Roar by Cora Carmack is the first book in a new YA fantasy series called Stormheart.
In this world, magical storms threaten and only those who control them hold any real power. Aurora Pavan is heir to one of the most esteemed Stormling families in the land and will one day take up her mothers mantel as protector and ruler of Pavan. There is only one problem, Aurora has no powers.
For years her family has kept this secret about their barren daughter but Aurora is now eighteen, the rage season is upon them and she is expected to start fighting the storms that threaten her home. In an effort to maintain the throne, Aurora is forced into an arranged marriage to a man whom she loathes. When all seems lost, Aurora stumbles upon a group of hunters and learns that there is another way to fight storms.
Realizing there is another way to retain her crown and still protect her people, Aurora becomes Roar and joins this rag-tag group of hunters in the hopes of finding her own way. But Roar finds more than just magic on this journey–together with a handsome hunter, Roar will find the true power within and forge the bonds she’s secretly longed for all her life. But what will she do when Pavan is threatened? Will she face the life she left behind? Will she find the strength within to do what must be done?
I stumbled across this one as an Audible recommendation and I actually really liked it. This concept that the world is beset by storms that are almost sentient and only a rare few with stormling powers can stop them, was just a unique concept that I hadn’t heard about before.
The world building really shined in this book. It’s been a while since I read a fantasy with a really good foundation and I think Roar achieved that. You can tell that this first book is meant to build a base for the rest of the story. We learn about the world, Aurora, the storms and then we are introduced to the “evil villain” who Aurora will most likely have to face throughout the rest of the series. So things are going to get a whole lot more complicated, I just hope Carmack doesn’t overly complicated things and keeps the same feel as this first book.
There is just something about a group of misfits you just got to love and that’s what the hunters are. I really liked Jinx and Bate and I wished we got more of all of them. Instead the focus is primarily on Roar, Locke and occasionally Duke. I hope we get more of the whole group in the next one.
The only reason this one gets four stars instead of five is because I thought the back and forth between Roar and Locke was a little overdone. I loved the banter and the arguing but there was a little too much we can’t but we want to but he doesn’t she doesn’t, etc. Rolled my eyes a few times. So four stars it is.
That’s all for now!
-M-