Tag: Air Awakens

#BookReview by @LRWLee of Fire Falling

FireFalling1 Ooo la la… What can I say to this deeply vulnerable and sweetly romantic second installment in the Air Awakens series, Fire Falling, by Elise Kova.

If you love Sarah J. Maas, you’re sure to enjoy Elise Kova!!

SUMMARY (from book): Soldier… Sorcerer… Savior… Who is Vhalla Yarl?

Vhalla Yarl marches to war as property of the Solaris Empire. The Emperor counts on her to bring victory, the Senate counts on her death, and the only thing Vhalla can count on is the fight of her life. As she grapples with the ghosts of her past, new challenges in the present threaten to shatter the remnants of her fragile sanity. Will she maintain her humanity? Or will she truly become the Empire’s monster?

WHAT I THOUGHT: In this installment, Vhalla leaves the protection of the castle to fulfill the sentence the Senate decreed, for her involvement in the events of the night of wind and fire that threatened the life of Prince Aldrick. She marches to war under the command of the Emperor who plans to exploit her talents to conquer the North. To him, she is a lowly, worthless commoner who has become a distraction to his son and he makes no attempt to hide his feelings.

While most of the book covers the 3 month march north, the author takes what could be a rather boring and monotonous trek and makes it anything but. We see so much more of the deep love Vhalla has for Aldrick, a love she has desperately tried to deny, for she knows acknowledging it would set in motion changes she’s frightened to confront.

For Aldrick’s part, we watch his affections for Vhalla mature and discover he, too, has tried to deny his feelings for not only is a relationship with a commoner taboo for royalty, but he believes his past struggles, murders, and uncertainties make him someone to be shunned rather than loved.

SPOILER: I particularly loved the scene where Aldrick comes to Baldair looking for Vhalla in his brother’s section of the camp. After being apart from Aldrick for a time for her own safety, Vhalla hears Aldrick asking his brother about her. She sneaks out of her tent and in little more than a whisper, calls his name, drawing his attention. The conversation/events that ensue cement for both of them their true and undeniable feelings for each other. Whew… What a beautifully moving scene Kova wove together.

While this is only Kova’s second novel, she touches on vulnerabilities and insecurities we all deal with and feelings and emotions we long for. Seeing the host of passionate fans who have responded to these themes, I know she will do very well as an indie author. Well done. I can’t wait for book three!

I gave this book 5 stars!

You can watch Elise read from Fire Falling on Book Nerd Paradise’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/ptocpKE3VxI

Buy Fire Falling, Book Two in Air Awakens (at Amazon)
Buy Air Awakens, Book One (at Amazon)

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Review by YA fantasy author L. R. W. Lee
Website: LRWLee.com
Twitter: @lrwlee
FB: LRWLee Author
Blog: blog.LRWLee.com

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS POST, be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you thought.

FREE EBOOKS: I also invite you to download the free ebooks of the award winning Prequel and Book one in the Andy Smithson coming-of-age epic fantasy series.

#BookReview by @LRWLee of Air Awakens

AirAwakensAn engaging storyline. A strong heroine. A complicated future.

Air Awakens is the first in the Air Awakens series by Elise Kova.

SUMMARY (from back): A library apprentice, a sorcerer prince, and an unbreakable magic bond… The Solaris Empire is one conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.

Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all–the Crown Prince Aldrik–she finds herself enticed into his world. Now she must decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined.
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WHAT I THOUGHT: To the commoner, magic is a misunderstood and scary phenomenon. To those gifted with it, it’s a weapon to be wielded. From the four corners of the kingdom, different magical affinities originate: Firebearers from the West, Waterrunners from the South, and Groundbreakers from the North.

But what of the East? For more than a century a societal prejudice has existed against Windwalkers, magicians from the East. For something happened that had the race exterminated. While hints are offered as to why, there’s much more to understand as we meet Vhalla Yarl, a commoner who works in the royal library. Impossibly and unbeknownst to her, she is a Windwalker and her powers are about to be manifest despite her efforts to deny them. Imagine yourself holding to cultural narratives that magic is ‘bad’ just to find it is part of you. But confront it she must.

Aldrick, the eldest Prince of the kingdom (a powerful Firebearer in his own right), deduces her affinity when she saves him from a mortal wound when he is injured in battle–her research produces the cure the Royal healers are unaware of, as well as a magical Bond between them that begins to heat up in a forbidden relationship.

Through Vhalla’s trials, we see her emerge as the strong heroine she is as she grapples with the choice before her to embrace her Affinty and begin a new and unfamiliar future, or have it removed and follow a familiar and comfortable path. As you would imagine, forces are at work to prevent the latter, not the least of which is a trial at the hands of the Senate over her actions that threatened the prince.

All that said, a professional editor should have gotten hold of this work before it hit the shelves. I found numerous missing words, words used incorrectly and the like that a professional set of eyes would have quickly fixed. It just drives me crazy when such a good work is compromised for such a simple thing. As a reader, I don’t want to think about the mechanics. I want to get lost in the story. I would have given this 5 stars but for that, for which I deduct 10% and give this 4.5 stars.

 Despite the poor editing issue, the engaging storyline had me hooked and book two left me begging for more.

Get Air Awakens Book One (at Amazon)

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Review by YA fantasy author L. R. W. Lee
Website: LRWLee.com
Twitter: @lrwlee
FB: LRWLee Author
Blog: blog.LRWLee.com

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS POST, be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you thought.

FREE EBOOKS: I also invite you to download the free ebooks of the award winning Prequel and Book one in the Andy Smithson coming-of-age epic fantasy series.

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