I think it was a good novel, but there a few downsides that I couldn't get over, most of them because of personal preference though.

The most gripping aspect of this novel for me was the plot, as I didn't have much care for two thirds of the main characters. There were good plot twists, some unexpected which is always welcome. I think it was started off really well, had a good pace for just over half the book, after that I think the pace went awry.

The events that followed the first half of the book happened so rapidly that it became off-putting in a way that I haven't experienced before, but I do think it has to do with the fact that as the novel progressed and I read more of the other characters POV's I grew to dislike Miko, and Rah became more annoying than his POV was insightful. Cassandra was the single the character that I truly liked and was the main reason I stayed committed to finishing the novel.

All in all, I do not think it was a bad read, had a few flaws but again, most were because of my personal preferences and inability to connect with the characters.

Name of Blog: Pot Lucky Books (https://potluckybooks.wordpress.com/)
Link to review: https://potluckybooks.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/long-live-the-empress/
Date published: 18/06/20

Warning: This Review Contains SPOILERS

Star Rating: ★★★

We Ride The Storm is a misleading title. There’s a storm in this book, certainly – a storm that breaks across half an empire, leaving death and destruction in its wake – but instead of riding it, this storm picks up our three main characters, tosses them in its grip, and ultimately smashes them into the ground like broken dolls.

This is no bad thing. Seeing them try to hold on and save themselves, even when everything is going up in flames around them, is the best part of this book.

We Ride The Storm introduces us to three point of view characters: Miko, Princess of Kisia, secretly a bastard child of the former Emperor and plotting to put her brother on the throne; Cassandra, a prostitute and an assassin, who has a second voice in her head and can hear the ‘singing’ of the dead; and Rah, head of an exiled band of warriors, looking to keep his people alive in a harsh and hostile new land. War is brewing between the Empire of Kisia to the south and Chiltae to the north, and the three of them end up getting caught in the growing tension as the story plays out.

I should say first that although Madson sets up intriguing characters and the threads of interesting plots from the beginning, for about the first fifty pages of this book I was resenting having to read it, and might have stopped if I hadn’t been reading for a review. Something in these early pages didn’t click with me, and though there was action and I could see what Madson was setting up, it felt like a slog. The first hundred pages or so of this book are in large part why it has a three star rating from me; the later sections are good enough that this boring beginning feels like it really lets down the rest of the novel.

I’m glad I didn’t give up, however, because the novel really began to ramp up the tension as it moved into the middle and final acts. Miko’s story was the best of the three, and her conversations and interactions with her adoptive father, Emperor Kin, were all absolutely gripping. The entire section where she turned on her mother to support him had me unable to stop reading; I was rooting for her to become Empress, and I loved it when the book went there. As for the others, Cassandra’s story had enough tension and mystery to be satisfying, though her personality is somewhat generic. She’s the classic snarky, cold-blooded killer with a dark past type, much like early Celaena Sardothien, though thankfully without that character’s overwhelming smugness. I thought it was an interesting and powerful choice that Madson didn’t make her into the ‘secretly has a heart of gold’ type; she clearly knew certain actions were wrong, like opening the gates of Koi for the Chiltaens, but she went ahead anyway because they served her purposes. The ‘voice’ in her head was also an intriguing character, though I felt Madson could’ve done a bit more with Cassandra’s power to hear the dead ‘sing’. Maybe this will be important later, but in this book that power feels a bit incidental to her storyline. Rah was for a long time my least favourite out of the three, and though I softened toward him, he still holds that position. I did really love his angsty, angry antagonism with Gideon, and the more antagonistic their relationship got, the more I loved it (and the more I shipped them. Yeah, I said it). His relationship with Dom Villius was interesting, too, and I liked his sections if only for getting more of an interesting character in Villius. Also, his POV introduced us to Dishiva, who I loved and who is going to be a POV character in the next book!

The plot was definitely a highlight of this book, at least once it got past the hundred-page mark. There are a lot of twists, but the story earns them; they’re all logical, and Madson isn’t afraid of making hard choices if they serve the plot. I thought it was a really bold move to have Tanaka killed, for one good example – I had hoped that wouldn’t be a fake out, the execution rescinded at the last moment, and it wasn’t. Characters in Madson’s world have to live with the consequences of their choices, good and bad.

Obviously, as I haven’t given this a five or even four star review, there are some things I felt could be improved. I’ve mentioned my issues with the start of the book, so I won’t go into that again. I did think the story could’ve done with a bit more worldbuilding to flesh out Chiltae and the structures of power there, as I feel like we get quite a lot of information about Kisia without getting much about Chiltae. Even though this is a sequel trilogy and more worldbuilding might have been done in the earlier series, there should really be enough here that new readers starting with this book are able to feel like they understand the world. The battles also could have used improvement; the fact that Miko and the Kisians are going to lose is telegraphed so strongly that all their battles and action scenes lose their tension, because you already know where the story is going. By comparison, the action scenes in Rah and Cassandra’s chapters were much more successful at keeping the reader in suspense, because you weren’t entirely certain what the outcome was going to be. There was a sense that the battle sequences in Miko’s chapters were rushed, especially the final siege of the capital city. That battle takes barely any time at all, and just ends up feeling unrealistic.

Though its flaws made me compelled to give it only three stars, I still think We Ride The Storm is a book worth reading. The twisty plot makes up for the book’s other shortcomings, and there are great characters here who hold the whole thing together. Overall, I think that if the other books in this series can live up to their potential, we may look back at We Ride The Storm as the slightly rocky beginning to a very interesting and entertaining fantasy trilogy.

I am torn about the rating, reading this was a frustrating experience that falls short of great storytelling. But on the other hand, its well written and brilliant world building. The problem is that the plot, and character motivation, relies on knowing a back story that Madson doesn't share. I believe the previous series (The Vengeance Trilogy) featured entirely different characters, but the three leading protagonists in this new series are motivated by the people and events of the previous one to such an extent that i really felt my lack of information. I couldnt completely understand what was happening, or care enough about the result, without having read the prequels
Really, it wasn't a 4* experience for me. BUT, i can tell it's a brilliant book. Now i need to work out whether i should read the previous 3 books, even though having read this one I now know both the outcome and what comes next

3.5/5

There are a lot of positives in We Ride the Storm but there were also some issues with it that stopped it from being excellent.

Let’s start with the positives. There’s a lot of politicking and betrayal which is something that I love in a book. I enjoyed seeing characters stab each other in the back in the name of gaining power. The world is also very interesting. It’s a dark novel with lots of violence and death which is always something I enjoy in books.

The characters are a mixed bag. There are three POV characters: Miko, a princess, Cassandra, an assassin and a whore and Rah, a warrior. Cassandra is the best of the three and I really enjoyed reading her chapters. She can hear a voice in her head that’s she is desperate to get rid of which leads her to accepting a job to assassinate someone which leads to a world of trouble. I liked her character a lot but she is also the one who suffers the most because her role diminishes a lot in the second half of the story. Rah is just meh. He’s one of those honourable characters and all he wants is to go home with his people but that just means he comes across as rather bland and forgettable.

The character who got on my nerves, though, was Miko. I just didn’t get her. Her character vacillates between naïve princess and ruthless wannabe Empress but nothing she does seems to justify either characterisation. She didn’t annoy me at the start, in fact I found her to be very sympathetic, but as the book progressed she began to irk me more and more. In the beginning of the book she doesn’t come across as ruthless and calculating so her actions in the second half of the book become jarring. She never comes across as someone who has been trained in navigating the political landscape or as a strong warrior so she just doesn’t come across as someone who is able to rule an empire. Madson tries to make her everything but she just ends up being nothing.

Of the minor characters, I really liked Leo. He was fascinating and his story intrigued me a lot.

The pacing of the novel was a little off. The first half reads very much like a huge fantasy epic. It slowly builds the story and the characters but the second half races through at a breakneck pace until it gets to the end which ends a little abruptly. The first half was interesting, the second half was a little more dull and although it moves quicker than the first half it doesn’t feel as deep or as interesting.

We Ride the Storm has a lot of potential but it falls short. Two thirds of the characters aren’t as interesting or as likeable as Madson wants them to be and the one who is the most interesting disappears from the story for far too long. The story is interesting but the pacing is off which means it ends in a very abrupt manner with what feels like a lack of build up. We Ride the Storm could be great but it just doesn’t quite live up to its potential.

I hadn't heard of Devin Madson before seeing this book. I'm annoyed by that. Devin Madson has a very strong grasp of world-building, character creation, and what a story needs to do to keep you reading. Having said that, do I really need to say how much I enjoyed this book? Of course I do! I enjoyed it so much that I'm annoyed again - book 2 isn't due for release until 2021! The story itself is surprisingly bloody, so if you're a bit squeamish you might want to keep a bucket handy, but there's nothing out of place. Just brilliant.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

This book is getting a lot of deserved attention, and the previous, self-published version was popular enough to attract the attention of a big publisher - and it's easy to see why. Comparing the two versions brings an interesting perspective. While still being largely the same exciting, epic, gritty and often gruesome book, the new version enhances the characterisation and streamlines some of the threads, but makes some startling small changes to plot details. It eliminates some but not all of the niggles I had with the original, while adding a few more. But, niggles aside, this is a compelling, no-punches-pulled look at two (plus two) nations tipping over the brink into war, beset with realistic internal struggles. The three POV characters are well chosen to give a 3D view of the conflict, and the ending is climactic while setting up a lot for the continuing series. I don't think fans of the original need to read this version, because it ends in the same place - and I'm not sure it's necessarily "better" either - but it is subtly, and interestingly, different.

What a ride that was, eh?

The first thing that really gripped me about this book was the cover; it’s absolutely stunning, the folks at Orbit never fail to grip you right from the shelf. It’s a cover that begs to be read … then when you open the book, and read on, and cannot put it down, you realise that the cover is just the start of a masterpiece.

“A storm is coming and if I am going to survive it then I need to know what I’m up against.”

Madson truly has created a book of quotable phrases here, there’s many that I went back to read again and again, and a lot more than I’ve got saved on my kindle just to go over.

So, the plot here follows three individuals, a barbarian leader looking for somewhere to belong, an heir to a throne and an assassin with a mysterious voice in her head, that she seems to have befriended (go figure); all three of these POVs are wrapped up in a war for an empire involving two sides, but with as many secret, terrible, horrific and backstabbing factions as a GRRM novel. All of them vying for their own place in the empire, all of them as wretched and human as they come. Madson really has a skill for writing wonderfully human characters that make you feel.

The plot was truly exciting, my heart raced as huge battles unfolded … but also had time for a breather in the slower battles in court … it took a while to get to speed, but it sucked me in from the first pages, starting with an attempted assassination and setting me up for what unfolded within the rest of the novel.

“Has any captain ever done so poor a job at caring for his Swords?”

There’re no heroes here … no, just a bunch of humans trying to get by. Rah and his people struggle through exile and capture and even then there’s no hope of reprieve; their homelands reject them and everyone they meet is after a piece … and that is just the tip of the iceberg for the trials that these three characters face … just when you think there should be some reprieve, they’re thrust into something else. Something more sinister. But, still, because the characters are so well written, you do want to carry on following them in the hope that the reprieve is still to come. Each character has a unique voice, clear goals, and dreams, some a lot more morally dubious that some (which made it all the more fun). I also loved the way that all three characters don’t quite cross paths but they do acknowledge each other in some way.

Face-paced, full of death, beheadings, huge battles, and gruesome fates, this isn’t for the light-hearted, but it is a book full of culture. It’s wholesome and three dimensional and reads like a real-world history.

There was a vein a mystery that ran throughout and still carries on past the ending, which leans towards the godly that we’ve only just touched the surface on. The deities are still very much an unknown entity and I feel like they will come to play a lot more, though I cannot be certain. It may be that this is entirely different from the fantasy I usually read, where the movements of the peoples are pushed by the hands of the divine.

All said and done, this is a fantastic debut and I would urge everyone who loves fantastic world-building, realistic characters, intriguing and mysterious plotlines, and a culturally rich setting to go and get this right away!

Really good read, I normally read books set in the ancient world so this was a refreshing change for me that I really enjoyed. Well written and I couldnt put it down.

Note: I previously reviewed the self-published version of this book some time ago. There have been substantial edits made for the recent Orbit release, and it is all for the better. I am reprinting my review below, but please note that many of the narrative issues I raised in my early review have been ironed out. We Ride teh Storm is without a doubt one of the easiest five-star starts to a series in memory.

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I was unaware of Devin Madson’s previous work until early reviews of We Ride the Storm started popping up on some trustworthy blogs from reviewers that I respect. There was a lot of hype built around this book’s release that piqued my interest, and I’m happy to report that the hype is well-founded. In short, Madson has crafted a complex and immersive story that catapults the reader through a gripping series of adventures and doesn’t let go until the final electrifying pages.

The book begins with a fair amount of complex exposition, yet the patient will be rewarded. There are three main POVs, and each chapter focuses on a different character. There’s quite a large cast of major players and historical events to absorb, but by around the sixth chapter, after visiting each character twice, the storylines begin to intersect. It is also around this point where the action ramps up, and the surprises and shocking moments start to land fast and heavy. During the middle section of the book, every chapter felt like a finale of sorts: main characters were killed, huge revelations were dropped, and major power moves shook up the foundation of the story. It’s rare that I compare any book series to George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, yet the comparison kept itching at my brain. Both stories have densely-layered politics and detailed generational histories, and both books don’t think twice about eliminating characters you care about. The comparisons don’t end there, but I’ll let you discover more on your own.

One interesting aspect of the three POVs is that they are all first-person perspectives. I don’t recall encountering a book that shifts between three characters’ minds before, and Madson pulls this off rather well. As the audience becomes privy to the inner thoughts of these characters, we gain a more insightful understanding of their motivations and decisions, and this strengthens the depths of their characterizations. Rah is a leader of a pack of exiled swordsman nomads leading their coveted horses through uncharted territory, until they are roped into a war that they do not wish to fight, and cannot win. Cassandra is a prostitute and assassin who is cursed with a second voice in her head that fights for control of her body. Miko is a princess of Kisia, twin sister to the heir to the throne, but a series of lies about her family’s lineage threatens to upend the kingdom on the brink of invasion. Madson does a commendable job making each of these voices distinct, each with their own strengths and flaws, which helped each voice shine through the narrative in its own singular way.

I briefly spoke with Madson while reading this story and learned that she wrote this book without much planning ahead of time. This impressed me to no end, as I believe the intricate plotting is one of the greatest strengths of the novel. There is no meandering and hardly any build-up; we are transported from pivotal scene to pivotal scene, with each chapter moving the plot along at a startling pace. The amount of changes that occur from the beginning to the end of any given chapter is truly astounding. Even though this book is the start of a series, it felt like it had a trilogy’s worth of events packed into it. The intensity continues to ramp up over time, and I recall cursing out loud after ending several chapters in shock and disbelief. I wonder if this pace can be matched in future volumes, but I’ve learned not to underestimate this author.

The first few chapters were a bit tough to get through, as there were various cultures to discover, quite a few important characters to learn, and generations worth of world history and geography to absorb. It was also slightly vertiginous to constantly hop between characters’ heads; sometimes it took a page or two to recall whose head you were rummaging around in (especially Cass’ two-minded chapters). The only character notification the reader is given in advance is a small identifying glyph displayed at the beginning of each chapter, so starting a new chapter can be a bit confusing, but only for a page or two at most. Once the learning curve is bested, it’s a free and clear race to the finish line, with barely any time to catch your breath.

Narrative grievances aside, We Ride the Storm is a brilliant start to an electrifying high fantasy series. It is furiously paced and full of genuine surprises and rousing mysteries, and it is very easy for me to recommend. Just be aware that this story ends on several cliffhangers, so the wait until the next volume might be a difficult one. But don’t let that dissuade you – the buzz around this book is to be believed, so grab a copy and get lost in the Reborn Empire.

[First appeared on FantasyBookReview, July 2018]

‘We Ride The Storm’ is true epic fantasy – multiple POVs across multiple factions in a world on the brink of war. It’s a delight following all the separate pieces on the board and musing how they might come together. The plot twists and turns with plenty of action and intrigue; I was always curious to know what would happen next.

There are three POV characters – Miko, Cassandra, and Rah – and all of them are fantastic. Miko is the sister of Tanaka, the apparent heir to Emperor Kin and ruler of the Kisia. Better at politics and far less rash than her brother, she wishes that it were she who had been born a boy and might some day rule the Empire. I loved her – she was strong and witty but real, still regularly outplayed and at the whims of her emotions. I’d want her on my side in a fight.

Cassandra is the most intriguing character but the least well utilised. A sex worker and assassin from Chiltae, Cassandra seduces men then kills them for whoever pays her the most. But there’s more to her than there seems, and she’s driven by motives stronger than money. When Cassandra was introduced, I thought she would be my favourite – but her role in this is smaller than the other main characters, and – without giving any spoilers – there’s only so many times you can end a chapter by blacking out. Hopefully she plays a stronger role in future books.

Rah is the head of the Second Swords of Torin, a tribe of horsemen from the Levanti. He and his Swords are searching for Gideon, head of the First Swords of Torin, who disappeared on an excursion into Chiltae nearly two years ago. Rah is a delight – loyal to his Swords and his customs but playing at a game with bigger stakes than he understands. He’s the sort of friend everyone needs – supportive but will always challenge you if he thinks you’re doing wrong.

Overall, this is a solid addition to the epic fantasy genre. The biggest issue I had was with the ending – it’s a complete cliffhanger, to the extent that it doesn’t feel like the ending of a book. It would be more appropriate as the end of a ‘Part One’. Still, it means that I’ll need to pick up book two which is probably what the author intended…

I wasn't a big fan of the multiple POVs in 1st person. I dint know it was written this way, if I had I wouldn't have read it bc this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I'd much prefer multiple 3rd person POVs.

The story was very interesting and well-written, although the descriptions could get overwhelming at times bc I'm not the biggest fan of overly descriptive writing.

The end, however, was amazing... It just left us hanging...

A book I've been wanting to read for so long!! I've heard of it a lot and I wasn't disappointed by it. Fun and entertaining a very good read!