Book: Flame in the Silver Storm by Rocio Carranza
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 5/5
When I first opened this book, I paused on the dedication page for quite a while. Carranza made a tribute to a specific set of outspoken girls, ones society may dismiss as too tough, who still need support and love. Beautiful.
As a dark fantasy, Flame in the Silver Storm is told in third person with multiple POVs, but Eve is our main girl. As she’s escaped Givensmir with her familiar and friend/apprentice-to-familiar, she definitely doesn’t anything together and is a hot mess. A grimoire whispers for her to take its power, she’s not sure what to do with a familiar, and she suddenly has the hots for a pirate healer. They set sail with Captain Amarin, where a new crew sizes her up and trust evaporates once “witch” enters the chat. I loved the introduction of pirates here because we were also introduced to the danger and seductive pull of sirens. There’s a constant, prickling sense that something could go wrong at sea.
I ended up loving Angelina’s chapters, too. The ones earlier on they gave me shades of Sansa Stark’s chapters in George R.R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings. We have noble girl stuck in the castle of a mad king, but with very different relationships (phew). Through Angelina’s eyes, we peek into Marc’s ruling decisions, how it shakes up court, and how it’s shaking up townspeople. His increasing cruelty is reflected with loosening terminology on witch accusations, amping up hysteria among the common folk, and it shows some delicious portions of politics within the castle. I’m always a sucker for fantasy political intrigue. Give me all the political intrigue. Angelina’s naïveté gets chipped away by hard truths staring her down.
We also watch a few beloved characters just suffer here. I wanted to hug them. It’s heartbreaking to see them go through stretches of unending torment, but it feels purposeful. Major kudos to Carranza for pushing them through these moments; it reads like an essential part of their arcs (I hope).
I know there are other characters I didn’t really touch on, like Dakon trying to understand his role as familiar, Clarisa leaning hard into villainy and justifying every step, but I want to leave some mystery. I really enjoyed the second installment of the series. It ratchets up the stakes and momentum, clearly setting the third installment for epic action and character clashes.
Thank you to Rocio Carranza for the ARC. All opinions are my own.