Friday 20 May 2016

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

Title: Air Awakens
Author: Elise Kova
Series: Air Awakens #1
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Elemental, Magic, Romance, Swords, Medieval
Source: Kindle
Pages: 377
Rating: 5 stars

Available at:

Blurb:
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.


Review:
Wow. Just wow.

This book first caught my eye while I was browsing Amazon for some new kindle books because of its cover art. I don’t tend to see a ton of drawn cover art, or maybe I have and I just haven’t really realized it, but regardless, this cover art was so beautiful that I had to click the link and find out what it was about. I read the blurb (which you can see above) and I was already drawn in. I loved the concept, I loved the main character’s name, and I loved that the main character was a book lover (aka library apprentice). So, I gave it a shot. And boy am I glad I did.

First looking at the writing, it was beautiful. It was eloquent, it was mature, and it really drew you into the story. I find sometimes that bad writing can really distract me from the story itself, but Elise Kova’s writing was a siren that called me to keep reading until it was 2am and my exhaustion came second only to my desire to read more and learn what happened next. Partnered with her fabulous writing is her intriguing plot. I think we have all read the story where the book loving, low born girl falls in love with a hard headed prince, but Kova made it her own! The world she creates in this album was a piece of art, and everything in it had the distinct purpose of driving the plot and the character’s development forward. It sounds simple, but so many authors fall into the trap of writing fluff that is entertaining, but doesn’t do much for the story other than entertain the audience.

And speaking of character development, another point goes to Elise Kova! While this was the first novel of the series, and not a ton of development is expected coming out of the starting gate, Kova surprised me by the amount of development we do see in Vhalla (our main character), and the dark and mysterious heir to the throne, Aldrik. Within the 350+ pages, we get a good first glimpse of who these characters might become as the story goes forward. Aldrik is desperate to let someone in, and by some twist of fate, Vhalla is put in a position where she can, and does. The author conveys so much emotion in these characters with so little effort, it is really something to behold. I expect more to come in the next instalment of the series, Fire Falling, and I can’t wait to see how not only the characters grow, but how the relationships between the characters grow as well. I am also excited to see how some of minor character’s in book 1 might grow to become more central!

I absolutely love this kind of love story, the ones that start off with a not so pleasant relationship, but slowly turn into something more. Aldrik is such an arrogant jerk, and every girl loves the bad boy deep down. It’s always fascinating to see how those layers get exposed, and learning who the man is behind the arrogant exterior. We get a taste of that in Air Awakens, and I think it’s safe to say we can expect more as the series will move on.

Overall, this was a great read. It was intriguing, enthralling, and it was excellently written. This is one of those cases where you really can judge a book by its cover! 5 stars for Air Awakens, and I encourage every YA fantasy reader to give Elise Kova’s debut novel a shot!  


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