Wings of Arian by Devri Walls

Wings of Arian (Solus, #1)

by Devri Walls

Kiora thought she had never heard a lie until she was sixteen. But she was wrong. Her entire existence was based on nothing but. She thought that evil did not exist. Lie. That magic was not real. Lie. And that the land of Meros was all there was. One more lie.

With Aleric telling her that evil is knocking on the door and that she is the only one who can stop them she has a choice to make. Refuse, or start the wildest most painful ride of her life.

She reluctantly dips her toe into her new existence of magic and threads, dragons and shapeshifters, and the person who wants to take control of it all: the evil Dralazar.

However, this journey was never meant to be hers alone. She will be accompanied by a Protector. To her disbelief, and utter irritation they name the hotheaded, stubborn, non-magical, (albeit gorgeous) Prince Emane. They will have to trust each other with their lives, but right now Kiora would settle for a non hostile conversation.

And now it comes down to this, If you had never heard a lie, would you know when you heard one? Is knowing good from evil innate? Kiora finds herself having to decide who lives and who dies on those very questions.

Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on

4 of 5 stars

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3.5 Stars!

Wings of Arian is a detailed and unique high fantasy story that has many of the elements I’ve come to adore over the years. I was surprised to see that this was a larger length book for YA high fantasy and I actually wanted it to be even longer, but Wings definitely sets a solid start for the Solus series.

Meros is a land in a valley where evil no longer exists and the world is content, or at least that was the case until the new Solus is called forth. The Solus is the magical protector of Meros, and they are only chosen when things seem the most dire and things are getting very dangerous very fast. I really liked the detail Walls put into Meros and I’m really excited to see that the next book explores places beyond it. The story is fairly fast paced but it does slow down in sections to give you time to digest information and allow the main characters some time to learn and process new developments. The war of good versus evil is a pretty interesting and when you think about how pure the land of Meros is you realize just how much is at stake in this series. There are also some twists that I wasn’t expecting and I still have some questions about some of them but I’m pretty sure book two will probably expound on them.

Kiora is an incredibly sweet girl who doesn’t really have much of a filter on her mouth, if she thinks it she’s just as likely to say it. At times she does skew into the naive, but she does have a ton of pressure on her and given that evil is something entirely new to her it’s only logical that she would often find herself completely overwhelmed. I did find that she was highly emotional at first but as I continued to learn about her past and her magical abilities I actually understood why she let the emotions bubble forth like she does. Her Protector is Emane and he’s a great balance to her sweet, emotional naivety. He’s steady, strong, and isn’t surprised by much; but like her he his flaws, like his trouble with expressing his feelings. Their relationship is really sweet, and guess what…no insta-love! It actually takes Kiora and Emane some time to open up fully with each other and even then Kiora has her reservations given the amount of pressure riding her shoulders. There is also a wide array of side-characters but those among my favorites are Morcant and Arturo, a dragon and a pegasus. Morcant is like a friendly Smaug, he loves to talk and quick to anger but he’s incredibly friendly. Besides, who doesn’t love a dragon? Arturo is a voice of reason in a now chaotic world and I love how he was more than willing to help Kiora when she needed it.

So in short I definitely see myself continuing this series. I’m more than a little curious to see how Kiora fares in new territory and just what Dralazar is going to attempt next.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 February, 2014: Finished reading
  • 15 February, 2014: Reviewed