and I fell in love with herRoar is Carmack's first YA book in her repertoire because she mainly does Adult fiction books with a lot of romance themes. I got to sit in on a panel at BookCon this year that she was on, and I fell in love with her. I hadn't read her book yet, but from the way she spoke about it I was very interested so I picked it up.Carmack's lack of experience in writing YA comes through with Roar. My biggest gripe with the book was the relationship Aurora a.k.a. Roar had with the males she was romantically involved with. It started out being her betrothal, Prince Locke, who seemed very controlling and possessive. Later, it was the Hunter named Locke who Roar fell for. He was also very controlling in his own way. What threw me for a loop was how easily Roar let these men grab and touch her, whether it was a caress or even to stop her from doing something. Both of these men did not know her for long, and yet they felt so comfortable with grabbing her whenever they wanted. I'm a male reader, and if I have a problem with how these relationships were fleshed out, I'm sure Carmack's female readership will probably agree with me too. Roar had no problem with sticking up for herself, so that was a good balance for these kind of men. However, it just really left a bad taste in my mouth. Roar at times felt less like a partner to them and more like an object of possession. A commodity to rule over. Going forward, I hope Carmack could work on this both in the continuation in her series, and with other potential YA books she may write. It may work out for her Adult books, which I haven't read, but for a YA book I feel like it sends the wrong message.What Carmack lost in her romance building, she makes up for in her creative and intricate story. Her magic system of Stormlings and how they can control storms was phenomenal. I've read one or two series that involve elemental magic, but the idea of storms having hearts and being able to covet them was amazing. Carmack spent a lot of time building her world and I appreciate an author that does this, especially since it was her first time writing a fantasy genre book. I was truly blown away by the depth of her story and I deeply appreciated it's cliffhanger, which perfectly sets up the next installment.As for Carmack's characters, there is a lot of variety and I truly feel like there's a character for everyone. When an author puts in the work for her secondary characters, it sets your book a part from the rest, and Carmack has done just that. My personal favorite was Novaya. Carmack alters her POV's a few times, some characters' stream of consciousness pop up more regularly than others, but she juggled them well. It wasn't confusing even without chapter breaks to break up the different POV's. Often times when an author tries to do a change of POV within the chapter, it can be chaotic and confusing. Her editing and distinct character voices did not hamper my ability to follow along with the story in the least. Novaya's snippets helped me get through the book. I'll be honest and say that this book definitely dragged at times. I'll speak to why below, but Nova saved it. The things she had to go through due to the decisions made by Roar were heart-breaking. However she stayed strong and loyal to Roar no matter what. I also found her stream of consciousness to be entertaining. She was just as strong as Roar was, without the combative nature. It definitely was refreshing.*Queue more gripes* Lets just say I'm not fond of the dynamics between Roar and Locke. While he continuously says to Roar verbally and within his streams of consciousness that he doesn't want to control her, I feel like his actions say otherwise. Again, I will bring up how often he touches Roar, and not always in the most loving way. He was way to handsy for my taste. Also, their constant bickering and battle of wills was absolutely exhausting! I love dialogue that can portray characters showing their wits against one another, especially if it's between a romantic duo, however this was too much. It was page, after page, after page, of Roar wanting to do something, Locke not wanting her to do it, and then he either gave in or she did what she wanted. Then it would end with a blow up, and then a possible reconciliation. However, even when they were trying to make up, Roar was consistently combative. I understand her back story and that she has trust issues, but her experiences never felt like enough reason for her to act the way that she did. She felt like a petulant child who you always felt the need to walk on egg-shells around. It was so unbecoming. I wish Carmack could have provided more context and built on the reasonings behind Roar's trust issues, so it would make her combative nature credible.Besides being unable to do magic and having to cover it up, Roar was sheltered. She also was building something with her betrothal Prince Locke, but that turned into a horrible betrayal. She barely knew the man and I felt like her emotional "scars" did not feel genuine if you know what I mean. Otherwise, Roar was a little unlikeable for me. And if a reader has issues with the main character, I say something is seriously wrong with your story. Characters have flaws, but I find it hard to overlook them when it comes to Roar.Roar is a story filled with a unique magical system that spends a great amount of time telling you about it's history and culture. The characters vary and have a depth to them that a reader will appreciate. However, the main protagonist, Roar, has problematic relationships with other men, which are questionable and sometimes troublesome. The constant grabbing of Roar by two potential suitors often triggered domestic abuse and rape undertones. While it's safe to assume those undertones were not Carmack's intention, it severely impedes the epic world-building she has created, and stops the book from getting the best rating possible. Also, the banter between Roar and others, particularly Locke, becomes quite fatiguing. Be prepared to spend page after page engulfed in their arguments, which were often childish. Otherwise, if you can overlook these things, this story has major potential and I look forward to seeing how this story develops in the next installment. Also, be prepared for a MAJOR cliffhanger! Who doesn't love those? =)33
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