STORM SEASON

by Nessa L. Warin

Reviewed by Rhonda C.

ISBN-13: 978-1-62380-325-4
Pages: 256
Cover Artist: Catt Ford

Storm Season by Nessa L. Warin is a story where the SF and fantasy aspect kind of sneaks up on you. If I hadn’t read the blurbs on the Dreamspinner Press page, and knew it was a Sci-Fi book, I’d have been trying to place it somewhere on the east coast of America, because a lot of the descriptions and terms seem to put it in that territory. But slowly and surely the fact it’s an SF story ... or maybe takes place on an alternate-universe east coast America … becomes apparent. I liked that the SF/F aspect was subtle.

The story has a thread of mystery … you learn more about each of the two guys as the plot unfolds. It’s also halfway to a “road story ”-- two guys in a car, on a long trip, up against hard times and finding out about each other (falling in love) as they travel.

Here are the blurbs, direct from DSP:

In Brightam’s Ford, a storm is coming. Ranch owner Jasper Borland and the rest of the townspeople have been rushing to prepare for the months of destructive weather the wet season brings, but with their limited technology, survival can be a struggle in itself. When Jasper finds a lost, injured young man on his property, he has no choice but to take him in. At least he’s quiet.

Unable to speak, the young man communicates by projecting his thoughts—a process that hurts anyone he isn't touching. Since most people fear him, that means everyone but Jasper. Soon Jasper learns his guest is a telepath, a northerner named Tobias Thatcher, who is searching for his kidnapped sister, Samantha. Hesitant to leave and wary to stay, Tobias must find his sister before the men who took her follow through on their plans. 

When the men come for Tobias, he can remain at Jasper’s no longer. But Jasper can’t let him go out alone. As the storms begin, he and Tobias set out on a dangerous journey to save Samantha and uncover the truth.

This pretty much clues you in to the first few chapters, then the guys hit the road, trying to get to Shaleton by way of small towns -- almost like the little frontier towns you remember from Westerns. The level of technology looks like about 1985. They’ve got computers, but they’re not powerful; there’s no cell phones and Jasper doesn’t have something like ham radio, that would have made life much easier, since you could call out for help, or alert the police to the fact Samantha’s been kidnapped.

The book slows way down once the guys get in the truck and set out for Shaleton. A lot of the story is about trying to find shelter from the huge storms especially when these storms start breaking in daytime and not just hitting at night, while unknown men are right behind them, all of which makes Tobias panicky. The other thing knocking Tobias right off his stride is, he can’t control his telepathy 100%. When he uses it accidentally people -- including Jasper! -- get mad with him, and why wouldn’t you?

The story advances slowly, but I did love the idea of the monster storms, the telepaths from the mountains, the unknown menacing “agents,” in their emerald green uniform coats, so I kept on turning pages; and without including plot spoilers, I can tell you it all turns out well for Jasper and Tobias, who’ve fallen in love along the way.

I did have a bit of a problem with the characters at times. I kept wanting to tell Tobias to just “Grow up!!” For a full-grown adult, he sure acts like a kid a lot of the time, and sometimes you want to slap him for being selfish and, well, yes, stupid. Maybe what looks like silliness is really the behaviour of a foreigner in Jasper’s country. And I kept wanting to tell Tobias to “Wise up!” Because Tobias is really, really manipulative (even though he can’t help it some of the time), and so selfish, he earns that slap! He often reminds you of a “little brother” who’s used to getting his own way all the time. Jasper is a good guy -- in fact, early in the book it seemed like he was “too good,” if there’s such a thing. He just dropped everything, put his life on hold and took off into terrible danger, when he hardly even knew Tobias … later on this is explained when you learn Tobias is a telepath who can make people do things. Then, even Jasper isn’t sure how much of his eagerness to help Tobias came from his own heart, and how much was “projected” onto him by Tobias. The romance between Tobias and Jasper does take a long time to get going. It’s a very long, very slow burn, and just when it seems they’re going to get close, Jasper finds out about Tobias’s telepathy, and he puts some healthy distance between himself and Tobias, which is totally understandable. It seems to me like the book could actually have been a bit shorter, which would have put some speed into the plot, but that’s probably just me … I admit to being part of the tv-on-dvd generation that wants the plot wrapped up in 40 minutes, then on to the next show!

There’s a small problem with the way the eub displays in my Adobe Digital Editions (I’m not seeing emrules, I’m seeing question marks) but it wasn’t enough to get really distracting.

What I really liked about the book was the depiction of the storms -- and it made you think about the way we’re going with climate change. Most countries already have bigger and worse storms than any in history, and more of them. If the world keeps on going the same way, we could find ourselves hiding from the weather in fortified houses, and in caves, as you see in Storm Season. It gives you a shiver to think about it … then, due to the assault of the climate we lose a bunch of our top-line technology, and end up pretty much where Jasper’s people are. Struggling to survive.

However, Storm Season all turns out well for the guys; questions are answered close to the end, and all the pieces tie together. I’d recommend this for anybody looking for a long leadup to a sweet m/m romance, and a leisurely-paced mystery set inside a really interesting SF/F scenario that’s close enough to home to give you a bit of a shiver.