Literary Ames

"It's ironic," Jed said again, "that if you want to be stronger, the first thing you have to learn is how to let yourself be weak."This is the theme of Taken by Storm. Overcoming your weaknesses by mastering them. Taking control. Bryn suffers through her fears, the pain and grief of loss, and quickly adjusts to rise above it in time to take revenge. It isn't as sweet or as lengthy as I was hoping for but it achieved the much hoped for results. Having never warmed up to him, I was ecstatic to learn Barnes had the cojones to kill off a particular character -Chase, Bryn's mate. He was given little page time and lacked a personality. All he was, was Bryn -protecting her, ensuring her safety, etc. She was his whole world so giving his life up for her made perfect sense. I'm sad we lost Jed but I understand he'd served his purpose as mentor. I'm also sorry to see Devon leave despite the favorable nature of his new position. It was inevitablealthough I'll miss his quirky personality and his ability to add much needed levity to a tense situation.My only criticism: old enemies do not die. As a plot device, I hate this. I hate it a lot. It's something that tarnished Caine's Morganville Vampires series for me, having the same villain come back again and again. Each time you think he's gone for good, and nope he's back, still causing trouble. If you kill the villain, let him rest in pieces. Don't resurrect him, only to annoy us again. Please.The writing is great but because of the slow nature of the prior installment Trial by Wolves and my general dislike for it, I skimmed, so I have no idea if the pace was slow or not. I'd actually given up on this series before hearing of a certain character's death, which intrigued me enough to reserve this at the library, and now I can't wait to meet Werewolf Bryn. Broken Bryn. Her world has been shattered and remade. I hope she can carry out Sora's request and at least maintain an amicable relationship with Callum. After all, what he did kept her alive and changed the power dynamics in their favor, even though it cost the lives of those close to her. She may forgive, but she will not forget. That's the important thing.