Maxon

I loved it! Once again Christina Bauer has written an amazing and creative young adult novel. Maxon is the fourth book in the Angelbound series. It's about the original characters amazingly fabulous son Maxon, which the readers had already gotten so connected to in the last book when he was a super adorable three year old. On top of Maxon, it follows the story of the newest queen of the water elements. She has a hefty responsibility heaped on her to protect a special orb that she can infuse with her power to share it with others, and an entire kingdom. The king of the Air elements want the orb and her powers, and will do anything to get it. When Maxon and Lianna meet sparks fly and danger strikes.
I loved the romance in this novel. It was so well developed that my heart was overjoyed by it. Maxon and Lianna were amazing characters, they were both spunky and sassy. I love them. Aside from the relationships, the action scenes and powers/ablities were truly epic. I have a slight love with the dragons tails that Maxon and his mother have. They are some of the coolest things I have ever read about. Beyond that I love were Christina is taking the Angelbound universe, and I mean universe. Christina has thoroughly set the stage for any stories she wants to do from this point out. Now all of the cultures are set and the social constructs set. I love the introduction of elemental powers into the Angelbound series in this novel. I love it!
If I were to nitpick I do have one or two complaints. The first one would be the lack of development into the problem that Maxon was a giant playboy. I felt that should have been confronted and overcome. The last complaint would be with Lianna's ex. I feel like his role in the novel was not developed to its full potential. Past that I still really loved Maxon and recommend the entire Angelbound series. I give Maxon FOUR AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE!

Loved Maxon...on so many levels!! Maxon has grown into fun combination of his parents. Mom's snark and Dad's brain. I loved Lianna and her sense of duty and feistiness. I also really enjoyed their romance. They connected from the beginning and although they might have fought the connection it was only for a second or two. Loved the conflict and the world building it added to the world Maxon inhabits. I can't wait for Portia's book! I can't get enough of this series.

I kindly received this ARC from Ink Monster publishing Via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I really liked this book!

Rating 3.5 stars

Honestly, I've had such rotten luck lately in books that this came across as a breath of fresh air! More like a definite sigh of relief, maybe a rainbow after a storm?

But I digress.

This book in the description said that it can be read as a standalone, and indeed it can. Because that's what I did. However, after a brief moment of confusion about the terms and about the characters that were written like i was supposed to know them, i caught on pretty quickly after that.

I won't lie, a lot of parts in this book was pretty cheesy, especially the romance...but i liked it!

Okay, let's talk about the plot.

Maxon is the high Prince, a fierce warrior and just about the best looking guy.
He should feel happy right? Well, he isn't. His nightmares consume his waking and sleeping thoughts. Nightmares about the person who abducted him when he was 3 years old. Nightmares about Armageddon, the one who ruled Hell. Maxon tries his best to forget, to move on from the memories but he can't.
The only thing that helps is his womanizing days and the adrenaline he gets when he hunts demons. But even that has lost its luster.

Lianna has been running all her life. A class A demon is on her tail and she will do anything to try to get him off her tail. She doesn't want to lead. She's a water elemental. A warrior. When the Monarkki of water's health declines, the powers of the water elemental needs to find a new queen. Lianna is chosen. but her life is in peril from the Monarkki of Air who vies for her destruction and inhale her energy. Her own guard is against her, her people in peril. What will she do?

Two unlikely beings cross paths, and their lives will forever change.

Could Maxon have found the one who will make him Angelbound?

Sounds pretty cool huh? That's because it is!

After reading this book as a standalone, I know for a fact that i will backtrack and go get the first 3 books because i want to know Maxon's mother's story! I'm super dooper intrigued!

This author also did the impossible, she made a guy with a tail be swoon-worthy! I mean come on! that's some skill right there!

Overall, my favourite thing, hands down has to be the world building. Yea, it didn't have any really big surprises.
Yea, i saw the plot twists before it happened. Yea, the romance was cheesy.
Did i mind?
Not one bit!

Okay so I saw that some people said this is a Young Adult book, It most definitely isn't it is definitely NA. Because there are sexual situations (though not descriptive...thank goodness) but there is a lot of bad language. seriously.

My one criticism is that at epic moments, the author didn't make it be epic! Like in my head during certain speeches, i was like oh this will be epic, i read it...it wasn't.

rather than something like:

"My people, we will rise against the scattered ashes and revive our souls with hope. We will join our brothers and sisters in unity and vanquish our foe! We are elemental and we a stronger when bonded."

Or at least something like that (yes i made that line up, not bad huh?)

I got something like:

"Yea, okay guys, i know we went through a lot of crap but let's try not to do that again, yea?"

You see? not epic!

but ah, well.

other than that, it's action packed and i was exhausted for the characters. the world building was cool, just the story and plot was cool.

i liked it! :)