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46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review from the book review blog, Book Faery, May 4, 2010
This review is from: Stormwalker (Stormwalker Series, Book 1) (Paperback)
Wow. Just wow. I had originally thought that the Native American female lead was soon becoming overused. I thought: okay, the concept of the story sounds interesting, but this Janet character probably wont stand a chance against Mercy Thompson or Jane Yellowrock. How very wrong I was.
If anything, I must concede now that Janet holds this certain type of allure that neither Jane nor Mercy have. I've always been attracted to the types of characters who have some elemental powers, and Janet Begay's specialty is definitely something that interests me. As a Stormwalker, she has the ability to control any storm around her--even if it gives her the worst hangover-feeling after. Imagine Storm from X-men, except instead of commanding storms around her, Janet needs a storm in order to tap into her power. This lends to interesting situations that reveal just how cunning and resourceful she can be.
There is no random man that Janet stumbles upon during her journey. Instead, readers are introduced to a sexy, arrogant, frustrating fire-wielder named Mick. Can I just say that Mick is one sizzling ex-boyfriend? In the beginning of the book, when he finally saunters into the current scene (and into my heart), Janet slowly begins to explain why the two separated in the first place, and I felt myself sympathizing with the poor girl. Who would ever want to be smothered while dating someone? I know I wouldn't. Yet despite this, I still wanted to grab Janet by the shoulders to give her a good shake. Actually, now that I think about it, I wanted to do the same to Mick also. Gotta love it when characters are ignorant...especially in the good way.
But Tori, you might ask, how can characters be ignorant in a good way? While the tension betwixt the two characters is frustrating to a certain extent, I think that on some level, the two know that they--despite differing feelings--care for each other, which comes before all else. There is this certain appeal, for me at least, when two characters have a history together. Allyson doesn't instantly deliver a relationship with a happily ever after for either characters, but she does offer a relationship with instant gratification. Readers aren't forced to be wary due to anything being rushed. If Janet and Mick decide they want to have sex, then we can rationalize it by saying that, due to a past together, they are reconnecting. Humans do it all the time. It was perfect for the two of them.
I'm almost tempted to guarantee that this plot will make you grow animated at some point, but I won't. Read the book, and see for yourself if you had the same reaction I did. For me, it was when I reached the end of chapter 17. I won't go into the details about what happened (because it is way too juicy to spoil for anyone) but all I could think and gasp and then scream was: "What, what, what, WHAT?!" In fact, I'm still flabbergasted. Biggest. plot. twist. ever. I loved it!
Allyson James has a new and interesting series well worth reading. Not only are the covers for this series beautiful (sorry, had to mention it), but her characters and plot are so unique and interesting that one would be deemed crazy for not giving this series a shot. You hear me? Get this book pronto!
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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Heroine Seemed Way Too Young and Easily Walked Over, May 20, 2010
This review is from: Stormwalker (Stormwalker Series, Book 1) (Paperback)
I was pretty underwhelmed by this book. The description made it sound interesting, but the characters were kind of a let down for me.
Janet Begay is a Stormwalker. She can ride a storm and draw power from it, but usually she ends up with the short end of the stick. She's helpless to resist the power of the storm and usually ends up sick and exhausted after it passes. She doesn't like that aspect much, but she's learning to deal.
Janet heads to Magellan with the excuse of helping the police chief search for his missing daughter. Janet is committed to finding the missing girl, Amy, but also has a more pressing motive for arriving in town. Magellan is home to a vortex that Janet's mother wants unlocked. She plans to use Janet as her tool and make her a willing slave. Janet knows that the time has finally come to stop her mother once and for all.
Janet has some trouble with Sheriff Nash, Amy's fiance, and one of the suspects in her disappearance. Nash basically goes on a power trip and locks her in jail and won't believe her when she says something bad from the magical world is headed her way. For some reason everyone seemed okay with the fact that Janet was held in jail without being arrested or in-processed. They were still okay when Janet was busted out of jail and taken back to her hotel. What?
The guy responsible for the jail bust is Mick, Janet's ex. They've been apart for years (at Janet's instigation) but they've never really gotten over each other. Janet's an extreme pushover where Mick is concerned. She's very willing to just give up trying get her way and will let him do whatever he wants. She also very easily decides to resume having sex with him - only to help draw off the power of course! I wanted to like Mick, but because I was stuck in Janet's head I never got to know him well enough.
Janet didn't know anything about him when they first got together and she still didn't know anything about him when she finally left him for being too secretive and smothering. She didn't even know his last name and he would disappear on her and then show back up like nothing happened. She put up with that for six months before she finally got it together enough to leave him. She just seemed like the biggest idiot to me. She also seemed extremely young in all her thoughts. I'm not referring to the flashbacks either. Her internal whining and insecurity reminded me of an extremely immature teenager with her first boyfriend. It was very off putting.
I also couldn't help but think she was the most dense individual in the world for not figuring out what Mick was hiding. Now I don't blame her for not knowing why he first integrated himself with her, but I do think it was blatantly obvious what Mick was in addition to a fire wielder. When the author drops so many blatant hints again and again it doesn't make her protagonist look like the sharpest tack in the box when she doesn't figure it out. It just makes her look stupid.
I wish I would have liked this book more, but I just couldn't make myself enjoy it. I doubt I'll be picking up anything else in this series.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lot to like in this debut, May 4, 2010
This review is from: Stormwalker (Stormwalker Series, Book 1) (Paperback)
Review courtesy of [...]
There is a lot to like about Allyson James first book in her new Stormwalker series. The stunning cover art by Tony Mauro is just the beginning. The world building involves a Native American twist on the four elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and a mythological history of earth. The main character, Janet Begay, is a Stormwalker. When a storm rages, Janet becomes essentially an X-man (minus the creepy white eyes and comic book spandex).
I did have a moment of disorientation in the beginning of STORMWALKER wondering if I'd missed some earlier novella in this series. Thankfully no. Allyson just chose to throw her characters right in the middle of the story and provide the back-story of Janet meeting both Mick and her mother in flashback chapters. So if you feel like you missed something in the first few chapters, don't worry, it's coming.
Normally Janet endures the mother of all magical hangovers the day after riding a storm, unless Mick is there. Mick is Janet's on again/off again lover. With fire abilities that rival her storm powers, Mick can siphon off her storm energy and leave her calm and nearly sexually sated.
Speaking of sex, there is quite a bit in STORMWALKER. A lot of Janet's magical abilities have sexual repercussions. Tantric magic, for example, created by some spectacularly creative sex, can reinforce magical wards. Ultimately, there ended up being more references to crazy wild sex than actual descriptions. Most, not all, of the sex scenes are relatively brief and only moderately graphic.
And I haven't even mentioned Beneath yet. Imagine the planet as an onion with layer upon layer of worlds, each better than the last. Various gods and humans escaped through to this world and sealed below the rest, including Janet's psychopathic mother. Some of Beneath's nastier creatures made it into our world including skinwalkers and nightwalkers (aka shifters and vampires).
As far as the plot goes, I never really bought into Janet's reason for being in Arizona. She explains that she's been hired to find a missing woman, and decides to buy and fix up an old hotel in the process. The how and why are a bit weak, as is the initial reason for her level of dedication. The clues that she puts together are also pretty random, and I still think that the last leap in logic was totally unbelievable.
But I didn't really like STORMWALKER because of the missing woman mystery. I liked it because of the main characters and the paranormal world that they lived in. Janet is this tough biker chick who never got over her first love. She struggles believably with wanting to just be loved and knowing her own self-respect won't allow her to stay with a man who won't reveal anything about himself. Mick, for all his smoking good looks and fiery nature, doesn't seem to know how to love Janet the way she needs to be loved. Each one is trying so desperately to protect the other that they don't realize that they may lose each other anyway. Their whole relationship is volatile and addictively compelling and I can't wait to read more about them when Firewalker comes out on November 2nd.
Sexual Content: Several sex scenes of various lengths and graphical intensity. References to ménage sex. Attempted rape.
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