Storm and Fury (Harbinger, #1)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lauren Fortgang (Narrator)

Eighteen-year-old Trinity Marrow may be going blind, but she can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her unique gift is part of a secret so dangerous that she’s been in hiding for years in an isolated compound fiercely guarded by Wardens—gargoyle shape-shifters who protect humankind from demons. If the demons discover the truth about Trinity, they’ll devour her, flesh and bone, to enhance their own powers.

When Wardens from another clan arrive with disturbing reports that something out there is killing both demons and Wardens, Trinity’s safe world implodes. Not the least because one of the outsiders is the most annoying and fascinating person she’s ever met. Zayne has secrets of his own that will upend her world yet again—but working together becomes imperative once demons breach the compound and Trinity’s secret comes to light. To save her family and maybe the world, she’ll have to put her trust in Zayne. But all bets are off as a supernatural war is unleashed….

• ISBN10: 1982646403
• ISBN13: 9781982646400
• Publish Date: 11 June 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Inkyard Press
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 14 hours and 20 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

Storm and Fury is the first book to Jennifer L. Armentrout’s The Harbinger series. This series is a spin-off of the Dark Elements series. If it weren’t for these books by Jennifer L. Armentrout, I would still be in a reading slump. Thank you, Jennifer, for writing these fictional worlds that keep me entertained and out of my anxious thoughts at the moment. Books have always been the best therapy for me! I was excited to see if Zayne would get a HEA after what happened in the Dark Elements series. 

Storyline/My Thoughts: Firstly, I like Trinity’s character in this series. She’s much different from Layla (who was introduced in the Dark Elements series). Trinity has been hidden from everyone in a Warden Training/Compound since she was young. No one knows what she truly is except those who took her in (Thierry and Matthew) and her protector, Misha. They’ve kept her hidden for so long until they start noticing that demons and creatures are getting closer to the compound. There’s also the fact the Warden DC clan has come to visit for reinforcements. They are experiencing something that is killing off Wardens and Demons and need help. Readers who read the Dark Elements series will get Nicolai, Dez, and Zayne again in this book. Yes, Zayne. He plays a significant role in this book. Zayne comes off as a stalker in this book when it comes to Trinity. He’s always running into her and being there when she ends up in trouble. These two will be inseparable and for a good reason.

There’s not only trouble in DC with something killing Wardens and Demons, but someone knows about Trinity’s real identity. That someone or something will do anything to get to her, even take someone close to her.
Readers will get Roth and Layla in this book, which I was happy to get more of them (They are from the Dark Elements series). Although, there is tension between Zayne, Layla, and Roth, still in this book. Trinity notices it the first time she meets them. Of course, she is going to be curious and ask, and Roth is the one who will tell her the truth. (Roth speaks up every time)
Several other characters come to play in this book from the previous series. There’s a scene with Bambi (Roth’s old familiar). I love and miss Bambi. 🙂 Let’s not forget Cayman, too. He’s a demon broker. I love his character, too.

This book is only told from one point of view, which is in Trinity’s voice. Trinity is one character that I will never be able to forget. She’s strong and brave. She can hold her own, and she proves it several times, even with everything she is going through. She’s one of the first characters I’ve read in a YA fantasy book with a disability. She has a rare eye disease, which is incurable and can eventually lead to blindness. Jennifer L. Armentrout suffers from the same rare eye disease, so she wrote Trinity’s character with what she is impacted with daily with the disease.

The only reason this book is not getting five stars is due to the book being so long and taking a while to build up. (It didn’t stop me from reading it, though.) Some scenes were repetitive to me. I’m going to blame it on Zayne. I like the Warden, but he needs someone to knock some sense into him on how he acts around Trinity. I was also able to figure out the ending. I got this funny feeling it was going to be something that would tick me off and leave poor Trinity in shock. I felt for Trinity at the end. She was put in a hard place. Other than those two things, I loved being back in this paranormal world that Jennifer created. It took me away from reality. (My husband, though, would rather I stay in reality and watch tv shows with him. Books have been helping me since I was a kid, so I’ll stick with them.)

Someday in the future, I’ll keep my reviews shorter, but not today. 🙂 I can’t wait until the next book in the Harbinger series. I’m determined to catch up before the next book releases.

Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Harbinger series, and I would recommend reading it in order. It’s also a spin-off series of the Dark Elements. If you have not read that series first, I would recommend reading it and then diving into the Harbinger series. You will miss out on meeting Layla and Roth for the first time. 🙂

Cliffhanger: Yes.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are a Young Adult Fantasy addict like I am currently, I would recommend this book/series.

P.S. My all-time favorite scene in this book was when Cayman finally realized what Trinity was in the book. He was scared of Trinity. It was funny when a demon says, “you scare him.” LOL 😂 Even, Zayne gave him a hard time about it.

[writehollydavis]

A really enjoyable read! I was drawn in by the worldbuilding, the mysteries surrounding who was killing both demons and Wardens, and the romance. It was believable and made me connect with the characters. Looking forward to how the plot will expand in the sequel.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

EDITED// 9/6/19

Star Rating: —> 4.7 Stars

[So just FYI; If I were rich, and um... Oprah... I’d probably give a nice hardcover copy of this to everyone- you get a copy, and you get a copy, and you get a copy! And YOU get a copy! Hand it out on the streets, do giveaways, you know... whatevs :-P ] !!!!

MMMK:

So, firstly, let’s talk about the Main Character:

Trinity: Trinity is “special,” in that she’s an extremely powerful (half) supernatural being... and the last of her kind. So, it kinda comes with the whole “special” territory that she needs a whole Compound full of Wardens to guard & protect her from evil/ MEGA EVIL and keep her very existence a secret because she’s, well, (as much as I hate to say it because, you know, tropes and all) & don’t cringe (!) ... a “Chosen One.” She is the last hope when the world goes dark. Because of this, she has been trained to fight her whole life, & with supernatural strength, can completely kick ass, & (more than) hold her own. She can even best Wardens! She can also see & talk to ghosts & spirits, & helps them “move on.”
One Catch: she’s almost completely blind! That pretty much makes it super hard to fight, and she generally has to rely on her “spidey-sense” to fight, & well, live. She’s got it down pat, but it doesn’t make it easy to be the “chosen one” !

Trinity’s closest friends B.Z. (Before Zayne

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Storm and Fury through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It seems like Jennifer L. Armentrout has a never ending supply of ideas. Storm and Fury is the start of her newest series, The Harbinger. It fits well into the worlds that she has already created, so fans of her other series will love this one!
Storm and Fury follows Trinity Marrow. Trinity is special, but maybe not for the reasons you might guess. She's the last of her kind, and she's protected by and from Wardens because of it. It makes for a difficult life, to put it mildly. Throw her genetic condition into the mix...and it's no wonder Trinity is so willing to take risks and keep herself busy and entertained.
I truly enjoyed Storm and Fury – and I can honestly tell you that you don't have to be up to date in any of her other series to understand and follow this one. So if you've been meaning to try some of her work, this isn't a bad starting point.


Storm and Fury was as action packed as it was compelling. Trinity was a brilliant main character – the sort that gets into plenty of trouble and keeps us entertained from start to finish. Everything about this novel kept my focus – I hated having to take breaks (stupid real world making me deal with it).
I'll confess that I don't normally love the whole angels and demons plot device, but I really enjoyed it here. Maybe it was the addition of the Wardens that helped balance it out. Maybe it's because the characters were human. Or more likely, it was a combination of the two. I will say that it was really well done, so if you find yourself wavering because of this point, I'd suggest giving it a go.
I think part of the reason I enjoyed everything about Trinity is because her abilities didn't come without a cost. There are immediate consequences for using her abilities. But there are also other issues in her life as well. It made her come off as more human and less overpowered, which I appreciated.
The Warden system was fascinating, and I sincerely couldn't get enough of it. I loved seeing how Trinity fit into the scheme of things, and how they interacted and dealt with her. I don't know what is going to happen with the rest of the Wardens, especially not in the long run. But I'm looking forward to finding out.
The romantic subplot really sold the whole premise, if I'm being honest. It was cute, it was endearing, and I really adored how much they frustrated each other. It's the best form of hate to love out there. Of course, now that I've finished the novel, I'm dying to know what is going to happen to them in the long run. Because I have so many questions.
I'm so happy that I gave Storm and Fury a try. But sadly now I have to desperately wait for any news on the rest of the series...and I'm not exactly known for being patient. Oh well, I have no doubt that it'll be worth the wait!


For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Romance Schmomance]

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that we're finally getting Zayne's story. I'll admit, he wasn't exactly my favorite in The Dark Elements series, but I knew more than anything that I'd love to read about his happily ever after. I'm so thankful that Jennifer decided to give us his story because I am here for all of it.

Before I started, I had no idea what I was going to get myself into. But I definitely gained a new appreciation for Zayne, I'll be honest, my heart broke for him a little bit. And I'm just entirely unsure what other hurdles he'll have to get over before the end of this series. It's so evident that he's still dealing with everything that happened during The Dark Element series. Or rather lack of dealing it, I don't think he'll completely move on from it all until he decides to face it.

And I truly believe Trinity will be the one that will force him to start facing his problems. I loved Trinity and she came off a little bit older than her age. She's definitely the type of girl that flies off the handle and acts before she thinks. She's not afraid and will never be one to stand down from a fight. Like many of JLA's heroines, never come between them and the ones they love, they're fierce and loyal to them 100%.

Of course, we get to see Layla and Roth, AND his familiars ;-) Everything between Layla and Zayne is a little bit stunted and just painful, so I know that we'll continue to see their story arc throughout the series. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that because it's essentially adding in a third party. Of course, it won't go that way, but Zayne is in a position where he's still trying to sort everything out. I'm still not convinced about his feelings towards Trinity. And Trin is on the same boat out that. I'm hoping like heck that he won't break her heart, I will not be happy about that.

Thankfully the ending wasn't too cliffhanger-y, but I totally saw what happened coming and it just has me biting at the bit! I just have no idea how Zayne will approach everything that has been thrown his way. Zayne, the rule follower, sticking to what he was always taught even if he was proven wrong about certain things. I'm holding out a lot of hope for him and just rather eager to get the next book in their story.

All around, a great start to JLA's new series and one that I'll undoubtedly be a fan of!

CHECK OUT THE REST OF MY REVIEW : HERE

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[whisperingchapters]

This is quite the enjoyable and entertaining story, even though it is similar to the author's other works.

Trinity is a special snowflake. Quite a few times, she'd get on my nerves with the decisions she'd take. Even though she'd say she was thinking of others, her motives would kind of be selfish, in my opinion. She does have badass aspects that I loved. Not only that, she has an eye illness that affects her vision to the point where she can go blind. This illness is the same that JLA has. It was nice to learn something new and read the author's experience through Trinity. Zayne was ever the gentleman. I honestly liked him a lot and he gave a lot to the story.

There was a lot of action involved in this one, which is something I like out of a paranormal story. Even though I didn't read the Dark Elements series, I was never lost reading this one, which I thought was great. I already knew a little of Layle and Roth, so seeing them and a few other characters in this new series was fantastic for me, especially Roth!

I enjoyed this story a lot. The only thing is that JLA's writing, even though it's amazing, it's kind of repetitive. This seemed so similar to her Covenant series, in a lot of ways. Still, it's quite entertaining and will keep you wanting more :)

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley and Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First of all, I want to share that Storm and Fury is a spin-off series from Jennifer’s The Dark Elements series. While I felt like this could be read as a standalone without a great deal of confusion, many other do suggest reading The Dark Elements first. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Okay. Where to begin?

There are a few aspects of Storm and Fury I want to discuss, the first fundamentally being that this book was NOT for me. I read the summary and thought this was going to be a fantasy action novel with light tones of romance and a diverse main character. Realistically, this is a paranormal romance with a sidebar about retinitis pigmentosa. We have gargoyles and nephilim, but the tone is more Supernatural fanfiction than I was expecting, and paranormal romance is not a genre I enjoy. So my perspective is pretty jaded.

The thing that got under my skin the most (outside of the cheesy romance, but that’s a personal preference thing) was the way Trinity was able to fight so flawlessly, but she was “going blind”. There’s a couple things you should know about this so you don’t make an ass out of yourself like I did.

1. Jennifer L. Armentrout has retinitis pigmentosa herself, so this is an #OwnVoices experience.
2. Symptoms of RP include: loss of sight in low light, degenerating peripheral vision, and eventual tunnel vision. While complete blindness is uncommon, it is a possibility.

The details of retinitis pigmentosa are not laid out until 75% of the way through the story, so given only the information that we had a blind/mostly blind protagonist, I was ruthless in my judgment while I was reading. Now that I’ve read her acknowledgements (#awkward) and done a little research on RP, I still have some fundamental concerns. I think it’s great that Jennifer has shared her experience and spread awareness. The dim scenes with Trinity stumbling and becoming sad and frustrated by her degenerating eyesight make you really feel for the character. RP and other conditions like it need spotlight to build awareness. However.

In battle, Trinity is unstoppable. She retains some injuries, but not enough that they really slow her down. The various gargoyles (called Wardens) are constantly flying in to rescue her only to be half-burned to death and get imp claws embedded in their chests. Even without RP, Trinity’s ability to simply destroy in battles makes me cringe. Nephilim are a force to be reckoned with, if Jack in Supernatural has taught us anything… but they still must have their flaws. Continuing with this example – Jack’s abilities are hampered by his control, and his greatest weaknesses are guilt, fear, and a desire to protect (not harm) those he cares for. These things stay his hand and cause him pain. Basically, he’s not overpowered because his flaws retrain him.

Trinity doesn’t have that.

At least half the fighting in Storm and Fury is at night, and from the symptoms we’ve been presented, the RP should offer considerable challenges in a night battle. Enemies could easily come at her in the dark, or from the sides, and the odds of her throwing a knife and hitting them dead on are zero to none. Instead, she continues to slay, and so perfectly that I can’t resist criticizing it. It’s a huge flaw in many YA fantasies that the heroes/heroines are unstoppable. The retinitis pigmentosis offers such an interesting obstacle to this scenario, and I want to see Trinity destroy with that… not have it seem to disappear at opportune moments.

I get that, since this is an #OwnVoices story, this perspective feels pretty insensitive. I’m cringing a little writing it, but I don’t feel right about not being honest about this. It was a huge problem in consistency for me.

Okay. Now that’s out of the way.

Plot-wise, the twists and turns here failed to surprise me. This is a pretty common theme in paranormal romance, because yeah. We’re here for the mushy scenes that make people weak at the knees, ja? I think Jennifer’s existing fans are going to love this book. Zayne’s character is one in particular that will make people swoon. Since this is YA, there are no really explicit scenes, but it gets just about as steamy as it can get without that.

But lets talk about overall relationships here, because there’s made me cringe as well.

First of all, this book opens with a non-consent scene. It’s not rape, but it’s only a few steps short. So, holy trigger warnings Batman! It comes at your hard, and it comes at you fast. I think the conversation about consent is important, but the way it’s so casually thrown out in the first few pages there was an intense and discomforting beginning.

As the story goes on, there’s a lot of casual scenes and comments that I picked up on about how the women are perceived as weaker than the men. I find this a bit ironic, since Trinity, our overpowered protagonist, is a woman. Nonetheless, she is required to have a protector and whether it’s Misha or Zayne or someone else… people are always saving her. There was also a flyaway comment about how the female Wardens don’t learn to fight. Um, what now?

Some other small bits:

- There are a LOT of pop culture / current society references. I’m not sure if these are technically relevant or not, because I’m not really sure about the year… but yeah things like “fake news” and “special snowflake” and conversations about Star Wars and Buffy.

- Trinity can see ghosts, and as far as Storm and Fury goes, this brings nothing real to the story. I think Peanut is supposed to be comic relief, but I don’t understand the point of him.

- I actually do appreciate the amount of time Trinity spends worrying about normal teenagers things, like acting foolish, because that’s missing in a lot of YA. There’s scenes where she feels young, and that’s good.

I know I have a lot of shade to through on Storm and Fury, but fundamentally, this is going to be a good fit for the audiences who like this sort of thing. Angels and demons and magic and romance and plots… and a lot of desire and steamy moments. This really isn’t my genre, but from what I’ve read of paranormal romance, it’s a good fit for the genre.

So!

Do you like stories about a Chosen One, about sharing deep trues and characters who click at first meeting? Forbidden love stories and overcoming adversity to save the world? Come on down an give Storm and Fury a try! You will most likely like it more than me.

[Leigha]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Trinity Marrow has a secret destiny in this spin-off to the Dark Elements trilogy.

I was not a fan of the Dark Elements series for two reasons – I didn’t like the main character and I hated the love triangle. When I saw this book available on NetGalley, I originally passed. Once I realized the main character suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (the author has the same disease), I decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did!

I loved Trinity. Like many of Armentrout’s leading ladies, she was snarky, spirited, and brave. Her vulnerability about her degenerative eye disease as well as the other events driving her life felt genuine and believable. Her growing relationship with Zayne was so precious. I didn’t particularly like Zayne in the original series, but he definitely grew on me in this book. Roth, Layla, and several other secondary characters pop-up on occasion, but they never detract from Trinity and Zayne.

I’ve read most (if not all) of Armentrout’s young adult fantasy novels and they have a similar ebb and flow to them. This book, for the first time in a long time, actually managed to surprise me. While the jury is still out on whether or not the gargoyle lore is hokey, I am actually looking forward to seeing how the world expands.

tl;dr A likable heroine, a sweet romance, and some surprising turn of events make this novel a must read for fantasy romance fans.

[Beth C.]

This may be the first book of hers I've read, but...I like it. The main character, Trinity, does some growing through the story, but can be a bit annoying at the beginning. Her impulsiveness is, at times, to the point of ridiculousness. However, I do like that she is a is a strong female character. Yes, she can kick ass - but it's more than that. She has an inner strength that begins to show more throughout the story. And to me, that ability to just put one foot in front of the other and keep going no matter how bad things may get is more important than being able to physically kick ass. And I have a great appreciation for a main character who is...less than perfect, physically (no spoilers). It can go either way with something like that, either horribly whiny or TOO independent in a way that feels false. That is certainly not the case here, and it's excellent.

The different elements of the story - the gargoyles that are truly alive, the ghosts and spirits, the demons...all make for an interesting twist on the typical fantasy story. It kept me reading - all day. It's been a while since a book kept my attention that thoroughly. And honestly? One of my FAVORITE characters was...a ghost.

I will certainly be looking out for book two to find out where things go from here!