Review: Tempests and Slaughter

Tempests and Slaughter 
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

In the ancient halls of the Imperial University of Carthak, a young man has begun his journey to becoming one of most powerful mages the realm has ever known. Arram Draper is the youngest student in his class and has the Gift of unlimited potential for greatness . . . and of attracting danger.

At his side are his two best friends: clever Varice, a girl with too often-overlooked, and Ozorne, the `leftover prince' with secret ambitions. Together, these three forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms.

But as Ozorne inches closer to the throne and Varice grows closer to Arram's heart, Arram realizes that one day - soon - he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

In the Numair Chronicles, fans of Tamora Pierce will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalin came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom's future rests on the shoulders of a boy with unimaginable gifts and a talent for making deadly enemies. 

I really, really wanted to love this book, unfortunately I just ended up thinking it was okay. Don't get me wrong, it's cinematic from the start, it's not like it's hard or stuffy to read either. I loved the magic and the magic system, and I got some very strong Harry Potter vibes throughout, like....I feel like the main three characters are Harry, Hermione and Ron...those kind of vibes although I did like Arram, I Varice and Ozorne. They where interesting and fun characters, plus I felt the world was built up nicely as where the settings and the background information on everything and everyone. Plus I liked the Gladiator games that we got to see, and I'm anticipating Pierce doing interesting things with the slavery angle in the next book.

The main drawback for me was that I spent a big chunk of the book just...bored, because nothing was really happening. There was no direction and nothing really happens until the end of the book when things are presumably set up for the next book which I would imagine has more going on in it. We literally spend most of the book following Arram's every day life at school, and yes a few things happen to spice it up a bit...but it wasn't really enough. I couldn't even tell you half of what happened because it was so unremarkable. 

I couldn't see where the story was going, it felt like there was no plot for most of the book. It got to a point when we where learning things about Arram that frankly I didn't want to know, and didn't see how it had any bearing on the story...when there appeared to be no plot at all, when I was seriously tempted to DNF the book. It was a struggle for me to get through to the end because nothing was happening and I just didn't see what the plot was? Following Arram as he hits puberty? There's clearly a lot of building up going on...but it's not for the climax of this book. Obviously we're setting things up for the next book, but I wish it hadn't taken however many hundreds of pages to do it, because I really do feel like a couple hundred pages of this book where kind of unnecessary. 

Full honesty? I resorted to skim reading just to get through it, as it meandered about. The only bright point is that the next book should have better pacing and should have a lot more going on. I just feel this could have been a lot shorter than it actually was. Plus I'm really disappointed because I'd been looking forward to this one, and I eagerly dived in only to find myself struggling to make it through.