Angel of Storms by Trudi Canavan

Published by Orbit 2015

Synopsis

Tyen is teaching mechanical magic at a school respected throughout the worlds. News arrives that the formidable ruler of all worlds, long believed to be dead, is back and enforcing his old laws – including the one forbidding schools of magic. As teachers and students flee, Tyen is left with no home and no purpose… except the promise he made to Vella, the sorcerer imprisoned in a book. Tyen must decide what he is willing to do to free her.

After five years among the tapestry weavers of Schpeta, Rielle’s peaceful new life has been shattered by a local war. As defeat looms, the powerful Angel of Storms appears and invites Rielle to join the artisans of his celestial realm. But what will he require in return for this extraordinary offer?

Review

The second novel in the Millennium’s Rule series sees the main protagonists Tyen & Rielle in totally different scenarios to the first book. Over the course of this novel they move closer and closer together but they also grow so much as characters and I started to really enjoy them both for the talents they were bringing to the table.

Rielle is quickly swept away from her home world and becomes involved with a totally different culture in the travellers (my favourite people in this series). The travellers are a group of gypsy like people who travel between worlds constantly to trade their wares between the different cultures. Baluka, the son of the family she stays with, becomes her protector and tries to teach her how to use her magic.

Tyen on the other hand has settled down to teach mechanical magic in a school, but when rumours of a powerful sorcerer come to light he finds himself entangled between the Raen as his spy and the rebels as a leader. I still feel close to Tyen as a person. He makes decisions for the right reasons but constantly manages to find himself in the worst situations.

Throughout Angel of Storms I really grew to admire Rielle. Now that she is outside of her world she is learning to question everything she has been brought up to believe in, including Angels. She is making connections with other people and really pushing outside of the boundaries I as the reader saw her in. Rielle is smart. Her behaviour has been shaped by the experiences she went through in Thief’s Magic, while she is still naive in some ways, she is also now more confident in herself and her abilities and her journey is really nice to read through.

Overall, Angel of Storms is a nice follow on from Thief’s Magic and offers an excellent pace to drive the story. The worlds are complex and the relationships the characters are tackling are complicated but Canavan writes confidently and clearly so there is little confusion with the decisions made in the narrative, they are believable as people and it’s easy to empathise with them. This was a re-read for me and I enjoyed it a lot (perhaps more than the first read).