Wings of Arian by Devri WallsRating: 4.8 stars
Synopsis: Kiora thought she'd never heard a lie until she was sixteen. But she was wrong. Her entire existence was based on nothing but. She thought that magic didn't exist. Lie. That magic wasn't real. Lie. And that the land of Meros was all there was. One more lie. With Aleric telling her that evil is knocking on the door and that she's the only one who can stop it, she has a choice to make. Refuse, or start the wildest most painful ride of her life. She reluctantly dips her toes into her new existence of magic and threads, dragons and shapeshifters, and the person who wants to take control of it all: the evil Dralazar. This journey isn't just for Kiora to undertake alone, she will have a Protector to help her. To her disbelief and utter irritation, they name the hot headed, stubborn, non-magical (albeit gorgeous) Prince Emane. They will have to trust each other with their lives but right now Kiroa would settle for a non hostile conversation. And now it comes down to this: if you had never heard a lie, how would you know when you heard one? Is knowing good from evil innate? Kiora soon finds herself having to decide who lives and dies based on these questions.
Review: I picked this book up on Kindle on a whim. I was looking for something that I hadn't read before and Wings of Arian seemed to be it - and I wasn't disappointed. Wings of Arian is the first book in The Solus series and is described on Amazon as being a paranormal romance novel. And I loved it. I feel like I don't read enough fantasy books, which is how I would describe this book, rather than paranormal, especially since when I was little I loved them. The thing is, fantasy books can be hit and miss with me. The world building is key to fantasy books and I've found in some books that it can be a little lacklustre in the whole world-building department. Devri Walls is a pro at world-building. The land of Meros is so well thought out and you can tell that she's really put a lot of thought into the dynamics of the world and why things happen the way they do. Meros is a land with supposedly no magic. At least, this is what the villagers have been told but little do they know that they are surrounded by magical creatures and this is how we start the book; with Kiora finding out about magic.
Kiora is a really good heroine for me. She's feisty and stubborn but she still has weaknesses and, because of her sheltered upbringing, a sense of innocence and naivety which I found quite endearing. This doesn't normally happen - many heroines who have these characteristics are more innocent and naïve than feisty and stubborn but Kiora has a good mix of both. What made Kiora really interesting to me was the whole 'feeling emotions on a deep level' thing. I wasn't sure how I initially felt about this and there were times when it was a little irritating but on the whole I thought it worked well. Kiora can feel things on such a deep level - she can be insanely happy or insanely sad, there's no real middle ground for her. So when she's forced to kill people, you can imagine how that makes her feel. I thought that this quality made her quite interesting because it made her stand out from other heroines. For example, Katniss in The Hunger Games, isn't a killer, but she doesn't kind of think about her actions during the games because she wants to get home to Prim. Kiora on the other hand, agonises over the people she's killed, despite them trying to kill her. The guilt she feels is immeasurable and in this way, Kiora stands out from Katniss in that while both are forced to kill, Kiora isn't able to compartmentalise the guilt she feels like Katniss can. Despite this guilt, Kiora does continue and overcomes this weakness; she knows what has to be done and, while she's not exactly thrilled that she has to be the one to eradicate evil, she still does it and she tries her hardest to do it right. But she's not perfect and she doesn't try to be. That's where Emane comes in.
Prince Emane. Ah. You gotta love a Prince. He's not quite Prince Ash but hey. Emane's role as Protector is literally that - to protect Kiroa as she tries to defeat evil. The only problem is, he doesn't have any magic. So while Kiora kicks butt with her magic, he has an assortment of non-magical weapons, leaving him feeling a little bit useless. Until the whole - we can make you magical deal breaker comes into play. Emane for me was brilliant. The relationship between him and Kiora was really nice - I love my hero's to be sarcastic - and Kiora gives as good as she gets. He makes up for her weakness; knowing that people will die during this and being okay with that in the most part. He's never really cared about anyone other than himself and it was quite funny to see him realising that he cares for Kiora outside of his protection detail. One of my favourite moments in the book was the ceremony that was performed for Emane in order to give him magic so he can better help Kiora. I felt like you really got to see the relationship between Emane and Kiora in a better light and I liked how, for the first time, Kiora was taking care of Emane, rather than the other way around.
The plot of this book is incredibly intricate. There are quite a few battles and fights that occur but it's not difficult to follow which is what I initially expected. In fact, it's a really comfortable read. Devri Walls has spent so much time on both the world building and the plot that you can really imagine this happening. The way that magic is worked into the very essence of the world was really well done. I loved the idea of threads - being able to sense someone nearby and whether they're good or evil based on their thread was quite a good idea. Every plot point worked together and there wasn't really anything that was unnecessary like you sometimes get in fantasy books. The only thing that confused me was the appointment of Emane as Protector. We're told that a Protector will be assigned and then, the next minute, Emane has popped out of nowhere and is suddenly our Protector. I felt like there should have been an extra chapter or scene where Emane is told about his role, rather than him just popping up out of nowhere. That's why this book didn't get a full five stars for me. Apart from that though, I thought the whole plot was really well thought out and the story and characters as a whole was really enjoyable.
If you're looking for something a little different, or if you enjoy fantasy/paranormal books, I'd definitely recommend picking this book up. It's a great read and for me anyway, something a bit different.
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