Stormsong

By: C. L. Polk

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

After spinning an enthralling world in Witchmark, praised as a "can't-miss debut" by Booklist, and as "thoroughly charming and deftly paced" by the New York Times, C. L. Polk continues the story in Stormsong. Magical cabals, otherworldly avengers, and impossible love affairs conspire to create a book that refuses to be put down.

Dame Grace Hensley helped her brother Miles undo the atrocity that stained her nation, but now she has to deal with the consequences. With the power out in the dead of winter and an uncontrollable sequence of winter storms on the horizon, Aeland faces disaster. Grace has the vision to guide her parents to safety, but a hostile queen and a ring of rogue mages stand in the way of her plans. There's revolution in the air, and any spark could light the powder. What's worse, upstart photojournalist Avia Jessup draws ever closer to secrets that could topple the nation, and closer to Grace's heart.

Can Aeland be saved without bloodshed? Or will Kingston die in flames, and Grace along with it?

©2020 C.L. Polk (P)2020 Recorded Books

Strong FMC

Excellent story, strong FMC and the reader (as always) is fantastic. I swear Moira Quirk could make any story better just by reading it.

Very strong sequel!

This is not a tedious exposition-filled sequel. It hits the ground running, with strong, exciting plot. I love the characters, and can’t wait to get to book three!

It's beautifully written and an excellent performance, but I wish the heroine had gotten tramped by several horses.

Have you ever met an incredibly dense person, but who is convinced is more intelligent than anyone else? Well, the protagonist is the epitome of that.

This is compelling, consistent, and beautiful work. The world mechanics and magic system do not get in the way of the plot but are an integral part of it. And they are so well written.

The heroine, however, is another matter entirely. She has a weak character, incredibly dramatic, prideful, self decidedd, and incapable of common sense, She provides nothing to the story but a vehicle to move the plot forward. Her best asset is her father's money and the influence he has gained her.

If she had died in the first three lines, the main plot would have progressed more or less the same way.

Book is perfect, the audio has some problems...

The book is fantastic, a great follow up to witchmark, but chapter 11 has a lot of problems on audible, with sudden audio drops, and there’s no real explanation or fix that I’ve seen... not great.

An ok book

First a note that I typically do not enjoy books that center on political intrigue and the games of court and that effects my enjoyment of this book which was almost exclusively that. As a fan of Witchmark I was very excited to read the sequel and very quickly disappointed to realize it is told exclusively from the perspective of Grace (Mile's sister from the first book) and a character I could not stand. While I still didn't like her at first Grace's character development through the book is wonderful and by the end I did actually enjoy her. I feel like her character being in love with a woman was great but contradicted her disapproval of Miles' relationship in the first book. Considering that I think there should have been more of a development in her sexuality than just o hey she is a lesbian. All in all it was an ok book but it was almost completely centered on political workings and told from a completely different characters perspective. Coming from Witchmark it felt like reading a totally different series that just happened to relate. If you, like me, are considering this because you really like Miles, Tristen, their relationship and the mystery of the first book then know there is very little of that here.

Boldly and brilliantly rewriting the rules of Fantasy

The landscape of fantasy has changed remarkably in a few short years and C.L. Polk’s brave reimaginings are an important part of this ongoing transformation. Polk gives us all the charms of an Edwardian romance while winding through the plot twists and turns of a political thriller, all built in a magical world where a legendary race of immortal beings have revealed themselves to a populace kept almost entirely in the dark about the extent of magic and its existence in the world. This and many more secrets have been kept from the common folk and revealing those secrets threatens to fundamentally reshape the political, technological, and cultural world of Aeland and its neighbors. It’s a brilliant read, with characters we’ve already fallen in love with once, and several more join them in this latest offering. The complications of love and duty are always inviting themes, but Polk delights in complicating these notions further by challenging our notions of the very loyalties that she will put to the test.

Meh...

The narrator does a better job than the last guy did in the first book.
BUT, I just couldn't get into this story. It took me 5 days to finish this book & I can't really tell you a single thing that happened in it!
I fell asleep multiple times.
I'm DNFing the last book...