Air Awakens

One of my favorite book series of all time is Elise Kova's Married To Magic series; a new adult fantasy romance “anthology” series, for lack of a better description. Having wanted to read more of Kova's books, I decided to start with her young adult debut.

I was unfortunately disappointed and underwhelmed.

The writing was subpar, which I was somewhat expecting. However, the content is what shocked me. I understand that this was her debut, but it was so surprisingly... not great (but not horrible either)?

Our main character, Vhalla, is pretty much a Mary Sue (as much as I hate to use the term) but also seemingly a self-insert of sorts? At least that's the vibe I got. The love interests are Thor and Loki, if Loki was the older sibling and had fire powers instead of ice powers. The story, world, and magic system is the most disappointing part as it is, from what I understand, a rip-off of Avatar: The Last Airbender. (It should be noted that I have not seen the show/film but I know enough about it to know this is accurate.)

The thing is, despite the unoriginality, this was still entertaining and enjoyable for the most part. I was going to give this 3.5 stars, however I found myself unexpectedly disappointed with the ending... I had hope that Vhalla would be cleared of her charges and sent to live and train in the Tower, but instead she was found guilty and sent to war? Unfortunate but whatever.

As much as I'm hesitant about this I will probably continue on with the series because a) I already have the spin offs (Vortex Visions and Trial of Sorcerers) gifted to me, b) I'm a completionist and c) I love Elise Kova lol. Fingers crossed that it's only up from here.