Review: Great Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 2, 2011
Thin Air was a great read.  I enjoyed every minute of this book.  It kept me company while on a plane ride.  Since the main character was an air spirit it seemed suitable to read the book while in an airplane up in the clouds.What I liked:* The use of elementals.  Usually I read books that have vampires, fairies, angels, or something like that.  In this book the main character is a sylphid.  The book references elementals that represent fire, earth, water, and air.  I hadn't read a book like this before and I was quite taken.* Characters.  I love a good character and this book was full of them.  Aeris is the main character and the story is told by her.  As an air spirit she is the envy of all the females and all the males want to be her mate.  As a human she is beautiful.  She comes across as a little naive but that is just because she has to learn how to be human. She has to learn about eating, wearing clothes, saying the right things, and reading.  As an air spirit she was confident and in control.  As a human she is unsure and helpless.  She does have a moment towards the end where she displays her confidence and control.  Daniel is a human who captures Aeris's heart.  Daniel is in a relationship that isn't all that great.  He is such a nice guy that he seems a push over at times.  He has great qualities that I like.  He is a musician which is a plus.  He is loyal, supportive, and he even has a piggy collection.  What is not to like?  Oh yeah, he has green eyes.  I am a goner there.  Another great character that didn't get much time but made an impact on me none the less is Terra.  Terra is an earth dwelling sylph that helps Aeiris seek the king of the gnomes so she can become human. Terra is a character that for a moment I wished Aeris would love.  I would love to know more about him.  As a human Aeiris assumes the name Alice.  One of Alice's first friends is Dante.  Dante is someone I would want as a friend.  He has style and sass.  His comments on certain events in the story had me snickering.* The overall story line drew me in.  I am usually not a sucker for love at first sight but in this book it worked for me.  I guess because Alice was not human at the time she first laid eyes on Daniel made the difference for me.  She was curious about Daniel and his green eyes sealed the deal (I'm a sucker for green eyes).  I also liked that when Alice was finally human and sought Daniel out she had to work for it.  Daniel was in a relationship already even though it wasn't a good one.  She had to fight for him.  The aspect of elements played out throughout the whole story.  Alice found that she was not the only one who ever left the elemental realm for love.  The author provided themes of love, diversity, tolerance, and friendship all in a wonderful package of a story.What I didn't like:  As Aeris/Alice becomes human there are times in the story where she shows that she doesn't understand being human and does silly things but then in other instances she knows exactly what is going on.  For example, she doesn't know how to open a can of soda since as an air spirit they don't hunger or thirst.  Someone shows her how to open the can.  She doesn't know to open the sugar packet before putting it in her coffee so she puts the whole packet in.  At another time she sees someone using a cell phone and  knows exactly what it is.  It's just a little thing to notice but I figured if she was truly learning about being human why would she know what a cell phone is when she saw someone using one?  This by no means took away from me liking the story.  It was just a little inconsistency that I thought about while reading.My overall feeling about this story is that I loved it.  I liked the use of elementals.  The story was just the right amount of romance, action, and humor.  I recommend Thin Air to everyone who loves to read a great story.I received the book from the author for an honest review