Review - Storm Dancer by Rayne Hall

Today I’m reviewing Storm Dancer by Rayne Hall. Rayne is a marvelous indie writer with over 40 books in different genres to her credit. Her latest, Storm Dancer, is an epic fantasy that lives up to its name.

I always find a book means more to me when I get to know the author, and over the past week, I feel I have done just that. Drawn together by a common cause, I can see the passion in the creator behind the characters.

Storm Dancer is a lush, complex tale of the internal growth of two very different characters: Dahoud, a former siege commander who once reveled in the terror he imposed on his victims and is now trying to atone for those atrocities, and Merida, a judgmental magician from a very strict, structured society suddenly thrown into a world of lawless perversions. It would be hard to imagine two more opposite characters, and the journey that brings them together, both physically and philosophically, is a multi-layered mélange of cultures and settings as rich and intoxicating as a fine Middle Eastern dish.

I must admit, not being a regular reader of epic fantasy, it took me a few chapters to get into the book. I frequently feel off-balance by the worlds of epic and high fantasy because there is often no familiar ground on which to stand. That being said, I was drawn into the book by the richness of the world and the depth of the characters. Very often in fantasy, we see stereotypical tropes being exploited over and over—the so-called strong woman who is as non-approachable as a porcupine and the tortured heroic man who gives in too easily to either redemption or temptation.

Neither was the case here. A tale such as this requires patience to tell. It is not something to be rushed to the end with a happily-ever-after tucked on top. Here there is sublime beauty and degrading violence, hope and hopelessness. As reader, you feel your mind slow to the hypnotic rhythm of the desert world, absorbed by the richness of detail and the web of intrigue. When an author can draw your emotions so fiercely into a tale, their job has been done. There are people here to hate, people to root for, and people to feel sorry for. Like the mesmerizing dance of the rainmaker, I was drawn in, transfixed by, and immersed in the tale, and while the journey was long and arduous, I was both sorry and elated when it came to an end.