Air Awakens

I was kinda surprised by this book! I just didn't expect to enjoy it so much! It was a delicious read!
The world building is amazing and the author takes her time to develop each character making the story feel alive and fresh. I wanted to be inside the library where Vhala is an apprentice and to roam through the corridors of the Tower.

I loved Vhala and how her story slowly progresses until she is faced with the awakening of her powers. And the anti-hero, Crown Prince Aldrik, is at the same mysterious and captivating. I think I just loved the main characters and the fact that there is romance building up. I don't know why, but I love dark characters who have a sense of duty and loyalty inside them, making them complex and unpredictable. I am curious to know how their relationship progresses.

There is a good balance between male and female characters, with different cultures and races and that makes the story so much more real. It is a break from the male dominant stories we usually seen in fantasy worlds. This world has powerful sorcerers, male and female. The lore behind the magic is fascinating and I enjoyed the duality between fire and air.

I was pleasantly surprised because the story has dramatic and violent events, with gore and blood. and these details take away the obviousness of the story. We have a glimpse of how magic works and how it is used as a weapon of war. You have a feeling that anyone can die at any moment, even the main characters, and you root for them.

My suspension of disbelief was active throughout the story and for me the author did a good job of making me believe how this world works and accept its rules. It feels like it is a story about magic and war and not everything is going to perfect. I like this kind of “reality” in a fantasy story :)

It is a world I want to know more about and I went straight to Book 2 after finishing this one.

Hello Cliches, my old friend... I've come to talk to you again.

Girl finds out she has magic, a prince tells her she's special, and it turns out she's the first one in 150 years to have her kind of magic. Of course. Plus, she has a lifelong magical bond with said prince, and every guy falling in love with her too...

A trope-filled book would still be a fun read if the writing worked. But this particular novel needed a couple more rounds of edits, because the writing is pretty amateurish and reads like a first draft. Stilted dialogue, a plot that's just a boring mess, cliche after cliche ... ugh.