Marc gives 10/10 pots of gold for Jordan L. Hawk´s Stormhaven (Whyborne & Griffin 3) [audiobook review]

Why I read this book: I bought this audiobook during our author chat with Jordan L. Hawk :PShe talked about Percival’s abilities increasing considerably while his control over the powers grew thin and I was hooked. Less than a minute later the audio book was in my possession. Book two made me very curious about what happened with Griffin and “Stormhaven”was all that I hoped for in terms of backstory and even more in regards to Whyborne. I LOVED it so much that I needed to read ‘Necropolis’ directly afterwards 😉

Also check out MtSnow’s review of Widdershins (Book 1) and my review of Widdershins and Threshold in this series. And don’t miss my interview with the author about ‘Necropolis’ 🙂

Blurb: Mysterious happenings are nothing new to reclusive scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne, but finding one of his colleagues screaming for help in the street is rather unusual. Allan Tambling claims he can’t remember any of the last hour–but someone murdered his uncle, and Allan is covered in blood.

Whyborne’s lover, dashing ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty, agrees to prove Allan’s innocence. But when Allan is deemed insane and locked away in the Stormhaven Lunatic Asylum, Griffin finds himself reliving the horrifying memories of his own ordeal inside a madhouse.

Along with their friend Christine, the two men become drawn deeper and deeper into a dark web of conspiracy, magic, and murder. Their only clue: a missing artifact depicting an unknown god. Who stole the artifact, and why can’t Allan remember what happened? And what is the truth behind the terrible experiments conducted on Stormhaven’s forbidden fourth floor?

It will take all of Whyborne’s sorcery and Griffin’s derring-do to stop the murderers and save Allan. But first, they must survive an even greater challenge: a visit from Griffin’s family.

Publication Date: December 2, 2013

Page Count: 176 pgs

Cover: The cover looks beautiful. A gorgeous model that is not stripped to garner attention and a kind of mysterious retro look that works perfectly for this series :). The Asylum in the background adds dread and creates a dark atmosphere. especially for those who read the previous books 🙂

Title: Stormhaven. A cool name for a very dark place that like the other books has an additional meaning. The title made clear that a storm was coming.

I only hoped that Whyborne and Griffin would find a safe haven for when it hit…

Story: This book shows Griffin at his weakest. From the previous books we learned that Griffin went through hell, when he was put into an insane Asylum. We learn more about how that happened and what exactly occurred as Griffin has to face his own fears to save another man, who might be innocently convicted of murder and madness. A murder, a theft, old enemies and new monsters. In all this Whyborne must decide, if he can trust his lover’s usually excellent instincts or if his judgement is clouded while he himself is drawn into the machinations of a new opponent.

This book of the series was chilling and fascinating. It is clear that a lot of research went into making the asylum believable and realistic for the time the story takes place in.

Percival’s relationship with his father continuous to change, especially as his brother is in a very different place in his life and the contrast between them is stark. With Griffin at his side, Whyborne is so much stronger and more confident as he was in the beginning and he continues to add secret magical words of the elements to his Arsenal.

For me not the monsters, but the nefarious nature of the humans was and is the scariest thing about this book, knowing that while it is fiction, many people with mental illness were treated or rather mistreated in a similar way or wrongly ‘imprisoned’ there, I could strongly identify with Griffin’s crippling fear.

We also get to meet Griffin’s family. There is so much we learn about him in this book, you really can’t miss it!!!

Narration: Now, having listened to the first 3 book on audio, I feel like the narrator owns the character voices. When I read book 4, “Necropolis”, I heard his voice in my head. Especially Whyborne gets a truly unique voice that fits so perfectly and is so uniquely him that I would recognize the character’s voice anywhere. Griffin has a really masculine but gentle voice that does him justice as well. This new narrator does a great job for me and I’m happy there is new talent in the M/M narration business 🙂

Even more than story, audiobook narration is very subjective – which is why we rate it less heavily than the rest. We don’t take cover and title into our ratings at all, but sometimes want to share our thoughts on them. For me this book is a wonderful and strongly recommended 10/10 pots of gold read (5/5 Goodreads stars).