The Storm Guardians

The Storm Guardians (Rising Dawn, 2) by Stephen Zimmer, 2010. 580 pages. Published by Seventh Star Press. Source: Publisher for review.

Storms break out across the world and the realms beyond, as the Convergence seeks to advance its worldwide agenda, and Diabolos unleashes great powers from the depths of the Abyss.
The Fallen Avatar Beleth’s legions pour across the boundaries of Purgatarion, even as the Night Hunt is loosed once again, in the modern world. Dagian readies for a monumental unveiling of Babylon Technology’s greatest invention, a technology that holds grave implications for every living person on the face of the world.

It is a time when the Exiles in the Middle Lands, the An-Ki, and many others are falling under the shadow of the Abyss. Guardians of all forms, great and small, must rise to resist as the storm of darkness spreads. From high school students Seth, Jonathan, and Annika, to Ian, Arianna, and the others of humankind that have been drawn into the spiraling course of events, choices with dangerous consequences have to be made. 

An epic tale of resolve and heroism, The Storm Guardians takes the reader farther and deeper into the Rising Dawn Saga.

First Sentence:

A towering, fiery entity stood in quiet solitude, at the precipice of eternal night. 

And here I thought this series could not get any better than it already was. The Storm Guardians absolutely blew me away with how all the various plot lines from The Exodus Gate are beginning to come together and they way everything ties together is kind of beautiful (for lack of a better word).

After the end of The Exodus Gate there were a lot of questions left unanswered, and plenty of plot points that were just waiting to be further explored in the next installment. Did The Storm Guardians deliver answers to my burning questions, yes, yes it does.

One of the things I like so much about the Rising Dawn saga would have to be all the various threads and plots points, as well, as the way that the author, Stephen Zimmer, handled all of them. I also liked that there were numerous characters and story lines to read about, and that the story covers not just those that are fighting on the side of good, but also those that are bent on destroying all that is good and bringing about a reign of darkness. It definitely takes skill to masterfully weave all of this into a cohesive whole and keep the story from getting bogged down.
I am horrible when it comes to character names, especially when there are a ton of characters names to remember. So I'll just mention characters by groupings.
I would have loved  it if the characters living in Purgartion had played a bigger role in the book, mainly because their storyline was the one that was the most fascinating for me. What reallyI like ab drew me to this set of characters in the book would have to be that they were imperfect yet still striving to overcome their faults so that they can go into-I forget the name, but its basically heaven.
The set of characters that did not really hold my attention this time around were Seth and his friends. I felt like their bit of story was jsut a little too similar to that of the previous book. Although near the end you started to see the direction that their story would be going in the next book, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what will happen to them.
The characters that surprised me the most would ahve to be the carpenter and his friend the sheriff. Their story was by far the second most intersting because of how closely it mirrored what was going on the baddies.
While I had trouble picking what I loved most about The Exodus Gate, I had absolutely no trouble deciding when it came to The Storm Guardians. So, what  being my favorite part, well, that would have to be the battle in Purgatarion between the inhabitants and the denzians of the abyss. The reason I chose this as my favorite part of the book is because it was one of the most intense and epically written scenes in the entire book. Plus I really loved the characters and their faith and staunchness in the face of danger and how they stood their ground even with the possibility of falling into the the void till end times.

Even though I really enjoyed reading The Storm Guardians, the one thing that I did not like was that there was little development for a couple of the characters that had more prominent roles in the first book. I actually would have liked to see a little more focus upon
Final Verdict: The Storm Guardians every bit as epic as the title and synopsis implies. 

The Storm Guardians earns 4.5 out of 5 pineapples.