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lisashelves's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.75
I really dig yhalla as a character, I think she's had a great arc so far. The plot didn't have the best flow and it kind of became pretty predictable. I can't believe we got a certain death and I am still not sure how I feel about the romance plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
koistyfishy's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.5
I have to officially admit that I love this series! It was a slow-burn love that developed lovingly as I turned each and every page and blossomed into something magical as I became more and more invested in the world and characters.
I am not going to lie and say I wasn't terrified to pick up this book. I was an emotional wreck at the end of Earth's End - the cliffhanger shot my heart with an arrow, ripped it out, and then stomped on it numerous times. And whilst there were a fair few moments where great moments happened in Water's Wrath (where it carefully picked up the pieces of my broken heart and mended it); there was almost a scale-tipping unbalancement of sadness. The previous emotional aspects in books 1-3 were nothing but a painful hangnail compared to the utter brutality of what this book did to me emotionally! I have no heart left, it has been burnt to a crisp and nothing remains but ash, soot and cinder.
Water's Wrath truly lives up to the "Water" in its name as I was snot and tears "ugly crying" for a full 30 minutes in my bathtub while reading - which caused serious concern from my husband coming to check up on what the wailing sounds were and offering the unsolicited advice of "if books are going to make you cry then STOP READING BOOKS" Seriously!!!! 😤🙄
SPOILER WARNING, I cannot comment on aspects of this book without mentioning spoilers from Air Awakens, Fire Forged and Earth's End. If you do not like spoilers I would hate to spoil the experience of the book for you so please stop reading - JUST KNOW I RECOMMEND THIS SERIES SO GO READ THOSE FIRST....
For the first time, I can say this book does NOT pick up directly where the previous book ended. This time we catch up with Vhalla four months after she has fled her Prince and friends. She is working in a bookshop at the Crossroads. However just because the War is over does not mean all the battles are complete and soon after being forced to kill a few Knights of Jadar, Vhalla needs to face her demons and return South.
What stands out the most with not only this book but the series is I feel like every time I have a gripe or irritation in the previous book, that aspect is addressed, explained, cleared up or resolved in the next book. It makes me think that Elise Kova is actually this evil genius mastermind, planting those elemental seeds to spark a reaction or conversation so that it can be handled in the future. Most of what I felt was wrong with Earth's End was turned on its head!!!!
1. Fritz - I had missed the friendship with Fritz and OH BOY did that get delivered in this book. He never had a chance to mourn with Vhalla over Larel's death and we had a beautiful moment shared between the two of them. (Cue first time I cried)
2. Daniel - The following quote says it way way better than I ever could
I am not going to lie and say I wasn't terrified to pick up this book. I was an emotional wreck at the end of Earth's End - the cliffhanger shot my heart with an arrow, ripped it out, and then stomped on it numerous times. And whilst there were a fair few moments where great moments happened in Water's Wrath (where it carefully picked up the pieces of my broken heart and mended it); there was almost a scale-tipping unbalancement of sadness. The previous emotional aspects in books 1-3 were nothing but a painful hangnail compared to the utter brutality of what this book did to me emotionally! I have no heart left, it has been burnt to a crisp and nothing remains but ash, soot and cinder.
Water's Wrath truly lives up to the "Water" in its name as I was snot and tears "ugly crying" for a full 30 minutes in my bathtub while reading - which caused serious concern from my husband coming to check up on what the wailing sounds were and offering the unsolicited advice of "if books are going to make you cry then STOP READING BOOKS" Seriously!!!! 😤🙄
SPOILER WARNING, I cannot comment on aspects of this book without mentioning spoilers from Air Awakens, Fire Forged and Earth's End. If you do not like spoilers I would hate to spoil the experience of the book for you so please stop reading - JUST KNOW I RECOMMEND THIS SERIES SO GO READ THOSE FIRST....
For the first time, I can say this book does NOT pick up directly where the previous book ended. This time we catch up with Vhalla four months after she has fled her Prince and friends. She is working in a bookshop at the Crossroads. However just because the War is over does not mean all the battles are complete and soon after being forced to kill a few Knights of Jadar, Vhalla needs to face her demons and return South.
What stands out the most with not only this book but the series is I feel like every time I have a gripe or irritation in the previous book, that aspect is addressed, explained, cleared up or resolved in the next book. It makes me think that Elise Kova is actually this evil genius mastermind, planting those elemental seeds to spark a reaction or conversation so that it can be handled in the future. Most of what I felt was wrong with Earth's End was turned on its head!!!!
1. Fritz - I had missed the friendship with Fritz and OH BOY did that get delivered in this book. He never had a chance to mourn with Vhalla over Larel's death and we had a beautiful moment shared between the two of them. (Cue first time I cried)
2. Daniel - The following quote says it way way better than I ever could
Vhalla remembered when Daniel had cut off his shirt to help her hide it. Distance had helped her sort a little through her heart, and Vhalla didn’t like the woman she saw when she replayed her interactions with the swordsman. She didn’t like her reliance on him or how she had abused the fact that he would be there for her without question.
3. Gummy Throat - THERE WAS NOT 1 MENTION OF GUMMY THROATS!!!!!!!!!
Vhalla continues to grow beyond limits and it's amazing to see how far she has come from where she was a year ago. The one problem I have with the Character Development of Vhalla though is as much as the ending of Earth's End hurt, and I am glad Vhalla got a bit of distance from it all and dealt with her reeling mind, I am sad that we as a reader never got to see most of this. I wanted to see how she emotionally recovered from the War and the initial stages of dealing with the Prince's Engagement. She should have had some sort of PTSD from everyone she killed and everything we saw. However, when we meet her again she is almost desensitised to death and cold towards her feelings for Aldrik, and I felt cheated we weren't shown how she got there.
From the Romance part, it was painfully beautiful how Vhalla and the Prince are constantly drawn to each other. The yearning in this book is what love poems are written about and I am glad that we were shown aspects of Alrick where he too has grown and worked through his shit - cause I was really really angry with him and his behaviour; but at least now I can almost understand him more and the anger I felt towards him has dissipated.
This book also does feel weaker in terms of the plot. You can very easily sum up the plot into a few sentences and the last 25% was extremely rushed! Almost to the point where it felt messy and out of the blue. This is the main reason why it's not a full 5-star as I am left a little confused by the direction the story is going and I don't quite understand the new magic system.
FINAL POINT -ELISE KOVA STOP KILLING OFF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS PLEASE....I do not think I could handle it anymore if Jax, Fritz, Elise, Daniel or Aldrik die....Do not do me dirty as you did with Baldair because I already do not forgive you for his death because you cut me very very deep! He did not deserve to die and he did not have to go in the way that he did. You could have easily changed the plot to arrange for the end without it...
I need therapy after that chapter - GEEZ
Overall I am excited to see where Crystal Crowned takes our heroine and what she has in store for her next...
Vhalla continues to grow beyond limits and it's amazing to see how far she has come from where she was a year ago. The one problem I have with the Character Development of Vhalla though is as much as the ending of Earth's End hurt, and I am glad Vhalla got a bit of distance from it all and dealt with her reeling mind, I am sad that we as a reader never got to see most of this. I wanted to see how she emotionally recovered from the War and the initial stages of dealing with the Prince's Engagement. She should have had some sort of PTSD from everyone she killed and everything we saw. However, when we meet her again she is almost desensitised to death and cold towards her feelings for Aldrik, and I felt cheated we weren't shown how she got there.
From the Romance part, it was painfully beautiful how Vhalla and the Prince are constantly drawn to each other. The yearning in this book is what love poems are written about and I am glad that we were shown aspects of Alrick where he too has grown and worked through his shit - cause I was really really angry with him and his behaviour; but at least now I can almost understand him more and the anger I felt towards him has dissipated.
This book also does feel weaker in terms of the plot. You can very easily sum up the plot into a few sentences and the last 25% was extremely rushed! Almost to the point where it felt messy and out of the blue. This is the main reason why it's not a full 5-star as I am left a little confused by the direction the story is going and I don't quite understand the new magic system.
FINAL POINT -
I need therapy after that chapter - GEEZ
Overall I am excited to see where Crystal Crowned takes our heroine and what she has in store for her next...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
psydneigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This one had me bawling. Kova is not afraid of making you feel like everything is getting better and then killing a character to crush you. I loved getting to see more of Sehra. On to the next one!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Blood, War, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death
blue_dip's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I want to thank Vhalla for in the last part of this book making book 5 possible...
I really don't mean that. I think the series would have been well off ending in this book's last line. It was a way more powerful ending than book 5 lent the series.
especially since book 5 wouldn't have happened if Vhalla trusted her gut feeling and used magical sight on her weird behaving boyfriend
I am however bound to go for strong 3 stars, since this book kept me reading, tied up at least some loose ends, and allowed Vhalla and Aldrik to have some hope for the future. It also made me cry for a character I definitely didn't expect crying for. That's some strong writing in itself.
I really don't mean that. I think the series would have been well off ending in this book's last line. It was a way more powerful ending than book 5 lent the series.
I am however bound to go for strong 3 stars, since this book kept me reading, tied up at least some loose ends, and allowed Vhalla and Aldrik to have some hope for the future. It also made me cry for a character I definitely didn't expect crying for. That's some strong writing in itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
nadiana's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
Again, WE NEED SLOWER PACING.
I love the fact that we got lonely wandering Vhalla in the beginning of this book. We got to see how quickly people seem to gravitate towards her, but I wish we saw how Vhalla actually earned the respect of others. Maybe make her freelance with her mastered abilities a bit and not immideately push her into the greater story from the start?
Also her home-coming could've been cooler, but that's just a 12-year-old-me nit-picking.
But hands-down, the best part of this book was yet again the first act. And then we got into the thick of it...
Apparently, after Vhalla returned home, Aldrik magically sobered up. Oh yeah... I haven't talked about this problem before, have I? And, spoilers for the previous books: Apparently, Aldrik has an alcohol addiction. Would that be a problem in any other story? No, but it seemed like such a dark character trait for such a fanficitoney read. It wasn't handled that good to begin with, especially not since it was just swept under the rug as soon as Vhalla disappeared from Aldrik's life. Hmmm... Seems like Aldrik was doing better without Vhalla then? I'm not saying that I wish the protagonist would've "fixed" the broken broody guy, but I just can't help to feel like Vhalla and Aldrik never seemed compatible to begin with.
Then, as soon as Vhalla came back, Aldrik was on his feet, begging to have her back. I understand that we need to keep the plotpoints rolling in, but thus whole book was pretty much just a good first act, Aldrik being a simp tied to another woman and Mr. Bad guy (forgot his name already) becoming evil all-of-a-sudden.
When did Mr. Bad Guy become so bad? I don't remember him being this comically villainous in the first book. Why couldn't we have a more developed villain? It seems like the threat of the emperor and the... minister guy dissipated as soon as crystals had to step in as a plot point. And instead of a maniacal goofy emperor we got a maniacal goofy... guy that can use crystal-magic? I mean, we all knew from a few books earlier that crystals would play a larger role to the story, but again, too fast paced, too little time.
Also Baldair... Poor guy died from a flu so that we wouldn't have to see him slaughtered by Mr. Bad Guy and, God forbid, make more egregious off-camera deaths like the ones we got to learn about by the end of this book. Do I understand the moral implications of killing off an important character with a mundane thing such as a simple flu? Yes. But does it feel kinda left-field by the outcome of the story? Absolutely.
Be honest with me Kova, Baldair died so that we could have that extra simp-ey push from Aldrik.
Then we get to the first really mind-boggling inconsistency that I've noticed. Not that there haven't been others before it, but mostly that this one seemed so poignant and blasphemous in comparison. Why the hell - no - HOW the hell didn't Vhalla recognize the voice of Mr. Bad Guy when he was impersonating Aldrik!?!?!? Again, with the magic system inconsistencies... I get that he can use magic water to do magic illusions and make himself magically look like someone else, but what about his voice?! Don't tell me Vhalla really couldn't distinguish Aldrik's voice from this other random fucking guy? And add to the fact that we're supposed to believe that Vhalla is in love with Aldrik and can't be separated but can confuse his voice for another... this whole plot made absolutely ZERO sense.
And then we have the narrator. If you don't know, I just got an audible account and started listening to audiobooks as I find myself actually enjoying books when I listen to them as apposed to having to physically read them. The whole main Air Awakens series got bundled into the price of 1 book that I easily purchased with my first audible credit and just assumed I could listen to the whole thing like no problem. Little did I know, they changed the fucking narrator by the fourth book... and no hate to this narrator, I'm sure she's a good person, but the fact still stands that her voice does NOT suit the story AT ALL. She had such a... modern condescending tone to her voice and practically moaned out the last word of every sentence. I felt as though a 40 y/o wine mom suddenly started patronising me by the time I started this book. It really ruined the last few installments for me a bit...
I love the fact that we got lonely wandering Vhalla in the beginning of this book. We got to see how quickly people seem to gravitate towards her, but I wish we saw how Vhalla actually earned the respect of others. Maybe make her freelance with her mastered abilities a bit and not immideately push her into the greater story from the start?
But hands-down, the best part of this book was yet again the first act. And then we got into the thick of it...
Then, as soon as Vhalla came back, Aldrik was on his feet, begging to have her back. I understand that we need to keep the plotpoints rolling in, but thus whole book was pretty much just a good first act, Aldrik being a simp tied to another woman and Mr. Bad guy (forgot his name already) becoming evil all-of-a-sudden.
When did Mr. Bad Guy become so bad? I don't remember him being this comically villainous in the first book. Why couldn't we have a more developed villain? It seems like the threat of the emperor and the... minister guy dissipated as soon as crystals had to step in as a plot point. And instead of a maniacal goofy emperor we got a maniacal goofy... guy that can use crystal-magic? I mean, we all knew from a few books earlier that crystals would play a larger role to the story, but again, too fast paced, too little time.
Also Baldair... Poor guy died from a flu so that we wouldn't have to see him slaughtered by Mr. Bad Guy and, God forbid, make more egregious off-camera deaths like the ones we got to learn about by the end of this book. Do I understand the moral implications of killing off an important character with a mundane thing such as a simple flu? Yes. But does it feel kinda left-field by the outcome of the story? Absolutely.
Be honest with me Kova, Baldair died so that we could have that extra simp-ey push from Aldrik.
Then we get to the first really mind-boggling inconsistency that I've noticed. Not that there haven't been others before it, but mostly that this one seemed so poignant and blasphemous in comparison.
And then we have the narrator. If you don't know, I just got an audible account and started listening to audiobooks as I find myself actually enjoying books when I listen to them as apposed to having to physically read them. The whole main Air Awakens series got bundled into the price of 1 book that I easily purchased with my first audible credit and just assumed I could listen to the whole thing like no problem. Little did I know, they changed the fucking narrator by the fourth book... and no hate to this narrator, I'm sure she's a good person, but the fact still stands that her voice does NOT suit the story AT ALL. She had such a... modern condescending tone to her voice and practically moaned out the last word of every sentence. I felt as though a 40 y/o wine mom suddenly started patronising me by the time I started this book. It really ruined the last few installments for me a bit...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Terminal illness
Minor: Genocide
bailey1196's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Confinement
Minor: Alcoholism
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