Book Review: The Gathering Storm

Title - The Gathering Storm

Author - Robin Bridges

Series - Katerina #1

Genre - Historical YA urban fantasy

Published - January 10th 2012

Publisher - Delacorte Books

Format - Kindle

(Goodreads)(Amazon)

Synopsis

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart? 

Review

Katerina lives in a world where the light fairy court and dark fairy court exist with the light connected the Tsar and vampires are long extinct. Katerina has a secret she has carried with her since she was a child and raised a toad from the dead. She has only raise her mother’s beloved cat from the dead since the day, and only because she would have missed her cat. Growing up a wealthy lifestyle has given Katerina the best schools, all the social events but not what she desires the most the chance to become a doctor. In Russia women aren’t allowed to train to be doctors instead she is expected to be a wife who stays home taking care of her family. When her cousin falls sick, Katerina needs to get to the bottom of it but soon others all around town are falling Ill.

As Katerina dives deeper into the mysteries she out more about the world of the supernatural and even accidently raises her brother’s fellow officer after he dies in a tragic accident. Conflicted with protecting her family and doing what she really wants she even enters into an engagement with a blood-drinker in order to protect her family and the son of the Tsar she’s found herself attracted to. As if future in laws who drink blood and balls aren’t enough to worry about bodies of the guard are turning up dead and then missing. Will Katerina be able to stop the blood-drinkers and save her beloved Russia before it’s too late? Will she be able to find a way to return the undead back to their resting place?

I like Katerina she’s not your typical debutante who only worries about boys and parties. She has dreams to be more even though society is telling her she can’t, and she’s looking for new options to succeed in achieving her goals. I really liked how she progressed as a character I think it’s important for characters to grow and Katerina has grown into a tough young women even embracing her necromancer abilities. I wasn’t sure who I liked in the story so many interesting characters and I quickly had a list of those I like and disliked. Right away George Alexandrovich was my personal favorite the son of the light court as a potential love interest for Katerina.

The Gathering Storm is the first of three in the Katerina trilogy. I have had this one on my kindle for ages but never seemed to find the time to read it. I can’t believe I waited so long to read it because I loved every moment of it. The story has the urban fantasy feel with the vampires, wolf people and the fairies to just name a few but is set in historical Russia which I found very unique. I love the whole idea of Katerina being curse with the gift of necromancy and making a few accidental rises as she learns the way of her abilities. I really liked Katerina she very could be one of my favorite character she’s smart willing to risk her life to protect those she loves and determined to become a doctor. I didn’t have a hard time connecting with any of the character and found it easy to get sucked into the story. I had a hard time putting it down even chance I could I was reading to see what would happen next in Katerina’s story. I think the author did a great job creating a captivating story that sparks the heart as well as the imagination. The writing style is also well done it would be a story teens as well as adults will enjoy. I already have plans to finish the series because I just have to know how it will all work out. One of my new favorite must read authors. I loved The Gathering Storm it’s a beautiful story that is well executed.