Review.

The Origin of Storms: Take 2

Elizabeth Bear

Note:

Ok this is unusual. I requested (and received) a review copy of The Origins of Storms from NetGalley using L’s academic account. So I dutifully did a review and posted it under her account. Then it occurred to me I could do this in my own right so I signed up and requested it again — along with The Kaiju Preservation Society . And then they sent me the book…again. So now I am faced with submitting the same review(s) twice or writing a new one.

So here is a new one… a lot like the old one, but different…

The Origin of Storms

Book 3 of The Lotus Kingdoms
Pub date: 24 May 2022
Publisher: Tor Books
Reviewed from NetGalley

The Origin of Storms is the third of The Lotus Kingdoms trilogy, which itself is the second trilogy that takes place in the worlds of the Eternal Sky. The first two books introduce us to the characters and set up our expectations of how the story might/should play out, and then Bear uses this third to slowly unravel those very expectations. With a deft hand she make us shift our perspectives and, in some cases, even our sympathies.

Like most of Bear’s writing, The Origin of Storms is tight, dynamic and has pretty good pacing. I read all three books in a row so it flowed pretty well but I might have regretted not rereading Book II if the length of time had been a bit longer between them. But that said, I think she does a good job of catching the reader up — which is always a challenge in these kinds of complex worlds.

The Rajni Mrithuri stands as the chief claimant to the Alchemical throne now, but she and her empire remain a prize to be taken unless she gets an heir. She has her allies–her cousin Sayeh, a dragon, a foreign wizard, a fearsome automaton, and the Dead Man–but the throne has the final say. And if it rejects her, the price is death.

This excerpt from the book blurb spells out the plot fairly accurately but it doesn’t really give us a sense of where Bear is going with this trilogy. The story may be rooted in Empire, but ultimately it is about the nature of power, the burdens of responsibility, and knowing what’s right when you’ve got that metaphorical tiger by the tail. All wrapped up in a pretty exciting story line.

This book has a little bit for everyone, follows and breaks conventions in equal measure, and is a darn satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Is it my favourite Bear book? No, but it is definitely up there in the top third…

Check out the first review for more thoughts on this book.