Five very different sisters team up against their stepbrother to save their kingdom in this Norse-flavored fantasy epic—the start of a new series in the tradition of Naomi Novik, Peter V. Brett, and Robin Hobb. FIVE ROYAL SISTERS. ONE CROWN. They are the daughters of a king. Though they share the same royal blood, they could not be more different. Bluebell is a proud warrior, stronger than any … warrior, stronger than any man and with an ironclad heart to match. Rose’s heart is all too passionate: She is the queen of a neighboring kingdom who is risking everything for a forbidden love. Ash is discovering a dangerous talent for magic that might be a gift—or a curse. And then there are the twins—vain Ivy, who lives for admiration, and zealous Willow, who lives for the gods.
But when their father is stricken by a mysterious ailment, these five sisters must embark on a desperate journey to save him and prevent their treacherous stepbrother from seizing the throne. Their mission: find the powerful witch who can cure the king. But to succeed on their quest, they must overcome their differences and hope that the secrets they hide from one another and the world are never brought to light. Because if this royal family breaks, it could destroy the kingdom.
The saga continues in . . .
SISTERS OF THE FIRE
Praise for Daughters of the Storm
“[Daughters of the Storm] is a twisty high fantasy . . . exploring political machinations and the relationships between sisters; betrayal lurks at every turn.”—The Washington Post
“This fantastic series opener, powered by an engaging, female-led cast of characters, is riveting from page one right through to the end, with almost every scene bringing new excitement and intrigue. All of the five leading women are richly drawn, with distinct voices and multidimensional personalities that never slip into caricature. [Kim] Wilkins sketches these royals with nuance and sensitivity, making even the vexing characters like careless Ivy and the villainous Wylm feel worthy of our sympathy. . . . Wilkins has struck gold with her thrilling high fantasy world. Book two can’t arrive soon enough!”—RT Book Reviews
“Readers who enjoy epic journeys and strong female protagonists will enjoy Wilkins’s first installment of her new Sisters of the Fire series.”—Booklist
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The writing style is a bit strange, but the story line and characters are good.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book as well-written as Daughters of the Storm. This epic fantasy was chock full of fully realized, realistic characters facing incredible – but somehow still relatable – problems. It was emotional, gripping, and exciting to read – I absolutely couldn’t put it down. Even characters I was rooting against still felt sympathetic to me, which I really love in a book – nothing better than an understandable “hero of my own story” bad guy(s). And, on the other end of the spectrum, I always appreciate it when the “good” guys are flawed, even deeply, and really have to grapple with that. I really think this book has something for everyone and it should be on EVERYONE’s reading list. Can’t wait for the sequel!
This book is the first in a series about the five princesses of Almissia. The second book debuts in early 2019.
These five sisters are all quite different and distinct. The author has done a good job of making them all individuals with their own personalities, goals, and drives. As disparate as they are, they have to come together and pull together to sustain the realm when their father, the king, falls ill. Is this sudden sickness natural or has someone tried — and failed — to kill the king?
The book is a family drama, with a lot of shifting alliances among the sisters throughout the story. This is a fantasy with a considerable amount of magic in it, as several of the sisters are gifted in it, in one way or another. It is also, though, just as concerned with the political realities of the region as the heir to the throne of Almissia, the eldest daughter, attempts to both keep the peace with the kingdom’s closest neighbor and also deal with the increasing spread of a new religion that believes women should not be in positions of leadership.
My one criticism of the book is that this new religion, the trimartyr faith, too closely resembles early Christianity and not in a very flattering way. I, myself, as a Christian, didn’t find the level of offense worth more than a hard eye-roll, on my part, but others may feel differently. It’s true that, during the past 2,000 years, the Christian faith has been guilty of being overly harsh, strict, dismissive and condemning of women, etc., but it’s also a lot more than that and always has been. I know you can’t create something out of nothing, so any faith in a work of fiction has to be based, at least somewhat, on a religion in the real world, but I just wish the author had tried to make the trimartyr faith a little more distinctive and a little less derivative. Still, as I said, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book. If I ever want to read a book that doesn’t offend me in the slightest, I’ll have to write it myself, first:
It’s very easy to get caught up in this book. You’ll look at the clock with grainy eyes and realize it’s 2am and you’re still reading it eagerly. The good news is that this fantasy novel is well worth a few hours of lost sleep. It’s a well-told story.
Kim Wilson takes the standard fantasy characters: warrior, magic-user, cleric, and makes them female, and also adds two new characters: mother and tramp. These five women, aged from teens to late 20’s, are royal sisters, daughters of the king who’s managed to unite several small warring kingdoms into a semblance of order (think Anglo-Saxon England). Complicating matters is the king’s second wife, who has a son by a prior marriage, and who wants her son to succeed to the throne instead of the king’s oldest daughter. Each character is skillfully drawn; each has his or her own adventures in a well-fleshed-out world. Absorbing and well-written: I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.
After reading the synopsis for Daughters of the storm, I had to test my luck and see if I was capable of winning a book on Goodreads. And to my delightful surprise, I actually won. I was hooked. I loved the synopsis, the idea of not just one strong female lead but five of them. MIND BLOWN.
While the main plot revolves around the demises of their father’s health, you are thrown into a world of mini-plots that lead to the big reveal. As much as I wanted to love this book, and I really did want to, I felt that the little plots are thrown in by each sister, well some will leave you astonished while others, well, other you just wished where left aside.
When the end neared I wasn’t too excited about how it ended. It wasn’t exactly the cliffhanger but yet it didn’t feel complete either. It just felt as though Wilkins decided she was done writing and stopped. It didn’t leave me with the feeling of wanting more, the book pretty much summed itself up. I guess there’s a teenie tiny cliffhanger, but its one that doesn’t leave you feeling as though you are not truly missing anything if you choose to stop with this book.
What I did like about the book was that each sister focused on, it wasn’t as though one shined more than the other. I loved watching the crossovers of relationships, the backstabbing (there’s a lot of it) and the growth they all had developed within themselves.
As I mentioned earlier there are a few mini-plots that all intermix to help cultivate the big plot. I’d say I most enjoyed Rose & Ivy’s the most.
This book is filled to the brim with sibling rivalries, plot twist tossed with unique fantasy.
I won this Book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
5 completely different sisters set off on a journey to save their father who is King of Thyrsland. He is very ill, in a coma-like state on the brink of death. Someone has poisoned him and he needs magic to cure him. Bluebell is leading the journey to find the cure for their father. Her sisters are not happy as she is to go on this journey but they all agree to go along. The five sisters are going to find their aunt who uses undermagic. They believe she can heal their father. I really enjoyed this book.
Know Thyself
I am not a gamer but am aware of the concept of a quest and further understand that the distance between reading and doing started blurring back in the old (antique?) DOS gaming days when adventures occurred one typed line at a time. Enter the tag “LitRPG.” Are you reading a game or gaming a book? An ebook? (This is where I should turn to my nephews for help.)
Okay, let’s go a step further and recognize that games encompass everything from ultratech SciFi to non-tech, medieval-based scenarios with and without magic, supernatural, dragons, witches and more. So I am speculating that the underlying basis of most quests is the form of honor codified in medieval songs and Arthurian legend: noble warriors protecting the innocent from evil to the greater good of (God and) all mankind. Note I have carefully avoided ascribing gender and am using “mankind” in its species neuter format. And “God” must be perceived as “god(s)” since, whatever your personal beliefs we are talking a work of speculative fiction describing a universe apart from our own with faiths as varied as mankind’s.
All this build-up is by way of appreciation of the densely formatted continents and seas, kingdoms and conflicts presented in Kim Wilkins’ tale. From the title you know women are in the forefront and prove to be leaders, warriors, seers and more with the clear acknowledgement of their ability to be such and yet with underlying sexual tension inherent to biology and probably with an unwitting nod to the “modern” reality in which we live. A coat is pinned, not buttoned nor zipped (yes, Virginia, pre-velcro) and transport is shank’s mare (walking) or horseback. And the majority, as is regrettably still true today in a modern society which honestly should know better, still do not perceive women as inherently equal human beings despite all the evidence to the contrary.
By Chapter 3 I was thoroughly engrossed, uncertain whether Bluebell was evil incarnate or the salvation of her people and anxious to learn how the personalities and politics would play out.
A richly interwoven tapestry; your allegiances will be challenged at various times as the five sisters cope with events around them and each other. As a saga, the existing action is nicely wrapped up by the end of this massive volume; but the very last sentence leaves myriad possibilities for the future!
Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins is the first book in her Blood and Gold series. A well-crafted epic-fantasy tale of five sisters, princesses, and their trials and tribulations during a daring rescue and battle against a betrayer from within.
Each daughter is so completely different from the other. Bluebell is the warrior princess that strikes fear into the hearts of all. Her skills in battle are legendary and her love for her family is only second to her loyalty to the crown. Ash is the sister with magic in her veins and visions in her nightmares. Her skills help Bluebell but the more she uses them the further away it pushes her from her family. Rose is the married princess with a beautiful daughter and a controlling husband, oh, and a broken heart thanks to a soldier back home. The twins Ivy and Willow are more opposite than you would ever expect twins to be. One with childish aspirations and another worshipping a religion other than what her royal family supports.
Each sister tries to help but ultimately they mostly end up working, partly unknowingly, against each other. This story is told in multiple POV’s and is somewhat contained within this book as a full-story but the breath of a cliffhanger is there egging you on to see what happens next for Bluebell and her siblings. Enjoy!