Water's Wrath

This series has been an emotional roller coaster and I’m ready to see where we end up. Just wow. My new favorite author for sure. Ripped my heart out and I can’t wait to be put back together.

It’s well written, I didn’t notice a lot of errors. It was interesting and mostly kept my attention. A few places dragged a little but not bad. However I have two huge issues with it. 1 why do authors have to build up their characters to be the smartest, most capable, quickest thinking woman ever, and then have them continually make the dumbest decisions and mistakes imaginable?! It’s annoying and doesn’t for the character profile of being so smart. 2 and this is a spoiler. I despise when authors use the cheap ploy of killing a likable character just to get the emotional reaction. There was no purpose in the death, no furtherance of the plot, no character growth that couldn’t have happened if the character got well. Plus for that particular character to die of sickness makes it even worse. A death in battle or assassination would fit better. Oh almost forgot the evil villain. Very transparent, obvious, and lacking depth. Definitely needs to be fleshed out. I will continue to read as I want to finish, but each book is less than the last.

I have two feelings about this book.1) Like Book 2 (Fire Falling), this felt like a setup book.SPOILERA long time was spent on Achel and its cleansing. Granted, a lot of that could have pointed to Victor's betrayal, but I didn't catch it.END SPOILERIt just felt like a lot of futzing around for about half the book. After the heart-rending closing of Earth's End, I had no idea where this COULD go when I started it.2) That said, the ending is very satisfying and has my blood pumping for Book 5 (Crystal Crowned). As with every book (Fire Falling included), the final quarter of the book completely flips ALL my expectations on their ear. Things I accepted as truths, givens, or constants just AREN'T. Nothing is sacred in this series (save Vhalla and Aldrik...so far...I hope I'm not punished in Book 5 for thinking that).Although the melodrama was toned down compared to Book 2, like I said, there was just something lacking in the first half. It was a lot of setup of massive dominoes to fall on the reader like a building in the latter half. Although I may not have been thrilled with the first half at the time, it was/is SO worth it. This is a great entry in the series and does a smashing job both drawing things toward a close and setting up for that final act. I can't wait to sink my teeth into it.

Of all the books thus far, this, I feel, has been the weakest, but not because it had terrible content or anything, but because it's a set-up and connecting book that introduces another layer of conflict to resolve without a whole lot moving forward towards those final goals we've had in mind from the start (like seeing Vhalla and Aldrick wed and crowned and happy). This has its pros and cons; the pros being that this adds more complexity and dimension to the story, which make for a more engaging and well-written story that isn't super predictable, but a con is that this route leaves this book in the same position as book #1 in that it had to dedicate a lot to time to setting things up and there wasn't a whole lot of movement forward. A lot happens in this book, yes, but more or less this book's goal was to say "okay, the war is done, but that's not the end of our woes, we have another bigger problem that was festering under the surface undetected, waiting to spring forth" and to set that up so it could be introduced into the plot well and tie into it.And boy, did it do just that. Much like the last few novels, this book wraps itself up nicely, ending at the point where the arc of the story shifts. We're left with some pretty powerful developments, there's deaths and betrayal and forgiveness and changes and all sorts of stuff, so the final book seems like it'll have that "the final battle before all is well again" feel to it, like this was the build up to a grand climax and finale in the last book.For those who weren't a fan of how much romance was in books #2 and #3, you'll like how little there is in this one despite a blurb that's all "she might fall into waiting arms of a former lover." Most of the time the main pair is either apart or they have something more important to focus on than kissing and declaring love, even though there still a few scenes and declarations and such to be had that are of a romantic/emotional nature that focuses on their relationship with one another.As always the writing is great, the story building is phenomenal, the side-characters are still getting created and given attention, there's a lot of layers and subplots, the world-building is expanding and is still wonderful for a fantasy, and overall I'm both excited and sad that there's only one more book to go in this series, which I'll be picking up to read very soon. I finished this book off in a single sitting and was interested the majority of the time; some things dragged a little bit or felt a little dull, but it wasn't so bad that I was like groaning or skimming or feeling like giving up on finishing.

You hate me don't you Elise Kova? What did we, your loyal readers ever do deserve this?The last 30% of this book had to be some of the hardest words I have ever read.My already fragile heart has been ripped out and obliterated but Elise Kova. This book destroyed me. I have never experienced this kind of utter heart wrenching pain for my characters.It seems that with each installment in this series, the books keep getting better and better. But this one, this book was a bit different from the first three and I liked that aspect of the story a whole lot more. Where the predecessors were about the war and the the struggle of politics, this book had a calmer feel to it and that's what scared me the most. I sensed trouble coming from a mile away and I was in no way prepared for the trouble that came my way.There have been 4 books now and if you have been reading since the beginning, then all these characters has had a close connection to you. A lot of them grew before your eyes and you couldn't help but love them. So reading this book would feel bitter sweet. That's the only way I could describe it (without spoiling) because it felt like we were started to say goodbye in a sense. Though we have one more book, the emotions in this book needs time to settle.Elise Kova, I will never forgive you for what you did in this book... but Crystal Crowned is on the horizon and I know we are going to be in for one hell of a ride.MY HEART IS NOT READY!