Tag: indie fantasy kindle unlimited

The Seven Most Interesting Questions about Air Awakens, Elise Kova, Vhalla Yarl, Aldrik Solaris, and the Windwalker

Welcome! If you’re curious about this website, this is part of the Most Interesting Questions series on my blog. I answer the most interesting questions I can find or think of about bestselling franchises, and today I’m going to be covering Elise Kova’s Air Awakens series.

You can buy the full box set from Amazon by clicking here.

Air Awakens is an amazing series of magic books. The protagonist of the series is Vhalla Yarl, a Windwalker which means she can control one of the four elements: air. Air Awakens is also a romantic fantasy series, and Vhalla’s love interest is Aldrik. His full name is Aldrik Ci’Dan Solaris. He’s a Firebearer, which means he can control the element of fire. There are also Waterrunners and Groundbreakers.

Air Awakens is an indie fantasy series. For an Air Awakens age rating, I’d say it’s probably a great book for young adults, like teens. Younger kids might be able to enjoy aspects of it, but the last book in particular gets a bit gruesome at times. I also think that some of the things that the series deals with are best appreciated by those who are at least teenagers. I do think that adults could also enjoy the story. Anyone who loves magic books, fantasy books, young adult fantasy, indie fantasy, they’ll love it! The book is not very original with its magic system, but it is very well written.

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. I write fantasy also, and if you liked Elise Kova’s books and are looking for another good read, I’d encourage you to check out Sand and Smoke, the first book in my Dragon Destiny trilogy, by clicking here.

Now, I’ll dive into the most interesting questions.

Q #1) Who are the Air Awakens characters?

The main character is Vhalla Yarl. She’s from the east, where Windwalkers originate from, though at the start of the first book there hasn’t been a Windwalker in over 200 years. Historically they’ve been hunted and exterminated. Vhalla’s going to change that.

By her side is Aldrik Ci’Dan Solaris. He’s the crown prince of the empire, and his father is the king, while his mother was the youngest princess of the west, before the west got conquered by the south and became part of the empire where this all takes place. His mother is also deceased, having passed away right after Aldrik was born.

Air Awakens‘ Laurel is Aldrik’s childhood friend. Like Aldrik, she’s a firebearer. Fritz is a waterrunner, who is close with Laurel and becomes a good friend to Vhalla too.

Air Awakens’ Baldair is the younger brother to Aldrik. They are half brothers, sharing the same father but they have different mothers. Baldair’s mother is not mentioned much in the books, though she is seen briefly in book 4. Baldair does not use magic.

Air Awakens’ Jax is part of Baldair’s golden guard. The golden guard is kinda like an elite group of soldiers whose charge it is to defend Baldair. He also gives them other missions frequently. The golden guard is filled with some really cool folks, in addition to Jax the guard includes Daniel, Erion, Craig, and others. Jax is a firebearer, most of the rest don’t use magic.

There are a lot of other great characters in Air Awakens, too many for me to name!

Q #2) Do Vhalla and Aldrik end up together?

Massive spoilers here. Stop reading if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Yes, they do end up together. It’s not easy, though. There are sacrifices they have to make…I won’t spoil those sacrifices here.

Q #3) Air Awakens series review, or how good are the books?

Okay, so everyone has their own opinion. But honestly, I feel that the first book is the best of the lot. It’s basically a romance, and there’s a love triangle, with magic thrown in. As the series continues on, it gets more into the action bit of things.

Book two is great as well. There is a huge, huge cliffhanger at the end of book two. So be warned. You’ll probably need to pick up book three immediately afterward. And book three is pretty darn good. Vhalla and Aldrik take their relationship to another level in this book. It’s really satisfying, and though there’s five books to the series in total, it does feel like their relationship reaches a climax in this book.

I thought book four was a bit of a mixed bag. The first half of the book is slow. The action isn’t as prevalent as it was in books two and three, and the romance disappears for a while also. Vhalla does learn a lot about her magic, and the way that magic works in her world. This is necessary for the conclusion of the series, so it’s something to be prepared for and you just have to get through it if you want to finish the series.

The latter half of book four picks up in an incredible way. There are a lot of surprising things that happen, I won’t spoil them.

Book five has its moments, but honestly I feel like it’s the weakest of the whole series. It’s definitely a different kind of book, because in the first four books Vhalla and Aldrik are constantly dealing with the struggle to be together, and there’s a tension: will they or won’t they end up together? First they’re exploring their relationship, then they’re fighting to be together. In book five, there’s none of that tension anymore. They’re together. There are other issues that crop up, big issues. But they’re not things that threaten Aldrik and Vhalla’s relationship, so this was a different kind of read for me.

Q #4) Can you list the Air Awakens series in order?

The first book in the series is obviously Air Awakens.

After that, it goes:

2. Fire Falling

3. Earth’s End

4. Water’s Wrath

5. Crystal Crowned

You can get those five books in a box set by clicking here.

That wraps up the Air Awakens series, which follows Vhalla and Aldrik. However, there are also more series that Elise Kova has written, set in the same world. Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles is about Vhalla and Aldrik’s daughter, Vi Solaris. It goes:

  1. Vortex Visions
  2. Chosen Champion
  3. Failed Future
  4. Sovereign Sacrifice
  5. Crystal Caged

You can get the sequel series in a box set by clicking here.

Finally, there’s the Golden Guard Trilogy. This series is perfect to read after the first five books, the original Air Awakens series, for fans of Baldair’s golden guard. It goes:

  1. The Crown’s Dog
  2. The Prince’s Rogue
  3. The Farmer’s War

You can get the Golden Guard Trilogy by clicking here.

As of writing this, this is all Elise Kova has released in the Air Awakens universe. However, there is also a new series slated for release. The first book is called A Trial of Sorcerors and it’s due to come out March 4, 2021.

So as you can see, there are a lot of books in the Air Awakens universe. If you happen to have read them all already, or if you’re just looking for something new and different to entertain you, I invite you again to discover my Dragon Destiny trilogy. Book one is Sand and Smoke, click here.

A November 2020 Update on Sand and Smoke, the Dragon Destiny trilogy, and Dragons of Marak

Hey there! It’s been a while since I’ve provided an update about the books I’m working on. Right now, I’m working on two series–the Dragon Destiny trilogy, of which Sand and Smoke was the first book in the series, and Dragons of Marak, which is going to run a bit more than three books, I’m not sure how long it will run though. They’re both high epic fantasy, and Sand and Smoke is available on Kindle Unlimited for free and for purchase on many sites. It’s an indie novel.

By the way, in case you’re not familiar with who I am, hi. I’m Carl Cota-Robles, an indie author and self-published author on Amazon. I mostly write indie fantasy, but I also write indie children’s books with a sprinkle of science fiction. Feel free to check out my books here: https://carlcotarobles.com/books

Sand and Smoke is an indie high epic fantasy set in a world where dragon riders and cowboys co-exist. The sequel picks up where it left off, following characters like Al Hardin, Maya Samoralt, Joel Forquid, and Li Lok, and it also includes some new characters. The sequel to Sand and Smoke is going to be called Battle and Burning, and it’ll be released September 14, 2021. As of now, I’ve finished the first draft and am going to start revisions either next week or the week after. You can pre-order it. For a limited time before its release, I’ve made it available to pre-order for just $0.99. It will go up to a higher price eventually, though. Here’s the pre-order link: mybook.to/battleandburning

So, regarding my other series Dragons of Marak, it’s in a bit of disarray right now. The last month or so, I had planned to work on drafting book 3 of the series, but I wasn’t able to because I had a number of health issues come up. If you haven’t had to deal with anything like that in your life, you’re definitely lucky in at least one way. Last time I had to deal with something like this was in 2016, but it was different than what I’m going through right now. Back then, it was just a lot of pain, and I think what I needed most was rest. Right now, it’s involving a lot of doctors appointments that seem to be never ending.

So…anyway…those health issues are what has affected my plans for Dragons of Marak. Books 1 and 2 have both been drafted, and book 1 has gone through one thorough round of revisions and is now in the hand of some beta readers (sent out a few weeks before my health issues popped up). I’m hoping to squeeze in the writing of book 3 in between drafts of Battle and Burning, but I’m not sure if it’ll happen. Either way, Battle and Burning should be released by September 14, 2021. Dragons of Marak may take a bit longer than I expected.

There hasn’t been any kind of release date announced for Dragons of Marak, and I don’t have any plans to announce any release dates anytime soon. The series will go nicely with Sand and Smoke, though, because they are both young adult fantasy with dragons. While Dragons of Marak doesn’t have any dragon riders like Sand and Smoke does, it does have dragons and people who partner with dragons. The twist is that the dragons actually have special powers that allow them to equip to people as various weapons like a sword, an axe, a knife, a bow, etc. And while Sand and Smoke is told from multiple points of view, Dragons of Marak has just one point of view, and I plan to stick to that point of view throughout the series (well, right now that’s the plan anyway). There’s also a bit more romance in Dragons of Marak.

Over the next month or so, I’m probably going to be commissioning some art for the Battle and Burning and the Dragon Destiny trilogy. For a while now I’ve been dying to commission some art that’s an accurate portrayal of what a Sun dragon looks like. I go into quite a bit of detail about it in Sand and Smoke, so it’ll be really cool to get an accurate drawing made! If you want to see that art and see what a Sun dragon looks like for real, I’ll share it with you if you subscribe to my mailing list. You can subscribe at this link: www.rebrand.ly/storiesbycarl or at the link at the top of the page.

A bonus to being subscribed to my mailing list is that I let you know whenever I have marked down my books. I do this sometimes as a promotion to try and get a higher rank on Amazon and/or garner some reviews.

This is pretty much it as far as news goes at this point in time. The main new things to go down have been that the sequel to Sand and Smoke finally has a title now–it will be called Battle and Burning–and it has a release date: September 14, 2021. Like Sand and Smoke, it’ll be available on Kindle Unlimited for free and on the same retailers. I’m really excited about the artwork too! Can’t wait to get that process started and to see what a Sun dragon looks like.

As a writer, I constantly have ideas popping up in my head for new books, so there’s definitely been a part of me that is itching to start some other ideas. Most of these are dragon related…ha. Though, Sand and Smoke and Dragons of Marak may be it for series that involve dragons partnering with humans. The other couple of ideas I have floating around in my head involve dragons that are also part human. So it’s a different take on the whole thing, less stereotypical, and I also have some ideas about how to combine dragon-human hybrids with other mainstream genres.

Anyway, I can’t wait to dive into revisions for Battle and Burning! The draft I wrote needs some revising pretty badly, so I’ll probably be at it for a couple months before I send it to beta readers. In my opinion, revising is one of the hardest parts of writing, but I’ve learned some tricks to do it well.

PS: Here’s that link to subscribe to my mailing list again: http://www.rebrand.ly/storiesbycarl