Ruins of Smoke

I was given this novella by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This novella is set in the Know World, which is ruled by The Usharian Empire. A corrupt entity known as the Deceiver has returned to destroy the world, but in order to do so, he needs to find an avatar that can do his bidding. Although this is a short book, the author manages to fit four POVs, but there isn't much world building, which is understanding due to the dimension of the book and, for that reason, novellas are hard for me to rate and not my cup of tea. However, I was left wanting more of the world and magic system, so I give one star to the concept.
The story begins with a ton of action, for the Deceiver has found his avatar and is creating havoc throughout the lands. Monsters of different kinds are coming from the depths of the land attacking the people of The Usharian Empire. Jeha is a sentinel of the Empire, she is one of the sisters that are meant to protect the King and she fights until her very end, never failing her duty. Matala is a young smokesmith that has never been in a real battle and has just learnt how to control the smoke. He's terrified at first, not knowing what to do, but has the battle progresses, he finds courage to fight and manages toc lose one of the rifts. Agor is the King's brother, an imperial general that decides to act after seeing all of the destruction caused. Alamankar is the King of Ushar and the world's most powerful man, for he controls the opposite force of the Deceiver, the Essence and has to find a way to defeat his old enemy. I liked the story, always wanted to know what was going to happen next, it's a good preview for the first book in this series, but, in my opinion, four POV's were a bit much for such a short story.
Overall, I would give this novella three out of five stars. Novellas are not my favourite, I find it hard to connect with the characters and story in such a short amount of time, but I was definitely left interested in Seeds of War!