Review: Great eco-fantasy series continues!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2012
If you've not read the first book, you may be seeing some spoilers. You been forewarned!Air is the second book in the Akasha series and is a more than worthy follow-up to Water. The book starts off with Kaitlin's pregnancy having progressed along. Also, Micah and the others are in hot pursuit of Shawn to shut down his rogue organisation. With no one other than Susan knowing about the pregnancy, Kaitlyn gets sent on the missions as well. These missions are action packed and extremely interesting, but they are just the prologue to what is coming next. As the book progresses and both Shawn and Micah come to know of Kaitlyn's pregnancy, they are left dumbfounded not knowing whose baby it is. I just loved the scene where this happens. I could literally see the looks on their faces. This is the talent of Terra. She can bring the characters to life, living and breathing right before us.Kaitlyn now gets left behind with Alex to do research on Shawn's whereabouts and support the team remotely while the others keep looking for Shawn. With idle time, we know what Kaitlyn will be upto, getting in trouble of course! I'll try to not give out spoilers, but during her research, she stumbles on a way to learn about her powers and to control all the other elements. There is an extremely unique way in which this is accomplished. No way could I have imagined this! But this is also the place where the story slows down quite a bit. Both Kaitlyn and Alex spend a lot of time (and a lot of words) researching, learning and preparing for the showdown with Shawn.But, Air is not perfect, like Water was. I generally expect the first book in a fantasy series to be big on character development. But Terra has taken an unusual route, and it is the second book where we see how Kaitlyn develops her powers as a Gaia. This is what made the first book big on action, but I knew the character development was coming. But still, the sudden drop in pace due to this left me a bit underwhelmed. This is the small gripe I have with the book. The pacing of the book was a bit too slow for me. I had to get through quite a bit if the book to really get to the action. I think Water created some unrealistic expectations with its edge-of-the-seat action throughout. Now, I can totally understand having to develop a character in fantasy books, showing us just how the person became who she is. But, certain parts felt dragged out, and could have been pruned a bit.This is definitely not something which will deter me from loving this instalment of the series. Why? Because the action in the final part left me breathless. It was a culmination of EPIC proportions. That part of the book more than redeemed the slowness of the build-up. I can't just give the ending away, but I am really tempted to. Oh well, maybe just one line. We know that battle lines had been drawn. This book ends with one instalment of that on-going battle between Shawn and the Seven.So, here's the final word. This is one of the best new fantasy series I have read. You would be missing out on an awesome experience if my small rant stops you from reading the series. I am sure that all this preparation will tie into the series and will seem necessary when the next book comes out. So go ahead, dive into both the books in the series, you will definitely not regret it.