Hello everyone!
And I've had this book on the backburner for the blog since FOREVER ago.
All I needed to wait for was for it to officially release.
Which it did - just this week! Monday, to be precise.
Ironically, it's also the day I had to go back to work after my vacation, so naturally this means that I was dead on my feet by the time it was time to do some happy dance posts about it, but that's just the way we roll, sadly.
Now, however, I've at least got SOME energy and strength left in me because I think I drank twice my body weight in water today, and got some sugar in me during lunchtime. That should keep me safe and sound for the time being, I think!
So without further ado, let's head right into the thick of the story that we're about to experience, shall we? Good books wait for no man.
And neither does Elemental Becoming.
Author Bobbie Wirkmaa has managed a real feat - initially self-published, she signed with an agent and Elemental Becoming is her first TRADITIONALLY published book, the second in the Echoes of Lumoria series.
In Elemental Awakening, we met Amara, who can wield all four elements and is thus the Spiritborn, the Chosen One, if you will, who will deliver the land from darkness and the Shadeheart, waging war on it from her realm-prison of shadows. She's helped along the way by Warlord Thane, who uses fire magic to devastating degrees, has a secret all of his own, and is responsible for teaching the Spiritborn how to survive in this new world she's wandered into.
After discovering that the Fire Clan just MIGHT have done something a little less honourable than initially imagined at the end of the first book, we pick the story up right as they reach the capital of Volcaris, where banners hang for the Spiritborn's arrival, everyone's trying to get a good look, the dragons are happily gliding overhead, and Thane's sister Rowena is bursting at the seams to meet the woman who managed to turn her brother inside out.
I'm only half-joking, because Thane spends about a third of the book wondering what he's done in a past live to deserve the kind of epic sisterly teasing you only get when you've known one another all your lives.
But Amara takes it all in stride, realizes that Thane quietly reworked his personal quarters so that they feel like home to her, too, and falls more in love with the man every single day. She's also to one who first clues into the fact that his shadows aren't exactly the same as the shadows they fight whenever some of the Shadeheart's creatures attack, because Thane's feel familiar and warm to her.
Thane's still not sold on this idea, considering he knows his mother died from this "curse" on his line, but Amara's like, well, what if your father's reaction to her death isn't disease of the heart, but holding something at bay that only he can hear? What if this is something else entirely?
Guys, no joke, by the time Amara manages to convince Thane to at least visit his dad (which then becomes a staple in their routine, natch), I was practically sobbing into the e-book, because, as someone who has seen Alzhemier's and dementia in general affect her family, I saw so much in those pages.
But with heart-wrenching episodes also come entirely too funny ones, wherein there's a ball thrown in honour of the Spiritborn, and Thane and Amara spend most of it wrapped in each other's arms.
It's glorious.
Right up until it isn't and they get attacked IN THE FORTRESS THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAFEST PLACE EVER.
Amara saves them all - duh - by channeling through her dragon, but she very nearly overdoes it and would probably have expired on the spot of Thane wasn't there to drag her back.
Then Valen kicks her training up a notch to teach her not to wield like she's pulling or taking, but rather to let the elements do their thing and guide them, becoming one with whatever they're trying to do. It's not about controlling them, it's about - quite literally - going with the flow, and meditating.
On top of THAT they're trying to research anything and everything from the evidence they uncovered in that worm-guarded cave, which leads Valen to realize that the Fire Clan may be involved in the biggest cover-ups history has ever seen.
You know what they say: history is first written by winners.
And while the Shadow Clan was fighting to save and preserve Lumoria, the Fire Clan apparently unilaterally decided they couldn't be trusted and waged war on THEM, ostensibly to protect Lumoria from an enemy within.
But Valen's not so sure that's actually the case, because apparently, the generals were trying to get a peace treaty going, and there may be evidence hidden with the Air Clan, evidence that could pretty much unravel centuries of written history and lessons and potentially expose the Fire Clan for something else than what they've always aspired to be.
... that it's going to be Kieran's family, one of the ancient founders of the clan itself, who holds the key to this secreted evidence, is honestly something you should see coming from a mile away.
Thankfully, Thane's a good guy and confident, and Kieran knows when he's got no chance, otherwise if there'd have been echoes of a potential triangle I would riot. Triangles belong in CW dramas, we over here stan a supportive and healthy relationship between two adults who communicate and lean on one another!
Ahem.
By the time the book ends the gang hasn't yet decided how much to tell Kieran, but that they DO need to visit Air Clan, and just when you think you might get somewhere, o ho ho, no son, not yet.
There's an attack happening. All dragon riders MUST fly.
And since Thane's been spending all his time - when he's not otherwise, ahem, busy with her - training Amara, and the two of them can now communicate through the bond and actively become pretty much one single person, one mind, one heart when fighting, you know they're headed over there.
I'm all here for it, especially if we get more descriptions of Xaroth, Thane's dragon, in beast fight mode, because DAAAAAAANG, if ever anyone wants to do Balerion the Black Dread, I think they can take lessons from Xaroth.
By this point, because Amara nuked one of the Shadeheart's captains during the ill-fated ball, they know they need to go for it this time as well, so she and Thane absolutely pair up and literally dominate, up until the point Amara gets hurt and Thane very nearly goes for her instead of continuing the attack.
It's a little bit like in Vampire Academy, where Dimitri explained to Rose that they couldn't ever work on the same shift protecting Lissa - because if push came to shove, he wouldn't be throwing himself in front of Lissa, but in front of Rose, the woman he loves.
Same thing, different story, but Amara refocuses them both, they incinerate the captain, and she manage to almost-die from whatever poison he injected her with. It's only through her bond with her dragon, who kicks up a fuss and reminds her Thane's still there, and Thane, who keeps reaching for her, that she recovers.
And then they rest and heal and prep for their trip to the Air Clan, but we get a glimpse of the Shadeheart where she resides, a little bit of her way of thinking - that she's sacrificed a hell of a lot, carving survival for her people in the wasteland that will probably be some wacky Wonderland once we get there - and the knowledge there's a traitor in the midst of our heroes.
Which, everyone and their mother already knew, because no one else could have actively gotten the wards weak enough to let her forces into Volcaris in the first place, but this is confirmation, right along with another dangerous piece: Thane Caelum is now the Shadeheart's new goal.
Because every man has a price he's willing to pay and to hell with the consequences. A man in love? Dangerously so. He might just do anything to save the Spiritborn instead of the Realm if she doesn't rearrange his bones first for the stupidity and points him in the right direction.
Which is, of course, where we leave off!
I am so so SO lucky to be on the team that gets to read these books before it gets to the rest of the world. Because it is EVERYTHING.
Amara, Thane, Lyra, the Phoenix Ring and Valen are back - and we get some delightful new additions like Thane's sister Rowena, her wife Sera, Thane's father, you get where I'm going with this.
Amara, Thane, Lyra, the Phoenix Ring and Valen are back - and we get some delightful new additions like Thane's sister Rowena, her wife Sera, Thane's father, you get where I'm going with this.
Suffice to say, Amara really comes into her own in this one, becoming the elements rather than forcing them to obey her; she and Thane are absolute goals and I am here for it, because we STAN a supportive, healthy, growing relationship.
Valen is Valen-ing and probably communing with Yoda, Gandalf and Dumbledore on how the hell he's supposed to stop the end of the world while these kids are so hormonal. Jury's still out on what their answers are.
Lyra remains our QUEEN. There's so much bonding it made my heart grow five sizes not just three.
Calryx is a delight, and I really hope we get to hear more Xaroth eventually. I still want to know what the nickname he calls Thane means, I feel like that's going to be important!
The mystery of the plot deepens as it's starting to look like history might have hidden something important.
And some things, that should not have been forgotten, were lost.
It's also a lot of setup. We discover a few things and know where we have to go next, but a couple attacks derail an immediate departure so revelations will probably happen in book 3 up to a point. I hope we dig a little deeper into Thane and his shadows and what, exactly, his dad's been doing this whole time. This will be Important, I think.
Overall, however, the book is a delight from start to finish. It's spicier than the first, but in a good way because it NEEDS to be. The relationship has to move forward after all. The writing is engaging and draws you further into Lumoria. And the stakes just got higher, so I say we buckle up, because book 3?
It's bound to be a doozy.
1000000/10 recommend!
Valen is Valen-ing and probably communing with Yoda, Gandalf and Dumbledore on how the hell he's supposed to stop the end of the world while these kids are so hormonal. Jury's still out on what their answers are.
Lyra remains our QUEEN. There's so much bonding it made my heart grow five sizes not just three.
Calryx is a delight, and I really hope we get to hear more Xaroth eventually. I still want to know what the nickname he calls Thane means, I feel like that's going to be important!
The mystery of the plot deepens as it's starting to look like history might have hidden something important.
And some things, that should not have been forgotten, were lost.
It's also a lot of setup. We discover a few things and know where we have to go next, but a couple attacks derail an immediate departure so revelations will probably happen in book 3 up to a point. I hope we dig a little deeper into Thane and his shadows and what, exactly, his dad's been doing this whole time. This will be Important, I think.
Overall, however, the book is a delight from start to finish. It's spicier than the first, but in a good way because it NEEDS to be. The relationship has to move forward after all. The writing is engaging and draws you further into Lumoria. And the stakes just got higher, so I say we buckle up, because book 3?
It's bound to be a doozy.
1000000/10 recommend!
xx
*image not mine
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