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alinka_spe's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, War, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
aseel_reads's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.25
I can't believe we got a certain death... So rude. I really like the character dynamics and I am excited to learn more about aldrik and how this whole war is going to play out
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Abandonment, Bullying, Sexual assault, Violence, Domestic abuse, and War
koistyfishy's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is Popcorn. Very specific movie popcorn that induces that vague haze you are in when watching a movie. No matter what happens you just keep reading eating whilst escaping the boring mundane of life... In the end you are left slightly satisfied but still often hungry.
Please note this is Book 2 in a series that cannot be read as a standalone. As a result there might be spoilers for Book 1 - so if you do not want to see those, I might advise not reading the rest of the review - especially since a lot of my following comments will almost be a superimposed juxtaposition to highlight what was WRONG in the first book and how it was done RIGHT in this book.
This book jumps right into the action where Air Awakens left off - Vhalla has been sentenced to a life of a soldier. She is thrust directly into a world of war as she has to come to terms with being the property of the crown, her complicated feelings over a broody "always angry" crown prince, and her extreme self-worth issues. That's it! That's the whole book! The book is a journey narrative story, so if you don't like those you will not like this. There is also very little plot. It does add a few things into the mix and you are given a few action scenes but nothing plot-wise to write home about...That is the first main difference between Air Awakens and Fire Falling. Book 1 was very "jump-plot" focused which wasn't always clear to understand and quite frankly was confusing at times. This one doesn't have much plot, so whilst it might seem that "lacking" plot is a bad thing, it allowed the story to move in an easy-to-understand progression...
The second main difference is we don't learn too much about who our characters are in Air Awakens - there is some character development but not much. I now believe Air Awakens is mostly setting the stage for this and future books because of what ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT we get in Fire Falling. I have realised a book can completely forgo a plot if there is good character development and OH MY GOSH does this book deliver on this! It's also not just Vhalla who we see grow, but we see more into her friends, as well as gain insight into what makes Aldrik the way he is, and are shown his personal backstory.
Vhalla is a complicated character who spends most of this book suffering from PTSD and depression. She has just killed people for the first time in her life, has been tortured and sent to war (and possibly her death sentence), and is plagued by horrid nightmares and night terrors. Her suffering and emotional journey of how she comes to terms with the events of the first book and evolves completely overshadows the aspects that annoyed me in the book. The more and more I think about it, the more this journey is ALL I can think about. It's just stuck with me and rooted in place...
The book is still a Romance Fantasy, so it still has a major focus on the Romance part of the plot and less on the Fantasy - there is more angst, longing, and glances when they think the other is not watching, so VERY TYPICAL slow burn; but the pace of the build-up to payoff was worth it! I think it was done really well. I was still annoyed at aspects of the Romance that Vhalla for the longest time couldn't see the Prince has feelings for her and the slight miscommunication on who Elecia is, but overall the Romance was enjoyable.
I am not sure what it was with the writing, or if Elise Kova fired her previous editor and a new one cleaned up this...because Book 1 feels like juvenile fan fiction written by a 12-year-old, vs this one; where the prose flows almost beautifully and comfortably across the page. The stop-start of sentences in book 1 DROVE ME MAD but now it seems almost completely eradicated. Overall this book feels highly more mature (whilst still being a "Young Adult"). It might have been due to the topics and emotional journey that this is more real and raw but I still cannot comprehend how Book 1's style compared to this feels like two separate authors wrote it!
Quite frankly I really enjoyed this and I can't get it out of my head.
I do recommend if you dropped the series due to Air Awakens being awful perhaps at least try this book and see if Fire Falling is better for you as it's basically COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - the same characters just happen to appear. I am a sucker for not being able to DNF a book or series and I am glad I did not stop after book 1, because if this is the true reflection of Elise Kova's writing then she got me hooked! Let's just hope the rest of the books don't cause me to break the line.
Please note this is Book 2 in a series that cannot be read as a standalone. As a result there might be spoilers for Book 1 - so if you do not want to see those, I might advise not reading the rest of the review - especially since a lot of my following comments will almost be a superimposed juxtaposition to highlight what was WRONG in the first book and how it was done RIGHT in this book.
This book jumps right into the action where Air Awakens left off - Vhalla has been sentenced to a life of a soldier. She is thrust directly into a world of war as she has to come to terms with being the property of the crown, her complicated feelings over a broody "always angry" crown prince, and her extreme self-worth issues. That's it! That's the whole book! The book is a journey narrative story, so if you don't like those you will not like this. There is also very little plot. It does add a few things into the mix and you are given a few action scenes but nothing plot-wise to write home about...That is the first main difference between Air Awakens and Fire Falling. Book 1 was very "jump-plot" focused which wasn't always clear to understand and quite frankly was confusing at times. This one doesn't have much plot, so whilst it might seem that "lacking" plot is a bad thing, it allowed the story to move in an easy-to-understand progression...
The second main difference is we don't learn too much about who our characters are in Air Awakens - there is some character development but not much. I now believe Air Awakens is mostly setting the stage for this and future books because of what ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT we get in Fire Falling. I have realised a book can completely forgo a plot if there is good character development and OH MY GOSH does this book deliver on this! It's also not just Vhalla who we see grow, but we see more into her friends, as well as gain insight into what makes Aldrik the way he is, and are shown his personal backstory.
Vhalla is a complicated character who spends most of this book suffering from PTSD and depression. She has just killed people for the first time in her life, has been tortured and sent to war (and possibly her death sentence), and is plagued by horrid nightmares and night terrors. Her suffering and emotional journey of how she comes to terms with the events of the first book and evolves completely overshadows the aspects that annoyed me in the book. The more and more I think about it, the more this journey is ALL I can think about. It's just stuck with me and rooted in place...
The book is still a Romance Fantasy, so it still has a major focus on the Romance part of the plot and less on the Fantasy - there is more angst, longing, and glances when they think the other is not watching, so VERY TYPICAL slow burn; but the pace of the build-up to payoff was worth it! I think it was done really well. I was still annoyed at aspects of the Romance that Vhalla for the longest time couldn't see the Prince has feelings for her and the slight miscommunication on who Elecia is, but overall the Romance was enjoyable.
I am not sure what it was with the writing, or if Elise Kova fired her previous editor and a new one cleaned up this...because Book 1 feels like juvenile fan fiction written by a 12-year-old, vs this one; where the prose flows almost beautifully and comfortably across the page. The stop-start of sentences in book 1 DROVE ME MAD but now it seems almost completely eradicated. Overall this book feels highly more mature (whilst still being a "Young Adult"). It might have been due to the topics and emotional journey that this is more real and raw but I still cannot comprehend how Book 1's style compared to this feels like two separate authors wrote it!
Quite frankly I really enjoyed this and I can't get it out of my head.
I do recommend if you dropped the series due to Air Awakens being awful perhaps at least try this book and see if Fire Falling is better for you as it's basically COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - the same characters just happen to appear. I am a sucker for not being able to DNF a book or series and I am glad I did not stop after book 1, because if this is the true reflection of Elise Kova's writing then she got me hooked! Let's just hope the rest of the books don't cause me to break the line.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Physical abuse, and Death
Minor: Self harm
thewordslinger's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Solid second book in this series, though I feel like in the grand scheme of things, not a ton of plot stuff happened. This was definitely more focused on the relationship/emotional aspect.
I will say that there needs to be a trigger warning in the front of this... Particularly for suicide and child rape/molestation/abuse. These things came as shocks to me and while they weren't wholly unnecessary to the story, I could see how they would trigger some folks.
Finally: Once again, I love that Kova isn't afraid to kill off characters that are close to the MC. So often we see stories where the "main group" never loses anyone, or, if they do, they lose the one minority character... In these books it seems that really, no one is safe. Those closest to the MC least of all. This makes the threats against the MC and the aspect of war astonishingly real.
We know, obviously, that Vhalla isn't going to die. No matter what happens, we know she's going to make it through the rest of the books. But there are handfuls of other characters that are just as real and just as important to Vhalla and to us, the reader, whose futures aren't guaranteed. That fact makes the story infinitely more 'real' and terrifying.
I will say that there needs to be a trigger warning in the front of this... Particularly for suicide and child rape/molestation/abuse. These things came as shocks to me and while they weren't wholly unnecessary to the story, I could see how they would trigger some folks.
Finally: Once again, I love that Kova isn't afraid to kill off characters that are close to the MC. So often we see stories where the "main group" never loses anyone, or, if they do, they lose the one minority character... In these books it seems that really, no one is safe. Those closest to the MC least of all. This makes the threats against the MC and the aspect of war astonishingly real.
We know, obviously, that Vhalla isn't going to die. No matter what happens, we know she's going to make it through the rest of the books. But there are handfuls of other characters that are just as real and just as important to Vhalla and to us, the reader, whose futures aren't guaranteed. That fact makes the story infinitely more 'real' and terrifying.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
sarahsbookss's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
tense
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
samanthajones's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and War
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