In a word this book is brilliant! The world building is spectacular. Such an incredibly inventive creation. This story lasso's and binds you in place. Unwilling to put it down. I highly recommend it.

The Storm Bringer by Isabel Cooper is the first book in her new Stormbringer series. This is an epic fantasy adventure series filled with magic, sword fighting, epic battles, creatures and an evil god. Sentinels, who start training as a young child, protect the world against a traitor god and his minions who threaten to destroy the world.

Darya, one of the best sentinels, and our heroine, accidently wakes up an infamous warrior, who was locked in statis for 100 years. Amris, our hero, is a General, who battled the Traitor God all those years ago, with both of them awakening, bringing chaos and destruction. Amris is a bit lost, but knows he needs to help defeat the evil Thyrad, who is now awake and creating monsters to destroy cities. Amris also learns that his friend and lover all those years ago, is magically connected to Darya’s soulstone sword; Gerant is a mage spirit that protects, uses spells to help Darya. Amris knows everything about Thyrad, who does the bidding of the Traitor god, is a sorcerer creating the enemy horrendous magical creatures that are almost impossible to kill.

What follows is a wild, nonstop action filled battles that has you on the edge of your seat the entire book. Amris and Darya work closely together to use their experience and magical skills, along with Gerant, to bring together all the sentinels, mages, warriors in trying and stop the onslaught. What I really liked was how women, were equally as strong and savvy as the men. Cooper has created some very good secondary characters who were part of the overall team effort. I also like the slow build romance between Amris and Darya, with Gerant’s approval (he is dead, with his soul as part of the sword).

The Storm Bringer was well written by Isabel Cooper, with great characters, in a very good fantasy adventure that was non stop action. I look forward to seeing where Cooper will take us next.

The Stormbringer
by Isabel Cooper
SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca
You Like Them
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Romance
Pub Date 29 Dec 2020 | Archive Date 30 Dec 2020

This was a new author for me. I thought I would try something new but it just wasn't the book for me.
Thanks to Sourcebook Casablanca and NetGalley for the ARC. I enjoyed the book but I just can't recommend it.

3 star

A thrill a minute. Darya and Amris are the perfect couple. Both bad ass, stubborn and clever. I enjoyed their story. I give THE STORMBRINGER 3 stars.

Based on the cover and summary for this book, I got the impression that this would be similar to Amanda Bouchet's Kingmaker Chronicles books and I was ... half right. This book sits at the intersection of romance and fantasy (two of my favorite genres) and feels both familiar and new at the same time. The pacing and style is wildly different from Bouchet's books so if you were looking for that this is pretty different. I would also describe this as fantasy with a side of romance (steam levels quite low also, for those who care).

The hero was unproblematic. Strong without being overwhelmingly alpha, I found many scenes he was in to be pretty endearing. The heroine is charming and her interactions with her soulsword were very entertaining. I found the first half of the book to be a little narrow in scope (it makes sense given the plot) but you aren't introduced to any secondary characters until well past the first half of the book.

I don't know if there were other books I missed out on, but there isn't too much elaborating on the make up of the world. Instead the state of the union if you will is revealed through dialogue which I didn't mind, but I am not sure that I prefer. Overall I had a lot of fun with this although I hope the next book(s) have a lot more secondary characters and continue world building.

I had read a novel by Isabel Cooper before and, 2020 having me craving all the fantasy romance there is, was especially eager to give her newest release The Stormbringer a try. Unfortunately, though the world-building is intricate & unique, this one falls flat for me.

Amris, a General, has been locked in time for 100 years, a magical effort that he & his lover Gerant undertook to try to contain an evil sorcerer named Thyran.

Darya, a sentinel who makes use of her special gifts in service of defeating evil creatures, discovers Amris, & thanks to her magical sword (through which the aforementioned wizard Gerant speaks) knows who Amris is & how to free him.

Darya & Amris soon realize that someone came & released Thyran earlier & he’s likely figuring out a way to amass his evil army again. They decide to travel to the city they believe will be attacked in an effort to warn the forces there and help bring Thyran down.

The Storm Bringer is an inventive romance that feels different from anything I’ve read before. The battle descriptions are detailed & fast-paced, often filled with visceral imagery.

While I was impressed from a world-building perspective, I was disappointed by the romance storyline. The relationship between Darya, Amris, & Gerant is layered & interesting, but Gerant—the spirit that speaks through Darya’s sword—takes on a big role in the story and in the leads’s relationship itself.

This made me particularly uncomfortable for a couple of reasons: (1) Amris processes these big events so quickly; he was frozen, awakened & learned his partner Gerant has died, & then decides he wants to kiss Darya, and for him, it feels like the moment before he froze was recent. (2) Add to that that Gerant is still able to “see” & “hear” & “sense” what’s happening most of the time...

It just seems as if there would have been more emotions to unpack before Amris rushed into a physical/romantic relationship with someone else. & some of the relationship dynamics—the question of whether what Darya & Amris are doing from a physical standpoint is crossing a line since Gerant is still part of their lives—unsettled me.

So in the end, it seems that I warmed to the fantasy aspect of this novel; the romance, not so much.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

This book was an odd read. It is the story of Darya who is a Sentinel. A Sentinel spends their lives fighting the monsters that are bent on destroying humanity. Arya goes looking for Amris, who is a soldier frozen in time at the urging of Gerant, the spirit that is inside her sword. Amris and Gerant were lovers and still see each other as the great loves of their lives.
What makes this read awkward and sometimes hard to get through is that Darya and Amris are supposed to be the romance of the book, but it all seems off putting because they each have a close connection to Gerant. Other than the awkward romance, I did enjoy the fantasy aspect and the epic war that was being waged.
The Sentinels are an entertaining lot with good dialogue and a well-built sense of comradery. This is a good start to a series terms of world development. I look forward to seeing where this series takes us.

This book had everything I didn't even know I needed. LGBTQ rep, feminism running wild (I mean this in the very best way because it was epic), fighting toxic masculinity (a male warrior not afraid to cry? Sign me up!), and MAGIC. Non-binary characters were flawlessly incorporated, sexuality talked about freely, literally a dream. The romance was HAWT and smoothly sewn into an epic tale of magic, very bad bad guys and war themes. Loved this book so much and can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands!

Wonderfully complex world building that, however, doesn’t leave you in the dust. Fabulously satisfying battle scenes. Fascinating romance. Well crafted character development for the ‘threesome’, Darya, Amris, and Gerant. In a long ago era Gerant was the lover of Amris but is now embodied in Darya’s sword. As they fight to save the world Darya and Amris, conscious of Gerant and the history with Amris, fight their growing love for one another.
This book was just epic: epic world building, epic love, epic battles, and even some pretty epic weapons! I would recommend this book to my patrons.

My Review:
I recieved an E-Arc on Netgalley from the Publisher for an honest review!

I was so excited to get this book. I love love the cover even though it was an E-Arc. Perhaps I will buy the book when it comes out in December. Anyways, the story is so epic! It's fantasy, adventure, fighting, love, magic, swords and more. So if you like all those type of things then this book may be for you.

The main characters are Amris and Darya and Gerant. I love their interaction with each other. Darya is connected with magic which ties her to Gerant. I thought their relationship was interesting on so many levels. She is also a warrior who can kick butt. To me she has the same level of fighting as men do. I love how that women and men in this story are on the same page. The fighting is awesome. The jumps, the swords and moving was just fantastic. I felt like I was watching a movie when this was happening in the book. The whole vibe is fantasy. Darya has so much strength in many rules which makes me like her!

Amris is such a male warrior. He thinks and acts like a warrior. I think that is one of the reasons why he connects so well with Darya other than the fact he also knows Gerant. I loved the description of Amris armor. You can actually picture Amris wearing such an armor. I liked this character too.

Other than the fighting the bad guys and magic happening, Amris and Darya are fighting an attraction against each other. I thought those bits were pretty fun to read. I loved Darya's thoughts this matter. I even had to smirked at some of the thoughts. Amris had some thoughts that were interesting as well. It was kind of interesting to see how male and female thoughts were portrayed here. They tried to suppress their feelings for the sake of Gerant, does that happen? You got to go get the book to find out.

The creatures mentioned in this book, oh my gosh! My imagination went wild and I had to stop myself. It was like "no no don't think of those creepy things!" Then I was also trying to picture how they would make those creatures in a movie. I loved how the author had such a vivid description of the creatures. Very very cool.<

At the end of the book, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Plus I had questions of how did Gerant become how he is, what is the background on Olivr, will there be more awesome fighting and strange creatures? Who will win? I admit that now I want to own a sword. Can I find one that Darya has? Should I get a chakram like Xena? Or a cool ax like Buffy had at the end? Or Sais that Elektra had? I can dream can't I?

I have been provided with a review copy of The Stormbringer from NetGalley for an impartial review. This is the first book in the brand-new Stormbringer series and this was just such a great way to start off a new series. I just really enjoyed this story and I just didn’t want it to end. I just lost myself in and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

General Amris ap Brannon faced down the sorcerer Thyran over a hundred years ago, he ended the war with an enchanted rose created by his lover, sorcerer Gerant. The world a hundred years later is still dealing with Thyran's and the traitor god's creatures and the destruction they caused.

Darya is a Sentinel for the Order of the Dawn, with her soulsword companion Gerant. Except for her soulsword companion she's used to hunting and handling missions alone.

Upon Gerant's death he chose to continue on with his spirit imbued into a soulsword. When they are hunting down a vicious cockatrice they discover Amris in stasis and free him but Thyran is gone and they realize he is once again gathering his forces to 'purify' the world.

In their race to warn everyone they must face creatures perverted by the traitor god's magic and discover an attraction for each other they try to suppress for Gerant's sake.

I really enjoyed this fantasy adventure, the battles, the openness in relationships, the interesting twists on the various magic and how the gods bestow gifts to help the people fight the traitor god's minions. There's a little something for everyone here, can't wait for book two.

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This book is an epic adventure. There is really no other way to describe it. From start to finish - it has everything you could want in a great, epic fantasy story. Love, Adventure, Swords, Magic, and Love (it is worth mentioning twice). It really brought to mind the Lord of the Rings (minus the hobbits, singing, and much more inclusive for women).

Darya is a Sentinel - a special type of person who has been reformed by magic and has special gifts from the gods. She works alone, primarily, and is magically connected to a soulstone in her sword. the soul stone contains the essence of a mage. The mage can still do magic and protects the sentinel. Darya's soulstone was once a mage named Gerant. Gerant was deeply in love with General Amris. Amris led the battle against the seriously evil Thyran more than 100 years ago. Amris was able to stop Thyran's reign of terror by putting himself and Thyran into a form of stasis until somehow one of Thyran's minions woke him up. Darya finds Amris and wakes him by accident. From there they work through a lot of serious danger - and try to resist their attraction for each other.

There is s much to love and enjoy about this book. The story is first rate, as is the world building. I also adored the inclusiveness of the book. Women are no less warriors than men and it is clear that there is no problem loving who you love. Or being who you want to be - there is even at least one nonbinary character. In that way - this book bucks a lot of the traditions that fantasy writers stick to. I adored that.

I do have soooooo many questions though. I am looking forward to reading more - because I can't imagine this is the last we will see of Thyran. I can't wait to learn more about Olvir and hopefully see more of Amris and Darya. So many intriguing characters!

Loved it!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.