It's hard to know where to begin talking about this book. There is the driving force of the life-sustaining need for a witch on Prince Island. There is the tension produced between a the girl who wants to become the witch and the mother who would do anything to keep her from it, and the tension between the same girl who wants to learn from the grandmother who blames her for failing lessons the grandmother never taught. Then there is, of course, the relationship that develops between Avery and Tane, in spite of everything.
I had issues with the writing and the story line, but some things can be overlooked for the sake of a good tale and others cannot. The one I can't overlook is the writing. There is almost no variance in sentence structure- every single one is long, with an overabundance of the word "and." This does lend itself to the historical aspect of the book. At times, though, it makes it less engaging and more of a question of unnecessarily dragging things out.
Avery is incredibly strong as a character, never giving up hope that she'll figure out how to unlock her magic. What that magic is, exactly, is never really explained. It's protection, I get that, but whaling itself was a dying industry at that point, and the island would never be able to sustain itself on that tack forever. There's not even a hint that Avery would be able to adapt her magic to help in any other venture that would provide the islanders with their futures beyond whaling. So what protection could the unlocking of her magic really give?
Overall, I liked Salt and Storm. I think it needs some polishing in the writing and some fixing of holes in the story line, but I did read a galley copy and am hopeful that these things are addressed in the final product. I especially liked that this is a stand-alone book in a YA world chokingly full of series-based stories.
3 of 5 stars.
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