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The Coming Storm (2000)

by Valerie Douglas(Favorite Author)

4.19 of 5 Votes: 2

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English

genre

Fantasy

series

The Coming Storm

review 1: The Coming Storm!Several hundred years ago, the Wizard War tore apart the world of men, elves, and dwarves as mad sorcerers tortured innumerable captives to gain blood magic by which they augmented their powers to godlike levels. To defend themselves, a grand alliance sprang into existence whereby the evil wizards were destroyed - except for a handful who escaped into the dark lands and out of the knowledge of the free peoples of the world. And so, peace returned to the realms; a near universal tranquility except for political machinations at the High King's court and the constant patrol of the dark border, where tireless hunters and woodsmen from the rugged, border people and the hidden, Elven holds hunt down the dark creatures who venture into human lands at times. All s... moreeems well with the world until now!In the Elven hold of Aerilann, Elon, advisor to the High King of Men, is filled with feelings of uneasy; his magic whispering to him of a wrongness in the land. Thus, he begins tracking the unusually increase of dark things venturing into the border lands. With the help of his true-friend Colath, Jareth, a human wizard, and Jalila, Elven archer, he sets out to discover the cause of his foreboding. But will even he, the first among many, be able to read the signs in time to understand the Alliance's true danger?Ailith, the Heir to Riverford, resides in the highland kingdom of her father; a tomboyish girl, more likely to ride out to hunt dark creatures with her father's hunters than to dress in frilly gowns and read poetry. And that is perfectly fine with her father, King Geric and her mother Selah, who adore their only daughter. Yet, something has changed in Ailith's once loving home. A new man, Tolan, has appeared at their tiny castle, taking up an advisor position with King Geric, and the once even-tempered and jovial king is now turning into a strange caricature of himself. This mystifies Ailith, and when she turns to her once strong-willed mother for understanding, she finds her engulfed in a malaise as well, unable to do aught except stay in her rooms in a trance-like state. Left adrift and alone in a world turned mad, Ailith begins her own quest to discover what has changed her parents; a quest that will change her life and place her very soul at risk.Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Maybe a bit too Tolkienish for some but still a good premise for an engaging story.And the fact of the matter is - for all the criticisms you can make about editing or writing style -the first half of the book is a good read. The story draws you in, and the characters - especially Ailith for me - made me care about them and want to see where their differing quests led them. But then something just goes wrong with the book.When a book goes wrong, it's like a cake recipe not turning out just right. Did the baker not put enough sugar in? Maybe too much? Was an ingredient left out? That is the way I view a good book turning out not quite right, and that is the way I view The Coming Storm: there are a few ingredients that just didn't mesh well.First, there was too much action. The characters would go here, fight these dark creatures, then discover this new piece of the puzzles that leads them to travel to yet another place to fight more creatures. It got to the point I just skipped the action scenes because they didnothing to actually move the story forward.Second, one of the main character evolves too quickly from powerless to powerful. I understand that it is common fodder in fantasy books that hobbits find magic ring or farm boys discover magic sword, but those type of stories only work where the main character struggles along the way with the power. In The Coming Storm, one character stumbles onto power after power whenever that particular power is most needed to overcome an obstacle. And what was the other character's response to this? Something along the lines of "Well, I really like Steve, so while it's against the law to do this, I guess it's okay that he has this new ability to transmute stone." This stretched the believability factor too much for me and ruined the story for me.Third, the powerless character, who discovers all these magical talents, also turns from a follower into a leader. A leader whom other - more powerful and more experienced - people just seem to automatically defer to. When you add to this the fact that the character turns from ordinary looking into this regal, beautiful creature seemingly between pages, you might begin to understand why this whole transformation just did not ring true.Fourth, the main characters continue making these mind numbing decisions that throws them into danger; some of which just do not make any sense. The main one that keeps popping up is why this group of important people continue to travel around by themselves. Why? Honestly, once you've identified there is a danger and that an enemy is after you, wouldn't you go get a group of Elven hunters to accompany you around as protection or something. There were many things like this that just made a reader go: "What are they doing - again!"In summation, this was a very good story idea, even if it was not breaking new ground. Somehow, the story got out of control, and Valeria Douglas tried to do too much with one character in particular. The fact that the action became distracting rather than complimentary also speaks volumes. Due to this, I would give the first half of the book a 3 star rating, and the book as a whole a 1 star.
review 2: Elon is an Elf and Adviser to the High King. He helped Men and Dwarves to work together even on the now shaky ground, as things are happening that are very dark. He has a small close group of friends made up of Colath an Elf, Jalila also an Elf, and Jareth a Wizard. Each of them has an important part to play in helping Elon find what this dark is. Animals that are not supposed to be in the lands are coming in and some are even working together. This is the first that will alert many that Darkness is coming. Elon and his small group must fight off the beast and go to each Kingdom to alert the Kings also to see if they have had any problems with these beast. At one such kingdom Riverford, things are not as they seem, The King is acting strange, and the new adviser is strange. The Princess of Riverford is having problems of her own. Ailith has been trained in all aspects to run her Kingdom, yet with the new adviser and her Father and Mother acting strange she must tread carefully. When Elon and his group of friends leave, she over hears her father and his adviser talking about sending beast to kill this small group. With thoughts of only to save them she risk her very life to warn them. This starts a life time of friendship. Soon Ailith becomes part of this group now known as The 5. It is up to them to rally support, to help their fellow man. Not always knowing who to trust leads them into some very tricky spots.I SO LOVED THIS BOOK!! If I could give it a Ten I would! This book reminds me of Lord of The Rings , but so much better!! This book would make an awesome movie that would rival the other and I am sure leave it in the dust. You have Elf, Dwarves,Wizards, Dark Magic, White Magic Friendship that is tested and made even stronger. Fight scenes that I read twice just because they were so well written! Romance written so beautifully it leaves you with tears in your eyes. Every part of this book goes into such detail that you are drawn right into each scene and picturing every detail! I can not wait to read Book 2 in this series. I cried at the end well last few chapters really, my heart stings were pulled for all of them. I put this book down and was so sorry to do that. I had to reread it I had no choice!I Highly Recommend this book to everyone it has everything any reader could ever want!5 STARS - MORE IF I COULD GIVE THEMPatches less

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