Publishing information: Paperback; 692 pages
Publisher: Orbit; 01 March 2010
ISBN 10: 0316069159
ISBN 13: 9780316069151
Series: Book 1 The Stormlord Series
Copy: Gift
Reviewer: Tyson
Back of the Book "Shale is the lowest of the low-an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It's the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn't get him killed first...
Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous...
The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die.
Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all. Water is life and the wells are running dry..."
Not long ago I was challenged by Bryce AKA Seak over at Only the Best Sci Fi/Fantasy and Seak's Stamp of Approval to read a book by an author I had never heard of or based on it's cover. A longer while ago I was given this book by my mother as she thought that I would enjoy it. So, with Seak's challenge being issued I figured that this would be the book I would read to fulfill his decree.
The Last Stormlord is similar to a lot of other fantasy novels. The most powerful being (Stormlord) is dying with no heir apparent. We then meet Shale who has an natural affinity towards water but due to his social status has never been considered for formal water controlling abilities. The book was a bit too straight forward about Shale's future which drew me away from the story.
We also have Terelle who is kind of a wild card in that she has a bit of mystery to her. Her background is alluded to in the beginning of The Last Stormlord and later we get the answer but that does not solve her problems only adding to it. Terelle is the only character that I found to be interesting. We have a lot of knowledge about her character and a little bit about her background, but we do not have the full picture. She is the only enigma in the entire book and the only one of two characters that I found interesting.
The only other character that I had any inkling of liking was Rainlord/Highlord Taquar. The only reason that I enjoyed reading about him is that he was able to make hard choices and while many of his motivations were hidden they made sense when they were revealed. I assume that he is suppose to be the big bad guy in the series but, I found him to be the only one with any common-sense so I think the author failed to make him evil enough for me to abhor him.
Most of the supporting characters were two dimensional and their dialogue was boring and downright cliche. We never get any real dialogue and the book's massive 600+ pages tends to skip major portions of our protagonist's lives. When Terelle and Shale finally meet we are told they have a natural bond. I say we are told as we do not read it, we must take it at the author's word.
While there is only one Stormlord there are several Rainlords and other smaller water sensitives. They are the true rulers of the various cities and communities or quaterns. As the rain stops coming in the amounts they are use to, they must make the hard decisions as to who gets the clouds to come to the areas and provide the sustenance to keep the city going or choose to ignore the citizens and create a drought which will kill thousands.
The concept of water being the life blood of civilization in this novel is an interesting idea but it fails to stir anything as I read it.
The heart of The Last Stormlord is attempting to find a new Stormlord before the knowledge is gone from the world when the current Stormlord passes away. With desperation gnawing at the rainlords they start to look in the less noble areas of their cities for new recruits and with hope to return with a new Stormlord.
There is also an attempt at political intrigue as one of the rainlords is attempting to circumvent that powers that be. I do not want give too much away, but I will say that the intrigue that Larke attempted to include in her novel was just obvious and I felt less inclined to continue reading as the big reveal happens two-thirds into the book which then left another one-third for me to read with not much really happening other than to set things up for the second book in the series.
The biggest problem with this novel is that it is one gigantic set up. The Last Stormlord could have had at least 100 pages edited out. There is a decent amount of action, but it is lost in all of the world building and plot set ups. The book resolves some plot points but leaves us with more questions and cliffhangers and I doubt that I will be around to see the story's conclusion even though I am told that the second book, Stormlord Rising, has better pacing and an overall feel. The end result was that it was a lackluster start to a series that felt cliche and nearly every corner. It also is a story that could easily be confused for Young Adult. While not an awful book it had nothing that made it stand out either.
Plot 6
Characterization 6
Style 5
Overall 5.5/10
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