Book Summary of War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard is the final book in the Red Queen series. The book raps up the story of Mare Barrow and her journey to bring down the Silver kingdoms that oppress everyone with red blood. This is a full summary of the main points, so you can better remember and understand the book before reading my full book review. 

If you haven’t read the whole yet, you should to get the full effect of Aveyard’s world building and character development. There’s lots of small details that aren’t covered here. And if you need a reminder of what happened in the third book, King’s Cage, check out my summary and review. 

Chapters 1-5

As Mare is trying to process Cal’s betrayal to be the king of Norta, the council decides that Mare, Julian, Cal and Evangeline Samos will go back to Montfort with Davidson to see the free republic and get more soldiers. The group stops in Piedmont to pick up Mare’s family and Kilorn for relocation in Montfort. When Iris and Maven retreat to the Lakelands, they have a funeral for the king, and Iris secretly plots with her mom and sister how to get rid of both Calore brothers. 

Chapters 6-10

Iris and Maven meet with Prince Bracken of Piedmont to make a deal of getting his children back from Montfort in exchange for his alliance to the Lakelands. In Montfort’s capital city, Ascendant, Mare, Farley, Cal, Evangeline, and Anabel are having dinner with Davidson and his husband when raiders attack. The group fights off some raiders, rogue Silvers who don’t agree with the free republic, outside the city while Iris and a small group sneak into the city and get Prince Bracken’s children. 

Chapters 11-15

The group meets with the Montfort government who agrees to send them an army to fight Maven. They all go back to the Rift, where Volo Samos is king, and find out Piedmont attacked their army base and allied with Maven after the children were returned. A council of the Rift, Scarlet Guard, and Cal agrees to take the city of Harbor Bay from Maven’s forces and the surrounding tech center. 

At the Piedmont base, Maven finds the prisoners, one of which is Rash, a newblood who shares a brain connection with his brother Ibrahem. In the Rift with Mare, Ibrahem starts communicating with Rash, so Mare makes a deal with Maven to release the hostages in return for the Scarlet Guard not blowing up the bombs they buried beneath the base. 

Chapters 16-18

Anabel and Julian secretly meet with Iris to make a deal for help from the Lakelanders in exchange for delivering the men responsible for killing her father. Then, Maven guesses Cal will attack Harbor Bay, so Maven sends Iris there so that her mother will quickly send troops to protect her and the city. 

Mare, Cameron, and Davidson lead a group into New Town, the tech city of Reds, and successfully beat the Silver guards and evacuate before blowing up the town. 

Chapters 19-20

Evangeline and her brother lead a battalion to attack the army fort outside Harbor Bay, but Iris is waiting for them. She forces them out by submerging the base in water, so Evangeline focuses her attention on taking the battleships in the bay while Cal shows up to fight Iris. As Mare arrives, she sees Iris throw Cal into the water as she retreats on her boats.

Cal is pulled out of the water unconscious but revived as Mare watches on. Later, after they take control of the city, more of the defeated Noble Houses pledge their allegiance to Cal. After, Mare goes to see Cal, and they end up kissing even though they say it changes nothing. 

Chapters 21-24

Aboard the ships her mother sent to help her, Iris, Maven, and her mother Queen Centa, receive a message from Cal asking to meet, and Iris secretly tells her mother that Anabel offered her a deal to consider. After spending the night together, Cal and Mare join the other leaders, and go to meet Maven, Bracken, Iris, and Centa. At the meeting, they make Maven out to be an unstable ally which works when he sees Mare with Cal, but no surrender is agreed upon.

Chapters 25-27

As they’re leaving, a commotion breaks out among the other leaders, and Iris and her mother bring Maven chained up back to the group. They trade Maven to the group for Lord Iral who killed the Lakelander king in the deal with Anabel. The next day when Cal, Mare, Davidson, Farley and Volo meet, Davidson gives Cal the choice to step down as king or lose the alliance with Montfort and the Scarlet Guard. 

Still, Cal refuses even though he does promise more freedom and rights for Reds, so Davidson, Farley, and Mare leave the palace, secretly taking Maven with them. 

Chapters 28-30

Evangeline finds a note from Davidson offering her and Elane a place in Montfort, but, instead of outright accepting, she decides not to say anything about her suspicion that Anabel will hand Volo over to the Lakelands as part of the deal. Back in Montfort while hiking in the mountains, Mare runs into Jon who tells her that if Cal loses the capital city to the Lakelands, the path will be bloodier and worse for Reds than ever. He also admits to killing Kilorn’s master to push Mare down the path to save him.

At a council meeting that night, Mare tells Davidson and the Scarlet Guard about Jon, and they decide they need to take the Norta capital before the Lakelanders. They realize that they have to take Maven with to show them the hidden tunnels to get in. After his coronation in Norta, Cal thinks they’re going to lose the war, but Julian insists that Cal read the diary his mom left. 

Chapters 31-33

In the capital as the Lakelander boats approach, Evangeline confronts her father about using her, and she decides she’s going to leave. A fight breaks out between the family, and in the chaos, Anabel and Julian come and take Volo away as Evangeline and her brother flee the city. As the Lakelanders are attacking, Maven leads the Montfort and Scarlet Guard armies through the tunnels and into the fight.

Maven escapes in the chaos, but Mare finds Cal who agrees to the terms of an alliance with Montfort. Cal also asks Mare if it’s too late for them because he’s done with a crown, and she says it’s not too late if that’s Cal’s decision. During the fighting, Mare resolves goes to find Maven, and Julian uses his ability to make Volo walk off a bridge and fall out the Lakelander’s ship. 

Chapters 34-End

Just when they’re sure they’ve won, Iris and her mother feel some kind of formidable force they realize is an underwater weapon start sinking their ships. The weapons (sent by the Scarlet Guard and Montfort) are too big and powerful to stop, so the Lakelanders retreat. The Kingdom of Norta has won the battle. Mare corners Maven inside the palace as he’s trying to escape, and, during the ensuing fight, Maven critically injures Mare at the same time she kills him.

Mare wakes up to Cal, and they’re both torn about Maven’s death. In the aftermath, Mare decides to head back to Montfort, leaving Cal in Norta, to find herself and tells Cal she’ll be back for him when she does. 

Read the Full Book Review

Now that you’re reminded of the main points of this epic conclusion, check out my full book review of this final installment. There’s also recommendations for other books if you liked the last book and the entire series and reviews of previous books. 

There’s also a post about the whole series. 

If you do want to know a little bit more about what happened to Cal, Mare, and the rest of the characters after the end of the book, read Broken Throne. It’s not an official book in the series because it doesn’t read like a novel. It’s a short story collection that continues after the fourth book that does address a few loose ends.