Release Date: April. 26, 2016 | Silver Wing Press
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 378
Edition: Paperback ARC
Source: Author
Rating:
Librarian turned sorcerer. Sorcerer turned hero. Hero turned puppet.
The Solaris Empire found victory in the North and, at the cost of her heart and her innocence, Vhalla Yarl has earned her freedom. But the true fight is only beginning as the secret forces that have been lurking in the shadows, tugging at the strings of Vhalla's fate, finally come to light. Nowhere is safe, and Vhalla must tread carefully or else she'll fall into the waiting arms of her greatest foe. Or former lover.
The Solaris Empire found victory in the North and, at the cost of her heart and her innocence, Vhalla Yarl has earned her freedom. But the true fight is only beginning as the secret forces that have been lurking in the shadows, tugging at the strings of Vhalla's fate, finally come to light. Nowhere is safe, and Vhalla must tread carefully or else she'll fall into the waiting arms of her greatest foe. Or former lover.
I received a review copy courtesy of the author/publisher. This does not affect my opinion or views regarding the book whatsoever.
Today I'm discussing my adoration for the 4th book in the Air Awakens Series, Water's Wrath. A strong novel that covers love, betrayal, independence, redemption, and so much more, Elise shows readers why she's still a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy genre.
Today I'm discussing my adoration for the 4th book in the Air Awakens Series, Water's Wrath. A strong novel that covers love, betrayal, independence, redemption, and so much more, Elise shows readers why she's still a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy genre.
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Series Continuance Syndrome
noun? idk. eye-maid-dis-up
The act of having difficulty continuing a series due to being placed in the same world, with the same characters. SCS has the side effect of repetitiveness which causes dizziness and nausea.
Yes, people, I suffer from Series Continuance Syndrome. I have such a hard time finishing anything that isn't a standalone, dualology, or a trilogy, and even when I do push past book #3, it's like my brain shuts down and I'm forced to stop. I find that things get repetitive for me. I get tired of being forced to wander within the same world -- tired of reading perspectives of characters I'm bored of, it's just difficult for me to finish an entire series unless I'm blown away. Then came the Air Awakens series. My experience hasn't been without flaw, I definitely stumbled in Earth's End, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the miracle Elise has worked on me. I am now impatiently waiting to devour the final installment Crystal Crowned, which will be my first time completing a series in years . . shocking I know. So instead of doing a traditional review, I decided to team up with my new friend Skylar to generate a discussion by answering a few questions centered around the story, while sharing our thoughts on Water's Wrath!
After reading the first three books in the Air Awakens series, what were your initial thoughts going in to WW?
Skylar With EE ending so abruptly I was outraged. WHERE THE HELL IS MY PRECIOUS BABY VHALLA GOING. I needed WW so that I could atleast feel secure about her. Even though Aldrik is of course suffering..... he's that character that is constantly going to suffer and so with Baldair's help, I knew he was going to be ok. Though Vhalla is still just a newb. She's still learning how to use her power! How she said fuck it and ran from Aldrik, the emperor, the government, "the man"; I was immensely inspired but also worried. So I knew shit was gonna go down in WW but I needed as fast as possible.
Tika I'm not even going to lie, I was nervous as hell! Air Awakens was an amazing start to kick off the series, and Fire Falling being my favorite, completely jump-started my obsession with the story, but when I finally dived into Earth's End, I struggled . . alot. Vhalla and Aldrik's relationship became a bit over-bearing for me, (blame SCS lol) and trying to sludge my way around their relationship, hindered my experience tremendously. Don't get me wrong, I still very much enjoyed the story, but after feeling let down, I was quite unsure about how I would feel once I moved on to the 4th installment. Similar to what Sky mentioned, Earth's End closed out with such a bang, I completely felt like curiosity the cat! There was no way I couldn't continue after that cliffhanger, and honestly, I couldn't get enough of the world and characters anyway.
Tika I think for me, the first half really made me sit back and think, " damn this is why I fell in love with this series to begin with. " As I stated in the previous question, Vhalla and Aldrik's relationship sorta clouded my vision. The plot felt very centered around their romance, which affected my experience, so to see Vhalla regaining her independence, taking time to herself, and really putting her best interest first, fucking impressed me. (Love is blind, and it'll take over your mindddd . . Sorry had a moment) It was refreshing to see her learning to survive on her own, and by the time she reunited with the supporting cast, I felt she was almost renewed. She still made mistakes, as she should, which excitedly resulted in a few unexpected plot twists that pushed the story into high gear. To say I was #stressed going into the second half is an understatement lol.
Skylar The first half was....interesting.... to my surprise, Vhalla is doing remarkably well on her own. Well, I knew she could survive on her own for maybe a week or two without help but it seems she survived on her own for a while. The independence, leadership, and survival skills she gained were truly needed. She is certainly not the small, quiet librarian we were introduced in the first book. The tempo was a little sporadic for my taste. Some interesting things were happening too fast and unnecessary parts too slow. Though I think Kova did that to give the characters more flavor. Either way, readers will be proud of Vhalla's character development.
Once you reached the midway point of the story, what were your thoughts on the first half?
Tika I think for me, the first half really made me sit back and think, " damn this is why I fell in love with this series to begin with. " As I stated in the previous question, Vhalla and Aldrik's relationship sorta clouded my vision. The plot felt very centered around their romance, which affected my experience, so to see Vhalla regaining her independence, taking time to herself, and really putting her best interest first, fucking impressed me. (Love is blind, and it'll take over your mindddd . . Sorry had a moment) It was refreshing to see her learning to survive on her own, and by the time she reunited with the supporting cast, I felt she was almost renewed. She still made mistakes, as she should, which excitedly resulted in a few unexpected plot twists that pushed the story into high gear. To say I was #stressed going into the second half is an understatement lol.
Skylar The first half was....interesting.... to my surprise, Vhalla is doing remarkably well on her own. Well, I knew she could survive on her own for maybe a week or two without help but it seems she survived on her own for a while. The independence, leadership, and survival skills she gained were truly needed. She is certainly not the small, quiet librarian we were introduced in the first book. The tempo was a little sporadic for my taste. Some interesting things were happening too fast and unnecessary parts too slow. Though I think Kova did that to give the characters more flavor. Either way, readers will be proud of Vhalla's character development.
What do you like the most about Water's Wrath?
Tika This is going to sound so funny, but my favorite thing about WW is Elise. If it wasn't for her awesome brain, we wouldn't have this series. We wouldn't have a heroine that isn't trying so hard to be the next Celaena, we wouldn't have a fiery, swoon-worthy love interest, we definitely wouldn't have a whole crew of characters that you feel so dear to you know? But to answer the question, (ya'll know I love being difficult) I think my top two favorite things other than Adrik #daddyfireking, is the character development and magic system. If you've been following the series, then you've witnessed the amazing development of all of the characters. Elise definitely wanted her novels to be character driven, and I really love how she didn't just focus on just Vhalla and Aldrik. Everyone in a way has their own story that seamlessly ties into the main plot. My other fave, the magic system, reminds me of a modernized version of Captain Planet. It's beyond nostalgic, and it gives the story an intriguing flare, especially with each element being created to be the foundation of each book. I just adore it to pieces.
Skylar I know I already talked about this in my last response but I love the independence Vhalla gained. The way she basically said FUCK THIS SHIT and left and did her own thing.... groundbreaking. Also, how everyone respects her independence is also great. No one is treating her like a little girl, incapable of doing pretty much everything. If you read EE you know that shit was getting real annoying. She has blossomed into her own person finally and everyone is totally ok with that. If not makes her more threatening, which is shit I LIVE FOR. Love character development. It also increased her attractiveness to the golden knights, Baldair, Aldrick, even a few other characters I will not name.
Of course, since we covered likes, what are your dislikes?
Skylar As much as I do love this series, I wasn't happy with this book. I love the excitement and enthusiasm Kova has in her writing but the tempo really threw me off. Some things just felt unnecessary (Baldair, but I'm not spilling any tea) and rushed. I was rereading all the good parts because I felt like it wasn't explained thoroughly. In the beginning, things were slow but got uncontrollably fast in the middle and end. Though I'm still interested in what Crystal Crowned has to bring!
Tika I thankfully don't have many dislikes, but I do feel as though the ending was a bit rushed, or atleast it felt that way for me. Elise does a great job of both telling and showing us great detail within her stories, allowing us to visually imagine what she has created, however, the ending was more so " this happened, then that happened " and it all went down rather quickly. The pacing of the overall story definitely was satisfying, especially because it sent us on an emotional rollercoaster of feels, buttttt I do wish the ending dragged out a bit . . . or maybe that was me not wanting the story to be over yet
And finally, to people who haven't read this book/series, what would encourage them to do so?
Tika You mean other than me standing over them with a knife while they're sleeping? Just kidding. Okay maybe not, but this entire series is definitely for readers that are looking for something more in fantasy. As we all know and have experienced, this genre has a way of getting repetitive. (Well, all genres do actually, but still.) There are so many re-tellings and concepts being heavily inspired or molded after each other, so diving into this series and seeing that it steered clear of that, made me want to hold on for dear life. Elise has created such a creative storyline set in an intriguing world, with imaginative writing, and characters that are not only multi-dimensional but extremely well-crafted. As a whole, the series showcases a slow-burning romance, strong friendships, great-and-not-so-great family dynamics, action, a useful magic-system, (yes I said useful, and yes I'm being shady ) amazing character development . . just everything we could ever want. If I had to give a one sentence pitch to encourage readers to pick this up: Read This Shit Now Before I Attack You would suffice.
Skylar I feel like this series is for people who are desperate for change because Vhalla hated change. She was perfectly content with being a librarian but she blossomed fast and furious. People want change, people crave for it but have no means to change (Aldrick). Some people are scared of change but it's unavoidable(Vhalla). Of course, you're not going to get powers overnight or suddenly "awakened" but there will be an instance where life can be twisted, beaten, turn upside down and around, that's what its all about.
Skylar I feel like this series is for people who are desperate for change because Vhalla hated change. She was perfectly content with being a librarian but she blossomed fast and furious. People want change, people crave for it but have no means to change (Aldrick). Some people are scared of change but it's unavoidable(Vhalla). Of course, you're not going to get powers overnight or suddenly "awakened" but there will be an instance where life can be twisted, beaten, turn upside down and around, that's what its all about.
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Are any of you fans of this series? If so, how did you feel about Water' Wrath? I'm sure we're all counting down the days till Crystal Crowned!
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