Today’s review is about THE WEST WIND by Alexandria Warwick. It’s the second book in The Four Winds series, but reads as a standalone. This romantasy, Brielle is the blacksmith at Thornbrook Abbey who stumbles upon a strange man and heals him. Little does she know how much this will cause her to question what she really wants in life.
Author: Alexandria Warwick
Series: The Four Winds, #2
Age Category: New Adult/Adult
Publisher: S&S/Saga Press
Publish Date: November 12, 2024
Print Length: 464
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The West Wind Synopsis
Official Synopsis
From the author of The North Wind comes a darkly reimagined tale of forbidden love, inspired by the Greek myth of Hero and Leander and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin.
Brielle of Thornbrook has dedicated her life to the abbey. She spends her days forging iron and her evenings studying the Text, all in preparation of becoming an acolyte. Twenty-one years on this earth and she has never touched a man. And she never will.
But when she finds an injured stranger in the forest, Brielle can’t resist the urge to help him. The encounter leads her to the realm of Under, where the air breathes rot, and the fair folk dance and whisper. Where she discovers that the man she helped is actually a god: Zephyrus, the West Wind, Bringer of Spring.
There are few Brielle can trust in Under, least of all Zephyrus. He is charming, dangerously so, and never has a man so thoroughly ensnared her. As she embarks on a journey through the eerie banks and caves of Under, Brielle finds herself in a perilous situation. For here is where faith and heart collide–and where she risks not only her future…but her life.
The West Wind Review
I received a free, digital, advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is my own and reflects my honest opinion about this book.
THE WEST WIND is the second installment of The Four Winds, a series of standalone fantasy romances. Half of Brielle’s life has been spent in the abbey of Thornbrook training to one day become an acolyte. Meanwhile, she is their blacksmith, creating iron weaponry to guard against the fair folk. One day, however, she encounters an injured man in the forest. After nursing him back to health Brielle learns he is Zephyrus, one of the gods of wind. This brief encounter opens a metaphorical crack into what she thought she wanted out of life.
Although the premise sounds like fantasy romance crack, unfortunately I feel I should have DNF this. The writing style itself is fine, but the plot of THE NORTH WIND was much stronger in comparison. THE WEST WIND needed to be 50-100 pages shorter for the amount of plot the reader gets.
Brielle’s encounter with Zephyrus makes her question whether she actually wants to become an acolyte or if she wants to become an acolyte because it is a comfort zone. That is the entire plot. There are a few obstacles here and there to incorporate some action scenes. And eventually there is a questioning of faith and authority. But it all felt relatively low stakes for the amount of time Brielle travels around in Under, the land of the fair folk, which is full of danger and trickery.
Considering THE WEST WIND is a fantasy romance, the chemistry barely burned. Brielle spends most of the time upset at Zephyrus because she perceives him as selfish and self-absorbed. I suppose he is, but that gets lost in the repetitive nature of the dialogue. Frankly, I was bored. I wanted more trials and tribulations and less time wandering around Under.
However, I appreciated that Brielle is a plus-sized character. The author remembers this when describing Brielle running or relative to Zephyrus’s size. Warwick also depicts fat shaming and the bullying Brielle endures from her fellow novitiates. This translates into feeling insecure about her body, particularly when she develops romantic feelings toward Zephyrus. There is also some bisexual representation, though in a historical relationship context. I also liked the questioning of faith after experiencing more of the world. But I wish the author had delved deeper into that theme.
Overall, though, THE WEST WIND did not work for me. It might work better for someone who doesn’t mind a fantasy romance that is less plot and more a character study.
Rating: 2.5
Content warnings: violence, blood, gaslighting, bullying, fat shaming, sexual content
Reading format: Kindle e-book
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy THE NORTH WIND by Alexandria Warwick and A DEAL WITH THE ELF KING by Elise Kova.
I’m sorry to hear that this ended up being so disappointing! The premise sounded so good too and but it’s not great when the romance doesn’t romance, lol. I’ve not read anything by Warwick before but I’ve heard her debut series was great so I think I’ll start there instead of with this series. Great review! 🙂
Right?? I thought the premise sounded cool too! Oh well…on to the next!
I’m very picky about plot in my books, so stories with thin or no plot bore me too. Sorry this wasn’t as good as the first book, unfortunately that happens a lot.
I’m at a point where if the plot isn’t grabbing me, I’ll DNF it. I’m not sure why I didn’t for this one…I guess I thought maybe it’d pick up at some point.
Disappointing that this wasn’t as good as the first book in the series. It’s not a series that I’ve heard of before but probably won’t seek it out as Romantasy isn’t my favourite genre anyway let alone romances that don’t really work
At this point I feel I’ve read enough romantasies to know what I like haha and sadly this wasn’t it. On to the next one!
Ooof, I have an ARC of this and THE NORTH WIND that I grabbed at SDCC….downshifting this on my priorities list….
I remember liking THE NORTH WIND (as a self pub), for the most part, so I was expecting to also enjoy this one. Sadly, not. Probably best for you to downshift it, at least for book 2.