[Review] Storm Glass - Jeff Wheeler

 

Titel: Storm Glass

Series: Harbinger #1

Author: Jeff Wheeler

Publisher: 47North

Format: Kindle, english, 353p

Synopsis: GoodReads

Review: 4*, GoodReads, NetGalley

A digital copy of this book was provided for me by NetGalley and 47North. This did not influence my rating or review.

 

 Theirs is a world of opposites. The privileged live in sky manors held aloft by a secretive magic known only as the Mysteries. Below, the earthbound poor are forced into factory work to maintain the engine of commerce. Only the wealthy can afford to learn the Mysteries, and they use their knowledge to further lock their hold on society.

Cettie Pratt is a waif doomed to the world below, until an admiral attempts to adopt her. But in her new home in the clouds, not everyone treats her as one of the family.
Sera Fitzempress is a princess born into power. She yearns to meet the orphan girl she has heard so much about, but her father deems the girl unworthy of his daughter’s curiosity.
Neither girl feels that she belongs. Each seeks to break free of imposed rules. Now, as Cettie dreams of living above and as Sera is drawn to the world below, they will follow the paths of their own choosing.
But both girls will be needed for the coming storm that threatens to overturn both their worlds.
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What drew me to this book was the cover. It’s simply gorgeous, and the synopsis made me even more excited. Floating manors? Hell yes.

And it wasn’t just the cover and synopsis that looked good. The book kept me engaged from the very beginning. I liked the writing style and the world-building was great as well. The two different ”worlds”, the “normal” world on the ground and the manors and city floating above, were distinctly different and brought forth very different moods while reading.

Cettie, who has grown up in the worst part of The Fells, is very receptive of “The Mysteries” and can sense ghosts and even interact with them, which makes her quite special.

She is taken out of the Fells by Vice Admiral Fitzroy, who tries to adopt her. Through Cettie we get to know Fitzroys floating Manor, which is truly fascinating. There she also meets Mrs. Pullham, who really annoyed me. While I know that’s the way the world works at times, I find it hard to imagine that adults can behave this way. In general and especially towards a child.

I also liked how she was quite street smart and always willing to learn, even though, as most children, she was often turned away with “It’s part of the mysteries”.

The Mysteries are quite fascinating. I like the idea of them as a “magic system” for this world, but as I don’t yet know what they are I can’t say much about them. At first I thought they were more like science, which simply wasn’t explained to children and made a big deal out of. Of course, floating manor do seem like magic, but so does electricity if you don’t know about it.

But then Cettie started sensing something akin to “wards”, which makes it more likely that they truly are magic.

Sera is like many princesses in fiction. She has a soft heart and wants to help her people, yet she is hardly ever allowed to leave her estate, let alone be in contact with those from a lower social standing. She is going stir-crazy and I totally get it. The only companion she has is her maid and she almost never gets to meet children her age. On top of that she has to spend her time studying things that seem to have no value to her. Her parents hate each other and only speak to her when it’s the both of them, so one doesn’t poison her against the other. Both of them are quite frigid to her and her mother suffers from an eating disorder.  

What I found really interesting about the society was how much they talked about debt and the way it is treated within society.

The way their society works, the importance of debt and the mention of eating disorders gives the book a new depth and I’m really looking forward to the next books in the series.

I rated this book 4 stars.