One seeks power. The other revenge. Together, they
are rebellion.

 

In a fracturing empire spread across savage seas,
two young people from different cultures find common purpose. A nameless girl
is the lone survivor when her village is massacred by biomancers, mystical
servants of the emperor. Named after her lost village, Bleak Hope is secretly
trained by a master Vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance. A boy
becomes an orphan on the squalid streets of New Laven and is adopted by one of
the most notorious women of the criminal underworld, given the name Red, and
trained as a thief and con artist. When a ganglord named Deadface Drem strikes
a bargain with the biomancers to consolidate and rule all the slums of New
Laven, the worlds of Hope and Red come crashing together, and their unlikely
alliance takes them further than either could have dreamed possible.

Publication Date:	June 30th, 2016
Series:	Empire of Storms Trilogy #1
Genre:	Adult Fantasy
Pages:	416
Formats:	eBook, Paperback, Audio
Available at:	Amazon

  

It’s been a while since I last read a fantasy novel. So
when I received ‘Hope and Red’ and read where it was about I was immediately
interested in reading this one. The story sounded very interesting and I really
liked the cover. So as fast as I could, I started reading.

‘Hope and Red’ is a very good book. Right from the very
first page I was hooked to the story and the different characters. The writing
is very easy to read, and very intriguing. Jon Skovron definitely has a way of
writing that makes you sit on the edge of your seat. And I loved this book from
the beginning till the very end.

Although this book is quiet long, I never felt like I was
reading a long book. I was completely pulled into the world of Hope and Red,
and I could have read even more pages if this book was any longer.

The most impressive part about this book to me, where the
characters. We have the two main characters Hope and Red, but we also have some
other characters that play an important part in this book. And all these
characters were fun to read about. There was Grandteacher Hurlo, Captain
Carmichael, Sadie the Goat and many more. I loved these characters and their
stories.

Hope and Red meet each other a bit farther into the book.
They are different, but there’s one thing that makes them have an immediate bond:
vengeance. And their journey together is definitely something you just have to
read.

I’ve read it in other reviews, but this book really has a
Pirates of the Caribbean kind of feel to it. The sailing, the pirates, the
funny characters.. If this book would become a movie.. Johnny Depp definitely
needed a part in this one.

This book is by far the best fantasy book I’ve read in a
long time and I can’t wait to read the next books in this trilogy. This book
definitely gets my recommendation! 

Jon Skovron has been an actor, musician, lifeguard,
Broadway theater ticket seller, warehouse grunt, technical writer, and web
developer. Now he is a father and the author of Young Adult novels Struts &
Frets, Misfit and the forthcoming Man Made Boy (Fall, 2013), as well as many
short stories and essays. He generally likes stories that are dark, strange,
and occasionally funny.

Jon was born in Columbus, Ohio. After traveling around a bit, from Pittsburgh
to London to New York to Seattle, he has settled, somewhat haphazardly, in the
Washington, DC area, where he and his two sons can regularly be seen not
fitting into the general Government scene.

For more information about Jon Skovron please visit his
website, or visit him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

I received this book from the Little, Brown Book Group in exchange for my honest review.