Elementals: Ice Wolves

By: Amie Kaufman

Narrated by: Johnathan McClain

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Amie Kaufman comes an electrifying new series about a brother and sister who must harness their powers and find their place in a sharply divided world.

Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when 12-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Family or not, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

To rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shape-shifting force of all.

“If you’ve ever wanted to go on an adventure, read this book.” (Marie Lu, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Young Elites)

Anders’s and Rayna’s adventures continue in Elementals: Scorch Dragons, and the dramatic conclusion to the trilogy, Elementals: Battle Born!

©2018 HarperCollins Publishers (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

entertaining story

This book was very enjoyable, I really liked Anders, the main character. All the characters were great actually. great beginning to a series and I can't wait to see what's next.
I have to say though, wasn't a big fan of the narrator, the voice didn't seem to fit with the book at all since it's from a 12 year old boy's point of view. I wish they got someone who sounded younger or at least not so severe.

The Best

Best book ever and really good person to read to read it, he made the book express strong emotions.

A well thought out tale

This story was an interesting one for me. The beginning seemed difficult to get into, but as the story progressed, it really clicked for me. The premise of warring factions of shapeshifters is nothing new, but with the younger focus and interesting world, I felt it worked well. Overall, if you are interested in shapeshifters, dragons, wolves or anything else fantasy, give it a try. It is well worth the time.

pretty darn good

at first I didn't think I'd like this book but it turned out to be pretty good it's pretty cliche but really well written.

Great story and awesome narrator

Another great book from Amie Kaufman! I listened to the audio and it was great. The narrator has done The Illuminae Files and does an awesome job. The story was interesting and well paced. I liked the characters and the wolves and dragons were cool. It was nice seeing the story from a younger character's POV. The story did a good job of giving us some history as we went, so we weren't overloaded at the beginning and we found out things as Anders learned them. Seeing the different abilities of the two races was fun and I was invested throughout the book. There were strong female characters which I enjoyed as well as some cool guys who didn't put women down. I really loved this book and now I can't wait for book 2! Highly recommend.

Good, Clean, Fun

The ice wolves and the scorch dragons hate each other. To avoid conflict, they simply avoid each other. That is until one person makes it their personal mission to eradicate all scorch dragons. A war is brewing, and unfortunately for twins Anders & Rayna, they find themselves on two different sides of this decades’ long feud. They soon begin to wonder … is there another side? Can the ice wolves and the scorch dragons live in peace?

The Elementals by Amie Kaufman is a family-friendly adventure that will provide hours of entertainment for youth and adults alike. Admittedly, I found the end of the series to be somewhat anticlimactic; however, that does not in any way negate the nearly 20 hours of fun I experienced while listening to the adventures of Anders, Rayna, and their friends.

A note to parents: The hatred/prejudice exhibited by some of the characters (especially in the final scenes of the third book, Battle Born) may bother younger children. Also, parents should be aware that there are a few, brief references to a same-sex couple, and one of the characters uses the pronouns they/them.

Overall, however, the story is entertaining and worth listening to (or reading). It will be going on my list of books to recommend.

I wanted this to be good.

This had SO much potential to be a good family friendly fantasy. Sadly it missed the mark.