The Winds of Change

     The Winds of Change by Sam Paisley is an epic, action adventure, fantasy coming of age story with tyrannical gods and nuanced character dynamics.

     The core of this story is the friendship and character work of Cooper and Reid, our two MCs, and it is something the book succeeds in. The friendship between the two feels natural and earned, allowing for their disparate personalities to both conflict with and compliment each other, and put each other on display. The character’s themselves sit awkwardly (in a good way) in the opening stages of maturation, permitting both mistakes and character growth. There are times when the writing can be a bit too straightforward or simplistic, or the action/adventure vibes of the plots can undercut some rather dark and serious character themes. An example of these being two sub-character narratives that would have made for some very complex dynamics that are instead dealt with rather bluntly and without much interaction from Reid or Cooper. These narratives remain interesting, but don’t affect the plot or Reid or Cooper as much as they could have.

     The book’s second strength is probably the entire background plot, which I just found interesting; from the false gods, to conflict between Pax’s actions and internal dialogue and manipulations, and more besides. The various character and narrative dynamics occurring on and off screen are fun, creating a nuanced and compelling setting without depending on huge amounts of info dumping (though there is a little, as it is a fantasy book.) Some of the ancillary scenes, those featuring the more antagonistic Keepers, can feel unnecessary, but they’re relatively rare.

     The action and adventure elements of the story were a mixed bag for me. Some are fun and visually or conceptually neat, such as a scene where a character has to leap through a field of rocketing boulders and the like, and others just failed to interest me. There’s a rather significant portion of the story dedicated to training, and there’s some readers that just won’t appeal to. I enjoyed this section, but I also tend to like watching protagonists grow and improve.

The prose is generally solid, but can struggle to convey the author’s desired impact at times.

     As a whole, The Winds of Change is a solid action adventure fantasy with interesting sub-themes, and a compelling relationship between its two leads.