book review

Review: Water's Wrath

4/11/2016

Title:
Water's Wrath
(Air Awakens #4)

Author:
Elise Kova

★★★★☆

3.75 out of 5

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.

**I received an eArc from the author in exchange for an honest review. This review contains minor spoilers regarding the first 3 books in the Air Awakens series. Stay until the end of the post to join the Water's Wrath giveaway!! **

Let's go a little bit back, shall we? As some of you might already know, I have stated before that the ending of Earth's End wasn't something I enjoyed, I thought the characters overreacted and it wasn't believable considering how much they have grown as a couple since book one and to be honest, I didn't think the ending of book 3 was crushing, I thought it was disappointing, but having Vhalla actually functioning without Aldrik felt really nice, for a moment I thought she was becoming too codependent and I am not into that kind of relationships. On Water's Wrath Vhalla has to reincorporate herself to society by pretending not to be the Windwalker, which becomes a little harder than she would have thought and trouble ends up finding her. The badassery of this woman is simply amazing, she surprises me a little more each time, what makes it different this time around is that she can't rely on Aldrik and their bond which doesn't necessarily makes it harder for her, but distinct and refreshing.

Having Vhalla coming back to the tower means we get to see characters that were introduced in book one, she has some suspicions and doesn't know how much she can rely on these people especially now that she has Achel. Vhalla also finds more things about her kind which at some point make me feel sorry for her because now she understands things could have had another outcome, she could be living a more peaceful life.

When it comes to the new characters, I wondered how things were going to work with Aldrik having a betrothed what her role was going to be and if she was going to be relevant to the story, I was thoroughly surprised by this character, she is fierce, smart and has a goal in mind, I like her character a lot for she is the face and voice of those affected by the war, also, she has a special gift that makes her different to others. I appreciate how every woman on the Air Awakens series is someone you have to be careful of, so much female power.

I find it interesting, and this is something I have noticed on every Air Awakens book, that you always think the author is going somewhere and then something -whatever- happens and the story takes you somewhere else entirely, however, whatever seems to be the problem at the time gets solved too fast, sometimes I like it but sometimes I don't. When it comes down to Water's Wrath I felt things between our lovebirds got solved too fast and that some of the things that happened only did in order for them to get back together and that bothered me a little, although I must admit that I felt I was riding an emotional rollercoaster that left me crying for my beloved characters more than once.

The ending of Water's Wrath takes the prize for the most interesting ending in the whole series. When a new power emerges and threatens all those against it, unexpected alliances have to be made by making sacrifices, which make Aldrik doubt and dread. It definitely was the best part of the book, Aldrik now has many things to overcome, things seem to be happening too soon and he might not have the chance to process things properly, so I wonder how is this going to affect him emotionally for I am all about character development.

Overall, Water's Wrath wasn't my favorite book in the series, I thought the action at the beginning set up a pace that wasn't followed all through the book, after a few chapters in it slowed down and took a while to build again. The second half was my favorite, there were betrayal and new alliances that made the story more interesting and make me think Crystal Crowned will be a book more about war and less about love for what else could happen in the romance department that hasn't already?

Are you guys reading Water's Wrath? What do you think of this series? Which one is your favorite secondary character? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

Ps. About the guy on the cover, I can't let you know who it is since it would be a major spoiler, but the majority of you are half right half wrong at the same time.

Ready for something amazing? Elise Kova organized one of the most amazing giveaways ever, this time instead of giving away a signed copy of her books, she decided to immortalize the winner's name written into Air Awakens book five, Crystal Crowned, as a minor/mentioned character somewhere in the book! How awesome is that?

Direct Link to Elise's giveaway: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/39698f6c12/?

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About the author:

Elise Kova has always had a passion for storytelling. She wrote her first novella, a high-fantasy, in sixth grade. Over the years she’s honed her love of literature with everything from fantasy to romance, science fiction to mystery, and whatever else catches her eye.

Elise lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where she’s currently working on the next installment in her debut YA fantasy series: Air Awakens. She enjoys video games, anime, table-top role playing games, and many other forms of “geekdom.” She loves talking with fans on Twitter (@EliseKova) and Facebook.

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