Reviews with content warning for Death - We Unleash the Merciless Storm

(I'm @ campus rn lol). but holy shit. Arguably my one gripe is starting right after finishing its predecessor, I feel both Carmen and Dani had the same voice. But as the story progresses, we understand how they have differences even tho they both have strong personalities. I got attached to more characters as this story explores relationships further, compared to wstdof which unravelled the world. I'm proud that I saw the reveal coming and constantly reminded myself how humanity should be the core of a revolution instead of the leaders turning into tyrants. Just in awe of how the lovers are possessive of each other and loathe Mateo. I loved reading the war scene and trying to imagine the actions in my head. For a duology, the world-building is fantastic, and I appreciate massive-brained authors... instilling the world of Medio (specifically school) in Dani's pov and La Voz in Carmen's. I'm referring to the fairytale folk-like intro and the handbook rules quotes at the start of each chapter.

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_nem_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Rep: Lesbian MC, lesbian side characters

Tropes: Found Family

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ejspiese's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Too many rhetorical questions asked by the narrator, it took away from the flow of the story. Cute book with lovable characters, maybe a little predictable at times but overall enjoyed.

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jem_carstairs's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This started off a little slow and didn’t grip me as much as the first book did, but when it got going I really enjoyed it and I loved the ending.

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helenferg's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ladygetslit's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The first half of this sequel felt really slow to me. I enjoyed getting Carmen’s perspective, but I felt like it didn’t pick up until halfway through, and then I wanted to speed read to find out how everything worked out.

That being said, I love the strong Girl Power themes of this duology and the interspersing of Latinx culture within the fantasy world. This series is worth reading if only for the f/f relationship and the intriguing discussion of males in political power and how they seem to want to build walls (physical and metaphorical) to keep poor folks disenfranchised.

Teacher Thoughts: probably better for high school rather than middle school. I could see male readers not enjoying this much, but I can also see the need for these types of stories.

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monicalaurette's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“But comfortable doesn’t win battles.”

After a long month I was finally able to finish this book after reading We Set the Dark on Fire. Now be warned, this review will not censor spoilers from the first book but will for this book.

So WUtMS is narrated by Carmen Santos, the rebel spy who had been placed in Medio’s School for Girls five years ago to get into the highest ranking family in Medio. To get information and sneak protestors into the city. To help further the mission of La Voz.

And the girl who left Dani Vargas broken, bruised, and burned on a road next to the dead body of her mother-in-law & guards; unsure if the girl would ever return her love, keep her promise, and not betray the rebellion. But with Dani’s loyalty put into question, and the organization she was raised in seemingly changed overnight, Carmen runs BACK into the city where she is a wanted murderer to save her, and save the group she considers family in the process.

While fighting both sides to prove loyalty, love, and support for the cause, many others' stances come into question and friendships are broken, lost, and shot down. But will Carmen be able to unite and tie together La Voz from the attack coming down on them all from her evil ex-husband?

“It makes you worthy of the title rebel.”

I felt like this was such a good conclusion to the story that began with WStDoF. The growth of the characters and the inner turmoil of Carmen was a great piece to see instead of it being in Dani’s view again. To see both sides of the couple. I loved how passionate Carmen was about both Dani and her loyalty to La Voz, showing that you don’t need to have a one-track mind to be successful, and that sometimes having something else worth fighting for along with the bigger picture can help push you farther than expected.

Of course I love a good book about women falling in love as well, but seeing the fight in the relationship that stemmed from the end of book one through all the issues in book two was nice to see. It’s not always going to be a catwalk to be in love, but it makes life so much brighter. That even when they fought, the love that the other felt for each other was what grounded them to the world. Though personally I don’t know how many declarations of love I’d be giving if I knew someone was coming for me with the sole purpose of ending my existence, but that’s what escapism is for!

“But even through all of that, the sun was shining.”

I gave We Unleash the Merciless Sea 4 stars like the first book. While I wish a certain man was not left alive, I’m okay with how he came out of the final battle. I also liked the twist of the La Voz leadership at the end of the book to see a mantel taken up in a new direction than the thousand of years before. And while I’m sad I won’t be able to see Dani & Carmen live on until their ends as a happy couple, I’m glad that I was able to be there while I could.

I knew from the beginning that Ari was a gov’t spy, just not how he knew Mateo. I was theorizing he was like a illegitimate child of Mateo’s father or something

Why did Cielo have to die? Think of the happy life she could have had with that sweet village on the end of the wall that Carmen met. I dislike meeting someone and having them ripped away so soon.

Of course, RIGHT AS I LIKE SOTA he goes and gets shot….not my foxy boy

Carmen getting poison-induced powers over animals or something to attack Mateo was very cool, the Gods saw the fight and were like “here’s some rain and attack crows, go wild my children”

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM picks up right where WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE left off, right after violence and revelations but from Carmen's perspective instead of Dani's. Read this for a character-driven story of love during danger and revolution.

The tone is immediately grimmer than the first book. Dani’s arc was one of hope and disillusionment in difficult circumstances, where Carmen’s begins in the wake of terror and betrayal with things going from bad to worse.

Carmen has two non-blood siblings who were around in the first book but this time around the narration includes Carmen's warm impressions of them. Her dynamic with Alex is fraught right now because she doesn't trust Carmen's loyalties after how close she got to Dani. Sota is more matter-of-fact and even more secretive than Alex. Speaking of Dani, Carmen starts off having no idea where she stands with Dani or whether she's cemented her loyalty with their husband since losing contact with the rebels.

WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE had a lot of worldbuilding to do and WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM uses it but doesn't add much to it in a grand sense. It adds more parts of the island, including the camp for La Voz, but other than the fact that there is a class divide it doesn't do much explaining of anything already covered in the first one. The overall effect is to treat this as the second half of one giant book rather than leaving space for someone who needs reminders since reading the first book. This is a duology, so that's fine, but this is best read as close to immediately after the first book as you can manage for the ideal experience.

The whole purpose of this book is to address things left hanging from the first book, like Carmen's sudden revelation and their entire relationship, for a start. Carmen is a different person than Dani and this book is about her troubles and goals which means there is a new storyline and some new things which are introduced and resolved. As far as I can tell this is a duology which is completed by this book. While there could maybe be more books in this setting, Dani and Carmen's story seems complete with a lot of things wrapped up. In a bigger sense I'd like to know what they do next and how the rebellion turns out in the long run, but it's closed enough to be the end.

Carmen is the new narrator and her voice is distinct from Dani's. She has a pretty different background from Dani (even at the school they received different training) and pays attention to completely different things. This picks up exactly where the last book left off, but from a different character’s perspective. This wouldn’t make sense to start here without reading the first book.

Even more so than the first book, the plot revolves around Carmen and Dani's relationship. This first thing is Carmen has to figure out how to get to Dani to see if they even still have a relationship, and the story proceeds from there. The story keeps moving and I like how it ends up, this is a good finish to the story and I'm satisfied with it overall.

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