• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Stance on AI
    • Contact
    • Friends of FFA
  • Blog
    • Reviews
      • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
      • Comics / Graphic Novels
      • Fantasy
        • Alt History
        • Epic Fantasy
        • Fairy Tales
        • Grimdark
        • Heroic Fantasy
        • LitRPG
        • Paranormal Fantasy
        • Romantic Fantasy
        • Steampunk
        • Superheroes
        • Sword and Sorcery
        • Urban Fantasy
      • Fear For All
        • Demons
        • Ghosts
        • Gothic
        • Lovecraftian
        • Monsters
        • Occult
        • Psychological
        • Slasher
        • Vampires
        • Werewolves
        • Witches
        • Zombies
      • Fiction
      • Science Fiction
        • Aliens
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Alt History
        • Cyberpunk
        • Dystopian
        • Hard SciFi
        • Mechs/Robots
        • Military SF
        • Space Opera
        • Steampunk
        • Time Travel
      • Thriller
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Interviews
      • Book Tube
      • Authorly Writing Advice
  • SFF Addicts
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2025
    • TBRCon2024
    • TBRCon2023
    • TBRCon2022
  • FFA Book Club
  • FFA TBR Toppers
    • Advertise Your Book on FFA!
  • Writer Resources
    • Artists
    • Cartographers
    • Editing/Formatting/Proofing

Book Review: Storm and Shield (Mages of the Wheel #2) by JD Evans

July 3, 2024 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment

Rating: 10/10

TL;DR Review: More magic, more action, and all the spice and steam you could ask for. A spectacular “opposites attract” romance.

Synopsis:

“All you see is that I run. Why haven’t you realized I always come back?”

She is lightning and storm. A spy, driven out of her home by a tyrant ruler. He is granite and earth. A guard, ordered to keep her contained.

To protect herself and her family, she’s learned to go unnoticed, unseen. Suddenly a refugee in a land that once was enemy and now must be home, she isn’t certain where she belongs, or what her duty is beyond her family. She can’t protect them alone this time, but the only man who can help her is the only one she cannot ask.

He’s sworn his loyalty to the Sultana since she lifted him out of the gutter that made him. The arrival of a foreign spy loyal to the new prince makes him question himself and his orders, and his mistakes threaten the life of the ruler he swore to serve.

War will force choices of them both. She—to remain a spy, or stand and lend her powerful, untamed magic to the Sultana of Tamar. He—to remain a loyal, unquestioning guard, or learn to trust his instincts, and his heart.

They are magic in opposition, earth and sky, steady and mutable. One immovable as stone, the other fast as the wind. Balance, sometimes, is chaos.

He needed the storm and wildness of her, he needed the way she broke him apart.

Full Review:

Reign and Ruin introduced us to the city of Narfour and its Sultana, Naime, who is struggling to wrest control of her father’s kingdom from the schemes and plots of the wicked (incredibly Jafar-esque) Vizier Kadir, with the help of handsome warrior-prince Makram. Storm and Shield brings us right back into the fray, but with a whole new perspective.

The characters in this story are:

Aysel, daughter of Makram’s most trusted ally (and mentor/father figure), raised to be a sneak and spy. She may be small, but she has personality, wit, courage, and cunning in ample measure.

Bashir, Commander of Narfour’s city guard, charged with keeping law—which Aysel immediately breaks on her first night under his watch. For all his immense size, he is a gentle giant at heart with a soft interior few ever get to see beneath his stony façade.

The two are opposites in every possible way—size, temperament, even their magic (air is quick and uncontrollable, earth is solid and immovable)—and that makes them a pairing that is an absolute delight to read.

From their first encounter, Aysel delights in giving him seven kinds of hell, using her sharp wit and airy humor to put the stern commander in his place. For his part, Bashir can’t seem to keep this flighty thief/spy under control, and that infuriates him—even as it draws him to her.

While Naime and Makram’s pairing had all the gravitas you’d expect from a Sultana and warrior prince, Aysel and Bashir’s romance is a great deal of fun. Aysel is the sort of person who laughs and schemes and dances her way through life, which contrasts deliciously with Bashir’s deliberate, thoughtful, orderly personality.

What made me love this book so much was how similar to my own life it was. My 5’3” wife is a firecracker (to put it mildly) who loves to dance (literally) circles around me the way Aysel does around Bashir. I, on the other hand, have the same solid, longsuffering personality of Bashir that makes for the immovable object around which my favorite unstoppable force can blow like the whirlwind.

Romance aside, the plot continued to be epic and interesting, with high stakes for both Aysel (assassins hunting her family) and Naime and Makram who we first fell in love with (that Wheel-damned Vizier and his schemes!). We get an expansion of the Wheel of magic, a look at another House of magic (Air, where Makram was Destruction), and an advancement of both Naime and Makram’s story.

Though Storm and Shield followed new characters, it did an amazing job of keeping to familiar territory and pressing forward on the previous book’s plot. It even incorporated those new characters into the overarching scheme and showed the continuing development of Naime and Makram’s romance.

All in all, a second-in-series that not only lived up to its predecessor, but enjoyed itself a lot more while still keeping to the spirit and tone that made Reign and Ruin such a delight.

Epic plot, spectacular characters, and a world that feels instantly familiar and engaging. I’m giving this book ALL THE STARS.

Filed Under: High Fantasy, Middle Eastern Inspired, Romantic Fantasy Tagged With: Book Review, Books, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Self Published

About Andy Peloquin

I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand-new way. Fiction at its very best!

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review R.U.R (Graphic Novel) adapted by Kateřina Čupová

Review: After the Pink Moon by E. Reyes

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler

Review: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi #2) by Django Wexler

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

FFA Newsletter!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Author Hub

Read A.J. Calvin
Read Andy Peloquin
Read C.J. Daily
Read C.M. Caplan
Read D.A. Smith
Read DB Rook
Read Francisca Liliana
Read Frasier Armitage
Read Josh Hanson
Read Krystle Matar
Read M.J. Kuhn

Recent Reviews

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler

Recent Comments

  1. Mark Matthews on COVER REVEAL: To Those Willing to Drown by Mark MatthewsJanuary 7, 2025
  2. Basra Myeba on Worth reading Jack Reacher books by Lee Child?January 5, 2025
  3. Ali on Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav BarsukovJanuary 5, 2025
  4. Carter on So you want to start reading Warhammer 40,000? Here’s where to start!January 4, 2025
  5. M. Zaugg on Bender’s Best LitRPG reads of 2024January 3, 2025

Archive

Copyright © 2025 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In