Storm Warning

3.5I had the Mage Storms trilogy marked as read, but that was an error. I enjoy revisiting Valdemar, but I definitely have my favorites, so I've been making a point over the last few years to reread as well as pick up the spare few I have not yet read. While I've reread the original trilogy a handful of times, I reread Mage Winds for the first time this past year and this is my first time reading Mage Storms.I didn't care for Mage Winds much because, in my opinion, the plot was convoluted and ridiculous - even for a tropey fantasy I just read for the vibes. Mage Storms picks up shortly after the events of Mage Winds with one of our two main characters, An'Desha, being from the thick of those events and having to heal and grow from those experiences. I didn't enjoy the chapters from An'Desha's perspective and really only wanted to read the other character, Karal's, chapters as his perspective was that of a Karsite novice of Vkandis traveling to Valdemar as a secretary for the Karsite envoy. About halfway through the book Karal is introduced to An'Desha and a group of engineer and mathematician Blues and those relationships as well as the growing tension of the Mage Storms makes the second half of the book much more enjoyable imo. Both characters also see a lot of obvious and well-written growth, so while I felt the first of the book was a bit weak the second half made up for it.