Call of the Storm Sorcerer

The Serpentine Throne, #1

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Pub Date 19 Apr 2021 | Archive Date 14 Aug 2021

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Description

A murdered empress. A missing emperor. Mairynne Evangale called them Mother, Father.

The country mourns while rumors of unrest stir. The sorcery castes struggle for power, and the casteless riot in the streets. Conflict hadn’t escalated this rapidly in Nantai since the Ryū Wars more than five ages past. 

The people need a new imperial leader. Mairynne’s soul yearns for many things, but she never wished for the duty her Father assigned.  

She carries two soul stones, one cold and the other hot. They came to her with the loss of each parent. They call to her, beckoning her to leave home. They reinforce her convictions . . . Her father lives. He will return to his seat upon the Serpentine Throne. 

But first, she must answer the call. 

If you enjoy epic fantasy somewhere between Sara J. Maas, N.K. Jemisin, and Jacqueline Carey, this is the series for you.

A murdered empress. A missing emperor. Mairynne Evangale called them Mother, Father.

The country mourns while rumors of unrest stir. The sorcery castes struggle for power, and the casteless riot...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781949357189
PRICE $4.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 39 members


Featured Reviews

The beginning was long winded which made it difficult to get into reading it at first. Once I paced myself to match it, the Story unfolded and showed its beauty. Highly recommend to fantasy readers who love mystery, intrigue, and thrilling adventure!

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Upon the death of her mother and the disappearance of her father, Mairynne Evangale is set to become the next Empress of Nantai. However, she does not feel set for the role. Along with her fears she is not prepared to be Empress so soon, she believes her father is still alive. In the first book in the Serpentine Throne series, Stradiotto sets up Mairynne’s story.

One of the first things I realized when I began reading this book, was that the story was a compelling one. While the plot is slightly predictable, the development of likable characters keeps the reader engaged. Additionally, the pace of the story is steady, meaning there are no points where I felt myself lagging in reading. I felt the different plot points and conflict items were well placed to keep you from falling off the story.

When it comes to world building, Stradiotto does well in introducing terminology in a way that isn’t overwhelming. However, I did find myself wondering more about certain elements of the world. There is a caste system, but how does it work? They have magic, but what are the rules around use? Does everyone have magic, or is it caste based? I feel like these questions go unanswered in the sense that Stradiotto expects the reader to already know. My hope is that these points will be addressed later in the series.

Overall, I found Call of the Storm Sorcerer to be a compelling read. I would suggest that others pick it up if they want an easy and enjoyable read, with magical elements and a little bit of mystery.

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A 6.5/10 for me. This is a book about a young princess; the youngest of the three daughters of the emperor; having to ascend to the throne despite her not wanting to do so. Alas with the loss of both the emperor and the empress, she is called to do her duty, yet her heart tells her that her father is not dead. With these conflicted thoughts we follow Mairynne in this political fantasy world.

I have mixed thoughts on this book. I did not particularly enjoy the prologue and i did not like the writing style either. That was; until the main story started. The narrative changed from third person perspective to first person perspective and something just clicked with me. I suddenly found the writing genuinely beautiful and it fit so well with the first person pov. ON TOP OF THAT the voice of the main character felt really unique and it was SO atmospheric in the sense i absolutely loved reading from her perspective. As for the world building i loved learning about the Cloud Court and the caste system and i just wanted more; the setting kept me fascinated throughout the book and you can tell the author purposefully dropped different aspects of the world throughout the journey of this story instead of info dumping all at the start, which i really appreciated.

That said, the politicking was very subtle, there weren’t plots and twists and the plot of the book felt weak compared to how great the worldbuilding was that I didn’t care for the politicking. In simple words, i could even say that not a lot happened in this book, it felt more like a setup than a complete story, but weirdly, at least for me, it worked. The characters all were unique and we see glimpses of their personalities and personas, but very few of them were truly fleshed out. Im still hoping further down the series we get to understand more of the side characters because all in all i enjoyed reading this book, at the end i’m yearning to know
more about this world and characters and i would recommend this book to people yearning to meet a new world!

Thank you to Bronzewood Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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I loved loved loved this book! I cannot wait for the next book in the series! The writing was fabulous with enough detail to fill in the reader but concise enough to move along at a great pace.

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You had me at dragons! The world building is deep so there is a bit of a steep learning curve, but it is so rich that it's like swimming in a viscous dream. This is a good setup and start to a longer series that will offer political and romantic drama set in a unique fantasy setting. A fun read worth getting into.

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I enjoyed this book and cant wait to dive into the next one. The world has great history and depth and I enjoyed the dragon aspect to the book. It is a take I haven’t read before. The magic system is intriguing as well.

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This is a political story.
The prologue lets us follow the first emperor of Nantai as he prepares to be separated from the Rui dragon that lives inside him. The description of the process is very reminiscent of certain medieval tortures.
This had me all prepared to follow along on the action that would follow such a thing, but then it jumps many years into the future to follow the ascension of Mairynne to Empress after her mother's death and her fathers disappearance.
Mairynne however is convinced that her father still lives and doesn't want to take the throne. If you like almost entirely political stories, this one is for you, though based on the ending I imagine the rest of the series will have more action if that's what you crave as well.

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Great read! I enjoyed all the development that was put into both the world and the characters. It was a little slow at at times but overall developed nicely.

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