War Storm offers a messy, imperfect ending to Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen saga

A satisfactory ending

Yet, despite all this, it largely still feels as though the story ends the way it should. And some of the novel’s final moments are deeply satisfying. For example, Evangeline’s decision to choose herself, and flee to Monfort feels earned and awesome. And for all that Cal and Mare end the series apart – a decision likely to anger some fans – that decision feels natural and necessary. Neither of them feel super prepared for a life together, and it makes sense that they both need some time to figure out who they are now in this new Norta. (Plus, it seems obvious a novella will arrive detailing their happy ending at some point.)

Besides being generally too long, the story also features too many character POVs to no real end. The Red Queen series switched to this multi-POV format in King’s Cage, but at least kept it to only two perspectives (with a surprise third thrown in at the very end). Here, there are at least five major POV characters – Mare, Iris, Evangeline, Maven and Cal. Iris and Evangeline’s perspectives are probably the most interesting. But since we don’t hear from either of them at the end of the story, it’s difficult to know how they feel at its conclusion.

It’s also not entirely clear why we need POVs from Cal or Maven, when neither Calore brother adds much to the narrative. (Nor do their chapters provide further depth to their characters.) Oddly, the story almost completely omits the second perspective from King’s Cage – Cameron appears very briefly and gets no chapters to herself at all. (Just a weird out of nowehere flirtation with Kilorn.) Yes, I thought she was annoying as a narrator back in King’s Cage, but the story did establish her journey as important. So why isn’t she more prominent in War Storm?  Shrug emoji.

Yet, there’s something kind of brave about the way Aveyard chooses to end things here. She doesn’t seem to mind that things are kind of messy. That’s how real life is. Not everything gets tied up in a neat bow. There are still questions about how basically overthrowing an entire system of governance ultimately plays out. Can there be peace? Maybe. We don’t know. The series’ main couple ends the novel apart, even though we know they still care for one another. Will they get back together? Probably. But, again, we don’t know. In today’s YA world, a messy ending is kind of a bold statement. And no matter how you feel about the ending itself – sorry in advance to the Cal/Mare fans – that deserves applause.

Next: 3 reasons you’ll enjoy the Queens of Renthia series and The Queen of Sorrow

Risks are difficult in this medium. And even though I wasn’t completely thrilled with War Storm as a novel, I remain eager to see what Aveyard does next.