Review: Royal Airs

Royal Airs by Sharon Shinn
Pub Date: November 2013
Goodreads
Josetta is a princess of one of the Five Families. But she is far from the throne, so she is free to spend her days working in the poorest sections of the city. 

Rafe Adova, an outcast since he was born, lives the life of a career gambler in those slums. He has no ambition other than cheating at the card tables—until the night he decides to help a girl named Corene, who looks like she's stumbled into the wrong bar. She, too, is a princess—sister to Josetta, who finds her with Rafe. He fascinates her. 

Josetta has never encountered anyone like him—someone seemingly devoid of elemental blessings. He is drawn to her, though he thinks they are unlikely to ever meet again—but their connection grows strong when she nurses him back to health after he is assaulted by foreign mercenaries. 

And when they learn the reason he's being hunted, they know that the truth about his history could endanger not only their love but also their very lives...

Royal Airs was a royal let-down. I am sad to say it, but it's true. This was by no means terrible! In fact, I still enjoyed it and rated it 3 stars. Put simply, this book was such a disappointment only because I loved Troubled Waters so much. 

Josetta and Rafe simply paled in comparison to Zoe and Darien. They seemed like nice people but they were bland and boring. Rafe was supposed to be exciting (he's a gambler and a pilot!) but he still lacked a personality. And the so-called plot twist about why he was so special seemed trite, unlikely, and unoriginal. It felt like Shin kept trying to yell at us "RAFE IS SO SPESHUL" to make up for his aforementioned lack of personality. 

Josetta was also nice; I liked that she ran a shelter in the slums. She was pretty low-key. She almost seemed too perfect; and perfect is boring. (The most interesting part about her was her past.) And the characters together made a "blah" couple. There was no build-up, no fire, and I was actually rooting for them to NOT end up together. And the plot was boring as well. Phooey. 

However, now that we're done with the bad, let's go over the good things:

1) The Setting: I established in my review of Troubled Waters that I LOVE Welce and all the Elemental Blessings. The world simply comes alive when you read.  

2) Side Characters: I loved seeing Zoe and Darien again. And all the primes and Corene. AND there are cool NEW side characters like Steff.

3) The sub-plots: I liked the sub-plots involving the royal succession, Alis, Corene, and other beloved characters. I liked learning about the other countries beside Welce like Malinqua. Basically I liked all the plots not heavily involving the main couple. 

4) The ending: The end leaves off with Corene, my favorite character, doing something drastic. Corene is so much more spunky and interesting than Josetta. And she's the protagonist of the next book. I have a feeling Jeweled Fire will be amazing. I can't wait!