Title: Air Awakens (Air Awakens #1)
Title: Elise Kova
Published: August 2015
Genre: High Fantasy, Romance
Goodreads

Rating: 5 stars
Cover: Love it

Synopsis:

A library girl with a secret. A dark and fiery prince. When he awakens her magic, there’s no going back.

The Solaris Empire sone conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.

Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all–the Crown Prince Aldrik–she finds herself enticed into his world. Now chemist decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined…

“You can read all the books in this library, be wiser than the master himself someday, and  then you will die having never really done anything. You will have only ever lived through everyone else’s experiences” (page 52)

I recently discovered that this series, which has been on my radar for a while now, is on Kindle Unlimited, and when I say I couldn’t put it down, I mean I devoured it! I’m not usually able to get into high fantasy. I usually find even the descriptions and covers to not be engaging to me, and the world building is daunting. I typically am much more drawn to low fantasy, because frequently we are introduced to the magical parts of the world with the main character, which makes it much more of an exciting adventure to me. In Air Awakens, magic is a norm on the Crescent Continent, but it is widely feared because it is strange and unusual. So there still is an introduction to the history through the main character’s discoveries because she is being thrust into the magical parts of her world, when before she feared even being around a sorcerer.

I read some reviews after I finished to help myself formulate my many thoughts, and was surprised to see many people disliked it. So in efforts to articulate why I think it’s a great piece of literature, and since my thoughts refuse to formulate in a nice pretty essay, we’ve got bullet points today:

• The crown prince is thought to be cold and unapproachable, which is a reputation he built himself because so many people fear magic. He also has a guard on his emotions because magic is heavily influenced by emotions, and he does not want to accidentally cause harm in a slip of his emotions. Any crack in his shield could be fatal. Those that do not understand and fear magic can’t understand this, and instead judge him to be cold and harsh. I feel like there is so much depth here.
• Deals a lot with economic inequalities, specifically how differently people live within the walls of the palace depending on their status. The economic classes are evidently so important to some people in this world, that when Vhalla starts crossing boundaries, there are those who will do everything they can to not only retain order, but to keep the feared unknown far away.
• The themes in this book honestly complement the storyline very well and add depth that kept me thinking long after the book was finished.

I finished reading at 1:30 in the morning and immediately turned to my husband and told him I wanted to start the second book instead of sleeping. He looked at me and laughed, as I’m usually unable to stay awake past 10pm.