A Call for Brighter Days

I got my copy from the author for free, in exchange for an honest review.

Tauheen, the Aeriel queen stuck on Earth, terrorising humans, is dead, leaving Safaa as the only ruler of their kind. You would think that solves everything, right? Well, not really, no. Her subordinates joined human gangs of criminals and things are getting confusing.

I will start out with pointing out the only thing that was a problem for me even in this book; so many names. I remembered the main people, but some of the minor ones were a bit confusing.

One of the greatest things about this series is the way the characters interact with each other. There are just so many positive relationships, like Simani and Vikram's marriage, Ashwin and Ruban constantly bickering, anyone else and Hiya. Nowadays many writers seem to think having healthy relationships is just not interesting enough, but this proves that a book can be satisfying and exciting without making everyone angsty and socially troubled.

With all that said, this had a bunch of action. You would think Tauheen was the biggest bad and there wasn't much to do after disposing of her, but the story is obviously far from over. The end game is not just getting rid of certain bad people, but Aeriels and humans somehow living together. At this point we are nowhere near there, so I think this will last a bit longer.

Ashwin/Schwaan is still the best character, not gonna lie. He is ridiculous and by now we can see he still has a huge heart. Superficially he can seem like a bit of a careless moron, but man, he is such a nice one.
Another one I was surprised to like so much was Vikram. Excitable nerd he is, which is kind of funny. Interesting to have the dynamic where he is so into Aeriel history when his own wife is supposed to hunt them. But they are such a great duo.

I would recommend this for people who enjoy mystery/detective stories and obviously, fantasy. The fantasy elements never get overwhelming, so it's great for people who are either new to the genre or not extremely into it at the moment. A solid urban fantasy read.