Please note this article will be in two parts. The first half will be a general, spoiler-free comment on the series. In the second part, I will go over each book in further details, so be warned: there will be spoilers.
This series was an awesome discovery. I pretty much read it in one go in December 2020, so years after it first got published. Somehow I had never heard about it until a few weeks prior. I would say it was a shame that I hadn’t read it earlier, but honestly, I don’t think I would have appreciated as much had I read it earlier.
Let me explain. Earlier this year, I discovered the wonderful author that Sarah J. Maas is. I discovered her through her Throne of Glass series (which I will cover in another article). I admit, I was pretty skeptical about it at first: faes are not my thing. Well, they didn’t use to be at least. Magic, on the other end, totally is. Court tensions, strong characters, political undercurrents and just a dash of complicated romance? Count me in!
Thus I discovered an amazing series that took my breath away (if you want to know just how much, check this out). And which opened me to a style I had never quite managed to find before that. A style that definitely define the Air Awakens series.
What is that style? A beautiful, masterful mix of excellent writing, fantastic characters, immersive worlds, intense dynamics, remarkable plot-twists, and yes, addictive romance (go on, judge me, I dare you).
All these things I did not expect to find in the Air Awakens, the first tome of the series. Why did I read it then? Actually, I read it because I enjoyed A Deal with the Elf King, by the same author, Elise Kova. I was so pleasantly surprised by it that I decided to give this one a go. Hundreds of pages later, and I’m done. Line, hook and sinker.
This series is packed full of adrenaline, suspense, plot-twists and awesome characters. If like me you’re a sucker for stories that build slowly and unfurl with the strength of a sandstorm, you’re going to love this.
The plot is wonderfully woven. The characters are deep, complex, profoundly human and ever evolving. The world is not overly magical and pretty immersive. It actually reminded me a lot of Avatar, The Last Airbender in a lot of ways, but Kova approaches it in a very different ways.
In my opinion, the full strength of this series, however, is how masterfully Kova plays around with predictability. Many plot lines are not actually that original. Many are even somehow predictable… At first glance. Throughout the series, there is this underlying tension of predictability, especially for any avid reader of the genre. Yet, nothing happened quite how I was expecting it to. Do you know how frustrating and incredibly satisfying that is? Amazingly so on both accounts.
The Air Awakens series has kept me on my toes all throughout, and that is an absolute blast.
[If you like the covers, check the artist here!]
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In more details [spoilers ahead, read at your own risk]
#1 Air Awakens
As I mentioned before, I read Air Awakens (the first tome of the eponymous series) after discovering A Deal with the Elf King through a challenge (the Cold Winter Challenge if you’re interested). Once more, I was pleasantly surprised by Ms Kova’s book. Actually, the contrast with A Deal with the Elf King was interesting. A Deal with the Elf King was published this year. Air Awakens, on the other hand, was her debut novel. After reading her latest work, that fact was pretty obvious, if I’m being honest.
Although a lot simpler than in A Deal with the Elf King, Kova’s writing was already of very good quality, and quite distinctive (she seems to favour using certain words that can be found often in her books). Where the debut-aspect was the most obvious though was the plot. The book was first published in 2015. Not too long ago, but enough for the YA fantasy genre to explode, and for a few plot lines to become common, possibly even mainstream.
For the first half of the book, Air awakens is very predictable. Normal girl turns put to be somewhat special, catches the attention of dark and mysterious prince, leading to some kind of budding love triangle with her childhood friend… This is the basic outline of dozens of books.
I mean it was all right. The plot was not really original, but the world is immersive enough, if pretty simple. The characters are likeable, and the tension is intriguing, if expected.
But then… Then!
Then, shit hits the fan, and the books pulls the rug from right under you. All that predictability? Gone, out the window, bye bye.
Within a handful of sentences, my adrenaline is pumping, and I’m right there with the characters, screaming as my little heart shatters. And just like that, I’m addicted.
Seriously, the last part of this book totally makes up for the somehow lower quality (in plot, not the writing) of the first half.
This is a good book. A very good one! And I can’t wait to read the next one!
The one thing I do actually resent about this book is the Easter Egg that made it impossible for me to read about some characters without having James Bond music playing in my mind… Fun, but not something I want to have while reading this kind of book, even more so when said egg really doesn’t match with the rest of the universe it’s set in (coherence in names is important).
Just for the surprise factor, this book stood out in the long list of books I’ve read this year.
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.
#2 Fire Falling
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t jump straight onto book 2 after finishing book 1. As eager to know what happens to the characters next, I wanted to discover more of Elise Kova’s work. I also have a tendency to binge-read series when I like them. I decided ‘not this time’!
I picked the first tome of another of her series, Alchemists of the Loom, and prepared myself to be surprised by a style I do not actually enjoy: steampunk. Fully confidant in the author’s ability to blow my mind again.
It did not happen. Nope. Alchemists of the Loom is not to my liking at all. Not only did I not enjoy the plot (or what I read of it: I did stop at about a third), but I honestly thought that the quality of the writing was subpar compared to the other two books. I was genuinely surprised that it’d been written by the same person.
A little disappointed but impatient to get back to Vhalla and Aldrik, I gave myself a 5-minute adapting time for diplomacy’ sake, then grabbed Fire Falling and let myself be pulled into its pages.
This second book is very slow. It takes place over a few months only and over a single event, kind of. The entirety of the book is about the march to war.
But is it boring?
Oh hell no!
This book is anything but boring. It played with my nerves the whole time. Remember the first book’s predictability? Yeah that’s all gone.
There was so much tension, it was insane (and totally addictive). And I mean tension in every sense of the word. The plot doesn’t evolve much, but the war is ever looming the background, growing heavier and heavier with each step the characters take towards the front.
The dynamics between the characters are all this book is about. They carry the reader to the end of the march. We can feel every little shift, every underlying current. The nitty gritty bits, the happy moments, the heartbreaking realisations… All of it.
I really appreciated here is how realistic the characters are. They’re not noble or trying to be perfect. They make mistakes and accept it. And I loved that. Their sheer humanity, both in the positive and negative aspects, was such a pleasure to read. Through the pages, I fell in love, I made friends, I discovered so many new people.
I absolutely loved the heavy but slow flirting. I’ve always loved that part of a relationship but what
I love the fact that I couldn’t predict anything. Half the time, I was enjoying what was happening but I was kept on my toes thinking it would all go wrong. But it didn’t necessarily. And when I was finally relaxing, BAM! (If you are wondering, yes, I found myself almost throwing the book against the wall in the middle of the night.)
This second tome is essentially just character- and world-building. Not something you might enjoy if you are after fast-paced series. But I personally found it brilliant (and even more so now that I’ve read further).
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?
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#3 Earth’s End
Let me start by saying that I am writing this article a mere couple hours after finishing this third tome. I am still reeling from it, and I’m ready to admit that writing this is a way for me to process and digest. The only reason I didn’t scream, sob and yell (at the same time) is because I live with a toddler who was napping at the time, and because my housemates (the toddler’s parents) would probably have worried about the crazy in the living room if I had.
If you wanna have a better idea of how I felt right after the last page, I invite you to check my Goodreads review.
Just like the first two tomes, this one kept me on my toes. While the second one was slow, this one if the wave finally crashing down on the rocks. It’s everything that had been building up. I can’t count the number of times I actually held my breath.
Again, the plot is not incredibly original and skirts with cliches a fair bit. And again, Kova brings it all together in a unique perspective, approaching everything with unpredictability and originality. This dichotomy between a familiar plot and complete unpredictability was like a rollercoaster: totally unsettling and incredibly exhilarating.
This third tome is so much more complexe than the other two. The characters grow into themselves and the plot thickens a lot. It’s much more high-strung too. I really enjoy the first two, obviously, but this one, I literally couldn’t put it down. I had to force myself to do so a few times in order to pull myself together and digest what was happening. That’s how insane this one is.
The ending left me a complete mess, and I very much dread what is going to happen next.
[I could tell you a lot more but then you’d probably think me certifiably insane for getting carried over so much over a book.]
A woman awoken in air, a soldier forged by fire, a weapon risen from blood.
Vhalla Yarl has made it to the warfront in the North. Forged by blood and fire, she has steeled her heart for the final battle of the Solaris Empire’s conquest. The choices before Vhalla are no longer servitude or freedom, they are servitude or death. The stakes have never been higher as the Emperor maintains his iron grip on her fate, holding everything Vhalla still has left to lose in the balance.
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#4 Water’s Wrath
I only just started this one. I’ll let you know how it goes. I refuse to even look at the summary to avoid spoiling myself.
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.
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#5 Crystal Crowned
Yeah, you’re not getting even the summary of this one, I’m not about to spoil myself on that!
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One more thing I can tell you is that I’m looking forward to reading a spin-off series the author wrote about a very intriguing character we meet in the third tome: the Golden Guard trilogy!
Blink of an I 