Air Awakens (Air Awakens Series Book 1)

Really original method of a library apprentice awakening to her elemental power of air. This brings her to the attention of the powers that be, and the attention of the Crown Prince, (aka The FireLord) who controls the element of fire. He takes on Vhalla's training in her new magic and sparks start flying. A fast read and I had to quickly buy the other books. Waiting on book four, which releases in April, to see what happens next.

It's refreshing to read fantasy fiction where the central character is a strong, intelligent female. Vhalla, a bookish girl comes of age as a sorcerer and gets swept up in battle and becomes a fearsome warrior.

This isn't the genre I normally ever read, but I totally enjoyed the adventure and look forward to finding out what happens next in the series.

The first quarter of the book, which was the sample, was very good, I was very interested in what would happen to the characters. After I started reading the rest of the book it went downhill quickly. Parts were interesting but the book ending up turning into one long love triangle with no actual story. The main character has powers that we don't understand and needs to stay secret, so there were several other things going on but the story would only talk about her dating people.

Its hard to put my feelings into words. The characters wnt through a great deal of development and received great characterization. Just the relationship she has with aldrich. Its so deep and complicated and interesting. It was slow paced at first bit those book was a decimate slow burn. This is a good series. Check it out.

Light, easy, and fun young adult fantasy romance. Though somewhat predictable, it was quite pleasant since I wasn't expecting in-depth world/character building as I would a grand epic fantasy. Sometimes you're just in the mood for a simple and entertaining afternoon read and this book hits the spot. Would definitely be reading the second book.

I really liked this book, despite the sappy YA romance. I mean, ok, sometimes I like the sappy YA romance, but what I really liked was that the beginning of the story sets up an interesting world - a bit implausible (sorcerers seem too powerful to be bullied into seclusion IMHO), but definitely interesting. My biggest complaint is that I get angry when writers tell young women to go for the jerk. For once, I want a girl in a fantasy story to be pursued by a jerk but not want anything to do with him.

Anywho... the style of the writing really caught my attention, and I couldn't put this book down.

Something about Vhalla grabbed me and never let go. Maybe it was her passion for her duty, or her courage. Maybe the honesty in how she saw herself. It felt raw, real. Vhalla is a beautifully written character and I can't wait to read about her next adventure. This is a classic epic fantasy and I loved it.

magic is a scary, perhaps dangerous thing to have but for Vhalla, it is a nightmare. suddenly she sees and feels so differently and cannot control it. thank heavens for her mysterious trainer who is helping her get a handle on these feelings. but perhaps this teacher isn't the right one for her. will she even make it through her first few weeks?

I kept seeing this series pop in my notifications and never payed it any heed, until I finally decided to try the first book out. I am glad I purchased it on my kindle. It was such a good refreshing fantasy novel, that I bought the next two and have the fourth on preorder. If you love sorcery, love, friendship, books, fantasy, Kings, castles etc you will love this. I only wish I was rich enough to buy the whole series on hardback. It has become a new fave of mine. I recommend this highly.

This book has loads of positive reviews, but I was skeptical because (as a 25 year old) the last time I read a YA book with enthusiastic ratings it turned out to be a disaster. I took the plunge here and was happy with Air Awakens...at first...and for its potential. The more I reflected the more I was disappointed.

I was looking for a fantasy with some romance that wouldn't leave me banging my head against the desk from eye-rolling teenage YA cliches, and while not amazing, I was left satisfied and looking forward to seeing the main characters grow as individuals and as a couple.

When I read "'I'm sorry...' She apologized." I groaned and wondered if I had made a mistake. Time was noticeably odd too in several instances, one event that would normally take a couple hours but suddenly its dusk? Vhalla consistently skips meals so she doesn't eat for a full day it seems? Further, the taboo of sorcery was only touched upon barely enough for me to believe the public had reason to fear it. Vhalla could have had more personality too, other than being a scholar, but thank goodness she wasn't a blushing maid! The girl is 18 and had known infatuation and sex, but it's little more than a part of her past which is nice. One of my other complaints was the prince. His reputation is being silver-tongued and snobby, but whenever you see him act as such it seems like such an act. Why is he like this? This is never explained. He's a jerk to Vhalla at times sure, but he clearly has a good heart and has little trouble showing it in private.

Despite my nitpicking I did enjoy it for what it was and bought the 2nd and preordered the 3rd (UPDATE. I canceled the preorder for the 3rd after reading the 2nd). The book is very character driven, much more relationship building than plot to the point the last quarter is very...jarring. Vhalla is discovering her powers (yet its glazed over often) and is preparing for a transition the entire book, so the 2nd book better deliver! (Gosh I hope it does. By the end of the book you know what will happen in the 2nd.) (UPDATE: 2nd book did not deliver.) There are plenty of unanswered questions and growth I really want to see!

So in all, teenager will enjoy this book for the relationship stuff but anyone older who has read better prose and is aware of all the tropes, don't waste your time.

I enjoyed the story a lot, nice flow, good characters in Prince Aldrik and our heroine, Vhalla. Good , interesting magic and I am not usually hot on "elemental" magic. Unclear who, or what the enemy is, maybe in 2nd book of series, already reading. But a worthwhile read for fantasy lovers. Happy Reading!!!!
Tim

An edgier coming of age of a young library apprentice tossed into the world of castle politics and magic. And add a magic prince. Kova does do a nice job of less predictable plotting than your regular coming of age stories.

I love the dynamic between Vhalla and Arlick. I love how their friendship (and love) built slowly, realistically. Nothing was overdone or left unsaid that didn't perfectly balance this book the way it was meant to be. I cannot wait to read the second.

This was an absolutely fantastic book, as was evidenced by my having difficulty placing it down. Unlike many other fantasy novels where magic is revered, in Air Awakens, to have magical powers is almost to be cursed.

This book started out with Vhalla, a library apprentice who just wants to do her job, and do it well. She works hard and even manages to sneak read a book here and there. The world we are introduced to is highly caste driven, and it seems as if the best that Vhalla will ever be able to hope for is perhaps ascending to be the Library Minister. All of that changes one simple day, when she saves a prince. Suddenly her life is not her own anymore and everything begins to change.

If I had any criticism for this book, it was the severe xenophobia that was given towards magic users. You would think that with the Crown Prince serving as a magic users, that things would be different. This xenophobia was especially annoying at the end of the book as well as in the preview for the 2nd book. It seemed at times like characters escaped their prior roles and morphed into something new.

This is my only complaint, and perhaps it is because I like happy stories too much. Either way, Air Awakens is a fantastic book well deserving of 5/5 stars. I look forward to book 2!

I was totally expecting more. The beginning was so promising. I didn't expect the love story to dominate like that, and then totally throw away the childhood friends. Disappointment all around. Less about magic, more about an abusive relationship.

Predictable & occasionally repetitive but an easy summer read in one of my favorite genres including love, action, a soon to be badass heroin (if she can pull it together) and a dark brooding prince who may in love with her. Admittedly, this is not original. All stories are a variation of each other, but it's kinda like binge watching a great show where you want to jump into the same story but different show & even though it's not as good as the first binge it'll do and tied you over till the next book is published.

Well, this book definitely kept me awake a couple of nights. For some reason I tend to gravitate towards storylines that have a quiet, unassuming person with some kind of dormant super power. So that drew me in from the start. I could see where the storyline was heading, much more predictability than I would have cared for, but I enjoyed it, and look forward to the second book!

I really liked this book and the books that follow. I find Vhalla to be a very likable person who is dealing with the curves thrown at her in a very realistic way. She is bull headed and courageous and does not like to be told what to do. I am a bit like this, so I can appreciate it.

Hard enough to accept that you have become what you have hated and feared all your life let alone embrace it. Prized for what you are. Scorned for who you are. Used and manipulated yet finding friendship, love, and acceptance where you never thought you would. An excellent read and thoroughly enjoyable. Any fans of YA Fantasy and Romance shoud read this.

Air Awakens is an exciting adventure set in a unique and lovingly-constructed fantasy world. The interesting cast of characters and distinctive magic system really stand out in a sea of generic fantasy stories, lending depth to a fairly typical coming-of-age story. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the series has to offer.

The writing in this book is beautiful, the description and imagery in the book captivated me from the beginning. I just couldn't believe what I was reading, the character surprised me so much and left me yearning to know more about them, full of complexities. For fan of Avatar the Last Airbender or Legend of Korra, Snow Like ashes, Graceling, and Throne of Glass.

I love this book! The changes of the characters and the relationships between the characters greatly impressed me. I also suggest this book to anyone that enjoyed the apprentice series. It's similar, but only better.

Air Awakens is a story that quickly escalates into multiple love affairs that truly have no business being anything other than a cloud that shrouds a potentially great story because when it actually tries to reach beyond all the sappy romance, the plot line achieves something genuinely good. That said, Air Awakens was far too preoccupied with silly romantic clichés and left me with a lot to be desired; thus, the book was just okay for me.
___________________________________
WHAT I LIKED
+ Air Awakens started off strong and with one of my favorite tropes! That being, the interwoven delicacies of a tragic hero who has the potential for heroism but never quite fulfills that promise because they become a victim of tragedy ― and let me just say that the tragedy surrounding our protagonist is no meager fatal flaw, it is heartrending! I was gripped and moved not simply because of all the adversity that befalls poor, Vhalla, but because hers is the type of character arc that reminds us of our human frailty and inability to defeat evil forces despite our good morals ― and this is by far what made the overarching story line so affecting and oh so good.

+ It behooves me to say that only one character managed to truly win me over and it was not our protagonist, Vhalla Yarl ― which is surprising in view of how much I thoroughly enjoyed the tragedy surrounding her character arc, but I’ll get to more of this in a minute. The character I want to place the focus on now is Prince Aldrik who, in truth, is the best character in Air Awakens thus far! Driven by an unknown agenda, his character arc really gave the story a lot of depth and a sort of mysterious intrigue. Too, Prince Aldrik is the quiet strength behind Air Awakens and I found myself wishing that Vhalla matched his depth.

THINGS THAT MADE GO HMMM. . .
- Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the tragic hero trope, sadly, Vhalla was not a character that quite grew on me in fact, I was rather vexed with many of her attributes; her main and foremost hamartia being her apologetic and self-deprecating expressions and demeanor; ugh! Granted, I understand that life has been unfair and reasonably brutal for Vhalla, but to heap the blame for everything in the world for the sake of “modesty” and “humility” ― not to mention, the continual self-abasement ― was a bit too much to swallow and really grated on the nerves. As a result, Vhalla came across as a sort of doormat and not a prominent protagonist.

- Essentially speaking, character development is the very core of Air Awakens as it decides to dedicate more than 90% of its storyline on a romantic plotline between not 2, not 3, but 4 characters! Yes, you read that correctly, a “love square” is what Air Awakens serves its audience. Even less appealing are the unnatural ways the characters interact with each other and how their personalities consisted of a few exaggerated traits. (view spoiler). And yet, what I couldn’t take in, was the way Vhalla stood utterly defeated in every situation allowing these men to easily take advantage of her ― and need I mention how incredibly painful and plodding it is to read a plot where every male in the book falls in love with the protagonist?

- To boot, often times it felt as though the author attempted to manipulate my feelings or pull on a few strings of the heart all for the sake of “the feels.” While I appreciate the effort, this plot device was not very compelling and as a result, Vhalla’s painful story arc seemed less significant and unappealing.

- Lastly, I was extremely displeased that the author didn’t allow the characters room to make decisions for themselves. What I mean to say is, they felt more like puppets rather than characters so richly observed you can’t help but to sympathize with them. It goes without saying that this (and all the aforementioned) is what sorely affected my overall rating of the book.

AFTERTHOUGHTS
Nevertheless, please do not allow my low rating of Air Awakens fool you; the book isn’t terribly bad. I simply expected more for a fantasy novel but received a sappy romantic prose instead. It just would have been epic to have seen more of the political intricacies of the court life and fantastical elements in Air Awakens, because when Elise Kova ultimately begins to unravel this aspect of the plotline in the last few chapters of the book, the story held great potential! I would also like to mention that because Air Awakens is remarkably comparable to that of Shadow and Bone and Avatar the Last Airbender (two of my all-time favorite story arcs) my rating was brought down a notch; otherwise, this would have easily been a 3 sparrowhawk rating. Aaaand since I already purchased the second book, I will more than likely continue with the series.

Air Awakens is a story that quickly escalates into multiple love affairs that truly have no business being anything other than a cloud that shrouds a potentially great story because when it actually tries to reach beyond all the sappy romance, the plot line achieves something genuinely good. That said, Air Awakens was far too preoccupied with silly romantic clichés and left me with a lot to be desired; thus, the book was just okay for me.
___________________________________
WHAT I LIKED
+ Air Awakens started off strong and with one of my favorite tropes! That being, the interwoven delicacies of a tragic hero who has the potential for heroism but never quite fulfills that promise because they become a victim of tragedy ― and let me just say that the tragedy surrounding our protagonist is no meager fatal flaw, it is heartrending! I was gripped and moved not simply because of all the adversity that befalls poor, Vhalla, but because hers is the type of character arc that reminds us of our human frailty and inability to defeat evil forces despite our good morals ― and this is by far what made the overarching story line so affecting and oh so good.

+ It behooves me to say that only one character managed to truly win me over and it was not our protagonist, Vhalla Yarl ― which is surprising in view of how much I thoroughly enjoyed the tragedy surrounding her character arc, but I’ll get to more of this in a minute. The character I want to place the focus on now is Prince Aldrik who, in truth, is the best character in Air Awakens thus far! Driven by an unknown agenda, his character arc really gave the story a lot of depth and a sort of mysterious intrigue. Too, Prince Aldrik is the quiet strength behind Air Awakens and I found myself wishing that Vhalla matched his depth.

THINGS THAT MADE GO HMMM. . .
- Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the tragic hero trope, sadly, Vhalla was not a character that quite grew on me in fact, I was rather vexed with many of her attributes; her main and foremost hamartia being her apologetic and self-deprecating expressions and demeanor; ugh! Granted, I understand that life has been unfair and reasonably brutal for Vhalla, but to heap the blame for everything in the world for the sake of “modesty” and “humility” ― not to mention, the continual self-abasement ― was a bit too much to swallow and really grated on the nerves. As a result, Vhalla came across as a sort of doormat and not a prominent protagonist.

- Essentially speaking, character development is the very core of Air Awakens as it decides to dedicate more than 90% of its storyline on a romantic plotline between not 2, not 3, but 4 characters! Yes, you read that correctly, a “love square” is what Air Awakens serves its audience. Even less appealing are the unnatural ways the characters interact with each other and how their personalities consisted of a few exaggerated traits. (view spoiler). And yet, what I couldn’t take in, was the way Vhalla stood utterly defeated in every situation allowing these men to easily take advantage of her ― and need I mention how incredibly painful and plodding it is to read a plot where every male in the book falls in love with the protagonist?

- To boot, often times it felt as though the author attempted to manipulate my feelings or pull on a few strings of the heart all for the sake of “the feels.” While I appreciate the effort, this plot device was not very compelling and as a result, Vhalla’s painful story arc seemed less significant and unappealing.

- Lastly, I was extremely displeased that the author didn’t allow the characters room to make decisions for themselves. What I mean to say is, they felt more like puppets rather than characters so richly observed you can’t help but to sympathize with them. It goes without saying that this (and all the aforementioned) is what sorely affected my overall rating of the book.

AFTERTHOUGHTS
Nevertheless, please do not allow my low rating of Air Awakens fool you; the book isn’t terribly bad. I simply expected more for a fantasy novel but received a sappy romantic prose instead. It just would have been epic to have seen more of the political intricacies of the court life and fantastical elements in Air Awakens, because when Elise Kova ultimately begins to unravel this aspect of the plotline in the last few chapters of the book, the story held great potential! I would also like to mention that because Air Awakens is remarkably comparable to that of Shadow and Bone and Avatar the Last Airbender (two of my all-time favorite story arcs) my rating was brought down a notch; otherwise, this would have easily been a 3 sparrowhawk rating. Aaaand since I already purchased the second book, I will more than likely continue with the series.

Hot damn...this book was exactly what I needed...it's exactly what you need, trust me on this one. It was so yummy that I shamelessly devoured it in one sitting, during Christmas, with relatives over, nursing a cold. Not only do I not feel guilty but I wish I could turn back the clock to Christmas morning and read it all over anew. I watched helplessly as the pages flew by, all the while willing it to last a little longer. Surely it wasn't too much to ask for it to drag on just a tiny, fraction of a bit longer? Alas, there was not to be another holiday miracle. Anyway...back to the review...The book has magic though it isn't all consuming (as if that could ever be a bad thing :-) There are beautiful prose (but not too verbose) and delectable swoon worthy moments a plenty.

"Vhalla said softly. “I want a place you hardly dare to even whisper. I want the bravery to not only read, but to do. I want a man, not a library boy. A man who is tall and witty and knows more about the world than you would ever dare dream".

The characters are rich and creamy and velvety. They are chocolatey and yummm wrapped up in yesssss please. There are no stark black and white people in this universe athough Egmun is darn close to having a nastily charred heart (if he posses one at all). Each character is a varying shade of gray, in a beautiful and undeniably imperfect human way.

“I may be a prince,” he said as his lips brushed her ear lightly. “But I would trade it all to be a common man, even if only for tonight".

I dare you to not feel the slow to boil yet hard to extinguish sexiness and allure of Prince Aldrik. This is especially true if you're the type to root for the brooding, snarky, strong, talented yet tortured, mysterious, dark phenomena amongst preening peacocks and blatant forgeries. The other Prince is charming but Aldrik is a force of nature and his chemistry with Vhalla, a pretty awesome heroine-in-the-making, is hot hot hot.

~~~~~~~~~~CAUTION~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~Spoiler Alert~~~~~~~~~

Vhalla might be a mousy bookworm in the beginning but she most definitely begins to transform (albeit begrudgingly) into a force soon-to-be reckoned with.

"She would cut away the anger, the pain, and the frustration. She’d cut and cut until she was sculpted into something better, something stronger. They wanted to kill her, so this Vhalla would die, she resolved, and a new Vhalla would be born from her ashes."

It is not only a charming Coming of Age story but a tale of metamorphosis into another being entirely. Granted, a lot of this change is going to take place in book #2, Fire Falls which is already out and beseeching you to buy it...AHEM... Just dot it you won't regret it!..Shameless I know but still the truth nonetheless. Personally I am beyond giddy about being able to gobble up book #2 on demand. Come join me. I'm excited to hear what you think

I LOVED this one! I practically devoured it in my spare time. Valhalla was an interesting, strong heroine who wasn't perfect, but learned over the course of the story. The developing relationship, although a little predictable, was really sweet, clean and probably my favorite couple this year!

There were also plot twists and turns that had me frantically flipping to the next chapter multiple.....and the cliffhanger....ahhh! Let's just say, I'll definitely be eagerly waiting for the release of "Fire Falling" (book 2) in November 2015!

I won't say anymore so as not to give the story away, but it's definitely a "Must Read" .....especially if you liked "Storm Siren" by Mary Weber (this one's better, in my opinion) and "Threats of Sky and Sea" by Jennifer Ellison.

Air Awaken was a spellbound story very different from what I'm used to reading. I can't stop reading right from the start. The author which I have met her parents really went into detail with every aspect of the witchcraft.

The kindle version had a few typos: missing words and letters, that sort of thing, if that bothers you.

Otherwise, I tore through it in a day, and can't wait for the next one. Kova is very good at slipping in backstory and explanations without getting bogged down or breaking up the action. The concept, while not completely original, is still interesting and done well, which for me at least excuses it.