Download PDF Storm Glass Harbinger Book 1 eBook Jeff Wheeler

Product details File Size 5141 KB Print Length 353 pages Publisher 47North (June 19, 2018) Publication Date June 19, 2018 Language English ASIN B077D62HN7

Storm Glass Harbinger Book 1 eBook Jeff Wheeler Reviews

• I bought this book on a whim, hoping I found another series to occupy my time and interest. Emboldened by such great reviews, I purchased it, and I'm not entirely impressed. Keep in mind, I recently stepped out of the amazing world and skillful prose of Brian Staveley's series Chronicles of the Unhewn. I devoured Staveley's series and hoped Wheeler's books would bring me the same kind of satisfaction.
  
  Wheeler's Storm Glass is 100% written as a young adult fantasy book (fight me, because it is), which isn't an issue per se, but if I had known this, I would have not purchased it. The story and the concept of the mysteries were interesting, but the dialogue felt awkward more times than I was comfortable with, and I felt the writing lacked fluidity much of the time. I will not be buying the second book.
  
  I don't want to seem like I'm wholeheartedly bashing his work, many people enjoyed it. As a point of context, which I hope will prove helpful for those who have surveyed their work as well, I'm a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, and Patrick Rothfuss (now Staveley, as well). Their works were paramount in my developing love and interest in fantasy (high and epic). I have also enjoyed Michael J. Sullivan and Douglis Hulick, though they too, had some awkward moments in their writing, but they didn't have that young adult fantasy diction and rudimentary environmental description that I found to dislike in Wheeler's book. I hope my mentioning some of my favorite authors gives you some illumination when you consider buying. I prefer their more developed and sophisticated writing style, as well as, their more complex plots to Wheeler's style, and I sincerely wish I would have read a review that mentioned these authors. It would have helped me in my decision making.
• Storm Glass is yet another excellent book by Jeff Wheeler. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel written with the feel of a period piece that is complete with hopes and dreams that are both dashed and realized. There are ghosts, science, magic, intrigue, floating manors, power struggles, mysteries, and, of course, a few unexpected twists. Storm Glass gets five stars from me because I felt immersed in the world and was able to relate to many of the characters on different levels. As both Cettie and Sera learn more about the world in which they live, my mind was racing—striving to make the same connections and understand the same mysteries that they were trying to understand. I felt keenly for the plight of both girls who, though they come from seemingly different worlds were both striving and yearning for freedom and knowledge.
  
  I enjoyed the differing perspectives and came up with many theories of my own as to why things happened the way that they did. Some were proven wrong, but as I read I felt a part of that world. As I neared the end of the book, I began to feel some tension (in a good way) that some of the issues wouldn’t be resolved by the end of the book. Knowing that it was going to be a five-book story arc, I worried that I would be left on a major cliffhanger. While I felt some things were resolved quite quickly at the very end, it was just enough resolution to create a sense of closure while leaving enough in the air (pun intended) that I can’t wait for the next book to come out. I felt that this book was written in crescendo. The further I read, the more exciting the story became.
  
  I found it a gripping story and I personally blame a good author for keeping me up too late at night when I should have been sleeping. I found the world a fun place to visit in my mind and contemplate its realities. I felt that virtually all of the characters were engaging and relatable in some way. While dealing with some heavier social issues that the protagonists were faced with, I still found it a fun read that kept my mind engaged as I tried to unravel some of the mysteries myself. At times I felt that if I could just figure some of the mysteries out, that it would somehow enable me to reach through the pages and help our protagonists.
  
  I commend Jeff Wheeler for another well written story that is different enough from his other books that it feels new and fresh, while maintaining a few familiar elements that connect his worlds. He masterfully unfolds new adventures through the eyes of two different protagonists while throwing in enough unexpected twists that make things come together in exciting ways. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to explore a new world with relatable characters, a touch of magic, and engaging mysteries.
  
  Disclaimer I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
• I have been looking forward to the arrival of this new work of Jeff Wheeler's, and it simply ended too soon. Of course, that's often the way with the first book in a trilogy. My only complaint is that one of my favorite fantasy authors has fast-tracked the conclusion here, and I felt that part of the story was missing. However, the conclusion stops short of being a contrived "deus ex machina" intervention, thank goodness.
  In his Kingfountain series, Wheeler did an amazing job of making the world of Kingfountain a part of his larger imagined universe, and many of the characters from all these separate realms move in and out of their boundaries to bring that series to a stunning resolution. The Harbinger series carries the first story out of the medieval milieu of Muirwood, Silverkin, and Mirrowen into a fragile, semi-steampunk Dickensian world of rigid class systems where the upper classes literally float above the lower dysfunctional world of poverty, filth, and degradation. The two young female protagonists are representatives of these antithetical environments and lifestyles, each living precariously in repressive environments that are a source of constant anxiety and isolation for the girls from those around them. When a series of betrayals threatens them both with even more dreadful fates than the ones they endure and stress over, they are unexpectedly moved to another realm where they discover a kinship with each other in a place where we are given to expect that a strong friendship will likely develop in the next book. I hope this isn't a spoiler, but I wish Jeff Wheeler had kept us in this final place with Cettie and Sera just a little bit longer. But suspense is not a bad thing in a fantasy, and I will give this one another five stars for his vivid world-building and amazingly intriguing character development.