ARC REVIEW: WATER'S WRATH by Elise Kova

WATER'S WRATH by Elise Kova

Summary:
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. 

Title: WATER'S WRATH

Author: Elise Kova

Series: Air Awakens #4

Source: eARC via the Publisher

Publisher: Silver Wing Press

Publication Date: April 26, 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

Purchase:

Amazon

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is BOOK FOUR in a series! I do my best not to spoiler anything from Books 1-3 but some things are unavoidable. You can see my previous reviews for Air Awakens, Fire Falling, and Earth's End.

Perfection doesn't even begin to describe this one. Where do I start? The end? The middle? The end? The part I desperately don't want anyone to mention to me ever again? The beginning where I thought everything was going to be okay because there's still one more book? I don't know because all of it was perfection. 

Also, the cover is like whoa once you read this book. But I can't say why without spoilers but once you read a certain part of this book, you'll be like OH EM GEE, ELISE HAS DONE IT AGAIN. Actually, you'll be saying that a lot in this book.

Vhalla Yarl in this one is the type of woman you want to be (but like, also, I don't want to have to take the same path to get there??? I would prefer not to go to war and murder people, but hey, to each their own). She starts off in AIR AWAKENS as a girl who would rather surround herself with books than people (same) and transforms into someone that saves people's lives just by giving them hope. Everyone should aspire to be like Vhalla Yarl (or Elecia, I'm chill with being like Elecia too) because she is the definition of lightning in a bottle. 

I really liked seeing her relationship with Daniel evolve. I liked that they both admitted where their feelings were coming from and what it means for them in the future. I think, for Vhalla, it was always about Aldrik, so it was nice to see her come to terms with it in this one. And for everyone to be so gracious about it during the course of the novel, even with the current present circumstances.

I liked seeing the total aftermath of the war in this one. The consequences of actions are never shied away from in this series, so it was great to see that trend continue in WATER'S WRATH. I liked that while the battle has ended, the war really hasn't as Vhalla trades a Northern battlefield for one filled with Polite Society. I think it was interesting seeing Vhalla trying to figure out how to be herself and still maintain a semblance of what was expected of her. I liked that she did her best to not let some outcomes from the last novel affect how she would handle her present circumstances.

The pacing was really good with this one. I liked that there was a lot happening, but not so much that our main characters couldn't get a bit of a breather. It was really interesting to see what a post-war Empire looks like because it gave us a bit more insight to everyone's head space and where they were coming from when they made decisions. I liked that Vhalla was so willing to break traditions and to try to move forward with training and staying battle ready. I liked all her interactions with the Golden Guard, as well. And Jax is just bae.

As I've continuously said, the magic system in this world is immaculate. I liked seeing more of what we already knew --  and some of what we didn't -- become more prominent in this one. I feel like while we saw a lot of magic during the battles, there was much more of it in this one, which I really enjoyed. I liked Vhalla working with Minister Victor on the crystal magic and seeing their relationship develop a bit more. I was always really weary of Victor, (I called him #ShadyMinister) so it was kinda nice to be able to "sit down" with him and see more of his character. 

FRITZ AND GRAHM ARE SO SWEET AND ADORABLE. That's all I have to say on that one.

The ending was WILD. Like from 80% onward I was on the edge of my seat. I like that there was a lot of action spread out through this novel but that the ending left it in way that was "closed" but still wanting more. I am super excited for CC to come out in a couple of months because I'm not sure I can wait for the conclusion to this series. I have been completely taken by Kova's writing, world, and this is a series that has reread potential because as each book comes out, you learn more about the previous novel. So I will probably be rereading it as a whole in September/October because I will miss it too much to go any longer than that.