Review: THE HURRICANE WARS by Thea Guanzon

Review also available on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6460920760

This book stuck in my brain like a caramel in my back tooth, and I couldn't tell you entirely why. Some combination of the cover, the pitch, and the writing made me love it and reach for it over several other similar and/or more popular books. The book is marketed as a war story romantasy, but in practice most of the book plays out like a political drama with a romantic subplot. Which is awesome for me, because I love fantasy political drama.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

The titular Hurricane Wars end around the one-third mark in the book, which threw me for a loop. For a brief period the book felt aimless, but that period ended pretty quickly when our main character Talasyn/Alunsina suggested they head for the Dominion. After that point the book scooped me up and swept me along in a current of political intrigue and manipulations and maneuvering and magic, all peppered with the irresistible attraction that Talasyn and Alaric felt for each other. It's a delicate balance that Thea Guanzon walks, since they were enemies in wartime and are now tentative allies in peacetime. I like how she did it and I think she pulled it off.

Possibly my favorite moment in the book is when Talasyn and Alaric get into an argument about how and why the Hurricane Wars started. It was such a clever way to show that even in this fantasy world, history is still a fungible thing that can be changed by the education of a single generation in a single country. It's understated, brief, and only briefly referred to again later on; but it goes miles in terms of explaining how each side sees themselves as the heroes and how someone as (secretly) kind as Alaric ended up coming from a country as apparently hateful and greedy as the Night Empire.

This ties back to my earlier comment, about this being a political drama with a romantic subplot. I love fantasy politics. I love watching the maneuvering that happens between fantasy kings and queens and lords and ladies. I loved every time Talasyn saw what Alaric or Urduja's plan was, every time she maneuvered into place herself. I believed every fumbling baby step she took towards becoming Lachis-ka, just like I believed every step Alaric took to match or dodge away. I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed this book.