Air Awakens: The Complete Series Kindle Edition

“I love you,” he repeated, a determined fire lighting his eyes. “It is one of the worst things I could ever do,” Aldrik confessed. “I swear to the Mother, I have tried not to damn you with it. But you’re a rather persistent, beautiful presence in my life. And, for once, the silver-tongued prince is tired of pretending.”☀️Slow-burn romance☀️Elemental magic☀️Found familyRATING: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟MY REVIEW:The entire Air Awakens series does not disappoint. It single-handedly revived my love for reading and escaping to fantasy worlds."Even something very small can cast a large shadow when it is close to the sun."Elise Kova has the innate ability to showcase raw human emotion within her characters. Because of the length of the series, we as readers get the opportunity to witness Vhalla Yarl's journey from sheltered naiveness to shattering vulnerability to unwavering courage. This series with its story and characters will honestly take you on such a rollercoaster of emotions that will leave you wanting more. It's a fantastic immersion of legends, magic, and adventure. And my favorite part of fantasy stories: world building.The world of Air Awakens, while it does have me reminisce on worlds of Avatar: The Last Airbender or that of the Grishaverse (book series by Leigh Bardugo), it stands alone in its uniqueness. This is not the first fantasy world to use the magic and powers of the elements, but the way that Kova has presented it is fascinating and intriguing. I love that each type of sorcerer has its own affinity of the element and affinity of self (eg. Windwalkers have an affinity for air and an affinity for the mind, while Firebearers have an affinity for fire and an affinity for foresight). Its history connects itself to the legend of how the entire world was built and I love that we get to explore that within the series.It's important to mention that Kova's characters are strong in their own right, but are also full of flaws/imperfections. Aldrik, for example, is known as the most powerful Firebearer in history, even nicknamed the Fire Lord (lol at the A:LTA reference), but he’s often weighed down by his own insecurities and inner darkness. It’s something that’s sprinkled throughout the series and eventually gets pieced together as you read each book. You get to see how this impacts his own character growth and the growth of his relationship with our main heroine/his love interest, Vhalla. Kova has this ability to naturally develop her characters and their journey through each major event, and I’m here for it!But fair warning, this is the first of many series in the world of Air Awakens. It is a slow-burn and book one will leave you with some unanswered questions…and a little bit of confusion of why a character is the way they are. I promise that it’ll all make sense eventually!! You gotta work for those answers! I also highly recommend continuing on to the Vortex Chronicles that continues the story of the Solaris family.In conclusion, the Air Awakens series is something you're not going to want to put down. I find myself, months and months after finishing my first read through, re-reading it all the time. I absolutely loved the series and the world, and it’s a great intro to Elise Kova books!

Overall, I could have done without the last book. However, book 4 was hands down one of the best books I have ever read.

For starters...this is my introduction to this author and I bought this tome on a whim after my cousin recommended another series from this author. The art is very pretty. This tome just so happen to get to me first before the others so I of course, started with it...back in May...and I just finished it in October of the same yr...I had to put the book down between "book 4 and 5" for a few months.....don't get me wrong though, the book is actually an easy read; sentences and grammar are okay...but it's the characters (especially the FL and ML) and the choices and plot that...towards the middle and end of the book, truly made me question...who this book was made for XD Like, I thought it was for a young adults, but than there were more 'adult' themes...but then there was some heavy handed plot points and dialogue that was like slapping me in the face like it wasn't trying to be 'obvious' while spray painting it in neon and arrows at it....and the foreshadowing was the worse. That felt so slap dash to me. XDThat and the side characters...another reviewer hit it on the head with the 'high school melodrama' with a stupidly amount of bad choices and shallow personalities that only 'react'...Oh.....that FL....I really did try to 'get to know her'...but in my opinion, she just came out so 'wishy-washy' and only after finishing the book, will I say that one of her 'personality traits' is that of a "FOOL"...I understand that she was just reacting to the situations that she found herself in...but really, that's all she does is react and cause the problems and be all stunned that everything she does have consequences. Like seriously, if you eat a cookie, are you truly gonna be surprised when the cookie is gone after you ate it?Or maybe the book wasn't made for me, 'cause I do see many people adore this series...but goodness did this book get hard to read. To me, it felt like a commitment issue...like if your gonna do fantasy, with a little bit of romance...go right ahead...but when the drama is literally caused by one's action and the characters blame themself, but continue to do the same thing over and over again...are they truly the lead? not the villain? Like it felt like they did everything on purpose. Are you sure she was suppose to be the FL? and a hero? Like, what was labeled the early villains (not the last villain) felt like a child being angry at an adult for doing their job in my opinion (and this is just using symbolism to explain it).I just took alot of issues with the FL. The ML...was very superficial to me...it felt like the author had a bullet point list of problems that they slapped on him to gather sympathy so he could be the lovable bad boy...and the poor side characters...we're pretty much cliche' labels and for the life of me...how could so many of them put the FL first? how can they be her friend? what did she do to deserve it? Was the FL suppose to be the pretty girl and that's why they treated the FL like so? In my opinion the FL didn't have enough dialogue or features that gave reason for why the side characters cared for her so...I've read alot of books that had more charming leads than her...honestly, I was hoping the FL would fail and kick the bucket, but she had the title of 'FL' so she's gonna survive and be miss popular....as the story progressed, I found myself thinking that I would not be this FL friend at all...and was actually hoping she'd redeem herself or just kick the bucket...but my hopes just kept getting dashed....so I'm just gonna sum up my experience by telling a story. I hope you enjoy my experience because I had to suffer for months because of this darn series. (as well as all the people close to me who heard me ranting about this book XD) I'm not gonna give any spoilers, though I am going to hint towards some of the drama...but not all the drama because my sanity is already suffering from it even after how I just finished it XDBook 1Imagine if you will, that you find yourself in a new fantasy world, and to top it off, the FL is right next to you as you both face this 'BIG,' almost mansion like house. You know nothing about this FL, but she introduces herself to you as you both start walking towards said house. Your getting to hear her thought process as she tells you what she thinks about the house that your both walking the perimeter of. So far, you think to yourself, this is a nice start. Your told of a ML, but your focus is all on the FL...and the side characters and drama are little details that you find around the yard as you continue to walk with the FL. Again, you think to yourself, this isn't so bad and it seems pretty smooth so far, so you decided to continue to the next book.Book 2Both you and the FL are now facing the front of the house now, and though the FL is still telling you her thoughts, you're starting to see more action from her. In fact, she seems to act 'normal' and she has no issue walking up the little porch steps to reach the front door. The FL stares at the front door for a moment, but you still think that it's okay, this is just the beginning of the adventure. That is...until she opens the door and you 'smell something'...now...you register that you smell something, but you can't put your finger on it. It could be a good or bad smell, but it's very faint, and since it's right near the doorway, you decide to over look it for the time being.Your focus goes back to the FL who is still standing in front of the front door way. You see that there are steps immediately going up from the steps. 'No big deal' you think to yourself, and you wait for the FL to start going up....and she moving towards the steps, but doesn't lift her leg up to go up the step...instead she walks into the steps and of course trips and falls onto the steps. You both chuckle over how stupid that was as she gets back up and you off handily tell her 'to lift her feet up'....The FL is back to standing in front of the steps and this time she lifts her feet to step up on to the steps. She makes it up three steps before she trips again and this time falls all the way back down.Your starting to question that maybe something isn't quite right, but again, you just started this little adventure with the FL so your giving her a chance here.You go to help the FL back up, but she's already back up on her feet and this time you remind her that there are hand rails that she could use. This time she slowly lifts her feet onto the steps and use the hand rails as you follow her up the steps, but just as you get to the second step, you realize that this chick is running up the steps and you find yourself chasing after her, only to run into her as she stops at the last step before the hallway.Book 3At this point, you feeling that something isn't quite right with the FL. That smell you smelled earlier is starting to prick your conscience, but your not able to figure it out fast enough before you hear the FL cry 'I can fly' and races down the hall towards a window that's half open. Your not even think at this point as you chase after her and tackle her to the ground before she reaches the window. All you can think about is trying to close the window and the thought that the FL is a bird brain. You turn to yell at her, but realize that she's no longer on the ground where you tackled her...no...she's already opening another door off the hallway...and you can see a sparkle in her eye that is giving you a bad feeling....Book 4She hasn't 'moved' yet from the door that she just opened, but now you can really smell something. At this point, you realized that the smell was actually getting worse in the house, and you haven't even explore that much, but you realized that when she opened the door, what you thought was a bad smell, is no longer in competition to this new smell...it's making you question your own sanity. But by than, you realized that your already too far in...you should have turned back somewhere in Book 2 or head the warning signs in book 3...but no...you followed the FL, who is now staring at another set of stairs, and foreboding is sitting heavy on your shoulders.You think to yourself, that it's almost over...you know that the end is almost here...that you can almost see the exit...or at least, you think you do...Needless to say, the FL is now attempting to climb these new steps and what should be an easy task is made to look like a new and highly challenging experience. Part of you wants to cry, because the FL is doing what you consider stupid and dangerous actions that are uncalled for. Like, who tries to walk the hand rails when you have sturdy steps to put your feet on.Book 5The FL gets to the next landing and you think to yourself, 'finally, we're almost done'...but than you look up and around you, and realized that the FL is literally walking into the wall like a broken toy....your struck by how stupid the action is...but all you can do is watch until she finally realizes that she's not actually getting anywhere. She finally comes across what looks like a set of stairs that lead back to the main floor. At this point, your almost not surprised by her actions, as she proceeds to make even the action of walking towards the exit look like the most difficult chore she doesn't feel like doing. But eventually, you make it to the exit. You find yourself wanting to run away from her, but the FL than grabs onto you and tells you that 'there's more' and to come with her...but you see this as your chance to break away...and 'I' do....I break from her grasp and run for the hills as the FL hollers at me that the 'Next series is a sequel and is another five volumes'....it only makes me run faster still and nothing is going to make me look back.