Air Logic

I've been waiting & longing for this book since the previous book (Water Logic) came out in 2007. I'm happy to say it's been worth the wait! Reading this made me want to reread the whole series.

My favorite aspect of this book series is how close and real the characters and their relationships feel. This book is no different; the bonds between characters, their personalities and inner workings are all beautifully written. The narration can feel a bit internal, somewhat less focused on action than many readers might prefer, although there -is- action in this book. Marks' prose is gorgeous, and I felt pulled in right away.

This series were deeply frustrating to me. After a year of picking the first book up and putting it down over and over again, I'm giving up. This is entirely a me issue, so I won't be giving the book a star rating.

I think I could have liked it except for two things:
1) I've read enough stories about fantasy wars to last two lifetimes. The worldbuilding and magic system might have saved it, if I could have gotten far enough to where any of that was explained.
2) The storytelling felt sort of distant. Thematically appropriate, I guess.

bit of a soft conclusion to the series, although the exploration of air magic was certainly fascinating, and the evolution of Norina's character over time is one of the strongest throughlines of the whole series. taken as a set, i loved this series, with the caveat that it's not the kind of thing you can just dip into, it's important to read it in order as otherwise you'd miss too much. the nature of the four elements was very clearly thought through and set out; in fact, once you've read the whole series, you can check your own elemental makeup with this nifty little quiz on the author's home page: http://lauriejmarks.com/shaftal/quiz.html.

I'll say this right off the bat, do not read this book until you have read the first three. I was half way through the book before I gathered enough background information to really understand the storyline and begin to enjoy the characters. That being said, it's an excellent read of mind magic, psychology, war and survival. The characters were diverse, interdependant, yet with strengths and weaknesses of their own, and well developed. The author built characters that you can happily like, hate, get angry with and cheer on. I'm sure you'll enjoy the reqad, if you start at the beginning.

I didnt realize it was part of a series when I requested it but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get to it because I was in the middle of moving to another state but once I did I couldn't put it down.

Madness and magic are tightly coupled in the world of Shaftal. Quite enjoyed this.

I DNF'd this right away. I might eventually come back to it, but the story was confusing and didn't make any sense. I wasn't drawn in nor compelled to continue on.