riteshkala

Water is the first book in the Akasha series by Terra Harmony and it is a huge… massive… humungous first book! Well, you now know the direction in which this review is headed.

The action in the book starts right on the first page, with the protagonist, Kaitlyn caught in an avalanche. She is rescued by the Seven, but finds herself captive in an unknown location. She is soon given the reason of her abduction and that is where the book turns from a mystery to an eco-fantasy. Kaitin is a Gaia or ‘Mother of the Earth’ with powers over all four basic elements of nature, water, air, earth and fire. She soon realises that escape is impossible and reluctantly starts her training to become ‘the Gaia’. A romance is thrown in the mix, as Kaitlyn starts falling for her trainer and a whirlwind relationship begins.

The Seven is an organisation which is trying to save the environment and takes it on itself, the responsibility to train the next Gaia. There is a mystery surrounding them and I can’t make up my mind yet, whether they will be the good guys or will turn rogue in the next books. They want to save the earth, but their actions seem to put them in the extremist category, what with the abducting and killing people. To what lengths will they go to achieve their mission? I don’t know and I’ll reserve my judgement till I know more.

Coming back from this digression, Kaitlyn is soon sent on her first mission, along with her team. The mission is you every day ‘save the environment’ kind of mission. Everything seems to be going along smoothly, when BAM! The biggest twist in the plot. I did not see this coming and was beginning to imagine the book being only about environmental do-goodness. I can’t give out a spoiler here, but I am really tempted! All I can say is, Kaitlyn has to find an inner strength to get through what comes for her next. This is the part which had my stomach in turns. But I still could not stop reading. I wanted to know what happened and how Kaitlyn would get out of the mess of epic proportions she found herself in.

Initially, I found Kaitlyn to be someone who took too many risks, without really thinking about the consequences. Right from the start she seemed to have an inner strength, but it seemed misdirected. As the book progressed, I began to see her as someone who fought for herself and her beliefs. She has got some of the best dialogues in the books and her comebacks are awesome at times, and fall flat at others. This made her really adorable. All the other characters are really well developed as well. I have to say that I wanted to know more about Micah’s history, his back story. I hope there is much more of that in the books to come. Shawn’s character was terrifically developed. We can feel a pure hatred for him right till the end, when we get a little back-story, and begin to have doubts. However, I cannot see him as anything but the bad guy in the series.

There are a couple of very steamy scenes in the book. There are also a couple of scenes which involve non-consensual sex which a very subtle way of saying that there are scenes where the protagonist is r*ped. But, I have to commend to author for describing these scenes in a way which did not turn this book into a pseudo-erotic romp. The description is just enough to get the impact of the act though. There were parts which had me cringing and afraid to continue reading. I think this shows that the author succeeded in getting the ‘image’ she was trying to portray, across. Consider this my disclaimer! If you can handle it, stay away!!

This may be an eco-fantasy, but the author, for most part, refrains from preaching to us on how to help the environment. The awareness about the environment she tries to create comes through as being intricately woven into the story. Just the way I like it!

I was somehow disappointed by the ending and it all happened too abruptly for me. I wanted some more action! And … the author has chosen the ‘worst’ moment to end the book. It is a cliff-hanger which will leave readers waiting in anticipation for the next book. All I can say is, get the next book out faster!