Progression Fantasy. A genre I didn’t knew I needed in my life (or even, for that matter, that it existed) until I’ve stumbled upon the first book in this series. It’s part progression Fantasy, part young adults book, and a monster of book.
That’s certainly true of the size (with shy over 1,000 pages), as well as some of the larger than life characters in this series, where enemies can become comrades and eventually even friends.
It’s a clever trick to make this story into an underdog story, as there are hints strewn without just how much of a top dog Reidon Ward will eventually become. But he isn’t there yet.
In a way, there are a lot of similarities between this and Harry Potter – schools, tournaments, stuff like that. But there are big differences as well – while Harry is somewhat famous amongst his fellow students, Rei started on the other end of the curve, being infamous. This book is the second semester, where at least at his own school, Rei has started to become somewhat more accepted, which means nothing in the interschool tournaments.
A little teenage romance, a lot of action – and solid world building. We haven’t seen much of the world of Warformed during the first book, only occasionally getting hints and glances, and the second book broadens our view a little more. I like what I see, everything pointing to something much bigger (and darker), that has the potential to lead this series into a more adult audience.
The only downside is the pace, with a few passages being drawn out too much. Some of those scenes are simply not relevant to the overall story and could have been cut out.
I, for once, can only hope it won’t be another 3 years till the next sequel comes out. Pretty please?
Crossing the Pond Reviews 
One reply on “Fire and Song [Warformed: Stormweaver #2], by Bryce o’Connor”
[…] Ward, the Iron Prince, continues his ascent at the prestigious Galens Institute. Fire and Song picks up where Iron Prince left off, with Rei steadily improving his skills, both physically and […]
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