Tome Thursday: Gift of Air

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to yet another wandering into the land of Teutonica.

 

I may, at some point, stop writing reviews solely about this series - but I have to admit that they have me hooked, and as it's ongoing, and I'm kind of lagging behind (I'm missing the latest entry in the mainstream books!) I need to catch up.

 

So here we are.

 

Having just recently discovered that the prequel to the ENTIRE series was free on Kobo, you can probably guess what happened.

 

Yep, I grabbed it.

 

Then I read it in one sitting.

 

And here I am now with a review for you guys.

 

Gift of Air is now here.

 

Links to previous related posts can be found at the bottom of this page, as per usual.

Gift of Air is a prequel novella to the entire series, detailing how Lady Ilsa met and married her fiery priest, Horst.

We know the two of them very well from other, subsequent novels, but their own story was a bit of a mystery until this novella.

See, Ilsa used to have a sister ... and her sister was training with a witch, helping a woman deliver a baby, when she was called out as a worshipper of Satan and the entire family was ex-communicated. To restore their reputation, the father killed his daughter and wanted to literally cast a curse on her, but couldn't make it happen before she bled out.

Yep. These Teuton men.

Since then, Ilsa has been protesting on her sister's behalf, which isn't sitting well with the priests of the Teutonic communities, and they decide that the only way to shut her up is to bind her heart to a priest in marriage - unwillingly, of course.

Now, because her mother gets wind of this, she sends a telegram out and enter Horst.

Horst and Ilsa like each other right off the bat and she gives him the heart of her soul to bind and thus become protected, which turns out to be the best case scenario because her cousin alerts her that the priests are coming to get her.

Which ends with the priests having a welcome wagon in the form of Horst and his friend Cord, in spirit form, who explain that Ilsa is no longer theirs to command.

Then the male part of her family is still badgering about, her half-brother making an ass of himself up until the actual wedding ceremony of the couple, but what else can you expect from idiots like that?

In any event, Ilsa's mother and cousin are on her side, and she marries Horst under the condition that she'll still be studying and advancing her magic (which, he's naturally all for), and on their wedding night she tells him she's pregnant with his child.

The rest of their story can be found in subsequent novels where Ilsa is a font of wisdom and staunch supporter of our characters!

I loved Ilsa and Horst the moment they appeared and love them even more now, learning of their story.

It's quick, possibly insta-love, but I don't much care because I adore them.

And I knew what I was getting myself into with this short prequel anyway!

10/10 recommend.

xx

*image not mine

Gift of Fire - Gift of Stone - Gift of Darkness - Gift of Light - Gift of Water (coming soon)