Review: War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard

Summary from Goodreads:

Victory comes at a price.

Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?


In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive.

My Review:


What I Liked:

Characters. The best thing about this book and the whole series are the characters. We are introduced to a new point of view, Iris of the Lake lands, and I came to really enjoy her point of view. Plus, we have all of the characters that I've come to love over all four books. Mare has come to be one of my favorite YA fantasy main characters.

Audiobooks. I knew that this one would be a hard physical read because of the length so I picked up the audiobook. And I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite things is audiobooks where they utilize different narrators for the multiple points of views, it makes the reading experience richer in my opinion. And it is actually making me enjoy multiple povs more now. 

Writing. The main reason I keep coming back to this series, besides the characters, is the writing style. I'm hoping the Aveyard comes out with a stand alone or a new series or the same universe with new characters, I would love to see what other worlds she can come up with. I will be reading whatever she comes out with in the future. 

What I Disliked:

Plot. I would have liked less battle scenes and more focus on the characters. It would have been interesting to see what happened after the war. I did not dislike the plot but it felt like time did not move very much over 600 pages. 

Ending. I found the ending fell flat, things were left open ended and unclear. It left me feeling unsatisfied after reading/listening to 662 pages. 

Length/Pacing. I felt that the novel was way too long, 600 pages and 22 hours in audio format. I struggled to find the motivation to keep reading because of the slow pacing. 

I recommend checking out this interesting YA Fantasy series. 

My Rating:

4 Stars Out of 5 Stars