About

Scion of Storms is the second book in the Manifestation series written by Samuel Hinton.

Scion of Storms book cover

Blurb

It's time for Raysha to embrace her power.

After an arduous journey to integrate an ancient spirit heart into her core, Raysha sets out to prove her worth in the Academy's tournament.

Raysha must find a path, forge her own techniques, and advance to the Initiate. But as the clock ticks down to the start of the contest, will she be able to prepare and overcome the fierce competition from the student elite? Can she control the vast ocean of aeon with sheer stubbornness and claim victory?

Provided the tournament is a straightforward content of will and power, Raysha is determined to find a way. Political incidents, internal and international, are something she'd like to stay in her past.

Review

🛈 This is a spoiler review.

In preparation for "Scion of Storms", I reread "Soul Relic", even though I knew about the recap included at the start of this book. There was also a list of power levels along with a brief description for lower stages.

This was a fantastic follow up to "Soul Relic". The main focus was on training, advancing and the tournament (limited to students at the Awakened and Initiate stages). As with the first book, there were plenty of slice-of-life scenes. I especially enjoyed the scenes featuring the misfits group and their banter. I was initially a bit disappointed that their group training was rarely described in detail. Seeing them in action in the actual tournament helped fill in the missing details. Nasdin hall scenes then became one of my favorite parts. And after the first round, there were a few training sessions shown anyway.

Raysha completely ignoring the academy side and focusing only on training and the tournament felt a bit ridiculous, but again I ended up enjoying the resulting hilarity. I did feel pity for the misfits trying to juggle their studies, homework and tournament preparation. And Raysha blazed past them in combat ability now that she had a spirit heart in addition to her impressive aeon manipulation skills. Raysha's bonding with Xora was one of my favorite scenes and I'm excited for their journey together in the coming books. I wanted to make an impressive pun here about Raysha spiriting away Xora under the nose of Veridon, but couldn't think of one. The color illustration of the nexus was great!

Vashi and Shirin working as a team for enchanting items as well as their cute flirting was another highlight of the book. Was especially impressed by their willingness to put in all the hardwork necessary for research and improving upon the designs they could find. Just wish they'd find someone as skilled as Master Veridon or someone from Erasted to guide them in the future. The latter is very much possible, if Raysha manages to drag them along to apply for Atareus's invitation. I was also dreading that something bad was going to happen to this happy couple, thankfully nothing of the sort did.

Raysha and Vashi's interaction as siblings continued to be nice too. Raysha finally bought a pareo for Palaya and sent it with Vashi's help. Wish they had received some sort of reply in this book itself. We didn't get to see Vashi's reaction to Xora but no doubt it would've been as exasperating as seeing Raysha's interest to Atareus's invitation :D

The other misfits, Kardan and Leyli, were great as side characters as well. Poor Kardan, has a crush on Raysha (which likely won't go further) and the most picked on misfits member. He seemed to have worked hard on his shadow/movement abilities and often explained things in easier to understand analogies (they were often coarse, but in line with his street background). Leyli came across as kind and savvy, and it was fun to see her helping Raysha navigate the political scene.

Hlaya, one of my favorite characters from the first book, was sorely missed as she embarked on another visit to the historical site. I wonder if that'll yield something relevant to the plot touched upon in the epilogue.

It was great to have Octavian continue mentoring Raysha. I'm still sad he lost his drawing notebook, though just as I wrote this, I got a tiny hope that there's a chance Hlaya will recover it. There were a few things I was confused related to Octavian in this book. Don't remember who said it, but his advancement stage was mentioned as Adept, which is one level lower based on Atareus saying Octavian was an Aspirant under him (may be Adept is more accurate with his shattered core, which reminded me of Ziel). Another confusion was related to Octavian mentoring Hecton's team despite an Erasti Master having accompanied the delegation. Perhaps Octavian was an additional mentor, but we only ever see Hecton's team training under Octavian. Not to mention Hecton and his team members were already overpowered compared to Darius students. And, my final confusion was about Octavian and Raysha going to the spirit nexus. Not about their motivation, but their chances against Master Veridon. We didn't get much details, but Veridon's warning shot alone seems to have left Octavian semi-conscious. Did Octavian underestimate Veridon's capabilities? Perhaps they couldn't have done anything better in the limited time they had and both were determined to save the spirit no matter the cost.

Amidst all of this, the overarching plot continued to build. House politics and Darius leadership was touched upon. Miskar and Whisperblades came across as jerks while Sahena and her House were much better behaved. Theolatos (Applicant) and Atareus (Sovereign/Archon, advancement stage wasn't clear to me) showed off their poweress. If I understood correctly, Atareus seemed to be preparing for war against Emperor Afi (of Nhami?). Seems Spirit-Human conflict (both past and present) will become a major plotline.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Setia's review on goodreads:

It was a fantastic continuation of the series. This is a fun story, full of action and development (as is expected in a progression fantasy story).

From Shil's review on goodreads:

This book is well-written, has interesting characters, a deep magic system, and an MC with a unique powerset. If you liked the first book, you'll love this one.