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air awakens and bookshelf

today we’re going to be doing something a little bit different. i haven’t re-read a book in about 10 years. i don’t like it. i don’t do it. however, i was struck with the urge to read all of elise kova’s books. and i’m not going to lie, i’m not sure how long this will take me.

this review will be in two parts. the first part will be my initial review, when i read air awakens back in 2015. the second part will be my new review, having read it in june 2021. a lot has changed since back then. i used to hate romance with a passion. now, however, i don’t mind the odd bit. my second review will also be much shorter, as somethings i don’t feel the need to repeat myself with.


air awakens review, 2015

★★★★

Okay, okay. I don’t even know where to begin. This book is so damn good. It took me two days to read (which, for me, is incredibly fast), I’ve since read the sequel and I can’t wait for Earth’s End.

Characters

My favourite thing about this book is probably Vhalla. She’s so relatable and badass. Not to mention her character development: She starts out as an obedient apprentice, keeping her head down to those of higher social rant to her; to becoming a strong, independant woman who comes to speak her mind.

And poor Aldrik, whom I couldn’t tell if I could trust him or not. He’s portrayed as a sort of bad guy by the people, but around Vhalla he’s pretty damn cool. But other characters keep saying stuff, making me question whether he’s good or not. It’s frustrating but cool at the same time. Aldrik isn’t a 2D character who’s 100% good or bad. Depending on your viewpoint, your own personal feelings and experiences is whether he’s “good” or “bad”, something I like.

Plot

I thought this book was a little slow at the beginning, during the setting up and world building. But just under half way, I was into it and sold. The ending was fantastic, a masterpiece, and wonderful writing on Elise Kova’s part.

However, I did think the romance was a bit much. Like, I’m here for the magic and the cool fantasy world. I didn’t even know it was a romance at first. (Which is entirely my fault, not anyone else’s).

The pacing of the book is very well done. Once I actually got into it, I was never once bored with any slow bits. There was no irrelevant information or pointless scenes.

Overall, this book was extremely good. I loved it a lot. (And Larel, my fav, my bae). I’ve rated this book 4/5 stars because of the slow beginning/the romance I wasn’t really into. It was still a great read, which I would recommend to everyone into fantasy. This is a really fun read.


air awakens ft bose headphones

air awakens review, 2021

★★★★★

strangely enough, i think i enjoyed air awakens better the second time around. (we’ll ignore the fact that i couldn’t remember a single thing about this book except the two main characters names). i would like to point out that the first time i read this book, i read it. this time, i listened to an audiobook and read along with it. (this is my preferred form of reading these days).

the main thing i loved about air awakens is the relationship between vhalla and aldrick. i like how well it was written and woven into the storyline.

reading over my old review, i see i had trust issues with aldrick. one thing i can admit 100%, i didn’t have these feelings whatsoever during the reread. i presume it’s because i know he’s a good guy. towards the end, i did vaguely have some thoughts about about it. i did think he was a pretty cool character though.

baldair was definitely my favourite this time around. in my previous review, i raved about how she was my favourite, but this time i barely even thought about her. (i partially blame the narrator for putting a stupid accent on when speaking her parts). baldair, however. there’s a special place in heaven for him. he’s the nikolai of air awakens universe. (goddamn, i love nikolai).

i can’t believe I didn’t like the romance in my initial review. gosh, I need an award for my own character development!! i barely even call this “romance”, it’s just a few sideways glances at each other!

all in all, i’m looking forward to reading fire falling. i have more memories of that book so i’m unsure how well i’m going to like it. (i never see anyone mention this, but i have a particular dislike for rereading as i already know what’s going to happen, so it becomes boring. and predictable. but it’s only predictable because i’ve ready read it!)

post-thoughts

idk if anyone else agrees, but i thought that was fun: seeing what i thought way back then vs now. i didn’t think i’d changed that much.

do you re-read often? if not, is there a particular reason why you don’t? and if you do, what’s the deciding factor on which book you re-read?

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14 Comments

  1. avatar

    Idk how anyone has the time to reread stuff when I have like a million books on my tbr. But a good book is a good book and unless there’s a shocking twist that the book’s been building up to then rereading shouldn’t mean you don’t enjoy it I wouldn’t think

    1. avatar

      for me, the thought was always “i know what’s going to happen”, that element of surprise was no longer there. same with rewatching tv shows or movies. there’s no surprise so i find it boring. i think for air awakens, it’s been so long that i couldn’t remember a single thing about the book.

      1. avatar

        Yeah that’s fair enough. What about watching an adaptation of a book then since you’d know what’s going to happen there too?

        1. avatar

          I’ll watch them out of curiosity but I won’t love it, and if I were to watch something first and read the original later.

  2. avatar

    I don’t mind a good reread every now and then! It’s fun to see how our opinions change over time. This is one series I still need to give a try.

    1. avatar

      i was really surprised!! i didn’t expect to notice any difference in my opinions as i hadn’t realised my taste had (somewhat) changed

  3. avatar

    It’s awesome that you enjoyed the book more the second time around. Sometimes it’s fun when you forget a lot of details and can reenjoy books.

    1. avatar

      i’ll definitely be doing it more often, especially for those that i love.

  4. avatar

    I don’t often reread either, but when I do its fun to see what I wrote for my Goodreads review and what I thought years ago! I hope to read Air Awakens soon, I grabbed the audiobook and need to make time to listen to it, as I keep hearing such good things about this series and author!

    1. avatar

      i love the author, which is why i picked it back up. i followed her after reading the first one ages ago, and she’s the reason i want to finish it off. i hope you find time to read it soon, and that you enjoy it!!

  5. avatar

    I used to re-read books all the time until I had two kids and a blog haha! On occasion I will crave a re-read of a certain book and then will push it aside because I have arcs to read. 😕 I read Air Awakens awhile ago but I do vaguely remember enjoying it, glad you enjoyed it more this time around!

    1. avatar

      arcs definitely make it difficult to reread old books. they make it difficult to read any older book. but yeah, i imagine having kids puts a stop to a lot of things that you’d normally do.

  6. avatar

    This book has been on my TBR for a long time now! I’ll definitely get around to it soon <3

    1. avatar

      i hope you do!! it’s definitely worth the read.

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