Book Review | Water's Wrath by Elise Kova

Title: Water's Wrath
Author: Elise Kova
Publication: April 26th 2016 by Silver Wing Press
Series: Air Awakens #4
Pages: 291
Genre: Fantasy, Elemental
Copy: ARC gifted in exchange for an honest review
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.

Okay, I rant about this series a lot.  And every time I read the next book in the series, I fall in love with it even more; well, this book was definitely not an exception! Somehow, Water's Wrath met my unrealistically high expectations, and even far surpassed them.  Elise honestly must have magical writing powers, because I don't know how else she does it.

So this book picks up a few weeks after Earth’s End.  The pacing of this book is a little slower than the previous books, but it’s a nice reprieve after all the action in EE.  It gave more time to really explore the characters arcs.  The relationships in this book change a lot, especially since Vhalla has finally come into her own and discovered who she really is.  It really hit me in this book just how much all of these characters have grown.  Even Fritz, the sweetest, most innocent character in the world, has seen and done some horrible things.  It breaks my heart to know how much these characters have gone through, but I have no doubt Elise has a lot more in store for them.

  

Getting more into the characters, I really liked how much Fritz was involved in this book, and his relationship with Grahm is adorable!!!  I think Vhalla might ship them just as much as I do...  I also really love Fritz's friendship with Vhalla, and the scene with the vessel (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve read it) broke my heart in the best way.  In this book we finally get to see Daniel and Vhalla figure out their relationship.  I really like how it was done, and I think that their relationship throughout the books has been leading up to this point.  As for Vhalla, I like how much she is standing up for herself in this book.  No more is the Vhalla that lets herself be intimidated or pushed around.  As for Aldrik, I was really scared about what would happen with him in this book, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Aldrik is finally pulling himself together and becoming the man I always knew he could be.  

All the lighthearted stuff aside, this book, as you might have guessed, does have it's dark parts.  In fact, there is one "dark part" in particular that I don't think anyone saw coming.  I don't want to say too much, because spoilers are the worst, but let's just say that Elise is a very, very cruel author sometimes... (If you want to see spoiler rant, I put it in my review on Goodreads, here)

Overall, this book took a huge toll on my emotions.  I don't know how much my heart can take, so I hope Elise goes easy on us in Crystal Crowned and gives these characters the HEA they deserve!  

Have you guys read this series?  What are your thoughts?  Let me know in the comments! :)