***Slightly Spoilery***
STORMRISE is a compelling adventure about a young woman who is determined to save her twin brother and her country from an invading force by disguising herself as him, and taking his place in an elite combat unit. Rain, sister of Storm, has spent her life trying to make up for her father’s loss of a son. A fever as infants left Storm with brain damage that means he’ll need to remain in his parent’s care for the rest of his life, and Rain has taken it upon herself to learn the men’s martial arts in secret and take on Storm’s domestic burdens as well as her own so her father’s honor isn’t tarnished.
Which is fortuitous because when their home nation is invaded and Storm is drafted, Rain is able to go in his place.
But not without a bit of dragonmagic to keep everyone from knowing she’s a girl. Set in a fantasy world where the dragons vanished generations ago, the only magic in STORMRISE comes from creating tinctures and potions made from their increasingly rare preserved remains, meaning humans are literally consuming magic in order to be able to do it.
When Rain begins to consume the powder meant to increase her maleness—handled superbly by Boehme—she starts to hear voices in her head: the plaintive cry of the dead dragon’s mate, the mighty she-king Nuaga.
For all that the action is quick, engaging, very well choreographed, and gory, the pace is gentle and stretches you along from one fascinating revelation to another. The main plot here isn’t about a soldier waking the dragons, winning a war and defeating a bad guy, but of the internal struggle of a young woman trying to figure out her own value in a society where she’s not allowed to have any.
What I love best about STORMRISE is for all that it is a stand-alone adventure fantasy, it is also a compelling and interesting book that takes the intellectual exercise of a condescending, infantilizing patriarchy to the extreme—where women are executed as thieves for running away or dressing as boys because they are stealing themselves—and what it means to not fit in the boxes that society tries to stuff you into. Kind, sensitive boys use magic to make them cruel and aggressive, boys who prefer intellectual pursuits and bullied into the army, neuro-divergent characters are in danger of being killed because of extreme ableism, and women who don’t want to be wives and mothers are useless.
Boehme’s spare and poetic wordcrafting mirrors subtle worldbuilding that allows room for the imagination to breathe. Boehme doesn’t spoonfeed you anything: characters are only as described as they need to be for you to differentiate them, and the food, architecture, geography, and culture of her fantasy realm is described only through the character’s actions, can be inferred by their observations, without long narrative-disrupting screeds about history and poetry. I personally <i>love</i> this kind of storytelling, because it <i>trusts</i> the reader. All of this is combined with a fascinating, unique and original magic system with a source I’ve never read before.
The resolution of the novel is simple, but no less satisfying for all that. Rain proves that women are just as capable as men, and as a result, changes the mind of the high king and the traditions of the kingdom. That may seem cheap to readers who aren’t paying attention, but the very ease with which Rain changes the world <i>is the point.</i>
No one would listen to Rain, because of her gender. No one would listen to the dragons before they vanished, because they were different. No one would listen to Nuaga, when she came to them in dreams begging for help, because she was the Other, and strange, and terrifying.
STORMRISE offers a lesson to young readers, especially in this age of hate crimes and violence, that you can make a difference, and you can make your voice heard, and even though you are not “the mainstream normal”, you are powerful, and valid. <i>You matter.</i> All you have to do is do the thing.
My only wish is that this was the first book in a series so I could see more of Rain rising to the challenges laid before her by HEA, and the honors she won at the end of the book. I would have loved to have seen the issues of being gender fluid or non-conforming highlighted and addressed even more (though I understand why it wasn’t—Rain herself is not trans, and it would be disingenuous to speak of her as if she was simply because she is gender non-conforming in terms of outward presentation and interests in the world of this fantasy society). If there was a second book, it would be great to see Rain spearheading a movement to recognize and help those whom this rigid patriarchy wounds. And I would <i>really</i> have loved to see what it means to be part of a dragon clan in a world that has largely moved on without dragons, and to see the culture and society of the dragons themselves, as well as share Nuaga’s grief over her long-lost mate now that the war is done and she has time to mourn.
Which all just proves that I was invested enough in the tale to want more.
All of my wishing aside, STORMRISE is an alluring, charming novel of magic, self-determination, and the journey of discovering one’s authentic self and true power.
