The Way Of The Brave by Susan May Warren // Revell Reads Review

Former pararescue jumper Orion Starr is haunted by the memory of a rescue gone wrong. He may be living alone in Alaska now, but the pain of his failure--and his injuries--has followed him there from Afghanistan. He has no desire to join Hamilton Jones's elite rescue team, but he also can't shirk his duty when the call comes in to rescue three lost climbers on Denali.

Former CIA profiler and psychiatrist Jenny Calhoun's yearly extreme challenge with her best friends is her only escape from the guilt that has sunk its claws into her. As a consultant during a top-secret mission to root out the Taliban, she green-lighted an operation that ended in ambush and lives lost. When her cathartic climb on Denali turns deadly, she'll be forced to trust her life and the lives of her friends to the most dangerous of heroes--the man she nearly killed.

Her skills and his experience are exactly what's needed to prevent another tragedy--but in order to truly set Orion free from his painful past, Jenny will have to reveal hers. They'll have to put their wounds behind them to survive, but at what cost?

Leap into action with this high-octane, breakneck new series from bestselling author Susan May Warren.

My Review

3.5 stars

I had mixed feelings about Warren's Montana series when I started it, but the series and characters grew on me. I ended up liking them enough that I wanted to try another series. I'm hoping the same thing will happen here.

Let's start with the characters. I liked Orion and Jenny well enough, but I never really felt like I was connecting to them. (And once I finally figured out it was O-Ryan, not Ore-ee-an, his name was a bit much :) They dealt with some rough things in their past and are carrying around guilt, which is understandable, if necessary, which they come to learn. I really liked Jake and Ham and Aria and I are looking forward to seeing them in future books.

The truth that our characters are struggling with and needing to learn is that God is good when the world is falling apart. Our characters, all of them but we are focused on Jenny and Orion, have seen a lot of evil, senseless evil, and it has left them wondering about God's goodness; His love.

Suffering has been a topic that is popping up in my life quite a lot lately and it appears here too. What our characters have to see is that God does not promise a smooth life. Actually, Jesus promises the contrary. But He promises to be with us and, for those who love God, He will work all things for their good. The characters would say things like, "God did such-and-such", as though He orchestrated or caused the suffering and death and pain they experienced. They discuss God using hard things to shape and mold us. That's true, He does. But I always get a little nervous trying to say what He allows and what He causes. I think that is dangerous territory and can lead to greater misunderstanding. The thing happened, now are we going to trust God to work and lead us through?

There are a lot of good parts that deal with these topics well; where the characters share wisdom. I won't share them all but this one really stood out to me because so many people don't do this. Or rather they do it and they shouldn't. You'll see what I mean: "Don't assign truth to experience or your faith to your feelings. You have to base everything on who God is. Good. Loving. Our rescuer."

That's all the stuff I liked. There were a few parts I didn't care for as much. First, the book was heavily technical. A lot of books I read deal with law enforcement or diving or flying or some other specialized world that has technical stuff and I totally get adding in elements from those worlds to add realism, but you have to know that most of your readers aren't in that world. The characters thought and spoke the climbing jargon all the time and the descriptions of the places on Denali was constantly used as thought everyone knows them. I ended up skimming those parts a lot because I just didn't really understand.

The whole Aria/Kia thing was confusing for a while. Again, I understand that writers like to reveal mysteries slowly, but it either took too long or was introduced too quickly in the first place, I don't really know. Then, when we figure out who Kia is and why she's important, it felt a little weird. Maybe that was just me.

Sometimes I think Susan gets a little close to a line with her romances and near the end with two of the characters, I felt like we were getting there again.

I'm hoping that this series isn't as long as the Montana one because I think the storylines with Ham, Royal, and Thorne are going to be wound throughout and not resolved quickly but man! Talk about your cliff-hanger with Ham and I really want to dig into the mystery around Royal and Thorne!!

I'm sufficiently intrigued to want to continue the series. I want to see where she takes these characters. Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for a copy of the book. All opinions are my own and a favorable review was not required.