Water & Storm Country by David Estes

Goodreads
380 pages, YA Dystopian
The Country Saga #3
My Review: 5 stars

Fun Fact:  The Stormers do not consume any food that comes from the sea.  They consider it unclean, since that is the life of the Soakers.  

Synopsis

Huck Jones, the son of the admiral of the Soaker fleet, has a legacy to live up to. Haunted by the distorted memories of his mother's untimely death, he must face his demons and the man who raised him as he strives to take the courageous step forward into manhood. When he's transferred to the worst-performing ship in the fleet, everything he believes is called into question when he meets a lowly brown-skinned bilge rat girl. Huck walks a deadly rope...

Meanwhile, Sadie, destined to be a Rider in the Stormer army, seeks to avenge her brother's death at the hands of the Soakers. Trained hard by her mother, an experienced Rider, Sadie knows strength and determination more than most. Her father, a Man of Wisdom, has shown his cowardice more times than she can count. As her world and family fall apart, she must cast aside her anger and focus on the wisdom she's always brushed off as foolishness.

Amidst everything, a Plague ravages all, discriminating against no one.

When four worlds collide, lines will be drawn, sides will be chosen, victory will be sought. Death will be wrought. The mysteries of the Cure for the deadly Plague will be uncovered. Who will survive? And what will those who do learn about themselves and the ones they love?

My 2 cents

Another great David Estes read! I just love this world and this series, and each book seems to get better and better!

The world building in this one was fantastic. I was just absorbed in it. The wild and stormy ocean and shores, the ships and life aboard them, and the beautiful and crazy war horses--just amazing! I so wanted to be a part of all this, even though it was so wild and dangerous. Maybe because it was wild and dangerous. 

This one is a dual POV between Sadie and Huck. Sadie is a Stormer, and lives with her parents in their tent like tribe. They want to live in piece, but must defend themselves constantly from the Soakers (people on the ships.) Hence their wild war horses, which they tame themselves. Huck is a Soaker, and is the son of the Admiral of the fleet. We start the story with him "becoming a man," and trying and failing to please his tyrant of a father. 

I really liked both MCs, not as much a few other favorites, but enough that I was gripped with their stories. Everything they learn and everything that happens brings all the characters closer to the truth of what's really going on. 

The suspense slowly builds until the end, where we get our epic battle scene with all of our favorite characters from the Country Saga. In the end, everyone's stories all tie up together, and finally everything starts making sense to everyone. And although Sadie's and Huck's dilemnas are solved, there is still plenty of story left for the final and epic conclusion to this series! I'm amazed at how the author managed to pull everything together. Just genius!