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I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I was in a huge reading slump when I picked up Air Awakens. I expected that I would get about five chapters into it and lose interest. After all, that is exactly what happened with the five books I picked up before it. I tried everything from Alternate History to Paranormal. Nothing stuck. It’s not that the books were bad. I just couldn’t get into them. I was absolutely sure that Air Awakens was going to be the next book on my ever growing DNF list.
I am happy to announce that I was wrong. Air Awakens sucked me in from the very beginning and refused to let go. After devouring the book in one sitting, I immediately purchased the next two books in the series, Fire Falling and Earth’s End. I just couldn’t get enough of this fun and easy fantasy series. Honestly, I still can’t. Water’s Wrath cannot come out fast enough.
That said, Air Awakens is far from perfect.
Yeah, I know that I just raved about how they saved me from the dreaded reading drought of 2016. That means this review is glowing, right? Unfortunately, no. These Fantasy-lite Romances are tons of fun on the surface, but digging deeper reveals more than a couple of issues.
While the book is a quick and easy read, the pacing in the first half of the book is awkward and clumsy. Weeks fly by in two sentences while minutes take pages. This causes the book to drag until the author finds her rhythm about halfway through.
The Solaris Empire will feel very familiar to fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In fact, I found myself filling in the holes left in the world with information from that series. I will say that the world building issues do seem to be getting better as more books come out, but I still have a list of questions that have yet to be answered. If you liked detailed settings, maybe skip this series.
Vhalla is your stereotypical YA heroine. She’s a nobody that hides in the shadows reading her books until suddenly, and without warning, she finds out that she is extremely special. Like, Last Airbender special. When I say that, I mean it literally. She’s the first person in a century that has possessed the ability to use wind magic. Making her the Last Windwalker. The special snow flake syndrome doesn’t stop there. Nope, she catches the eye of Crown Prince Aldrik (who reminds me of Prince Zuko from Avatar), the broody and erratic sorcerer who has never really loved anyone, until Vhalla.
The secondary characters almost always fall flat. They are often one dimensional, from Larel, the mentor turned confidant, to Sareem, the undeveloped and intolerant third piece of the required love triangle. The only supporting character that caught my eye was Baldair, Prince Aldrik’s golden younger brother. My attachment to him could be that I felt he was one of the better developed characters as the series progressed, or it could be that I can’t get enough of tall, blonde, and handsome. Either way, I can’t get enough Baldair.
On the upside, I found the romance scenes in this book to be pretty steamy. I didn’t exactly approve of the romance itself, though. I found Aldrik to be pretty unstable. In the interest of keeping this review as spoiler free as possible I will not go into extreme detail, but I will say that if I had been Vhalla, I wouldn’t have allowed that man anywhere near me, Crown Prince or not. Baldair, on the other hand… Well, he’s a different story.
In the end, I still devoured the series in less than three days. So, in spite of all of the problems, I will read Water’s Wrath on release day. If you like a steamy romance, or wish there had been more Avatar, or are just looking for some quick and easy Fantasy to take your mind off of life, give this a try. It’s not highbrow lit, but it sure is fun.
Recommended for: Readers who enjoyed the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra.