Review: Heir of Thunder by Karissa Laurel

Title: Heir of Thunder (Stormbourne Chronicles #1)

Author: Karissa Laurel
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Goodreads

"The Lord of Thunder’s sudden death leaves his daughter, Evelyn Stormbourne, unprepared to rule Inselgrau in his place. Weeks before Evie’s ascension to the throne, revolutionaries attack and destroy her home. She conceals her identity and escapes under the protection of her father’s young horse master, Gideon Faust. Together they flee Inselgrau and set sail for the Continent, but they’re separated when a brutal storm washes Evie overboard.
In her efforts to reunite with her protector and reach allies on the Continent, Evie befriends a band of nomads who roam the world in airships fueled by lightning. She also confronts a cabal of dark Magicians plotting to use her powers to create a new divine being, and she clashes with an ancient family who insists her birthright belongs to them.
If she’s to prevail and defeat her enemies, Evie must claim her heritage, embrace her dominion over the sky, and define what it means to be Heir of Thunder."

Rating: ★★★/5 stars

The author has send me a copy of her book for free in exchange for a review. All opinions stated are my own.

Heir of Thunder is about Evelyn Stormbourne, the daughter of the late Lord of Thunder. After her home is attacked by revolutionaries just weeks before her ascension to the throne, Evelyn must escape together with a young horse-master named Gideon. However, their journey to the Continent provides a lot more challenges than they expected. 

I adored the plot of Heir of Thunder. I really struggled getting through the first 25% of the book, but mainly because of the things that I thought were going to happen. It felt like this was going to be another typical YA fantasy book with a love triangle. Luckily, this turned out not to be true.

After the first 25%, things really picked up and the book went in an entire different direction than I expected. Some very unexpected things happened, and there were quite some twists and turns which I really enjoyed.

However, the writing felt a bit inconsistent. I really liked some parts, but other parts just fell really flat. I felt myself skimming through the major action scene because I just wasn't drawn into it. I also had a few problems with the world, because there wasn't a lot of world-building and I just didn't get it. Why was there a real city name (Brighton) among all of the really fantasy city names? And why was the language described as 'ancient and dark' German? Was this a weird form of a dystopian? I don't know.

Besides that, I did really enjoy the characters. Evelyn is a very strong, brave and loyal main character, and the rest of the characters all had a very strong personality and felt very real. 

I'm very curious to see where this series goes, because it has a lot of potential and I have a feeling it's going to be great.