Mad Soul Child
Written on Jun 6, 2020
Long live Solaris.
One bloodthirsty ruler has been overthrown by another, casting the shadow of death over the Solaris Empire. Vhalla Yarl stands upon the stage of fate, prepared to do battle one final time. Fragile alliances will be tested and new bonds will be formed as the world is reshaped. She fights as the champion of peace, but when the night is darkest will she be able to pay the price of a new dawn?
- ISBN10 161984477X
- ISBN13 9781619844773
- Publish Date 12 July 2016
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Price World Publishing
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 398
- Language English
Reviews
Brittany
Written on May 12, 2020
Vicki
Written on Dec 2, 2018
I'm always conflicted when I don't absolutely love the last book in a series. I'm so invested in these characters and I absolutely loved the earlier books. For me, the series started to go downhill after the third book. I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and the series. There were just a few things that I felt like held it back from being really great...
From a story perspective, I feel like we're left with some big open questions. While it was heavily hinted, I'm not sure we ever learn who really saved Vhalla at the very end. We know this mysterious woman has appeared multiple times in the past and helped Vhalla, and there's the legend of Yargen and the Mother but we never truly know (and maybe that's the point), but it kind of felt like a convenient ending.
I also felt disappointed in Vhalla. Over the course of the books, I feel that we've seen Aldrik grow and learn to deal with his demons. However, I found Vhalla to be a bit of a hypocrite. She was the one who pressed Aldrik about honesty and not keeping secrets, but she continued to go off on her own multiple times and make decisions without Aldrik. Aldrik has come full circle by this last book and I just loved him. I've also come to love everyone else...Elecia, Jax and Fritz. I'm sad to see this end.
Lastly, on a side note, there have been multiple grammar and spelling mistakes sprinkled throughout all the books. I'm not usually a stickler about this and don't normally bring it up, but there seemed to be a lot of them throughout the whole series. It didn't detract from the story too much, but it was noticeable and a couple times tripped up the flow for me.
Despite all this, I really did love these books and I'm definitely sad to see this end. I know there is a new series coming about Vhalla's daughter and I'm looking forward to reading that. Maybe we'll get some glimpses of Aldrik and Vhalla.
Leigha
Written on Jul 27, 2017
I devoured the Air Awakens series over a week. Five books in one week! I’ve owned the first one for ages, finally sitting down to read it this past July. While the beginning is BEYOND slow, the rest of the series more than makes up for the start. Vhalla and Aldrick are – how should we put it? – not terribly interesting in the start of the series. Vhalla is your typical “good girl” and Aldrick your typical “bad boy” archetypes. It’s not until they begin growing, both as individuals and as a couple, I found myself invested in their story. Their transformation during the series is dramatic and earned.
Secondary characters are well-developed, particularly those characters involved in multiple novels. I’d be cautious at giving my heart to any of the characters. All of them – including our leads – are placed in perilous situations throughout the series. Sometimes characters survive with emotional and physical scars, while others meet a grisly fate. *tears* Creating a series with life or death stakes requires, well, life and death stakes. I appreciate the authenticity Ms. Kova cultivates by creating a series where beloved character can, and do, die.
The world building is top notch. The magic system is comprised of elemental magic – air, water, fire, and earth (very similar to The Last Airbender anime). Each region of the continent maintains its own nuances as do the people from those regions. Events in the books build until the dramatic conclusion. While I bought each book separately, I highly recommend purchasing the complete series on Amazon. Trust me – you will want to read them all!
tl;dr Fantastic world building, epic romance, and earned character development makes this life-and-death series a must read.
shannonmiz
Written on Jun 13, 2016
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
Since this is the end of the series, I am not going to say too much about this book. Of course because of spoilers from the first four books, but also because no one wants details on how a series ends! If you're anything like me, you basically want to know if I loved it, if it made me stabby, or somewhere in between.
Good news, I did love it! And I will tell you why:
- I think it ended at a good place for the story, anything more would have been overkill and anything less would have been unfinished. And it was satisfying, which is huge in a series end.
- The characters developed beautifully, as I had very little doubt that they would! I miss them, I do. It's hard to let go, especially when I was so, so invested in them. But I let them go at least feeling like their stories had been told, and I can't ask for anything more than that.
- I had lots of feelings. As usual with this series, I laughed, I cried, I swooned. There was a great mix of emotions, which has always been one of the best parts of the Air Awakens series for me, and Crystal Crowned was no different.
- The focus on family and friendship was definitely at an all time high, and I loved it.
- The romance was on point, as usual. I won't tell you any more than that, because spoilers!
The only real thing keeping me from giving it a full five stars is that its predecessor (Water's Wrath) was so incredibly emotional and powerful, that this one perhaps paled a bit in comparison. I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily, because I would not have been happy if the series had ended at the point Water's Wrath did. In fact, I really think I would have been unhappy if Crystal Crowned had been done any differently. I think it was the perfect wrap up for the series, even if I did find Water's Wrath to be a bit stronger.
Bottom Line: Look, if you haven't read this series, do it. There is no reason not to, now that the series is complete and no one has to worry about Finale Fright! I really loved every single minute of this series and Vhalla and company will always have a place in my heart. The writing was gorgeous, the characters were incredibly well developed, and I enjoyed the world tremendously. I really can't think of any reason not to read this series and about a million reasons to read it, so there you have it.
**Copy provided for review
Chelsea
Written on Jun 3, 2016
First of all, I loved this whole series. All of Vhalla’s adventures and experiences made for a wonderful story and I’m extremely glad I picked this series up. I highly recommend it to everyone.
Now onto this book! I love that we finally get to see our power couple actually working together and accepting that they’re going to be together forever. I’m not using names in case I spoil it (even though it’s pretty obvious) but those of you who have been following Vhalla’s story know exactly who I’m talking about. They’ve had a lot of rough patches throughout this series but they’re starting to plan a future together and that was really nice to see. I just liked seeing them together and not being forced apart for once. I was glad that the author didn’t wait until the very end to push them together.
I also really loved the ending of this book. It was sad like the end of a war should be but it was also happy enough to satisfy me that everything is going to be ok. I really enjoyed reading the epilogue and would love to see more stories revolving around this series in the future. *hint hint*
One last thing that stood out to me was that we actually got to see a lot of our secondary characters in this book. We go back to some childhood homes and learn how some of our characters got to where they are now. I loved learning more about these characters because they’ve slowly become my favourites throughout the whole series.
What I Didn't Like
I had extremely high expectations going into this book and I think the initial disappointment after seeing that this last book wasn’t going the way I wanted it to stayed with me throughout the whole story and brought me down a little. This is a great book and a very nice (somewhat happy) ending to the series but I just thought that this particular book didn’t live up to the epicness that the other books brought. I’m by no means saying that this was a bad book though! Just that expectations are enough to ruin a book for you if you’re not careful and my expectations ruined this ending for me. Also Water’s Wrath was my favourite book and I think it was hard to follow after it because I loved it so much.
After a general disappointment at the epicness of this book, there wasn’t a lot of specific things that I didn’t like about this book. The one thing that stands out at me is something (I don’t want to spoil!) happens to Vhalla that should be a huge deal but it’s almost like nobody cares or even acknowledges that it happens. Even though it’s a big deal and important to our story! Just a teeny tine pet peeve.
Who I'd Recommend To
This is an excellent book (and series) for fantasy and magic lovers. Magic is a huge part of this fantasy world so if you love magic as much as I do then you’ll love this story. It’s also a great story for those people who are tired of reading the same fantasy books over and over again. This series will only increase your love of fantasy.
See the full review at Books for Thought