Blog tour for Wings of Arian by Devri Walls; Review.

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Release Date: Available Now

Finished Date: June 30th, 2012

Publishers: Stonehouse Ink 

Source: For Review

Format: Kindle 

Pages: 462
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US 

Kiora thought she had never heard a lie until she was sixteen. But she was wrong. Her entire existence was based on nothing but. She thought that evil did not exist. Lie. That magic was not 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 is the only one who can stop them she has a choice to make. Refuse, or start the wildest most painful ride of her life. She reluctantly dips her toe 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. However, this journey was never meant to be hers alone. She will be accompanied by a Protector. To her disbelief, and utter irritation they name the hotheaded, stubborn, non -magical, (albeit gorgeous) Prince Emane. They will have to trust each other with their lives, but right now Kiora would settle for a non hostile conversation. And now it comes down to this, If you had never heard a lie, would you know when you heard one? Is knowing good from evil innate? Kiora finds herself having to decide who lives and who dies on those very questions.

The Review: Wings of Arian is an epic fantasy and I loved it! 4.5 stars!

It tells the story of a world that knows no evil and hasn’t for over 1000 years, but things are stirring; evil is stirring. . . and ready to make a play to become the ultimate power.

There is also a prophecy. . . . one in which a solus will appear and defeat evil one final time. . . and evil will be no more.

In the land of Meros lives humans, and these humans are totally unaware of magic or evil – never having felt or experienced it. They live their lives in total peace ruled by a long line of kings who kept the history secret from their people. . . . Until now! Now the search begins for the ‘Solus’ for it is of the utmost importance that the Solus be found and trained before it’s too late.  They do find the Solus – and it’s the most unlikely person ever – and with that discovery comes the Protector (the Solus’ loyal guard) which in turn is a big surprise. Can they come together to save the world from evil? Can they make it through the discoveries they will make and the knowledge that the world isn’t what they once thought it was?

Wow! That’s all I want to say. . .

I love these kind of books – true epic fantasy – and you can tell a lot of work went into bringing this to life, the world the author has created is just wonderful. It’s filled with all kinds of different creatures, places, filled with magic, history, prophecy and right in the middle of it is the unsuspecting humans. The characters are all great, likable and well written. Obviously the emphasis is on Kiora and Emane as the Solus and protector, we see them through everything – the discovery of who they are, their training to become who they need to be, we watch them evolve from their naïve, sheltered lives to the harsh reality of what is upon them and this is when we truly ’get’ their characters. Plus we get a little bit of love- a nice, slow burning, creeping up on you kind of love – just perfect. I loved reading about them, seeing them develop, they go through huge amounts in this and we are left with the promise of more. Other characters of note include Aleric – their trainer/teacher and Eleana – an all knowing woman with unseen powers, mysterious and beautiful who are both great too but then we get a whole host of wonderful creatures like – shape shifters, Pegasus & flying dragons to name but a few and it was all just wow!

The storyline was great, my kind of book and one of my favourite genres. I love prophecies (I’m sure I’ve mentioned before) and reading them playing out, I love fantastical worlds filled with awesomeness, fantasy creatures and things beyond my imagination. I love good vs evil scenarios and of course I love a good dose of romance and this had it all – ticking all my boxes, the pacing was great too. I have been saying this a lot lately but this is another movie worthy book that would be visually stunning, the in-air fight scenes for sure and I would definitely go to see it just as I will definitely be reading the rest of the series to which this book is an excellent start. 

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