Review: Great beginning to a possibly brilliant series of books. Amazing! Left me wanting even more!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 21, 2014
INITIAL THOUGHTSI am approaching this novella with mixed feelings. On one hand as I have read other books by Elana Johnson I admit to having high expectations, on the other hand I don't usually enjoy this type of fantasy. So I'm looking forward to finding out what this one is like.MY REVIEWI purchased this novella from Amazon.co.uk for the reasonable price of 77p. The cover is quite striking with the lightening strike in a moody looking sky. Would I pick this one up from a book store shelf? Yes I find the cover would attract my eyes to it and of course having read another title by Elana Johnson, would also attract me to this title to learn more.The main characters are two brothers, Adam Gillman and his older brother Felix. It is clear that Adam looks up to his brother, his ambition being to work alongside of him and be as strong as him.  Adam has been training long hours and working hard to prove himself as a good sentry guard. Adam's first assignment finally comes through and he has his wish of working with his brother Felix to protect the Supreme Elementalist Alex.Adams first assignment is to find and kill a small group of apparently rogue Elental's. Adam find's himself questioning the order especially as he has met one of the Elementalist's he has been told to kill.  Adam feels a kinship with the Elemental's as he too can control the Air, though he has had no training and has not even told his brother about the things he can do.Then Alex doe's something really strange by burying the Elemental Academy under a whole lot of rubble killing in excess of a thousand innocent elemental's within it. Adam realises he cannot serve as sentry and follow orders from someone who could do such a thing with no prior provocation. Adams quietly follow's his brother Felix, who ends up in Alex's private rooms. There Adam makes a shocking discovery that Alex is in fact a woman.The story then follows Adam and his decision to flee his former job. Now Adam decides to go to an Academy to develop his Air element, but can he learn in an academy safely or is it Alex's plan to destroy them all? Why is Alex hiding the fact she is a woman. Why did his own brother Felix not tell him? Can Adam outrun Felix and his men and get to the safety of an academy and live in peace.I really enjoyed this book. To begin with I thought I wouldn't get into with it being about guards and academies for elementalist's etc but once I got into the novella which is from Adam's point of view I felt myself drawn in and hooked, wanting to know what would happen next. At the beginning of the novella, which I read on my kindle is an area map of the United Territories which include the capital city of Tarpulin. I think the map will be more relevant and clearer to see if you have a paperback, as in my opinion maps tend to not be very clear on kindle devices. This small detail did not impair my enjoyment of this novella. There's so much more detail and facts I could go into about this book, it's amazing how Elena has crammed so much into a novella! I enjoyed the fast pace and different plots running alongside each other. The little clues that tell you Alex was a woman before Adam actually discover's this. You feel the hurt Adam feels that his brother Felix has kept this huge fact a secret from him. In fact Felix is not only hiding the fact Alex is a woman, he is in a relationship with her.So did I enjoy the novella? I was skeptical at the beginning, but ended up totally immersed and loving every word.  Would I recommend the novella? I would, in fact I've recommended it to my daughter already. I think it will appeal to those readers that love titles such as Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas.  Would I want to read more of this series?  I definitely will be doing so! I've purchased the Girls On Fire Box Set and Bk#1, Elemental Hunger features in it.  Would I read other books by Elana Johnson? I have already read Elana Johnson's Elevate and really loved that too. I fully intend to read more of Elana Johnson's books. I just need more reading hours in the day!