Official Review: Storm and Silence by Robert Thier

[braver]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Storm and Silence" by Robert Thier.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Spunky, spirited, sarcastic Lilly Linton firmly believes that a woman should be able to do anything that a man can. Unfortunately for Lilly, she has the terrible misfortune to live in London in the 19th century, a time when women have no rights and no means to take care of themselves. The best hope a woman has for a good life is to marry well, an option not at all satisfactory to Lilly. Dependent on the charity of her aunt and uncle (who wish to marry off Lilly and her sisters to the most eligible suitors as soon as possible), Lilly wants nothing more than to find freedom. Opportunity arises when, under decidedly less than lady-like circumstances, she crosses paths with the mysterious Mr. Rikkard Ambrose. Who is this man? A government official? A banker? Or, most importantly, is he Lilly’s unknowing ticket to freedom?

Storm and Silence is the first book in the Storm and Silence Saga by Robert Thier (the second installment is due out in August). It is a young adult historical fiction novel that promises both action and romance. I enjoy both historical fiction and romances, and given that I’ve got a shelf full of Georgette Heyer books, I had high hopes for this story. I dove in eagerly … and came up disappointed.

I had a lot of issues with this book, primarily that the whole story felt like an inelegant mash-up of Pride and Prejudice and Fifty Shades of Grey. Aside from lacking originality, it just doesn’t work with these characters. Lilly is less charming and more petulant than an Elizabeth Bennet, and Rikkard Ambrose is lacking the intrigue and allure of a Christian Grey. Both characters felt incredibly flat and one dimensional, and as such, were almost fully unbelievable.

The author failed to make me emotionally invested in the characters or the story. When I think of good young adult fiction, I think of books like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games - series that made me care about their characters deeply and elicited strong emotional responses. Other than the occasional chuckle over a bit of heavy-handed humor, my strongest emotional response to Storm and Silence was annoyance.

The man-hating feminist trope is overdone, and in order to be successful with this angle, the writing would have had to be impeccable, which it wasn’t. There was a lot of repetition in the story that felt like lazy writing, from the excessive use of Mr. Ambrose’s philosophy “knowledge is power is time is money” to most of the dialog between him and Lilly. Many sections of what the author clearly intended to be witty dialog came across as annoying bickering. And I personally don’t enjoy “bonus” chapters after the story that bring you back through sections from a different character’s perspective. If the material wasn’t wasn’t good enough or important enough to put in the story in the first place, don’t tack it on the end as “bonus”.

There were also grammar and word errors throughout the book: an ‘a’ instead of an ‘an’, an apostrophe in the wrong place, the word ‘hear’ was used when contextually it should have read ‘here’. The author does not use the Oxford comma, and there were a couple instances where I had to re-read sections because the lack of that comma made a strange grouping in the sentence that did not make sense. All of these things break the flow of the story and make me have to re-read for clarity, and that is an issue.

The use of footnotes was distracting and inconsistent. A footnote was added to explain what it meant when the coachman said “Gee Up” to the horses, but there was no footnote to explain what in the world “oojah-cum-spiff” meant. I think the footnotes were trying to be humorous little additions, but I felt they were just a nuisance.

There were multiple places in the book where the word ‘maul’ was used when referring to a mouth. I initially thought that this was a pretty egregious error and that the word should have been ‘maw’. However, after I looked it up, I learned that ‘maul’ means mouth in German. Since the author was already using footnotes, this would have been a good place for one that would have actually been useful.

That isn’t to say there weren’t some redeeming qualities in the book. The social commentary was pointed and cutting, and much of it is as applicable to today’s society as it was to the book’s setting. Some of the descriptions of the characters were vividly colorful and produced fantastic imagery. And the plot itself was intriguing enough.

Just because it is a young adult novel doesn’t mean it should read like an adolescent itself. It was awkward, over eager, and well intentioned, ultimately passable but lacking polish. It is a shame there were so many issues with the writing, because the storyline could have been compelling. With more developed characters and fewer errors, I could see really enjoying this tale. But there were too many issues with the book for me, and as such, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.

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Storm and Silence
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Like braver's review? Post a comment saying so!

[kimmyschemy06]

That was a very honest review. For one, the premise doesn't sound very original and the characters much less. Good job on the review.

[braver]

That was a very honest review. For one, the premise doesn't sound very original and the characters much less. Good job on the review.

Thank you!

[Vanzora02]

I don't agree with your review, I happened to think that this book was well written. The author happened to engross me into the book and made me want more. The relationship the main characters have was the cutest thing ever. But overall good review, I agree with there being a few mistakes but that's it.

[xinkwitchx]

I personally found the book to be quite entertaining. I've read the whole saga and each book had me wanting more of Lily and dear Dick, never in a bad sense. The only nuisances through out the saga were the interruptions of moments I'd been waiting for and having to wait for the next book.

[jenny delacruz]

I appreciate your honest review. I've been trying to search for honest reviews, mainly because I am reading a- let me say it straight- terribly written book and I'm not quite sure how to put words without hurting the author as I understand how much hard work and effort authors put in in creating a book. Your review is an inspiration to me. Thank you so much