“Born of Wind is a young adult high fantasy that made me imagine a world where Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Review by Rayleigh Setser

When the elements collide, the truth ignites

Meleena never quite fit in among her fellow aquatic Meruyans, always skipping school to hide out and marvel at the natural world around her. So when she wins a place on the coveted Council Apprenticeship team, no one is more surprised than she is.

As she embarks on a tour of the nations, Meleena’s curiosity catches the attention of the Warix, a race born with the power to control wind. But she is unprepared for the secrets she uncovers as she explores this new land. The Warix are locked in a deadly civil war, and her own people are being oppressed and exploited with no way out.

Meanwhile, the benevolent of the two fighting Warix nations send their brightest young spy, Flax, on a mission. When Flax is transferred to Sen’Drorn, the enemy city, he is thrilled. His duty: observe daily life as a planted tech apprentice, and gain any intel for his people. But his secret personal mission in this city causes him to get into real trouble.

After separate run-ins with the Sen’Drorn, Meleena and Flax meet under cruel circumstances. Desperate to resolve this tangled conflict, they team up to locate an ancient weapon sought by both sides. Can they unite these warring peoples in time to each save their own?

The debut novel from J.B. Lesel throws you headlong into a diverse world where the elements take physical form to shape the lives of all. Perfect for fans of James Cameron’s Avatar, and The Last Airbender.

Born of Wind is a young adult high fantasy that made me imagine a world where Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Avatar: The Way of Water. A "Clash of Avatars", if you will.

The plot is exciting and always keeps you guessing as you follow Meleena on her journey across a new land during her apprenticeship to becoming a council member for her water race; the Meruyans. I really enjoyed the world-building and loved the unique spin on steampunk-type inventions, but powered by the wind abilities of the Warix. The world is just beautifully thought out and depicted through Meleena's love of nature and Flax's apprenticeship with a Warix tinker.

My reason for rating 4 stars is because the story jumped around a lot and I often found myself lost in the timeline of the story. When the points of view switch, sometimes the characters backtracked to when they left the previous scene, so it wasn't abnormal to see the same scene twice from two different points of view, which was just a little disorienting. I caught on quickly, but the few times it happened (it wasn't often), I was jolted out of the story trying to understand where I was in the sequence of events.

This book is focused primarily on legends, tribal cultures, and world-building, so I would've liked to better connect to the characters; but as it is, I loved Flax's story the most and really enjoyed his whole character arc.

Overall, if you enjoy slower-paced fantasy with heavy world-building and a twisty plot, Born of Wind might be the book for you!

Content Ratings:

4.Some action (some mildly detailed battle sequences and/or fights)

3. Romance is very mild and mostly alluded to on-page; but there are a couple of implied closed-door scenes.

1. Infrequent and substitute cursing (less than 10 “craps”, “hecks”, and/or ONLY book-specific words, etc.)

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

Usual curse words are substituted for book-unique words. There is some action/gore, but it’s very mildly depicted. There is some romance, and sexual content is alluded to, however, it’s all closed door and there is nothing shown on page.

Our Reviews of Other Books by these authors:

N/A