Tempest by Holly Hook Book Review

Destroyers, Book One

Sixteen-year-old Janelle never thought the gray spiral birthmark on her arm meant anything special. That is, until she meets Gary, a boy her age with a birthmark exactly like hers. Gary’s attractive, brooding, and perfectly normal…except for the fact that he materialized out of a dangerous hurricane right in front of her. Janelle’s certain of only one thing. Gary’s mark—and hers, too—mean something, but he’s reluctant to tell her what.

At last she squeezes the truth from Gary about their markings. And the truth is utterly terrifying: Janelle and Gary are more connected to the destructive power of nature than she ever dreamed possible. And learning the truth about herself is only the start of her nightmare.

Plot:

I pretty much freaked out when I saw that there was a book about hurricanes. Human hurricanes. Living, breathing, walking, talking natural disasters. Before I knew it? I’d clicked the fancy, free sample button on the iBooks app. Then I’d bought the book. The concept was downright amazing. While I found that the storyline itself was lacking most of the time, the concept was enough to keep me uber happy. Human hurricanes. I’m sorry. I can’t get over the sheer awesomeness of that.

Plot: 3 out of 5

Characters:

Eh. . . Not the greatest characters I’ve seen. Janelle was fine . . . but she wasn’t always the most convincing character. Sometimes she seemed younger than the sixteen year old she was supposed to be, and other times she just seemed rather out of character. Gary was so-so and I found his motives to be hard to understand. Andrina? Ugh . . . She was quite stereotypical. Kind of your pure evil baddy that one never entirely figures out the motives of. Honestly, though, I’m such a happy-go-lucky person that I didn’t care too much. I had human hurricanes.

Characters: 2 out of 5

Writing Style/Setting:

      I’ll be frank with you; this was not the best writing I’d ever seen. I can ignore how it’s  written if it’s a good story, but the writing style really wasn’t so great. Once again, the concept saved me. The setting? The Tempest island? I hardly know what it’s like. So there’s a freezer, a room for Andrina, a meeting room . . . what else? The Tempest nation itself was a little confusing. You’d think that with someone like Andrina, something would’ve been done already. What about pre-made laws? How was it she could get away with most the things she did? However, the mythology was interesting, though it’d have been more so if it had been set in stone more and not so up in the air, if you ask me. So, did you become hurricanes because of what happened in the myth? Or is it just that–a myth?

Writing Style/Setting: 3 out of 5

      All and all, it wasn’t so bad. But it’s rather sad when the main thing that saves this for me is the concept. Nonetheless, I shall probably pick up the second. I’m intrigued enough.

Overall: 3 out of 5. The story itself would work just fine for 12+, but parents might want to preview the language in the book first. You can find a free copy of Tempest on Amazon.

This book was bought and reviewed with my own money as it was not free when I originally purchased it.