Saints of Storm and Sorrow
The Stormbringer Saga
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this fiercely imaginative Filipino-inspired fantasy debut, a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people's struggle against colonization.
Perfect for fans of lush fantasy full of morally ambiguous characters, including The Poppy War and The Jasmine Throne.
María Lunurin has been living a double life for as long as she can remember. To the world, she is Sister María, dutiful nun and devoted servant of Aynila's Codicían colonizers. But behind closed doors, she is a stormcaller, chosen daughter of the Aynilan goddess Anitun Tabu. In hiding not only from the Codicíans and their witch hunts, but also from the vengeful eye of her slighted goddess, Lunurin does what she can to protect her fellow Aynilans and the small family she has created in the convent: her lover Catalina, and Cat's younger sister Inez.
Lunurin is determined to keep her head down—until one day she makes a devastating discovery, which threatens to tear her family apart. In desperation, she turns for help to Alon Dakila, heir to Aynila's most powerful family, who has been ardently in love with her for years. But this choice sets in motion a chain of events beyond her control, awakening Anitun Tabu's rage and putting everyone Lunurin loves in terrible danger. Torn between the call of Alon’s magic and Catalina’s jealousy, her duty to her family and to her people, Lunurin can no longer keep Anitun Tabu’s fury at bay.
The goddess of storms demands vengeance. And she will sweep aside anyone who stands in her way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Buba debuts with an intricate fantasy, inspired by Philippine history and mythology, about a bisexual woman who hides her goddess-given power to channel storms behind the walls of a convent. When Lunurin was 15, she impulsively promised her life to Anitun Tabu, the Aynilan goddess of storms and sky, in exchange for destroying the Codicían, Aynila's colonizers. After she inadvertently called a storm down on her own village, however, Lunurin was sent away and has lived the past 10 years as a nun, playacting devotion to the Codicían religion while desperately ignoring the call of her goddess. Though she tries to make a peaceful life for herself with her lover, Catalina, who fears and rejects Lunurin's powers, she can no longer stand aside as the colonizers steal ever more of the Aynilan people's identity and their very lives. Meanwhile, her growing attraction to Alon, a childhood friend with whom she enters into a political marriage, frays the edges of her barely held control. As Lunurin learns to embrace her true self and her powers, very little of life as she knows it will remain standing. Buba crafts strong characters but bogs down their development in extensive detail about Aynila's infrastructure. The resulting worldbuilding is impressive, but somewhat challenging to sift through. Still, readers who like their folklore with plenty of politics will find their fix with this one.
