** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

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A Dance of Water and Air : Elemental Magicae, Book 1
by Antonia Aquilante
★★★★★
319 Pages
3rd person, dual character POV

Content Warning: kidnapping, assassination,
Themes: fantasy, LGBT, magic, royalty, arranged marriage, political intrigue, POC MC, Trans MC, demisexual and bisexual rep


A Dance of Water and Air is the first incredible book in the Elemental Magicae duology. After the stunning – and long-running – love I developed for Aquilante's Chronicles of Tournai series, I'll admit that I was tentative about starting a new series, afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. I'm happy to say that I was completely wrong. Elemental Magicae is just as good as Tournai, with strong characters, a clever plot of political intrigue, and lots of edge-of-your-seat anticipation.

The story begins with young Prince Edmund of Thalassa being informed that – due to rising threats from neighbouring Tycen – an arranged marriage to the Queen of Aither has been arranged for him. As a child of the Water element, he's to be sent to the Aither kingdom, who belong to the Air element. Seeing it his duty, Edmund goes without argument, only to arrive and immediately face Queen Hollis' disinterest and frosty demeanour. Claiming she's too busy, she asked her brother, Prince Arden to to see that Edmund learns the kingdom.
Prince Arden once thought he and Hollis were close, but their father has recently been assassinated, throwing Hollis into the Queenship, and nothing has been the same since. She only tells him of the arranged marriage after it has been agreed, and he can't understand why she would invite Edmund to the kingdom only to ignore him. Arden certainly can't do that.
Being forced together by Hollis' disinterest, Arden and Edmund begin to grow closer...and closer...and closer.

Arden and Edmund, as characters, as so sweet and equally tempered. It was obvious how well matched they would be from the first moment we saw them. I loved how open and honest they were with each other, how their chemistry built naturally and slowly, first through friendship and common interests only to grow into something more. I utterly adore their ability to communicate, to argue and debate with each other, and to both see the bigger picture. As both were raised as Princes, it's no surprise that they were both trained to lead a situation, but they also both knew when to step back and when to fight for taking control.

The representation in the story is incredible. Arden is trans FTM and it's so natural to everyone to just accept and acknowledge that he's Prince Arden that it's never questioned. Everyone, from rival kingdoms to the guards to the Queen, call him Prince Arden. With this being a historical fantasy setting, there's no surgery or transitioning, other than binding his chest and living as the man he is.

There was also great representation for a bisexual MC – Arden – and for Edmund, who was so unfamiliar with the concept of love and attraction that I debated whether he might be Ace or Demi. In the end, it'd say he's demisexual, but the fact he accepted that and didn't try to force himself to feel differently was great. Yet, at the same time, there was the fear that he would be unable to fulfil the arranged marriage requirements of providing a child because of his feelings, which was also a great way to explore how he felt.

In terms of plot, I don't want to say too much about what happens, but the blurb is spot on. I worried that it might take a while to get to the assassination attempt, and have the story split between the two books of the duology, but that wasn't the case at all.
By 35%, we've had the full scope of Edmund and Arden being hit with the shocking news f the arranged marriage, trying to deal with what that means personally, and then meeting when Edmund arrives in Aither. The attraction is instant, but neither acts on it for quite a while, so in terms of the length of the book, it's definitely a slow burn romance. It isn't until around the 30-35% mark that either admit their feelings to themselves never mind each other. And when they do, it's hardly the time to explore those feelings, because the assassination attempt has been made and they're running for their lives, trying to find a way to prove Edmund's innocence.

I LOVE how the entire assassination attempt came about. It was sudden, completely out of left field, and yet there had been small crumbs dribbled to hint that something was happening behind the scenes. Then, once the attempt is made, everything happens quite quickly with Arden trying to reason with Hollis about Edmund's innocence, then escaping with Edmund when that proves impossible. On the run, their feelings intensify – as does the sense of danger and anticipation.

I absolutely loved the fact that, from 35% there was a constant sense of fear and tension, always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to get caught. Although there were a few lighter moments, that tension never left, which made for an exciting read.

The secondary characters are just as interesting as the primary. I absolutely fell in love with Arden and Edmund from the beginning, but I also loved their “secretaries” Peregrine and Ciaran, and how their relationship developed. I love Ciaran's role as a spy and his bond with his twin sister, Larkin. I hated Hollis – Arden's sister – from the very beginning, and I don't see that changing as we go into Book 2. I'm intrigued by Edmund's siblings, and had a theory about Gareth that proved right.

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Are there any negatives?
Yes, just a few, and not enough to make me lower my rating of the book.

I would have liked to have a hint or some knowledge that Arden was trans earlier in the story. There's a hint at 32% that he could have provided Edmund with a child if he'd been promised in place of his sister, but as the author has written mpreg before, that doesn't instantly point to a trans MC. I was only sure the MC was trans at 49% when Arden mentioned binding his chest. Knowing earlier would have clarified a few conversations that were ambiguous at best, without that knowledge.

Also, we don't find out Seren – Edmund's guard – is a woman until 40%. As there has been no mention of female guards until this point – not in Aither or Thalassus – it was unclear if female guards existed in this world. A little clarity on that would have been nice earlier on in the book.

At Chapter 2 – and in some other scene jumps – there is a confusion in the timeline. Chapter 2 was the most confusing and prominent, as it went from being told of the arranged marriage to Edmund packing to leave Thalassus. It took 6 pages into the chapter to realise that it wasn't the same day or the next day, but possibly days or weeks later. The jump is only noted by Edmund telling his mother that he should have written to tell her of the engagement, and since she only arrived the night before, it's implied that she lives far enough away to make a sent letter take days rather than just a few hours.
There were other places where time passed without mention, and I gave up trying to guess whether it had been hours or days.

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OVERALL

Other than a few small niggles, I loved everything about this book. From the characters to the romance, to the intrigue and the anticipation, to the constant excitement of not knowing what would happen next, it was an edge-of-your-seat rollercoaster from start to finish. As the percent got higher, I worried it would end in a cliffhanger and while it did in a way, the book took time to wrap up most of the issues that had been raised throughout. I can't wait to read Book 2 and conclude the story.

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Favourite Quotes

“marry me. Or should you be asking me, since you're the one who'll be king someday?”
Laughter bubbled up from inside him. “I suppose I should, but I don't care. Yes, I'll marry you, and you'll marry me.”
“Do you think we'll live happily ever after like in the tales?”
“Absolutely. As soon as we avert a war.”

This still sounds wonderful and I swear I am actually going to read it one of these days. Hopefully. Time makes such fools of reviewers, I swear.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.
Sadly this book was not really for me . I think I struggled the most with the pacing and was often tempted to skim over some of the slower sections.

One thing I will say though is that this book has great LGBTQ+ representation and I really appreciated that aspect of it.

I wound up putting this down about halfway through. It was a slog to read and I just didn’t care about any of the characters.

I requested this book from NetGalley around Sept 18th of 2018; but I didn't get a chance to download it after I was accepted by the Publisher to read/review before it was archived by NetGalley. So around July of 2019 I contacted the Publisher and asked if they could still send me a read and review copy.

They did!

And they also sent Elemental Magicae Book 2 A Harmony of Fire and Earth too! But unfortunately it's a digital edition I can only access while staying at the computer for long periods, so reading had been hit or miss (I didn't say this as I was grateful to read it nonetheless) so all my thanks Raevyn McCann at Nine Star Press!

A Dance of Water and Air's rich political and magical world pulled me in time and time again, Prince Edmund of Thalassa comes to the land of Aither with only his advisor Peregrine and Seren at his side to guard him and is tossed into the court of Queen Hollis, to whom he is betrothed. Yet she's content to let him be shown around by her brother, Arden of Aither, who between books and horse riding finds common ground, and more, with Edmund.

So too does Peregrine, for Ciaran, Arden's trusted friend who's sister Larkin and brother in law Merrick make up a part of Hollis' counsel and court eyes for Arden. A mystery hangs uneasily over Aither, for the old king was assassinated and none know it but the councilors and the siblings. Edmund knows only that Tycen, who's royal family's Fire affinity for magic make them dangerous to both Aither and Thalassa can't be shown any reason to doubt a marriage alliance between the two kingdoms future monarchs.

Yet between Adren's visits Edmund finds himself lonely, longing for his affinity with Water, undines, and that attraction between them. When things are suddenly thrown into motion by a assassination attempt on Hollis, Edmund finding himself and his companions from Thalassa in the dungeons of Aither, while Ardan must work to save him from death, by risking exile, and finds betrayals behind family and friends.

This reminded me of Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Master series in that undines were for Water magics and sylphs for Air and will be curious if the rest of Paracelsus' theory is followed with Earth and gnomes, Fire and salamanders?

This book was not for me. I did not particularly like it and ended up DNFing it thus won't be able to provide a detailed review.

I made it about halfway through and while I found the characters interesting everything else just felt very flat and I kept putting it down and picking it up and trying to get further in and just wasnt working. I like the world building but it just wasnt working for me.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. This was a lovely story and it had as nice flow to it and the world was detailed enough that one can picture like being there. The story is sweet even in the fear of war and the two countries at at odds. I really like Edmund and Arden. It just touched me in such good way. I still have some questions but I find that happens to me a lot because my mind gets working.

Edmund is heir to the throne of Thalassa and a wielder of Water magic. Devoted to his kingdom and his duty to it, Edmund can do nothing but acquiesce to an arranged marriage with the queen of a neighboring kingdom. The marriage and the child it is required to produce will seal an alliance between Thalassa and Aither that is vital to Thalassa’s safety, and far more important than Edmund’s personal misgivings.

Arden is the younger brother of Aither’s queen and a wielder of Air magic. Raised in the politics of the court to support his sister’s rule, he understands the alliance is important to Aither, even as he worries about his sister marrying someone she’s never met. When Edmund arrives in Aither to prepare for the wedding, Arden is tasked with helping him settle in at court. As they spend more time together, Edmund and Arden develop a close friendship, then stronger feelings, but with Edmund’s wedding approaching, they must hide their feelings, even from themselves.

When someone tries to assassinate the queen, Edmund is blamed, and Arden rescues him before he can be executed for a crime he didn’t commit. To prevent a war between their kingdoms and protect them from a dangerous enemy, Edmund and Arden will have to discover who wants to pit Aither and Thalassa against each other and mend relations between the two kingdoms as they evade those searching for them—all while finding a way to be together. The book was fine but it wasn't great enough for me to rate it 3 stars.

I’m really torn about how I feel with this book. The beginning is slow, almost too slow and the characters are poorly introduced. It takes a lot of work to get through the first third of the book (yes, the attempted assassination as mentioned in the blurb doesn’t happen until over a third of the way through the book) and the beats felt completely off.

This is being targeted at YA, but the characters are young people in adult situations. The romance element reads more like NA.

It’s a shame because the idea is great and, as poor as some of the elements were, I still want to see what happens next.

Overall, I liked this book, but I don’t think it’s going to be quite the favourite that some NineStar reads have been recently. It tells the story of Edmund, prince of the Water realm, who is betrothed to Hollis, queen of the Air realm – but he can’t help falling for Hollis’s charming brother, Arden. Both princes knew they’d need to marry for political gain, rather than love, but how will they cope with finding their soulmates so close, but so far out of reach?

Both Edmund and Arden have point of view pieces in this book – not individual chapters, necessarily, as the viewpoint sometimes changes in between. It’s nice to get to know each of them through their own thoughts, and they are nicely defined as characters. They had really cute chemistry from the get-go, and I loved that Edmund’s demi-sexuality meant that they spent a lot of time together and really got to know each other before deciding they had feelings for each other. Arden is a fantastic character – fashionable and snarky, but loyal and sweet – and I really loved that the fact that he was trans was an enormously non-important facet of his character. The world seems to have no transphobia and no homophobia – I thought it was great that when Edmund was discussing his possible alliances at the beginning of the book, princes and princesses were all considered as equally viable.

I didn’t feel like we really got to know Hollis very well, but as she remains inscrutable to both her brother and her betrothed, this is perhaps intentional. There are very very few female characters in this book, so it would have been nice to maybe have Hollis’s POV as well – but then this book would lean more into the fantasy side of things than the romance, and I think that’s what was bothering me most. The plot felt a little too underdeveloped, as if it had been woven around the romance – don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly enjoyable, but this world was so interesting I wanted more politics, more intrigue, more characters, more everything!

I did find that the book was a little long, or perhaps just a little slow in places. There were several repetitive passages that really could have been cut, such as when Edmund or Arden were worrying about something – now, I am someone who worries a lot, but I don’t think it’s necessary to note every single time a character thinks about a specific issue, because boy, is that repetitive. This really held the narrative back in places, and led to me being very frustrated with the characterisation. When you end up thinking ‘oh my god, just get ON with it’ at multiple characters, that’s not ideal for the pace of the story. Also – and this is just personal preference – I very much preferred the first half of the book, where Edmund has to navigate the intricacies of a foreign court, to the second half, where the boys are on the run together. I just like political intrigue, okay!

That being said, I thought this was a super cute and enjoyable read. I really liked both main characters and am interested to see whether they get to have a happily ever after in the second book, so I recommend this for those who enjoy good gay and trans rep in their fantasy, and a lovely relationship between cinnamon rolls. A solid four out of five cats.

*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

<a href="">Review</a> originally posted on my blog with added content <a href="https://mikkuchan.wordpress.com/">Mikku-chan / A world full of words</a>

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

This book, oh I was loving this book. The characters and storyline were interesting enough to keep me reading all night. Sadly, there was one moment that really threw me out of the book. While I don't want to go into very major spoilers there is a point where one of the male characters comments that he too can get pregnant and have children. Mpreg is not something I am comfortable reading even if this is just a comment thrown in passing. I wish I had been warned about it before I tried reading the book.

I really enjoyed A Dance of Water and Air. I adored the premise of the story, with the elemental magic, and I also fell in love with both Edmund and Arden. Their relationship was beautifully handled, their romance developing at a believable rate alongside all the other dramas taking place. Aquilante's excellent pacing, good world building, and compelling prose kept me feverishly turning the pages, and I am certainly keen to read on to book two, to see what will happen next for the two princes. Recommended for fans of LGBT fantasy romance.

Ok, so this was my first ever m/m romance and I really enjoyed it. I was a little confused at first with some of the descriptions but it was just me being slow and not really taking it in. But I reall enjoyed this book. I felt that the relationship between the two mc's was believeable and I wanted them to succeed. This book has political intrigue, love, magic and beautiful settings. It was not what I was expecting but it was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it and will look out for more from this author.

At times, I feel like I write so many reviews which ought to contain the words 'I really wanted to like this book, but...' and A Dance of Water and Air is just another one of those reviews. For starters, the title itself feels awkward as the elements are just the wrong way round for it to seem natural. That is the least of this book's problems from my perspective.

The basic premise of the book is that we have two neighbouring kingdoms in a universe where people have elemental magic but tend towards having an affinity for one over the rest. You can tell it's a fantasy book because Affinity gets a capital A every time it appears. Said kingdoms are threatened by another neighbour and a plan is hatched to marry the eldest son of one kingdom (Edmund) to the queen of the other, with Edmund getting shipped off there a few months before the wedding so he can get to know his prospective bride.

Since she pretty much ignores him once he arrives, Edmund inconveniently falls for the queen's brother (Arden) and also eventually gets accused of an attempt on the queen's life. This forces Arden to make a choice and he chooses to rescue his putative boyfriend, who's been thrown into a dungeon. After fleeing back to Edmund's kingdom and the queen reluctantly agreeing the two of them can marry, Edmund and Arden are discussing the threat from their neighbours and then the book just stops - I think it's meant to be a cliffhanger (maybe?) but instead it left me wondering if there was a problem with the file.

I liked the overall world-building but sadly the characters didn't manage to be as interesting, being generally pretty two-dimensional. There's also a surprise 'oh, by the way I have breasts' moment for one of the characters that I really didn't see coming. Likewise, I found the convenience of the pairing off of Arden and Edmund's respective secretaries just a bit too much like high school and double dating to take seriously. But then all of them were very much working on 'oh, he's so handsome that I must fall in love with him' levels so I guess it's not a massive surprise.

After a long meander through a castle we never see again, this tale turned up the complexity with an arranged marriage between a Water-Element Prince to a neighboring Air-Element monarch whose father, the previous ruler, was assassinated. That's not the only difference between the kingdoms. A good part of the appeal of the first half is the Prince's adjustment to a new culture that must become his. The plot centers around the romantic/sexual tension between the lead characters, and their relationship develops quite credibly under the constant political tension of a pre-wedding visit that quickly turns sour.

Some descriptive passages are lovely, and the author's passion for magical systems is evident. The undines are a delightful set of minor spirits, more real than many of the human characters The main characters are all handsome and/or beautiful. They spend a lot of time in their own heads. The other characters are undeveloped; their actions serve to advance the plot without revealing more than token distinguishing traits.

A Dance of Water and Air by Antonia Aquilante is an elemental fantasy romance story following Prince Edmund and Prince Arden as they handle betrayal, threats from another kingdom and an arranged marriage. This LGBTQ+ novel has good diversity with the characters, though I felt that it wasn't handle quite as smoothly as it could have been.
The characters, while developed, seemed to fall flat for me. And the story a bit rushed in sections with shaky foreshadowing. I'd enjoyed the aspects of magic within the story, and wished there was even more of it.
My biggest complaint with the story was how some aspects of the story seemed more thrown on and wasn't ever truly established from moment one.

First of all I gotta say that this is a very diverse book and that is amazing. It centers around a m/m relationship in a fantasy world and also features a trans character. Amazing is how in this world LGBT relationships seem to be quite a norm and aren't questioned, which I thought was very nice and refreshing.

The first half of this book was actually very enjoyable to me and I did like the characters and their relationships a lot, but then, after the first big plot twist, it somehow took a turn for me. I was expecting more of a slow burn, but the main romance turned out to be very insta love after all and I couldn't really connect to it anymore after the first, very out of nowhere kiss. Yes, the attraction was there, but the motivation behind that first kiss still felt weird to me.

I was very into the mystery that was introduced as the first plot twist at first, but then it didn't really seem to be important anymore and the story concentrated on the romance over everything else and somehow at that point I had lost all interest in that. Everything moved very fast and conveniently and then the story was over. The final show down was way too quick and without any real stakes.

Overall, I'd say to check this read out if you're into diverse content like this and aren't bothered by insta love. If you're just here for the romance you won't mind the side plot being so underdeveloped as well, but I think the way it was introduced it should have definitely got more attention.

Very interesting premise and a promising start, but overall this book sadly can't deliver what it set out to in the end.

This is not your typical MM romance but it should satisfy most of those that only like traditional MM books. Edmund has been sent by his father, king of the Water kingdom, to marry the queen of the Air kingdom. The main problem is the queen is not that receptive to this arranged marriage. Instead she gets her brother to entertain Edmund while she pursues her own interests. Arden, the brother, is confused by the queen's lack of interest but is so enchanted by Edmund that he forgets about the political fallout that being with Edmund could cause. When both Edmund and Arden fall for each other, they have to deal with the consequences as well as deal with the conflicts that their countries were already embroiled in.

While this is technically a high fantasy, the fantasy is rather light so I think that people that dislike more complicated fantasies will still be able to enjoy this read. The fantasy itself will certainly remind some readers of Avatar the Last Airbender, which is a great series to be compared to if you ask me.

The romance is a slow burn but it's also very unique. One of the characters is actually trans and if you're like me, then you won't even realize until you're about halfway through the book. It took a lot of hints before I realized. The trans identity of the character is treated as if it is almost irrelevant, which I feel like was on purpose. The author probably wanted to create a world where LGBTQ+ characters were treated as if they were just normal characters. The only thing I'm unsure of is how the love scenes were handled. I don't know if the portrayal is authentic to trans individuals. But it is an overall amazing book.