ARC Review--Stormbringer by Shannon Delany

The second book in the Weather Witch series in which Jordan Astrea learns of her true powers

In the intrigue-filled follow up to Weather Witch, Jordan Astraea, once a young Philadelphia lady of good social standing, is now in the final stages of her brutal training to become a Conductor—the Weather Witch who serves as a living battery to keep the massive airliner Artemesia aloft. Meanwhile, Rowen, determined to rescue her after losing his only other true friend and being wanted for murder, has found himself forced aboard a much different air vessel, this one manned by a dangerous crew and carrying a cargo so treasonous, that, if finding its destination, will herald a storm of revolution for the still young United States.

With a spirit for adventure, romance, fantastic world building and cunning imagination, Shannon Delany delivers the sensational follow up to Weather Witch in the second book of the trilogy.

I received this ARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review. Note that this is based on the ARC and not the finished version.


Shannon Delany's Stormbringer is the second book in her new trilogy set in the steampunk world of the United States. I have to admit that I love these covers! I think they are so bright and brilliant, they are just simply stunning!

I had a bit of a rough patch with the first book in this trilogy and I am sad to say that it kind of continued throughout this one. It's not so much the world building, I don't think. I am fairly close to understanding it. A few times, I might forget what this or that is, but I just roll with it. There's no glossary unfortunately. It might be some of the rules of this world that I struggle to remember. It's never good when you forget what's already come to pass, add in my being confused the first go around and it does make for a difficult read.

What plays the largest part in my confusion, I believe, are all the characters. We get many points of view in this trilogy and for some reason, I struggle to adjust to each one and try to comprehend what's going on with them. It almost feels like these characters all have different lives going on, but don't really connect to one another, at least not yet.

Some of the magic involved in this world also tends to confuse me. Particularly the thing with the soul lights. I think that's the term anyway. I can understand its base concept, but then the whole idea that you can get new ones or replacements starts to confuse me. I do my best to stop trying to analyze and understand things and try to simply enjoy the story, but that can be hard at times when you're not sure what exactly is going on.

Jordan and Rowen are in bit of a pickle. They are both taken to separate airships to fly to who knows where. Jordan is a prisoner of sorts, she's with Bran and his family, plus a few other mysterious characters. I can't remember if they were there before or not. But Jordan is the ultimate prisoner here. She is being forced to "learn" how to control her abilities so that she may fly the airship and take over from the previous Weather Witch. 

Bran kind of confuses me in his behavior. He's starting to seem regretful for what he did to Jordan. I don't understand him. I had thought him to be a villain of sorts, but he doesn't act that way. He was selfish for sure, but I am not entirely sure what to expect of his character now.

Rowen was taken by traders, not pirates--which becomes the joke--and is flying around the air or wherever with them while trying to convince the captain to release him so that he may rescue Jordan. I had thought there to be no love lost between those two, but I am starting to think otherwise. There is no one else that could win Jordan's heart, so to speak, so I wonder if Rowen is still meant to be her "true love".

Despite the complexities that I continue to have with this series, I still try to enjoy these books as much as I can. And there are moments when I can grasp what's currently going no. But for some reason, I do find myself struggling to stay on top of what's happening. I rarely find the read that befuddles me so, but it's bound to happen occasionally. Since the trilogy is nearly done, I find I will stick with it and see how things turn out for Jordan in the end!


Overall Rating 3/5 stars