Review of ‘The Hurricane War’ by Thea Guanzon, the new youth romantic fantasy saga.

A few years ago, the fantasy genre It was one of my favorites. In fact, I owe my love for reading to him, since the first time I had that incredible feeling of not being able to put down a book was with a fantasy saga, Idhun’s memories by Laura Gallego (and many others later by the author). Today a chill still runs through me when I remember those first times reading. However, for some time now, the genre makes me lazy. And admitting this is like sacrilege to me. But I must admit that the fact that most fantasy books consist of sagas It has created a certain distrust in me and a certain apathy that leads me to avoid starting a book that depends on another and then another. First, because of impatience. Second, because it wouldn’t be the first time they left you halfway. So I’ve been putting it aside and you know that, sometimes, when you stop paying attention to things, interest wanes.

Despite this, as in any good relationship worth its salt, where there was fire, ashes remain, so having overcome the initial obstacle of laziness, here I am beginning the saga of The hurricane war of Thea Guanzon with the same youthful enthusiasm of yesteryear (although I must admit that I jumped into it because I didn’t know it was a saga). AND the damn book lasted me only two days (and because I had to breathe, eat and sleep in between).

So, first point in favor for The hurricane war for reawakening in me that tingle and infinite gratitude towards a good young adult romantic fantasy book. Does it have everything to hook you? Yes, friend, you have it all.

But… Stop! We have said that it is a saga and, I am afraid, my negative point has to do precisely with this. The hurricane war of Thea Guanzon features a VERY OPEN ending For my taste, it has made me very angry. It ends for the best. And this is a great cliffhanger, but also a Chinese torture. According to the author’s official website, in October 2024 will be published in England and the United States A Monsoon Rising, the continuation, in English. Although the editorial says that it is in December. Well, whatever… The thing is… Spain, get your act together!

And how did we get to this shocking ending? The story is about two diametrically opposed young people (enemies to lovers), one of them destined to be the Emperor of the Empire of the Night, another destined to… the opposite (if I tell you, I make you spoiler) and all this in the middle of a world at war. The Continent is basically devastated because of the Empire of Night that is determined to conquer it entirely, taking thousands and thousands of lives in its wake and Talasyn, the protagonist, a Tejeluces, is on the side that tries to resist these attacks. But due to the chances of life, young people find themselves on the battlefield on several occasions and try to kill each other. Although they don’t finish doing it because *things happen*.

I start reading on Palm Sunday

I liked that the hate/romance starts very earlyoy, although whenever I start a fantasy book (I already told you that age is taking its toll on me) it is a bit difficult for me to place myself in its setting and worldbuildingcon The hurricane war It has been relatively easy, this being another of its strong points. A mixture of elements that we can find in different fantasy subgenres, but that are not classified in any of them. Well, Thea Guanzon’s world is made up of ether, of different dimensions, of magical elements such as rain, storms, thunder…, of creatures (some winged ones, watch out for this!) recognizable and others completely invented and of the same energy that makes up the Universe. In fact, ships sail through its skies, such as the storm ship or the Liberator and at times it seemed to me to be in a kind of space opera. Also, when Nenavar appears, another territory on the map, its colorful settings wanted to remind me of the Capitol of The Hunger Games.

The narration of Guanzon is very agile and, in this case, we must pay special attention to the person in charge of the translation, Patricia Sebastian, which also makes it possible for the narrative to reach us fluidly and faithful to the author’s writing. In the dialogues there are expressions that seemed very much from our world, and they sound like a new invented fantasy universe, but this is up to the consumer’s taste.

Also THERE IS A WEDDING. For lovers of forced alliances, white beaded dresses that shine under the light of the sun’s rays and the burning night of the wedding, this is, without a doubt, your book. Of course, I don’t tell you who is getting married to keep the mystery.

Shit setup I made

Finally, re-emphasize the relationship between the protagonists and the romance itself, since it is the central axis of the book, even though it is surrounded by palace intrigues, worlds at war and conspiracies of all kinds. I have believed their relationship and they have put me into their game, a game of continuous rejection between the two, although they have painted me as an apparently evil Emperor of the Empire of the Night who, however, immediately drinks the winds for the girl. In this I must recognize that authors like Leslie G in books like Erawol o Torn’s Curse, they do it luxuriously. They get villains who, no matter how much romance there is in between, are real villains. In The hurricane warthis about making a character more in love from the beginning takes away some credibility from your “darkness”.

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Of course, there is SCENE SPICY (horny, for those of you who are tired of reading English expressions in literary comments). But It bothers me that it arrives 400 pages later and that they leave me like this 💥💥💥 Just there. Right after THAT MOMENT. It reminds me of a certain kiss from a certain vampire saga that took a long time to come and when it arrived, it took so long that, of course, the damn book was already finished. But okUmbriel, I will forgive you everything if you release me the continuation of The hurricane war by Thea Guanzon with agility.

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The hurricane war of Thea Guanzon It is a novel that I read in just two days and it has made me feel again the tingle of love for young romantic fantasy books (sagas). With a enemies to lovers In full rule, a completely new world through which ships, winged beings and war weapons sail, light and darkness make a pact to bring peace to the Continent. Or, at least, that’s what they believe. A first part with a VERY OPEN ending whose The sequel in the UK and US will be released later this year. Continuation that we are going to need.

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[Anotación aparte] Why now are the thoughts in some books not being marked with Spanish quotation marks? It is the second book that I have come across (the other has been Electric shamans at the sun festival) where these are italicized, but to me this constitutes a lack of punctuation.