The Stormbringer

This premise is a lot of fun and I'm always happy to see a bisexual, queernormative world. Unfortunately, the world events overshadowed the romance and the love triangle with the wizard trapped in the sword (yes, that's what you just read) pushed the romance to late in the book, after the MCs got approval from the wizard. I wanted more development there, more evidence that the two MCs were compatible in the long term.
The battle magic was interesting, if gross. Overall it reads like a shorter, less rape-filled version of Milla Vane's books crossed with The Witcher.

The Stormbringer is the first I've read of Isabel Cooper. She paints a vivid picture of the fantasy worlds and creatures/beings. Lots of great things about this book - Darya as a strong female heroine; the slow burn romance between herself and Amris, with the added twist of Amris' former lover, Gerant's spirit being preserved in Darya's sword and battle scenes with fantastical creatures like a cockatrice, twistedmen and more.

General Amris ap Brannon faced down the sorcerer Thyran over a hundred years ago, he ended the war with an enchanted rose created by his lover, sorcerer Gerant. The world a hundred years later is still dealing with Thyran's and the traitor god's creatures and the destruction they caused.

Darya is a Sentinel for the Order of the Dawn, with her soulsword companion Gerant. Except for her soulsword companion she's used to hunting and handling missions alone.

Upon Gerant's death he chose to continue on with his spirit imbued into a soulsword. When they are hunting down a vicious cockatrice they discover Amris in stasis and free him but Thyran is gone and they realize he is once again gathering his forces to 'purify' the world.

In their race to show more warn everyone they must face creatures perverted by the traitor god's magic and discover an attraction for each other they try to suppress for Gerant's sake.

I really enjoyed this fantasy adventure, the battles, the openness in relationships, the interesting twists on the various magic and how the gods bestow gifts to help the people fight the traitor god's minions. There's a little something for everyone here, can't wait for book two.

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