Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Steal the Wind

SERIES:  The Godstone Saga, Book 1

AUTHOR: Jocelynn Drake

NARRATOR:  Kale Williams

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 10 hours and 15 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  December 9, 2021

BLURB: 

Everything Caelan knows about his world is a lie.

A war is brewing. As the crown prince of Erya, it’s only natural that Caelan is sent on a secret diplomatic mission to support one of the kingdom’s allies. With his advisor, his bodyguard, and his best friend as traveling companions, what could go wrong?

Everything. 

Everything goes wrong. 

Now they are on the run, dodging assassins, setting secret meetings, and even making deals with a sleeping god. 

So this is probably a really bad time to cave to feelings he’s been fighting for his best friend. But Drayce has owned his heart for more years than he can count, and if he’s going to die, shouldn’t he have just one kiss? 

The fate of the world is on the line, and only Caelan holds the power to save them all.

Steal the Wind is the first book in the six-book Godstone Saga fantasy series and is not a stand-alone. The story contains explosions, secrets, cranky gods, hidden romance, a prince on the run, a possessive ex-boyfriend, magic, and lots of delicious angst.

REVIEW:

Jocelyn Drake’s Steal the Wind is the first book in her six-book series, The Godstone Saga.  You’ll understand why there are six volumes once you get into this fascinating fantasy, action/adventure romance.  The story revolves around a quartet of main characters: Prince Caelan of the Kingdom of Erya, his childhood best friend and secret crush, Drayce, his advisor Lord Rayne Laurent, and his bodyguard Lord Eno Bevyn. The highlight of Steal the Wind is how the foursome band together towards a common goal. These four men have known each other for a very long time and have become close friends. For Rayne and Eno, this is despite (or perhaps in addition to) their professional roles and royal duties towards Caelan. As the story progresses, we see how their bonds solidify into a found family dynamic.

The crux of the six-book story arc, which you will need to read in order as the storyline will continue from book to book, is Prince Caelan fighting for his kingdom of Eyra, but with a more significant mandate of saving the world of Thia from destruction by evil forces (that shall remain unnamed in this review). The story has a bit of a Lord of the Rings vibe to it, but it’s watered down. The storyline relies on fantasy/paranormal elements, but in Steal the Wind, there’s not that much of it. The fantasy aspect is also undercut by an incongruous, anachronistic use of modern technology like cell phones.  

The story utilizes each of the four men’s points of view in alternating chapters. Drake uses an interesting technique where one chapter will end with some event, and the next chapter will pick up from a different point of view at a point in time slightly later (maybe a few minutes or hours, on occasion a few days). But it’s after the events that left us hanging at the end of the previous chapter. Mostly, I liked the unusual take. However, at times, it left me wanting because we don’t get the resolution of the events from the same character’s point of view – or at least not in the immediately following chapter.

Drake’s world-building is terrific (but for the modern technology issue), and the storyline is intriguing, albeit not riveting.  In Steal the Wind, that’s likely the inevitable consequence of establishing the setup and laying the groundwork for a six-book overarching storyline.  However, the characters and their relationships are riveting; this is where Drake excels. She carefully develops each of the four men with depth and complexity.  All of them are different.  All of them are entirely endearing.  All of them are fascinating and we want to know and understand them and cheer them on. 

Steal the Wind feels YA-adjacent, even though it’s not YA. The characters are in their 20s and 30s, and mature subject matters are addressed. There are explicit sex scenes – not many, but those that are there have meaning and connection. However, despite this, it feels YA-ish because it’s fantasy-lite, doesn’t have a dark feel despite the subject matter, and the interactions, particularly between Caelan and Drayce, feel very “young”.  To be fair, the distinction between the actions and dialogue of Caelan and Drayce versus Rayne and Eno speaks to Drake’s keen attention to detail. The former pair are in their 20s, and the latter are in their 30s, and the demeanor and behavior read as such.  

These dichotomies – the anachronisms and the light YA-ish feel vs. dark content – are smoothed over quite effectively, though, by the Steal the Wind audiobook narrator, Kale Williams. He helps immensely in giving the story more weight and gravitas. Williams’ equanimous delivery conveys the seriousness of the underlying story arc while conveying banter and levity between the four characters. There’s a challenging emotional mix that Williams balances extremely well. He is attuned to his characters, distinguishes them consistently across the narrative, and adeptly captures the tenor of the lines and scenes.

Williams isn’t telling a story in Steal the Wind – he’s performing it. It sounds effortless because his skill set is exceptional, so he makes it sound easy even when it’s not. I could listen to Williams’ voice endlessly.  It’s subsuming and pulls us into Drake’s story, where we eagerly stay until we are left with the inevitable cliffhanger at the end.

I recommend the Steal the Wind audiobook and am looking forward to finding out what happens next for Prince Caelan, Drayce, Rayne, and Eno.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon  

Audible