The Last Stormlord (Stormlord, 1)

by Glenda Larke

Book Overview

Shale is the lowest of the low-an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It's the one thing that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316069159
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Orbit
• Length: 704 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.5" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Great fantasy

I feel like this is one of those that has a decent amount of typical fantasy tropes, but enough originality to make it work. While the villain is pretty easy to figure out, even though the author tries to hide it kind of? At least he's not PURE EVIL, which is something that bothers the heck out of me in a fantasy novel. Our villain really does have a reason for doing what he does, and even the other characters aren't too sure as to how to handle his "traitorous" actions. I don't give many five stars, but considering I've now read this book twice, and I couldn't put it down the second time through, I think it's deserving.

The Last Stormlord

What does it take for a book to win 5 stars from me? Quite a bit. The Last Stormlord excels in some of my favorite areas. First, it grabs your attention from the start. I love it when a book jumps right in with the daily life of a character. This one starts out in a snuggery where our main character is working to pay off her water debt. What is a snuggery and what is a water debt you say? Well a snuggery is the nicest word I've ever seen for a brothel and a water debt is what you have to pay back for a childhood of someone feeding you, clothing you, and giving you water. The Last Stormlord takes place in a desert environment where everything is based on water. It makes sense that the magic system is based on water. It also makes sense that water is in short supply and has to be rationed out. I think the world was portrayed very well and was fully developed. Also, I felt that Terelle was likable from the start. I understood where she was coming from and why she behaved the way she did. She felt mature for her age, but that makes sense because of her upbringing. The author gives us the lay of the land, the history, and the terminology from the mouths of the main characters, and that is another thing I greatly appreciate. I don't like long introductions where the narrator describes what each area is, who lives there, what they believe, and how everything works. Please let us figure that out for ourselves as we need it. We aren't studying for a test here. I did get a bit upset when the viewpoint changed to Shale because I was enjoying Terelle's story so much, but thankfully all of the viewpoints in this story are equally compelling. Shale is also the victim of bad circumstances, and his childhood is not the greatest. He is also a bit mature for his age, but I didn't mind it. I like that the characters have strength. The third main character introduced is our villain. It may be a bit of a spoiler to say who that is, so I will just say that he's pretty evil. He is motivated by the same thing that motivates all stereotypical villains, and that is power. In that aspect he is a bit one dimensional, but I did understand his motivation. The current stormlord is dying and is too weak to make the decisions that need to be made, so I see why he could want to take over. Even though the villains are evil, I still found them likable, just like all of the other characters. I also loved that most of the characters can be irritating. Everything does not work out nicely for everyone, and everyone is not a stereotypical hero. It's realistic, and that's another thing I love in my fantasy. In summary, The Last Stormlord has likable characters that are not perfect and a great setting with an interesting magic and belief system. It's character based instead of quest based and there is so much left to explore. I can't wait to find out how everything progresses in book two.

There is a unique take of water in a "magic" view and a great world that draws you in to see what th

This book is set in a world where rain doesn't come regularly and water is a very precious item. Rains are scheduled by the Cloudmaster, or Stormlords. Water has to be separated from the sea, as a pure water vapor, then the cloud is moved up toward the moutain ranges so the water runs down toward all the cities again or to the regions to get the water. The water is released as rain and stored in cisterns to be rationed out. However, you learn there are many people who don't have water rights and have to buy the water, one way or another. We start with Terelle in a snuggery with her sister, where their fathers sold them to. Terelle is twelve and has no desire to be paid to sleep with different men every night. Then we meet Shale a Gibber who's father named him Shale because he felt he was as useless as a heap of shale. We take a journey through the lives of these two characters, along with others, as they grow up and learn who they are. In the first 100 pages I felt I meet all the important characters through the writing of different view points; Terelle, Shale, and from some of the rainlords too. I enjoyed reading these different views because I got to see the world and learn about the world from different happenings and sides. I also got to see what the characters where thinking when they meet, then when they separated again. The world ended up being a great attraction for me in this book. There are different cultures and beliefs of religion. Along with these different cultures you see there is a "magic" here, that centers around water - water sensitives. These are people who can sense and even manipulate water. There are different levels of ability and there are different types of manipulation. One is to make the storms or sense water, another is to manipulate paint through water - which can also affect the future. I think my favorite at the moment is the waterpainters. Although, how Shale learns to use his water sense is amazing too. In those first 100 pages not only did I get to see the world at different views and the separation created between all the people, but also the problems that exist in the world now. The shortness in Stormlords and available pure water. I did have one question which kept nagging at me as I read with the characters mentioning there use to be random rains and now they had to have a Stormlord to keep water coming for the people, and the land being rather dry. What was so wrong with random rains, if it had supplied plenty of water and to have lots more vegetation growing? You do find out later in the book some history about the random rains and why the stormlords are needed. Glenda Larke has created a great world here with different cultures and characters, from Reduners, Albasters, Gibbers, and Scarpens - and we can't forget the Watergivers. Glenda has supplied us with a map and she makes great use of her whole world. I felt as if I watched these characters grow up over the span of about six

Some cliches, but still great

What an excellent read. There admittedly were some cliches, such as the hero's character development. While it wasn't unreasonable given the plot circumstances, it still felt sudden. Also, you will find the overall plot of the book and the villain's identity to be extremely easy to deduce. That aside, it was still an extremely entertaining book. It was very interesting to read about the world that Larke invented for us, in which water is treasured so highly and society is centered around those individuals able to magically manipulate it. This was a book that kept me up until very late at night, and I am looking forward to the next book set in the Quartern, Stormlord Rising.

Great start to a series

Shale and Mica are brothers who are close to outcasts in their small desert village till one day raiders, seemingly at random, attack their village and kill most of them except for the brothers whom they kidnap. The four quarters of the Scarpen are a desert land where a small portion of the population have the ability to sense or manipulate water and create storms that bring life to the land and allow people to live there. However, the last of the people with full ability to actually create a full storm is dying, which means Shale's potential as a rainlord is worth more than gold to those who can hold on to him. However, Shale isn't alone in having skills that will will shape the future of Quarten. I found this book to be well written and full of interesting characters and the central characters are ones likeable enough to keep the story one you want to follow though. The world of the Scarpen and how it's water dependancies have shaped everything there deepens with every chapter. I have been fortunate enough to read book 2 in this series Stormlord Rising, which is already released in Australia and I am hanging out for book 3 - which at this point I can't see how it will wrap up, which is a good sign in fantasy writing. This is one author who I think has improved noticeably with each book she has written and this book and the next in the series are both great fantasy reads.

terrific fantasy

In Scarcleft City in the Scarpen Quarter, her father sells his twelve year old daughter Terelle to Opal's snuggery where she picks up dirty plates and mugs to be reused in the kitchen. Terelle knows that if she fails to escape shortly she will become a courtesan handmaiden just like her older half-sister Vivie who counseled her to accept the inevitable. However, the water painter gives her hope. At the same time that Terelle considers how to escape, the Stormlord is dying and no one seems capable of taking over his critical duties. Shale the low life has the gift, but lacks the training and being an outcast means he will never receive the training to control being a Stormord bringing the needed rain to the desert. As he wanders around while the current Stormlord nears death, the son of Granlon the Cloudmaster Nealrith Almondine and Kaneth Carnelian check levels at water cisterns to find each one at dangerous low drought levels. They discuss moral options while Taquar leads the tribes to return to the Time of Random Rain; to achieve his goal he must kill anyone who displays the watergiver talent. This is a terrific fantasy that uses a dangerous drop in water levels to set up the excellent opening act of what looks like will be a superb relevant thriller. The ensemble cast is incredibly deep so that even secondary characters like Kaneth and the water talented female Ryka that he should marry come across as fully developed enhancing the plausibility of the story line of doom. In fact Kaneth explains the two extreme choices between allowing everyone to die slowly and mass murder to enable a chosen few high up in the water hierarch to live. Fans will enjoy Glenda Larke's terrific relevant tale as the water wars seem imminent in the Quartern. Harriet Klausner