Elementals: Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman

Elementals: Ice Wolves (Elementals, #1)

by Amie Kaufman

From New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman comes an electrifying new series about a brother and sister who must harness their powers and find their place in a sharply divided world.

Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when twelve-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Still, whether or not they’re family, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

In order to rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shapeshifting force of all.

Reviewed by sa090 on

3 of 5 stars

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I read this one to escape YA a bit, as much as I enjoy the faster paces of fantasy in YA, sometimes I just want to escape from the love sick teenagers.

I read one series previously by Amie Kaufman and it was a collab with Meghan Spooner, however, the sequel and last book in that series was a huge letdown for me. That being said though, I didn't really think that giving her another chance in a solo wiring would be a bad idea so I read Elementals. I found the book interesting with the wolf vs dragon thing, although I didn't think that we would only be focusing on the wolf side for the entirety of it. Yes, the title states "wolves" and the synopsis implies a bigger wolf focus, but it being 90% of it? Yeah, I didn't expect that nor welcome it all that much.

Not because they were boring, I enjoyed seeing the "pack" hierarchy if you will, the lessons, the brief displays of abilities and how they functioned in the school. But I love dragon above all else, so I couldn't help but be bummed out about it. I did get a lot of bit and pieces thrown my way, but I hoped for a lot more in that regard.

To make up for it, Amie Kaufman does provide an interesting lore to learn about in the series. What do wolves honor? Dragons? What about the wolf abilities? dragon abilities? Where does each race excel? While also providing some hints of a much bigger darkness lurking in the back. That being said however, I did find the plot line a bit predictable which is fine considering the demographic and I did also find some parts a bit slow and struggled through it for a bit. Which is again fine given that I am not the target audience for this, although I do think that it's because I didn't like the protagonist all that much. Not a big fan of underdogs, they overstayed their welcome for sure.

Speaking of characters there were a couple of interesting ones, but our focused on characters definitely weren't for me so :)

I am slightly interested on how it goes from here so I most likely will continue with it till the end, better yet? the series ends in 2020 so I don't have to worry about waiting for too long.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 March, 2020: Finished reading
  • 15 March, 2020: Reviewed