pages like mad! I was invested, curious, engaged, and all around on edge for most of the book. Now, that doesn’t make a book ‘good’ necessarily. It makes a book ‘readable’ (my choice of made up words). Or better yet accessible. Like Fourth Wing this is a very accessible fantasy debut. It has enough character interaction, mild spicy moments (not very many), and a lot of yearning and longing to bring you through the journey across the continent and into the lands where our leading man originates. I felt the romance was a bit abrupt (once kissing actually happened)… but it wasn’t awful. Interestingly the most intriguing character, Soren, is the one we see very little of; but appears to be a major player in book two.
However, Soren appears to get a bigger chunk of the pages in book two. Thus, I will continue on. I’m not enamoured but I do like both our leading men enough to balance out the annoyances of our main girl (she’s naive in dumb ways… I dunno she bugs me a bit). And I will get over the use of magic spelled stupid for the sake of wanting to find our other (possible?) elemental and see what twists the prophecy may give. I’m wary… as complex fantasy takes planning and thought. But I didn’t think Rebecca Yarros could pull it off after her Fourth Wing set-up, and I was wrong. So I’m willing to gamble here too; if only because I love a fast paced fantasy novel with powerful men!
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
Follow me on Goodreads
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