jeannamichel
Written on Jan 16, 2019
"[A] fantasy romance in the vein of books by Sabaa Tahir, Renee Ahdieh." - School Library Journal on Reign the Earth
The sweeping Elementae series continues with a heroine so powerful she can command the sky . . .
Stolen from her family as a child, Aspasia has clawed her way up the ranks of Cyrus's black market empire to captain her own trading vessel--and she risks it all every time she uses her powerful magic to free as many women, children, and Elementae from slavery as she can.
But Cyrus is close to uncovering her secrets--not only that Aspasia is a wind Elementa with the ability to sail her ship through the sky, but that she is also searching for her lost family. And if Aspasia can’t find her younger siblings before Cyrus does, she will never be able to break free.
Armed with her loyal crew full of Elementae and a new recruit who controls an intriguing power, Aspasia finds herself in the center of a brewing war that spans every inch of the ocean, and her power alone may not be enough to save her friends, family, and freedom.
- ISBN10 1681191148
- ISBN13 9781681191140
- Publish Date 22 January 2019
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 February 2024
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Bloomsbury YA
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 432
- Language English
Reviews
shannonmiz
Written on Dec 10, 2018
I liked book one, Reign the Earth, but I didn't really love it, so I went into this one with a little hesitation. So imagine my happiness when I really, really liked it!
The Things I Liked:
- •Aspasia and her crew are awesome. I was worried when I realized that this was from Aspasia's POV, because the characters were my favorite part of the first book. But I needn't have! Aspasia is a fabulous character, and her story was one I loved reading. Her story and her life circumstances are quite different from Saskia's in Reign the Earth, but both women are passionate and care deeply about the people around them without being too similar. And while Saskia has a deep love for her blood-related family, Aspasia has created her own family on her ship (and yes, still is deeply concerned for her blood-family). I loved the nuances of all the relationships of the crew, too. Felt incredibly authentic for them to have such different and deep bonds. Also, none of them is perfect. Including (especially?) Aspasia. Which only makes her more interesting, as flaws can.
- •There is romance, and yes I love it. A ship on a ship, YAY, I love when puns work out. Even telling you who the ship involves would be a spoiler, so that's all I'll say. But I am here for every last bit of it, and I think you'll see why.
- •The plot just seemed so much more engaging! I mean, you're dealing with some really tough issues here- Aspasia has to balance out her survival with capturing (and in some cases, freeing) slaves for goodness sake. It's... a lot. But it also provides for a lot of really compelling scenes and a lot of gray morality. I mean- I think we can all agree that capturing slaves is awful, but when the motives are an attempt to free at least some of them... well, you see what I am saying, there's a lot of thought provoking stuff to ponder.
- •Obviously, there are feels! Lots of them, as you can imagine! Which is why I love when a book really makes you think, makes you wonder what you'd do, etc. It just pulls at the heartstrings.
The Things I Didn't:
- •Maybe this is a little picky, but I did want to know what happened (in more detail!) to book one's group! I mean, we did get a some update, but since I was pretty invested in them, I'd have liked to gotten a bit more closure in that respect. Though I have seen some reviews mentioning a third book? So Idk maybe I am confused and it's a trilogy, in which case... guess you can go ahead and disregard this point, but at the time of reviewing, this is listed as a two book series, so.
- •I did see some of the plot points coming. It didn't totally mess up my enjoyment of the book, but it's worth noting that I guessed some of the stuff pretty quickly.
Bottom Line: A very strong sequel, with a group of characters that somehow beats out their (very formidable) predecessors, all while amping up the action tenfold.