Review: Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson

Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey's best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her.

But recently she's started to believe she's seeing things that can't be real ... including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined.

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey's running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can't see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly ... and everything to do with Dovey herself.

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

I really loved Servants of the Storm. It was probably one of the most unique reads I’ve come across in a very long time. I loved the diversity of the characters (something that’s not super common in the genre) as well as trying to figure out the mysteries surrounding the death of Dovey’s best friend Carly.

There was an eeriness to the book that really drew me into the story. The way that the author described post-hurricane Savannah gave me the creeps. My favorite part of the book was by far the descriptive writing. The way she wrote the novel gave me such a visceral reaction to each scene. The smell of decay was practically jumping off of the pages.

Dovey is an unreliable narrator and I liked not knowing whether she could be trusted. Following the death of Carly, she goes on anti-psychotics and suffers memory gaps. Her untrustworthiness made it reasonable for some of her too stupid to live moments. There is a slight romance and a hint of a love triangle, but it didn’t hijack the plot. The main focus is Dovey trying to determine what happened to Carly the night of Hurricane Josephine.

As Dovey becomes more embroiled in her quest for the truth, she stumbles across a horrifying world of demons. The final third of the novel was full of suspense and I really didn’t expect the twist at the end. I’m still recovering from the shocking way the novel concluded!

I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy slow-building southern gothic mysteries.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review.