morrighanrose's review
4.0
Review @Elysian Fields<3
This book picks up three years after The Wheel Mages ends, with our main character, Alena living in the midst of a barren desert. She has closed herself off from the world, the Sanctuary, and her own magic and memories. The first book ended with her performing blood magic, which is against the law, to free herself from the evil Allard, killing dozens of people in the process. Her master and love, Nikolai is dead. Philipe is a traitor. Everything is ruined. So she runs and avoids, living in guilt and self loathing.
Until Camille tracks her down in the middle of the desert, informing her the fire mage she rescued from the streets has now been kidnapped by Allard and is being used to lure Alena back to the Trade Nations. This story is about her journey home, but it is so much more than that. It describes her journey back to herself, as well. She must face the guilt she places on herself for the deaths of so many. She must also find a way to trust again, and with the addition of Lukas, a sexy air mage leading the expedition, trust doesn't come easy. The last air mage that she trusted, Philipe, betrayed her in the worst way possible.
It is a hard road back to salvation that she must walk, and my heart broke for her again and again. Watching her fury destroy when all she really wanted was forgiveness for the evils that she had done to escape.
I loved this second book in the series! The characters were well developed, the world was beautifully written, the plot line was fast pace and flowed well. I really enjoyed this addition, and I cannot for Aimee Davis to write more in this heartbreaking adventure!
This book picks up three years after The Wheel Mages ends, with our main character, Alena living in the midst of a barren desert. She has closed herself off from the world, the Sanctuary, and her own magic and memories. The first book ended with her performing blood magic, which is against the law, to free herself from the evil Allard, killing dozens of people in the process. Her master and love, Nikolai is dead. Philipe is a traitor. Everything is ruined. So she runs and avoids, living in guilt and self loathing.
I hadn't touched my magic in the last three years and letting it loose so casually caused exhilaration to coarse through me. I'd forgotten what it felt like to embrace this part of myself, to let my magic sing to me.
Until Camille tracks her down in the middle of the desert, informing her the fire mage she rescued from the streets has now been kidnapped by Allard and is being used to lure Alena back to the Trade Nations. This story is about her journey home, but it is so much more than that. It describes her journey back to herself, as well. She must face the guilt she places on herself for the deaths of so many. She must also find a way to trust again, and with the addition of Lukas, a sexy air mage leading the expedition, trust doesn't come easy. The last air mage that she trusted, Philipe, betrayed her in the worst way possible.
You're a water mage. You put on your emotion like you put on clothes. And if that weren't enough, the whole of the magical world knows your entire life story because of who you are and what you've done. Whatever secrets you think you have, they're not secrets.
It is a hard road back to salvation that she must walk, and my heart broke for her again and again. Watching her fury destroy when all she really wanted was forgiveness for the evils that she had done to escape.
We were damned, all of us. I thought the reminded might ease the terror, but it wasn't to be convinced. It continued to claw at the parts of me struggling to surface through the darkness, the parts of me holding onto life with bloody fingers.
I loved this second book in the series! The characters were well developed, the world was beautifully written, the plot line was fast pace and flowed well. I really enjoyed this addition, and I cannot for Aimee Davis to write more in this heartbreaking adventure!
stolenbybooks's review
5.0
I recently read the first book of this series in exchange for an honest review and when I finished it I just had to read the sequel as soon as possible and WOW, just OMG, this book was one wild ride from start to finish and it was sooo gooood!!! I really loved the first book and this one was even better! I just could not put it down!
Let’s talk about the writing first. Like in the first book the writing style is very fast paced but really manages to capture the setting at the same time! This makes for a perfect combination that just draws you into the story! It immediately grabs your attention from the first sentence and it doesn’t let you go until the last one!
“Fear is not for the damned.”
The story picks up three years after the events of book one. Naturally, this gives the reader a lot of questions about what happened in those three years and immediately sparks your interest. And ahh the story was full of even more unexpected plot twists and it left me shocked so many times! It was also a lot darker and grittier than the first book and I really loved that! And the book also leaves you with so many unanswered questions! I simply cannot wait to find out what’s next for Alena and all the other characters!
The setting was already beautifully captured in the first book and now we got to see even more of this unique and intriguing world! We got to learn more about the history of some countries and the mages and I thought that was really interesting! The way magic works is also really fascinating and really well done in my opinion! It just all feels so real even though it isn’t possible in real life!
“This was what the urge to move was. This feeling, this deep, hollow yearning to cover up my shame. This desire to conceal what a monster I was. To hide from everyone including myself.”
The characters were especially well done in this book. They are probably the best part! We got to read about some old characters and new characters and they were all so different and unique. Alena was extremely well written, she was so real with all her problems and nightmares from the past. She went through some amazing character development! I won’t anything about the other characters because I don’t want to give any spoilers but trust me when I say that all the characters have such depth to them. It makes them feel like real people!
So, if you loved the first book in this series, I’d definitely recommend reading this one as well! It has even more world building, unique new characters, it’s darker, grittier and just overall and amazing read! It’s even better than the first book and the first book was already perfect!
Let’s talk about the writing first. Like in the first book the writing style is very fast paced but really manages to capture the setting at the same time! This makes for a perfect combination that just draws you into the story! It immediately grabs your attention from the first sentence and it doesn’t let you go until the last one!
“Fear is not for the damned.”
The story picks up three years after the events of book one. Naturally, this gives the reader a lot of questions about what happened in those three years and immediately sparks your interest. And ahh the story was full of even more unexpected plot twists and it left me shocked so many times! It was also a lot darker and grittier than the first book and I really loved that! And the book also leaves you with so many unanswered questions! I simply cannot wait to find out what’s next for Alena and all the other characters!
The setting was already beautifully captured in the first book and now we got to see even more of this unique and intriguing world! We got to learn more about the history of some countries and the mages and I thought that was really interesting! The way magic works is also really fascinating and really well done in my opinion! It just all feels so real even though it isn’t possible in real life!
“This was what the urge to move was. This feeling, this deep, hollow yearning to cover up my shame. This desire to conceal what a monster I was. To hide from everyone including myself.”
The characters were especially well done in this book. They are probably the best part! We got to read about some old characters and new characters and they were all so different and unique. Alena was extremely well written, she was so real with all her problems and nightmares from the past. She went through some amazing character development! I won’t anything about the other characters because I don’t want to give any spoilers but trust me when I say that all the characters have such depth to them. It makes them feel like real people!
So, if you loved the first book in this series, I’d definitely recommend reading this one as well! It has even more world building, unique new characters, it’s darker, grittier and just overall and amazing read! It’s even better than the first book and the first book was already perfect!
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