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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
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