Air Awakens by Elise Kova Book Review: PART 2

So, I may or may not have broken a promise… Whoops.

I know I said I would post every Saturday, but unfortunately I was unable to post yesterday, so now I’m modifying my schedule: I will post every weekend. That promise I can definitely keep. I will either post on Saturdays or Sundays.

Alright. I’ll be talking about the characters and plot here.

First of all, I want to bring up Aldrik. I thought he was an interesting character… Until he fell for Vhalla and turned into Mr. Nice Guy. Sigh. Then—I thought he was an interesting character once again! See, he didn’t just suddenly become nice. He was only nice to her. And even then, he was quite cold during the (slight spoiler) trial. He’s not a good guy. Far from it. He only cares about himself. Except when it comes to Vhalla.

Now, as much I appreciate he’s not like those cliché guys who were nice the whole time but “built up walls to protect themselves,” I didn’t think his and Vhalla’s relationship was very healthy. Though, that’s another part that made Vhalla so real. She trusted him so easily, was betrayed (sort of), then trusted him again. That’s human.

I’m not saying their relationship is as awful as Daemen and Katy’s. Because it’s not. But I do think they could use some time to communicate with each other. Because honestly, I do believe they belong together, but really, I feel like Vhalla is at the bad end of the relationship. Aldrik seems to have the upper hand because he knows more and he’s spent his entire life being manipulative. I think they should be equal.

But I just have to give a shout-out to the fact they didn’t kiss once in the entire book, yet you could still feel the romantic tension.

Now, moving on to Aldrik’s brother, Baldair. Man, I hated him at the beginning of the book. He was the epitome of cliché guys who are sooo hot and charismatic. Ugh. Then, when we actually got to meet him, I found him fascinating. I may be reading a bit too much into this, but he seems too nice. I’m conflicted. At first I thought: Hm… He’s way too nice. That’s suspicious. Then, I thought: Wait, is he actually this nice??? Then: No way, no one’s this nice. I think. Then: Okay. This guy cannot be trusted. I think. 

I just don’t know what to think about him. Well, I do. I don’t trust him. At all. The guy’s just way too charismatic. I wouldn’t trust a guy that charismatic.

Those were the two characters I wanted to talk about, so let’s move on to the plot.

Though the characters were very intriguing and real, I was not a big fan of the storyline. It was really cliché, which is why I originally was going to give the book a lower rating.

It was the classic: “I-thought-I-wasn’t-special-but-apparently-I’m-super-special-and-essential-in-winning-a-war-or-some-other-important-event.”

Sigh. How unfortunate. Also, I felt like there wasn’t much world building. We were barely informed of the war and I had no idea how the politics worked. We were only given vague explanations about… well, everything.

While the characters were well-developed, the actual story was neglected. I wasn’t a big fan of the writing either, as I felt some sentences were too choppy, or other sentences were mistakenly joined.

So, those were my thoughts character and plot-wise about the book.

If you’ve read this book before, then tell me what you thought in the comments below, and if you have not read this book, then tell me if you plan on picking it up or not.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

 

 

Air Awakens by Elise Kova Book Review

Now, before I get on with this review, I just want to say that this will be *slightly* emotional. And forgive me if I get a bit deep there. That said, let’s get to the review!

---

Rating: 3.75 stars (???)

I am learning that a rating of 1 to 5 stars for a book is not fitting. At the beginning of the book, I would’ve given it 2 stars, but as I reached the end, I would’ve given it 4. So, it evens out to 3.75. Logically.

But really, it doesn’t. Because there are parts of this book that I found ridiculous. There are parts of this book that I only found marginally good. There are parts of this book that I found amusing. Then there are parts of this book that reached me in ways I cannot explain.

It has been so long since a book has touched me in this way.

This book is not perfect. Far from it. There were many flaws – in writing, plot, and general events.

But that is not what is important.

What is important is that the main character was real. She was real, and flawed, and weak, and strong. The main character reminded me of myself.

At the beginning, I laughed at her weakness. At her ridiculousness. At her trust. But, as I continued, I realized something: That is what human beings are like. We are weak. We are ridiculous. We trust when we shouldn’t. But that is what makes us human.

We are not immediately strong at birth. We change. Evolve. Grow. And that is exactly what the main character, Vhalla, did. She was so weak at the beginning – but I should not have laughed because in that situation, I most likely would have acted the same way. The way she acted was not necessarily weak; she was thrust out of her normal life and into a world she had never known. Into a world she had once (and at the time still) hated. So, you cannot expect someone to act strong and powerful when that happens. Because if we’re being honest here – if a character acts strong and powerful after being thrown into such a situation, then it is not real. As much as we tell ourselves that we are not afraid, we are. If a person acts strong and powerful in such a situation, then that person is pretending. But that is how we make it through life. By pretending.

So, when we are forced to see the truth – forced to acknowledge how we truly feel on the inside, we shy away. We laugh it off. We shouldn’t.

In so many books the main character is strong and powerful and never weak, but that is our attempt at lying to ourselves. That is the way we wish to be. That is the way we are not.

It is wonderful to wish. But we shouldn’t be afraid of ourselves. We should face our weaknesses, or fears, our flaws – head on.

We are human. And we should accept that.

---

Whew. If you’ve made it to this part of the review, then kudos to you. I just wanted to share my true feelings. And if you want to hear my thoughts on the characters and plot—don’t worry! A part two of this review will be coming up soon today as well. I just wanted this part of it to stand alone because it’s really important to me. ❤