Whispers of the Storm by Z.B. Steele

Blurb:

REDLIN OF THE WOLVES

VANGUARD, LEGEND, ASSASSIN, REAPER

Listen to my story:

I wasn't always the monster they see me as. Half of the songs they sing are stories of my grandeur. The other half are tales of my misdeeds.

The sad truth is that they're all true.

So, listen to my tale and learn why it all happened. Learn the reason for the war, the reason for all the death.

Listen to my tale and listen well. I won't be alive long enough to tell it again.

A moody, banter-laced, violent, and poetic framed story - Z.B. Steele presents Whispers of the Storm, book one of Song of the Damned.

Review:

You ever read The Name of the Wind, but wished Kvothe wasn’t such an insufferable prick? Well, boy, do I have a book for you.

Whispers of the Storm is a special book. In taking the best parts of Rothfuss and Abercrombie and smashing them together, Z.B. Steele has crafted a magical story full of wit, drama, and betrayal that will sit tall atop any reader’s best-of list at the end of the year. The future of grimdark is looking pretty damn bright.

Redlin of the Wolves is a name reviled throughout the land. He has served as a Vanguard. He has gained infamy as the Assassin Grey. He has Reaped. Stories upon stories speak of his deeds, both for good and ill, and no matter their content, they all speak in truths. Taken captive and marched along the road to execution, Redlin will tell his side of the story to an interested inquisitor, laying forth his reasons for it all. He does it not for penance, nor for glory. He does so only because he will not live long enough for the tale to be relayed again.

Framed in a similar manner to The Kingkiller Chronicle, Whispers of the Storm follows Redlin as he relays his life story upon his capture, beginning with the day he was sold and abandoned by his father at a military fortress. Redlin’s tale is a sobering one, filled with love and camaraderie just as it is with bloodshed and heartbreak. Steele’s approach to Redlin’s story is raw and at times poetic, depicting our protagonist as an appropriately flawed young man whose present has been marked by the scars of the past, and whose future will surely be checkered by each choice he makes in the present.

The characterization of Redlin is excellent. This volume begins in his teenage years, and with that comes all the poor decisions, ideas of grandeur, wild ambitions, and raw emotion one would expect from such a character. Redlin is not depicted as a character who is instantly good at everything—even as he tells his own tale—and his future appropriately feels as though it walks along a razor’s edge, in danger of losing balance the moment the next hammer is to fall. This helps ground the character even against themes of the divine and the fantastical, where the friendships of one day may not survive against the duties of the next, and how Redlin interacts and reacts to it all is instantly believable.

This is all helped by Steele’s wonderful prose, which is florid without becoming too purple, direct without being too simple, descriptive without being too verbose. There’s a perfect balance of everything here, and Steele paints an eloquent picture with each chapter that can easily leave the reader eager to delve deeper and learn what comes next. By this same measure, the story is a riveting one throughout, lifted not only by Redlin’s strong characterization but also the eclectic supporting cast, featuring everything from close companions to spurned friends to fierce rivals to first loves, all against a grim backdrop where the unexpected can happen at a moment’s notice—and will happen and punt your heart out of your butt. I devoured Whispers of the Storm in a matter of days, and already am I itching for the next book.

Bear in mind that Whispers is very much a grimdark tale, but it likewise is a perfect example of moderation against excess. Steele’s emulation of Abercrombie is exemplary in this regard, where the story is filled with morally grey characters and dark themes, but not once do these themes come at the expense of the book or merely tick off a box. In a lesser author’s hands, certain moments in Whispers could come off as the writer beating the reader over the head and shouting, “See how dark this is?!” But Steele manages to toe that line perfectly, where the dark moments are allowed to bask in their own shine without being gratuitous or “edgy,” and it lifts the book that much higher for it.

Whispers of the Storm is what every grimdark reader should be searching for. Beautiful prose, deep and complex characters, and a sprawling and enchanting narrative have been laid out here, and I eagerly await what verse will next be written in this Song of the Damned. I have no reservations in stating that Z.B. Steele is well on his way to being the heir apparent to Joe Abercrombie.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna kindly request the Storm speak louder since I’m hard of hearing. Is this anything?