Servants of the Storm

“I miss the days when I could wake up from a nightmare and call out, and someone would hold me close, make me feel warm and safe.”

2 STARS

All around this was not a bad book by any means. It just didn't get quite there for me. The synopsis that drew me in, the darkness of the setting, and the complete atmospheric quality of Dawson's writing were all extremely enthralling and I was ready to dive fully into this world...but when I jumped into the pool (which turns out to have albino alligators in it) I just didn't quite fall for everything that was going on. Our main character, albeit highly naive and certainly no stranger to bad decisions, didn't really hook me in like I'd hoped. I think one of the problems was that she always felt very distanced from the reader, both because we don't know much about her until well into the book and also that she herself does not know everything about what's going on with her. Normally I love this kind of set up because it allows the reader and the character to go on a journey of self-discovery together, but in this book it felt very rushed at the end and otherwise distant and unmentioned. Dovey was sarcastic and I loved her sass, but it always felt to me that a chunk of her personality was missing, and it was, but the way it was presented under the drugs and the repression of her memories felt very stilted and I couldn't get a firm grasp on the rules of this world for it. Additionally, some decisions, almost all bad on her part, seemed too coincidental (I know, I know, this is a YA book and it's almost ALWAYS coincidental) and perfect for the gritty world Dawson created. And don't get me started on the love triangle. Everyone who reads my reviews knows I hate all the love triangles that have infected every genre of YA literature, with a few notable exceptions (I'm looking at you The Madman's Daughter) and guess what? We got one in here. However, one of the major flaws of the book is that Dovey is a girl on a mission, and she's got the total blinders on to everything else that's going on around her, but in this case it means that triangle fades into the background, along with everything else. The writing style of this book-present tense in first person-also stopped me from loving it. Present tense always makes me feel like I'm reading a younger novel than what this should be, and that could completely be just my own taste, but it seemed very choppy in this book. Did it describe the scenes well? Absolutely. Did you get a feel for the rot and the demons and the general darkness of the city? Definitely. Did you feel attached to the characters because of their complex emotions and attachments and thoughts? Nope. That's the issue with it; present first person is designed to be intimate, but because so much focus was put to the atmosphere, which I loved don't get me wrong, I felt very distant from the characters and couldn't feel myself integrate with their stories. Overall this book was okay and a good filler book during a reading slump, and definitely has some good gritty, dark scenes that were entertaining despite what I thought of as an inane main character that didn't become fully developed.