Aether Rising (Aether Psychics, #4)

by Cecilia Dominic

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

In 2015, I raced through the three full novels in the Aether Psychics series and the lone novella, Noble Secrets, which were available at the time. I grew quite fond of Iris, Marie and Claire and their dashing husbands. Dominic won me over with book two in the series with its sly retelling of one of my favorite stories, Phantom of the Opera. When I finished reading all the books and wrote my reviews, I mentioned that I hoped that the three ladies would join forces and go on fun adventures together. I was more than delighted when Dominic reached out to me personally to let me know that Iris, Marie and Claire had their own book and wondering if I would like to review it. I jumped at the chance!

I love the Aether Psychics series. The world is wonderfully drawn combining elements of fantasy, steam punk and science (but not too much science to bore me). In book four, Aether Rising, the debate on who should have control of the Eros Element continues and the powers that each of the ladies possesses in connection with the Element and each other is explored further. When explaining the concept to my husband, he responded, “So they are like superheroes.” His statement tickled me. The thought of Victorian superheroes and a team of all women superheroes seemed supremely fitting with the onslaught of movies from Marvel and D.C. flooding the box office.

For me, as a reader, I struggled a bit with remembering what happened in the previous books. There’s a bit of recap, but not quite enough to jar all the memories loose. I know this a fine line for an author to walk so I don’t necessarily hold Dominic at fault. However, I would have been beneficial to me for a bit more recap of events and happenings as the characters reconnected after being apart from each other and with the full introduction of Claire into the band of superheroes.

In the end, I hope that Iris, Marie and Claire go on grand adventures together. Aether Rising serves as a bridge book to bring the band of friends together. Where they go from here, I can only imagine, but I hope that Dominic continues to write in this imaginative world where women hold power and work together to save the world.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews