Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Air Awakens

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

21 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

1.5

Where do I begin... The protagonist's name being two random Norse words? The chapter that is Divine Rivals But Worse? And actual dialogue tag that is "demanded gently"? The love interest asking the protagonist if she's ever fucked a man or masturbated two pages after calling her a child? (She's seventeen by the way.) The way the love interest's entire personality changes chapter to chapter? (And no, the protagonist thinking "the two halves of his personality don't seem to fit" does not fix that.) Why does this love triangle have so many sides when it's crystal clear who she is going to end up with!

I literally only finished this due to a reading challenge. The back 40% was better than the first 60%, but I cannot get over how bad it was.

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rad_blackthorn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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brindlecat's review against another edition

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Poorly written dialogue and fairly severe abuse by the MMC to the FMC

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shadow_summit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

Don't be fooled by the 'quiet library book girly thrown into magic and intrigue' premise. Our main female lead Vhalla, isn't the smart, intelligent librarian the intro suggests.
The initial force that brings Vhalla and Crown Prince Aldrik together may have been meant to come across as a kind of academic rivalry and challenge, but instead is dripping with insults, genuine abuse and down-troding by the Prince towards Vhalla. Through this, though I was put off and saw red flags flying our female lead's brain cells slowly escape her and are replaced with an attraction that is forced and cringe.

One gripe I especially have is her sudden behaviour towards one of her besties, who when confronted with her sorcery, is shocked and then investigates ways to prevent it: Vhalla becomes bitchy, shows no grace and blames the friend, despite the fact that she had the exact same reaction when she found out.
TO continue with her loss of all sensible reasoning, Vhalla ends up following a row of out of character decisions and events that leads to the big finale and into the rest of the series. By out of character, I mean, she loses all librarianisms which were supposed to be so important to her, and chases after the Prince by embracing noble fanfare and carryings on.

Overall the characters are unlikeable and the plot is melded together by dumb decisions that will frustrate anyone with a little intellect.
Very disappointing read, as I was hoping for a strong female lead with the smarts to counter her foes and the willingness to grow to overcome challenges, I don't find that here.

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morriganlefaye's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The story is gripping and the writing flows pretty well, although definitely not as well as in Ms Kovas newer books.
It's a bit rough around the edges and it took me a few chapters to really get sucked into the story, but in the end, I couldn't put the book down anymore.

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akirokis's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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quietlyfierce's review against another edition

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3.75

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

MC was a bit annoying at the start but she got less annoying quickly. I absolutely did not see the ending coming at all, otherwise a great read and I really like the world

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donatio's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book makes me aggressive. It had so much potential but didn't fulfill it.
I read the German translation and I'm still not quite sure if the translation was shitty or the English original or just both.
I couldn't bond with the prota, Vhalla, because... I don't know, she wouldn't be someone I wanted to be friends with and seemed very indecisive and unaware of her surroundings,

self-centered as she called Aldrik

There were literally three men telling her she was beautiful???! (not counting Fitz) I don't understand how she could blame her indecisiveness on the fact that it was never the right moment.

I feel like many aspects that would have given the book depth were cast aside or placed in scenes where they didn't belong. I would have liked to see more of Vhalla's relationship with her friends and would have liked to learn more about the magic and see what it can do.
The plot wasn't always predictable but had a lot of smaller inconsistencies which added up. One moment he's angry and then he's not?
But I believe a better choice of words could have compensated at least some of these things. What did Stephen King say? The road to hell is paved with adverbs? There has never been a book in which I felt this more. I cringed really hard at some points in the book.

Also, Craig and Daniel? Were there no other names to name to guards?

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mspilesofpaper's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I have to start this review with: I knew that the book is YA and I like to read YA from time to time because it can relatively relaxing compared to adult novels where the stakes tend to be higher and everything is a bit grittier. Unfortunately, Air Awakens is one of those YA books that fall into the category of "What did I just read? I want my time back" because it's so bad.

The Plot
I'm sorry but what plot? Nothing really happened.

The story can be summarised in: Vhalla is a Mary Sue who finds out that she's the last ~~airbender~~ Windwalker, falls in love with the (crown) prince whom she had saved with her magic, becomes the victim of the evil politician and has to become a soldier to fight in the latest war (the last part is the cliffhanger at the end to set the scene for the next book).

The Writing
Atrocious.

"Vhalla did not know what she was looking for, she simply walked."

"Vhalla couldn’t suppress a small giggle, it was the first time she laughed in a week, and it made her whole body feel lighter."

Yeah, it's bad. The book needs another round of editing because the amount of grammar mistakes is exhausting. There were times where I had to read sentences three times before I understood them. I don't want to imagine how exhausting it must be if the reader is a teenager and doesn't speak English as first language.

The Worldbuilding
Ancient Rome meets Avatar: the Last Airbender.

The magic system is based on Avatar as it includes the four elements (with air being erased until Vhalla's magic makes an appearence) and is also based on geography. Each part of the continent relates to one element. The Empire is a mixture of Ancient Rome and the Fire Nation from Avatar. They are always at war and the reader doesn't learn the reasons behind it. Might be unification as it's mentioned very early in the book but that's just my guess. The religion system is barely explained but there are two deities ("The Mother" aka the sun and "The Father" aka the moon).

Concerning the magic system: sorcerers are feared and we never learn why. The author had the chance of explaining the entire world by giving Vhalla lessons on history, on magic, ... -- but Vhalla does research (that never goes much beyond the "and she read book xxx" and a short period of letter exchanges with an unknown character who turns out to be the LI) at the begin of the book but the reader never learns anything through it. Instead we learn that the sorcerers are educated in a tower on the palace grounds and after their training is done, they can leave and make their fortune in the world that fears them because it's expected that they support the tower with money/food/... for the next generation of sorcerers. Also, the LI aka the crown prince is also a mage and utterly feared. I still don't understand why he's still the crown prince because no one in this Empire would follow him/respect him as he's so feared.

The Characters
Vhalla is a Mary Sue. She is boring, she always complains, she is the last Windwalker (the first of her kind in centuries), she considers herself as ugly and plain ("fizzy, untameable hair, skinny, nothing special") while having three (!) attractive men being smitten with her / telling her that she is beautiful. She has no backbone in one chapter before telling herself that she needs to stand her ground in the next chapter. She's also supposed to be so clever but has zero common sense. I'm pretty sure that her brain is decorative. Of course, she gets a make over and goes to a ball where everyone fawns over her. Of course, she cuts off her hair at the end of the book to mark the change as she's a "different character" now.

The male love interest, the crown prince, is part abuser, part creep and part sensitive guy who is unconvential attractive but still falls into the typical description of every male LI in a YA novel. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes, mysterious, muscular but not too muscular. I believe that the author wanted to use the "bad boy" trope with him but gosh ... he abuses Vhalla physical (throws her off the highest tower, grabs her face until it hurts, ...) but also verbal ("You are like a pathetic little worm who only wants to sit in the dirt when I was prepared to give you a chance to grow wings and fly."). Of course, Vhalla forgives him because he shows her his sensitive side two chapters afterwards. Of course, they have a magical bond with each other because she saved his life, so they are drawn to each other. Lovely.

The other love interest is Vhalla's male best friend who is bland porridge. Of course, he's considered as attractive and slightly "exotic". Though I believe that he is described as dark-haired with pale skin. They have one awkward date during a major festival where he acts like he planned out the entire date but he never pays much attention to her. He hates/fears magic and looks up a way to remove Vhalla's magic. Such a great character. Afterwards, he just vanishes as character and dies rather quickly too.

The other best friend is her female best friend who becomes an one-dimensional, jealous "I'm in love with him but I let you have him!" girl. That's it. She's alive but I doubt that we will ever see her again unless she turn 100% evil as she lost the love of her life.

The crown prince's younger brother is the heartbreaker. Golden hair, light coloured eyes. Always flirting. A womanizer who talks everyone into his bed (Vhalla is the first who does not jump into it). Feels like the comic relief character. He has a difficult relationship with his brother but never dives into any explanation why their relationship is strained.

The Romance
A love square thingy between Vhalla, crown prince, male best friend and female best friend. Vhalla wants the crown prince, the crown prince wants her. The male best friend wants Vhalla, Vhalla doesn't want him. The female best friend wants the male best friend, status unclear if male best friend who have wanted her too. Thankfully the love square thing is rather short-lived and lasts for max. two chapters (if all scenes are combined).

The romance between Vhalla and the crown prince is ... exhausting. Starting, she fears him because he is a sorcerer and she fears all sorcerers. Do we ever learn why sorcerers are considered as evil? No, of course not. He wanted to have her for her magic and as an object of power (since she's the first Windwalker) before realising that he wants her for her characer because she makes him laugh. Major issue: she's 17, turning 18, and I believe that he's in his mid/late 20s. Yikes. Of course, she's considered as an adult once she turned 18 (how convinent) but she's still a teenager and he's an adult.

The Names
Vhalla Yara sounds like the author removed some letters from "Valhalla" and read/saw Game of Thrones. The names are all over the place in general with Aldrick (or Aldrik, idc), Baldair, Roan, Sareem, Fritznangle, Craig, Daniel, Egmun, Larel, ... -- W H Y. Set a theme for names if you have different cultures in their novel and stick to it. Do not use the fantasy generator and pick the names as they appear because they never fit your theme.

The Cover
Why is the girl white and blonde? By the description of Vhalla, I got the feeling that she was considered as POV. She is described as yellow-skinned with brown, gold-flecked eyes and "frizzy, untameable" hair. The hair as well as the yellow skin description give me racism vibes because a) Vhalla is from the East where people are yellow skinned (We used to call Asians "yellow skinned" not too long ago as well ...) and b) the hair reminds me of the phase where black girls with natural hair had always been described with "frizzy, untameable" hair.

TL;DR:
Bad plot. Bad writing. Bland characters. Mary Sue. Bad LI. Love square. Cliches upon cliches.

(I don't understand all the 5 star reviews. Did the author threaten you?)

Add-on:
The author starts the book with a reminder that piracy is illegal and a crime. She hopes that the copy that the reader has is legally acquired. Does she really believe that people pirate books for fun? I hate to break it to her but people pirate books because they cannot pay for them. Depending on the country, books cost between €10 - €50 (just for novels, we do not speak about academic literature) and libraries are not always an option (not one close-by, too expensive, ...). I do not want to encourage readers to acquire books via a torrent but the letter from the author is so unneccessary.
If you are still interested in this book after reading this review: the entire series is available on Kindle Unlimited. Amazon offers a 30 days test period for free and has regular offers where three months cost €0.99.

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