Water's Wrath by Elise Kova

Title: Water’s Wrath

Author: Elise Kova

Series: Air Awakens #4

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Elemental, Magic, Romance, Swords, Medieval

Source: Kindle

Pages: 378

Rating: 4.5 stars

Available at:

Amazon (CA) • Goodreads • Amazon (US)

Blurb:

Librarian turned sorcerer. Sorcerer turned hero. Hero turned puppet.

The Solaris Empire found victory in the North and, at the cost of her heart and her innocence, Vhalla Yarl has earned her freedom. But the true fight is only beginning as the secret forces that have been lurking in the shadows, tugging at the strings of Vhalla's fate, finally come to light. Nowhere is safe, and Vhalla must tread carefully or else she'll fall into the waiting arms of her greatest foe. Or former lover.

Review:

Be warned, you better have an entire box of tissue beside you when you read this series because it is Sad, with a capital S. And not even the stray-tear-runs-down-your-face-silently kind of sad, but openly-sobbing-snot-everywhere kind of sad. This is not a book you want to be reading while on the bus or on your break during work!  
You can read my review of the first three books of the series HERE, HERE, and HERE.

On a more serious note, this was a great edition to the series. As I thought in my last review of Earth’s End, this was very much a ‘finding yourself’ kind of book. It was VERY much needed for the series since Vhalla didn’t really know who she was anymore without the library and without the crown’s leash tied around her throat. As a free woman, and a magician at that, I don’t think she knew who she was, and this book was the perfect remedy for her to find out. While the last two books had been very much action based as a war was headed on the horizon, I found that this book’s slower and more calmed pace was refreshing. It really gave the author time to develop the characters more, while planting some foreshadowing and figuring things out relationship wise without the heat of battle and the worry of war on everyone’s mind. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there is definitely some action in this book, but it doesn’t play such a centered role like we saw in Fire Falling and Earth’s End.

As far as development goes, this book was extraordinary. By far the best for the development department. While we got to see Aldrik grow in the last book and accept love, it wasn’t until this book that we got to see him develop into a man. His development in this book isn’t the product of a revelation or learning to accept love, it was the product of determination and hard work. He actively works to be a better man, and a better future King in this book, and it was beautiful to watch. I felt that Vhalla really struggled on who to trust in this book. Torn between her heart and her head was a hard battle, and trying to figure out who is trying to use her and who is trying to help her was a harder battle, one that she both succeeded in and failed in the end. As a woman, she has grown so strong, and she knows what is good for her and her empire in this book.

As for a specific event that make you want to hate Elise Kova, but you also love her for writing such a beautiful scene, I won’t give too much away. I will tell you that a character dies, and it was the hardest death that I have ever read in any book I have ever read. It was heartbreaking, but beautiful. While I feel that Elise did the character justice until the very end, I don’t actually feel this character’s death was necessary for the plot, which is why I didn’t give the book a full five stars, but rather 4.5. For the purposes of Amazon that doesn’t allow half stars, I will round up, but just know, I don’t think it actually moved the plot forward.

Additionally, the ending is a lot to wrap your head around. If you have been following this series than you know that Elise loves to end her books on a cliffhanger, and this book was no exception. We have one more book in this series, Crystal Crowned that will need to wrap everything up, and I actually can’t wait to see how Elise does it. She is a master at her art, and I am expecting great things for the end of the series.