The Hurricane Wars

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of violence and child abuse.

“He heard the girl before he saw her, a high and golden hum that cut through the chaos of battle like the first flare of sunrise.”

In the Prologue, the unnamed Alaric notices the unnamed Talasyn across the battlefield. The use of the term “golden” foreshadows Talasyn’s Lightweave abilities before the revelation of her magic in Chapter 2.

“Talasyn stood frozen in terror. In her memory she’d run away, heading low, diving into the first shelter she could find, but in this dream her body refused to obey. The stormship drew nearer and nearer and the wind blew through her heart like iron bolts.”

Talasyn’s trauma response to her memories of the fall of Hornbill’s Head illustrates The Destructive Nature of Imperialism at a psychological level. In her mind, she’s frozen by fear as the Night Empire destroys the world around her, unable to find the agency and power to move.

“Aether is the prime element, the one that binds all the others together and connects each dimension to the next. Every once in a while, an aethermancer is brought into this world—someone who can traverse the aether’s path in specific ways. Rainsingers. Firedancers. Shadowforged. Windcallers. Thunderstruck. Enchanters. And you. The Lightweave is the thread and you are the spinner. It will do as you command. So, tell it what you want.”

Guanzon, in a flashback speech from the Amirante, succinctly explains the magic system she crafts in the narrative. In a few lines, she clarifies how aether works, the various types of aethermancy, and Talasyn’s abilities.