Roar (Stormheart, #1)

by Cora Carmack

Challenge a tempest.
Survive it.
And you become its master.

Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world's deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora's been groomed to be the perfect queen. She's intelligent and brave and honorable. But she's yet to show any trace of the magic she'll need to protect her people.

To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora's mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He'll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They're not Stormlings. They're storm hunters.

Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there's a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.

She may not have magic now, but she can steal it if she's brave enough.

• ISBN10: 0765386313
• ISBN13: 9780765386311
• Publish Date: 13 June 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

I’d been in a rut of unsatisfying books when I started Roar. I was hopeful but also my tolerance for books was pretty low. I wasn't sure at first how far I'd get in this one until it started switching points of view. The main character was trapped a bit by her naivete (intentionally as an arc). So the other characters were able to give the story some depth and introduce intrigue. It was enough to hold my interest until it got good about halfway (two thirds?) through.  

I think the hint of romance strung through it also kept me reading. The revelations weren't surprising but it was nice to have my expectations confirmed eventually.

I also thought the worldbuilding was interesting and different. It had a bit of depth, though not quite as much as it could have. Some things were a little vague like what's the point in having magic if anyone can steal the heart of a storm? I think that was kind of the point but it also felt a little like she was undermining her own mythology. Perhaps it simply could have been explained a bit more gracefully with a conversation around that topic between the characters.

I was all set to read the next book…except it's not available at my library. I imagine it's a strategy--get them interested in the first book so they'll spend money on the next one. But I read books first and then buy the ones I like and want to reread and I'm simply unsure of how much I'll like the next one. Once I put Roar down, it hasn't haunted me at all. So I guess this will remain an unfinished series for me…. at least for the time being.

[alisoninbookland]

Decent enough listen. Characters were a bit lackluster. Eyerolling romance.

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[kalventure]

My favorite reading experiences are when a book takes me by complete surprise. It isn't often that I pick up a book without any influence from other readers, but I picked Roar up at just the right time. I don't even know how to write this review, which is probably why I spent half an hour contemplating which Stormling affinity I would have (⛈️ Skyfire, if you must know). If you enjoy incredibly vast world-building, magic systems, found families, with a dash of morally grey and corrupt characters then you need to pick this one up immediately!

"Our world is brutal, but you are brave enough to face it."

Roar is told primarily in the third-person perspective of Aurora Pavan, the 18-year-old heir to one of the most powerful Stormling families in Caelira. Only she doesn't have the magic which keeps her family in power, trapping her in a cage of fear with little options.

"She spent every moment of every day yearning for adventure, and she would gladly take it from his hands."

Too often I find the Sheltered Princess Character indignant and bratty, but Rora exhibits an eagerness to learn from everyone that is refreshing. Rather than balk at her worldview being challenged, she takes it as an opportunity for new experiences. She grew up sheltered in the palace for fear that her lack of Stormling magic would be discovered, dreaming of going on adventures and seeing the world beyond Pavan's walls. She's brave and fiercely independent, but also vulnerable.

"She would have to learn from the experiences of others instead of just her own."

As much as Rora's story is about her learning more about the world, it is also about her gaining agency over herself. Her decision to join the storm hunters on the surface is her way to earn magic so she can keep her kingdom without having to get married, but it also her way of taking control of her life.

"As a child, she had belonged to her parents, then as new heir, she had belonged to the kingdom. When her magic never manifested, her life belonged to her secrets. She had hoped that when all was said and done, she could finally belong to herself."

Where Rora is fearlessly independent and holds a youthful idealism, her storm hunter mentor Locke is battle-hardened and hardened by a hard life full of loss. He's tall, dark, and dreamy with long hair and a scar in his eyebrow (a la Spike). What can I say? I have a type. Watching both of their walls come down and open up to each other was one of the most beautiful things to read.

"If she were a storm, she could destroy him, and he would never lift a finger to protect himself."

As a rule, I am over the Alpha Protector Male, so I would be remiss to not touch on the love interests' propensity towards possessiveness. A lot of the tension comes from the Love Interest's desire to protect Rora rather than trusting that she can take care of herself (which she proves time and time again). But what I did appreciate was his coming to terms with her independence, and I think falling in love with her because of it. You can see his language and thoughts surrounding her evolve as she challenges his possessiveness, which I found to be a rather nuanced look at how toxic masculinity can evolve well challenged (provided the person is willing).

Honestly, I could write essays about how much I love the characters, even the morally grey Cassius. It's no secret that I adore ragtag found families, and this group of hunters shares the playful banter that I can't get enough of. I honestly lost count of the number of times that I laughed out loud and their back-and-forth teasing. While the majority of page-time is dedicated to Rora and Locke / Cassius, each of the supporting characters felt fully developed with their own motivations. I felt connected to all of them . . . even Cassius, because there is more there than what meets the eye. Despite this, he is problematic and I don't think that the book implies otherwise; I appreciate that Rora extricated herself from that situation. I am really excited to see what happens next in Rage because everything and everyone is set up well to dive right into the action.

"Storms are the greatest predators in existence because they can destroy you with their savage strength or enthrall you with their terrible beauty."

The world-building is intriguing and doled out slowly rather than all at once. The world that Carmack crafted is remarkable, and I relished in the intricate magic system. I'll admit that I was a fair bit confused about how Stormling magic works and its limits, but I think that is done in large part because Rora knows so little. Once she meets up with Locke and the others, the magic system is explained in a lot more detail rather than as a matter-of-fact concept.

This book is beautifully written without falling into purple prose, is fast-paced, and action-packed. The story is excellently plotted with rising action that builds up to the very end of the book and sets up the sequel nicely while also having a semblance of closure. I was fully immersed in Rora's journey, but while the occasional Cassius or Novaya section to give an update on the happenings in Pavan didn't feel disjointed or pull me out of the story which often happens to me with multiple POV narratives. Unfortunately, by the time that I reached the end of the book I was left feeling that the Cassius and Novaya sections didn't add anything to the story. I almost wonder if the ending would have been more of a shock had the reader also been unaware of what happened since she left.

Overall, I loved Roar and am exceedingly excited for Rage. Carmack crafted an intricately fascinating world where storms ravage the land and people have the power to control them. If you enjoy stories with found families, an amazing cast of characters, and a well plotted story that builds up to what I expect will be a solid sequel, I cannot recommend this book enough!

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[nannah]

Oh, boy. I’m sorry, but this book was a hot mess. There was very little that I enjoyed, and I was very surprised to find out this wasn’t the author’s first book--but not surprised to find out she was an adult romance writer before trying her hand at YA.

Book content warnings:
In-book (?) sexism/misogyny
Manipulation & sexual assault & harassment by the romantic interest--played off to be “”sexy”” (it’s called out by the protag but in the romantic interest’s mind it’s justified and never really brought up again …)

Arora (Rora, Roar--the nicknames are RIDICULOUS; Casimir→ Mir? MIR??) Pavan is a Stormling: a member of a royal family that help protect civilians from the deadly and beast-like storms that have ravaged the entire world. Only Stormlings have the power to fight and kill these storms … right? Except that Arora doesn’t. And when she meets a team of storm hunters in the black market and learns that you actually don’t have to have Stormling blood to fight storms, her entire world gets turned upside down.

It’s an interesting concept, but the execution falls flat. There’s so much “telling” instead of “showing” in important places. For example the author tells me what everyone intends to do or what their actions mean, making everything seem cheap instead of meaningful. There’s also a lot of sloppy editing: commas in the wrong places (especially where there shouldn’t be any), weird sentence structures, and overall just inconsistent style. Where’s the editor in all this? Especially when Arora got knocked out by a bottle. You can’t get knocked out by a bottle without brain damage or dying! It doesn’t work that way! That’s like … writing cliches 101.

I also found it really hard to enjoy the romance between the two main characters. The love interest, Locke, practically harassed and sexually assaulted Roar (aka Arora) a couple times, and besides the first time (which I’m glad Roar called him out), it was taken to be “sexy” and sexy banter. Especially since, according to Locke’s inner monologue, he doesn’t really see what he did as wrong. Worse yet, after he assaults her one time, he emotionally manipulates her so that he can pretend it was part of her storm-hunting “training”. Badly done! He even admits this later: “I’m an ass who gets what he wants.” I don’t know why people find this hot. It’s not hot!

Lovely man. Just what we want teens to look for in relationships, lmao!

The writing in the romantic parts was also … pretty awful. This was where I could tell the author was an adult romance writer before she came to YA territory. Everything was “Manly this” and “Manly that” -- Roar has one hand touch her body and she’s all theirs, and “better yet, she had stopped fighting him completely”, and “to fall back on another argument would give her the precious distance she needed”. Good lord. This is why I read more LGBT books lately; I can’t deal with straight drama (that, and well, I’m not straight.).

There was also the fact that 200 pages in, I was still learning who the secondary characters were. “An earth witch, her enchantments were the strongest he’d ever seen, thanks to her affinity to nature, of which storms were a part.” OH MY GOD. 1). I know this already. 2). This is SUCH boring writing; it’s like listing facts in a nonfiction paper.

Around the 200 page point things really get sloppy. This is where the plot actually begins. There’s finally a protagonist goal and a villain introduction! And it’s during this point the PoV’s become messy; like in one you’ll have a sentence that’s supposed to be another’s … like the author missed it, but decided not to backtrace and put it in the other’s so just plopped it in this one instead. There’s kissing instead of sorting out anger (not a writing issue, but a bad understanding of who she’s writing for and maybe how she should represent to the people she’s writing for). Along the same lines, the protagonist bases her self esteem on if a cool guy likes her--and there’s no questioning of that line of thinking. You’re writing a book for teens (and most likely teen girls), and that’s what you present to them??

And then page 342 -- just THREE CHAPTERS from the end I finally learn the villain’s name and about who he actually is?

Then the book ends … without a climax.. It just ends. There’s no climax, no resolution, there’s just … nothing. It ends just as … like I was on page 150 or something.

The storms are an idea that’s pretty interesting, but I honestly Could Not Stand this book, and only read it all because of a friend. I’m so sorry, but it’s Definitely not for me.

[reveriesociety_]

Yeah, I still loved it reading it for the second time. Now on to Rage!

[littleread1]

well that was just really fun.

[Cocktails and Books]

I'm late to the game with this one, but it was still a great read. Can't wait to see what happens next when RAGE comes out this summer.

Review originally posted at Simply Adrift.

I picked up Roar because I saw a lot of people were raving about it. I liked the sound of the synopsis, but to be honest, it didn't sell me as much as the reviews did. I mean everyone has been rating it 4 & 5 stars, but the synopsis was really blasé. I definitely had high hopes after checking out the reviews.

The first two chapters confused me a lot. Everyone loved this book, but the first few chapters screamed insta-love, and over description. Honestly, the first chapter is Aurora meeting her betrothed for the first time, and it's all about how handsome he is, literally every detail is told. How attracted to him she is, how surprised she is, how she's feeling about him and already letting her guards down. I thought that if this was how the whole book was going to be, then I wasn't going to finish it. Not a great way to start!

As the book progressed, it got more interesting, and while the insta-love part still annoyed me, I realised the reason it had been so intense in the first chapter and I was glad I pushed through. It still took me a good long while before I got hooked, the next 50% felt like it was setting up a story. Around 60-70% was when I couldn't put it down and I flew through the rest of it. I do have to be honest and say that I felt like not a lot happened story wise, this story was based more on romance. The story progressed but I felt like it had so much more potential. The last 20% had so much happening in it, I really wanted the last 20% to be expanded and through out the last half of the book, I felt like so much happened that it was a missed opportunity. The ending has me wanting to read the next book as soon as possible though. Things started to get really interesting.

The main thing I loved about this story was the magic. Magical storms that are destroying the land? Hell yes. So interesting and such a cool idea! There are people in the world called Stormlings that can control, fight, and curb the storms. They have their own magic, and because of this they are revered. They've been made the kings and queens of the Kingdoms, all of the non-magical humans rallied around these Stormlings centuries ago to keep safe. Aurora (Rora, or Roar) is a princess of Pavan, she's the heir to the throne and is meant to keep the citizens of Pavan safe. Aurora was not born with magic, she cannot keep the storms at bay like her mother, so to combat this she is marrying the second son of another Kingdom that has a lot of power and will protect her Kingdom and citizens. All her life she has been brought up in solitude as to keep other people finding out the truth, she must live with this lie to save many people's lives. I wanted to know more about the history of this world to be honest, I wanted it to be deeply rooted in the history of the land, but it just didn't quite make it there. So must potential lost.

I ended up enjoying this story because of the magic, the trope of a princess not being good enough for her kingdom, and the secrets that are kept. I want to find out how this ends, I want to see what happens when all is revealed, so I will be reading the next book. Do I recommend Roar to you? Lower your expectations, expect a light fantasy with a lot of romance, and you will enjoy it as much as everyone else seems to! I mean I did still enjoy it. I just didn't get the 5 star vibe like the rest the book lovers.

Always,
Jordon



This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift

[Beth C.]

Frankly? AMAZING.

Review to come on vampirebookclub.net

[Leigha]

I have mixed feelings about Cora Carmack’s latest young adult fantasy romance novel, Roar.

Aurora Pavan is a complicated character. I admire her courage and bravery to obtain magic despite her supposedly magical shortcomings. Fiercely setting off with a bunch of unknown hunters in order to bring back power to her kingdom is a wonderful thing. But all that admiration drys up when I really step back to analyze the events of the book. Aurora essential leaves her kingdom defenseless and unprotected to gain something she may never obtain. I feel very little remorse for her as the rest of the story unfolds.

For someone brought up to be a queen of a territory, she comes across as ignorant and juvenile. Reasons are revealed as to why she has certain characteristics, but in the end they do not justify her complete lack of knowledge about her own kingdom. Additionally, she runs off on this adventure without really thinking through the logistics. I expect a young woman, raised to be a queen, to be smarter and more thoughtful in regards to her kingdom.

The romance took me completely by surprise. I thought one individual was meant to be Aurora’s love interest, and it turned out to be someone completely different. While the romance is surprisingly sweet, I had a hard time rooting for the two lovers. Their relationships is built on lies and deceit. I wish more had been done by the end of the novel to dispel some of the lies between the two of them.

In the end, I wish this story had focused more on developing and defining Aurora as a character outside of her romantic interests and her quest hunting. The world-building and the characters are interesting enough to keep me reading further in the series. However, I need Aurora to accept some accountability and ownership over the actions she takes that lead to the ending circumstances. Her character development could make, or break, the series for me.

tl;dr A problematic protagonist mixed with intriguing world-building and a sweet romance make this an uneven read.