Visions in Smoke Heir to the Firstborn Book #5
New Adult, Futuristic Romance , Fantasy Romance,
Independent
Nov.8, 2022
Mobi
448
Amazon
he Progress has begun.
The route is mandated by the deepest lore of Adavar. Following the steps that Axia took at the beginning of time, the Progress cannot be changed, cannot be broken. Once begun, there is no turning back.
Aria and her Companions must leave the safety of the Palace behind and make the ritual journey that is the next step of securing Aria's place as Heir. Along the way, they hope to find the answers that will lead them to Risha and to their missing loved ones, and to a path that will end Risha's threat and reunite their people.
But the lore says that they to survive the journey first...
Review By Sherry Perkins
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
“This was a horrible idea.”—Visions in Smoke
Elizabeth Schechter has built a world that I enjoy visiting from time-to-time. Everything about it—and its people—is elemental. Joining these disparate places and races is the Heir to the Firstborn. The Heir is a dynastic ruler. However, she rules with her chosen Companions by her side, one from each elemental: waterborn, earthborn, fireborn; she is airborn. This doesn’t mean her rule cannot be challenged and usurped which the first four books detailed (and I reviewed). What it does mean is that the current Heir, Aria, is on a journeyfraught with perilwhile she seeks to recover her rule and reunite her people.
Her Companions by her side, then fatefully taken away, is analogous of those struggles. It’s not all struggle though. There’s polyamory, which is the preferred way of bonding between the Heir and her chosen. Unsurprisingly, the sexual relations are healing and hasten the growth of Schechter’s characters and explore their individual complexities.
Each of the characters, Aria, Del, Owyn, and Aven have returned in this book, “Visions in Smoke, Book 5.” Aria is pregnant. Owyn has better control over his visions but not entirely. This will be important because Aria is required to travel deep into the oldest folklore of her peoples, and to connect with the actual Firstborn from whom she (and all Heirs) springs. The journey is called the Progress. Once started, it must be finished. Whether Aria, her unborn child, or the Companions survive the Progress will answer many questions posed in previous books but ask new questions in their stead.
From the Heir to the Firstborn series, the books include, “Worlds Begin,” “Written in Water,” “Forged in Fire,” “Bones of the Earth,” and “Wings of Air.” Each book focuses on the Heir or her Companion of that element. The stories are written in serial format. Some stories contain much exposition, some are told at a faster pace—which is my preference. “Visions in Smoke,” is more expositional since it is a bridge book to the final in the series, “Children of Dreams.” Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and am anxious to learn what is to become of Aria, her Companions, and their world.
A 3.5-star review about court intrigue, conspiracies, and the enduring love between the hereditary ruler in a torn world.