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lparks90's review
3.0
Fun world for the protagonist to inhabit; I wish some of the characters had been fleshed out and more widely varied. Definitely a fun, quick YA read with plenty of teenage tropes to boot!! Recommend if you’re into magical beasties
katiecski's review
3.0
Meh. I liked this book, but was underwhelmed by it; I can't quite figure out why though. It just kind of fell flat for me. Maybe I had too high of hopes for it? It seems, reading through the reviews that many other readers felt this way as well. The concept of the story was so neat and interesting too, so it's frustrating that it ended up being somewhat of a disappointment.
jeanna's review
4.0
Good but not as good as her other books.
Kali is the heir to the sky, several floating continents above earth. When she is crowned, she vows to be help her people thrive. When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom, her dreams are far from dashed, promising to find a way to return from the monster-ridden earth. She requests the help of Griffin, a monster hunter, to guide her back home. Weeks pass; Kali begins to uncover the truth of the floating continents and realizes she didn’t fall off the edge, rather she was pushed off it.
Amanda Sun, author of the Ink series, returns with a fantasy which will pull at your heartstrings. Heir to the Sky is a gorgeous book, filled with wonderful descriptions of fantastical creatures and a romance that will knock your socks off. Sun’s writing is as beautiful as ever, capturing the beauty and cruelty of her world. The world building is superb. However, it does lack an origin story.
Readers will still be left with thousands of questions. Starting with, why is earth suddenly infected with monsters?
Something I’ve found in all of Sun’s characters, including even her Ink series, is that the protagonist lacks character. In order to get wonderful descriptions of worlds and gorgeous writing about monster wars, readers will certainly miss the depth in Kali, Heir to the Sky’s main character. For both an heir and protagonist, she is a bit dense. The reader has long ago predicted events that Kali, herself, never saw coming. This either makes the book predictable or Kali dense, or both.
The romance is unexpected from the rest of the predictable plot. It is the sweet romance which keeps people reading. Griffin was a magnificent character and I’m wishing for a spin-off book in his perspective. The monster hunter, Griffin, sounds much more interesting and unpredictable than an heir to a kingdom. He has had this whole life on this unsafe earth and readers will want to definitely know more about him.
Despite being predictable, Heir to the Sky was a great book. It held that spark of freshness, where the protagonist is experiencing a whole new world for the very first time. Similar to the plot of Soundless by Richelle Mead, Heir to the Sky introduces a new dystopia which is just beginning to grow roots. Overall, Amanda Sun’s Heir to the Sky was beautifully-written and wonderfully romantic. Fans of Soundless by Richelle Mead and Sun’s previous series will be sure to fall off the edge of the floating continents to experience the journey with Kali and Griffin.
Kali is the heir to the sky, several floating continents above earth. When she is crowned, she vows to be help her people thrive. When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom, her dreams are far from dashed, promising to find a way to return from the monster-ridden earth. She requests the help of Griffin, a monster hunter, to guide her back home. Weeks pass; Kali begins to uncover the truth of the floating continents and realizes she didn’t fall off the edge, rather she was pushed off it.
Amanda Sun, author of the Ink series, returns with a fantasy which will pull at your heartstrings. Heir to the Sky is a gorgeous book, filled with wonderful descriptions of fantastical creatures and a romance that will knock your socks off. Sun’s writing is as beautiful as ever, capturing the beauty and cruelty of her world. The world building is superb. However, it does lack an origin story.
Readers will still be left with thousands of questions. Starting with, why is earth suddenly infected with monsters?
Something I’ve found in all of Sun’s characters, including even her Ink series, is that the protagonist lacks character. In order to get wonderful descriptions of worlds and gorgeous writing about monster wars, readers will certainly miss the depth in Kali, Heir to the Sky’s main character. For both an heir and protagonist, she is a bit dense. The reader has long ago predicted events that Kali, herself, never saw coming. This either makes the book predictable or Kali dense, or both.
The romance is unexpected from the rest of the predictable plot. It is the sweet romance which keeps people reading. Griffin was a magnificent character and I’m wishing for a spin-off book in his perspective. The monster hunter, Griffin, sounds much more interesting and unpredictable than an heir to a kingdom. He has had this whole life on this unsafe earth and readers will want to definitely know more about him.
Despite being predictable, Heir to the Sky was a great book. It held that spark of freshness, where the protagonist is experiencing a whole new world for the very first time. Similar to the plot of Soundless by Richelle Mead, Heir to the Sky introduces a new dystopia which is just beginning to grow roots. Overall, Amanda Sun’s Heir to the Sky was beautifully-written and wonderfully romantic. Fans of Soundless by Richelle Mead and Sun’s previous series will be sure to fall off the edge of the floating continents to experience the journey with Kali and Griffin.
wishwasher12's review
3.0
2.5 stars. The first few chapters were slow in their description of Kali's world, but it was understandable since the author was setting the scene. However, most of the way the world was described went over my head and I'd have to constantly refer back to the descriptions to keep up with the story. The characters were memorable enough, though through the end of the book I wanted to claw my eyeballs out at Kali's "noble" stupidity and ignorance, basically covering her ears and going La La La (but replace La with the Phoenix) when facts were laid in front of her. She constantly and almost desperately clung to the idea that her people would [i] never [/i] harm anyone (but I guess it makes sense, since she'd being introduced to this wild, new concept and having to process it in a short amount of time).
Kudos to the author for not making an instalove or dragging out Kali's love into some petty dispute. It was a subplot that added to the story, not made the main focus. Still, the romance wasn't very good at locking the reader in.
The book also had nice pacing for the plot and how the author was able to fit everything into a fairly decent amount of pages. It didn't leave me hungry for more, though; the story felt resolved with a bit of hope, which can be seen as a good thing.
Kudos to the author for not making an instalove or dragging out Kali's love into some petty dispute. It was a subplot that added to the story, not made the main focus. Still, the romance wasn't very good at locking the reader in.
The book also had nice pacing for the plot and how the author was able to fit everything into a fairly decent amount of pages. It didn't leave me hungry for more, though; the story felt resolved with a bit of hope, which can be seen as a good thing.
jamiebooksandladders's review
1.0
Disclaimer: I won a free copy of this book as one of the Goodreads First Reads giveaways courtesy of Harlequin Teen.
I'm sad to say there are no redeeming qualities in this one. The worldbuilding was horrible and extremely lacking, the characters were MEH, the plot was also meh, and the dragons didn't eat everyone at the end like I'd hoped. I should have known from reading the other reviews that I wouldn't like this one but I thought I'd take a chance anyway but I feel like it was a bit of waste.
I don't really have any good things to say about this one tbh. I don't like being too negative because I feel bad: someone worked hard to make this. But this just did not turn my crank at all. There were so many plot holes because of the terrible worldbuilding that I couldn't look past them. It seemed like any time something came up that the author threw something else into the mix to fill the gap but it just came across as awkward. Like the whole prophecy at the end was just random and not well developed at all. It made me roll my eyes and laugh.
The characters were so meh. Kali was alright but everyone else was just ick to me. Griffin was like a wet paper towel, just there to try and clean up some messes but making them worse. He was also like a terrible monster hunter considering he almost died like 15 times in the book. I think every time he met a monster he almost died. And he just wasn't love interest worthy. Oh and his heritage was stupid af. Jonash was stiff as a board and pulled aHans from Frozen which was obvious to everyone but the MC. Just. I can't even describe to you how terrible his character arc is without spoiling it but it's bad.
The pacing was so off too. So much time would pass because the author would write "this much time has passed now" and I was just left baffled. Show me time passing, show me her healing, show me them walking to the mountains -- don't just say "ah yes, this whole trip has taken 5 days and we're here." I hate travelogue as much as the next person, but I hate time gaps even more. And the whole healing thing was just sighs. She had broken ribs and was shooting a bow and arrow with no difficulty like three days later.
As much as I enjoy that there are more standalone fantasy books, I think this one either needed more pages or another whole book so I could understand the world. AKA so there could be worldbuilding. Like there was none. None.
I do not recommend this one at all. Like it's a hard pass, not even a borrow from the library. You can read my status updates to learn more about what I didn't like about it.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
I'm sad to say there are no redeeming qualities in this one. The worldbuilding was horrible and extremely lacking, the characters were MEH, the plot was also meh, and the dragons didn't eat everyone at the end like I'd hoped. I should have known from reading the other reviews that I wouldn't like this one but I thought I'd take a chance anyway but I feel like it was a bit of waste.
I don't really have any good things to say about this one tbh. I don't like being too negative because I feel bad: someone worked hard to make this. But this just did not turn my crank at all. There were so many plot holes because of the terrible worldbuilding that I couldn't look past them. It seemed like any time something came up that the author threw something else into the mix to fill the gap but it just came across as awkward. Like the whole prophecy at the end was just random and not well developed at all. It made me roll my eyes and laugh.
The characters were so meh. Kali was alright but everyone else was just ick to me. Griffin was like a wet paper towel, just there to try and clean up some messes but making them worse. He was also like a terrible monster hunter considering he almost died like 15 times in the book. I think every time he met a monster he almost died. And he just wasn't love interest worthy. Oh and his heritage was stupid af. Jonash was stiff as a board and pulled a
The pacing was so off too. So much time would pass because the author would write "this much time has passed now" and I was just left baffled. Show me time passing, show me her healing, show me them walking to the mountains -- don't just say "ah yes, this whole trip has taken 5 days and we're here." I hate travelogue as much as the next person, but I hate time gaps even more. And the whole healing thing was just sighs. She had broken ribs and was shooting a bow and arrow with no difficulty like three days later.
As much as I enjoy that there are more standalone fantasy books, I think this one either needed more pages or another whole book so I could understand the world. AKA so there could be worldbuilding. Like there was none. None.
I do not recommend this one at all. Like it's a hard pass, not even a borrow from the library. You can read my status updates to learn more about what I didn't like about it.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
hufsatee's review
2.0
This book was like biting into a luscious-looking chocolate mousse - and realizing it's actually made of clay. Dense, dry clay that left a sad taste of wasted potential in my mouth.
This book could have been great. It had the right premise. It had endless possibilities for world-building (two whole worlds to explore!), and so much political strife that could have exploded into drama. But we didn't get that. We got a shallow story about a privileged princess with unbelievably good luck, instalove, flat, uninspiring storytelling, and side characters whose sole purpose seemed to be as props to the protagonist's journey. Oh, and the odd, well-written action sequence.
That was the one great thing about this book. The action sequences of fights against mythical creatures are well-paced, energetic and thrilling. They are a mark that this is a writer who knows how to deliver. Which is why it's so bewildering and disappointing that the rest of the book fails to match this.
Midway through this book, I couldn't deal with the protagonist's utter ignorance of the world around her. It's one thing to be pampered and ignorant. It's another to see blatant clues about mutiny and untrustworthy behaviour from supposedly trusted officials and completely fail to pick up on their significance. Kali is probably the dumbest brick of a YA protagonist I've seen this year. She willfully seems to ignore glaring danger signs (like the scene right before she falls off the edge of the continent). She is content to blindly believe in what the annals of her people tell her, with little consideration for who might have written them, and it literally takes the entire novel for her to figure out something I guessed from the very beginning. She has, in short, the critical thinking skills of a kindergartner.
And yet somehow, everyone she meets on the dangerous world of Earth absolutely adores her without question. WHY? She does nothing to prove she is no threat to these people who've been living in a world where they can trust nothing. Yet, Griffin and his gang fall all over themselves to care for and accommodate her. It's almost at a point where you could envision people just supplicating themselves at her feet for the glory of being able to aid her in some way. Griffin, barely knowing her a day, goes way out of his way for her and offers to make a perilous journey to help return the spoiled princess to her home. I like to assume he does this because he, too, can't stand her.
The side-characters, if not already obvious, are basically 2D cutouts to serve as a backdrop for Kali's plot. We learn little about their personal motivations, and apart from Griffin, nearly zilch about their backstories. Elisha, for instance, is bright as dirt, with little capacity for complex thought. She seems to have little purpose in life other than to wait around for Kali.
The ending was supremely melodramatic to the point of being cheesy.. There is a lot of theatrical dialogue as the villain unveils himself. I felt like I was watching an old-school action movie, with lots of grand dialogue and haughty looks thrown askew. Think Smallville.
TLDR: Could have been so good. Could have.
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This book could have been great. It had the right premise. It had endless possibilities for world-building (two whole worlds to explore!), and so much political strife that could have exploded into drama. But we didn't get that. We got a shallow story about a privileged princess with unbelievably good luck, instalove, flat, uninspiring storytelling, and side characters whose sole purpose seemed to be as props to the protagonist's journey. Oh, and the odd, well-written action sequence.
That was the one great thing about this book. The action sequences of fights against mythical creatures are well-paced, energetic and thrilling. They are a mark that this is a writer who knows how to deliver. Which is why it's so bewildering and disappointing that the rest of the book fails to match this.
Midway through this book, I couldn't deal with the protagonist's utter ignorance of the world around her. It's one thing to be pampered and ignorant. It's another to see blatant clues about mutiny and untrustworthy behaviour from supposedly trusted officials and completely fail to pick up on their significance. Kali is probably the dumbest brick of a YA protagonist I've seen this year. She willfully seems to ignore glaring danger signs (like the scene right before she falls off the edge of the continent). She is content to blindly believe in what the annals of her people tell her, with little consideration for who might have written them, and it literally takes the entire novel for her to figure out something I guessed from the very beginning. She has, in short, the critical thinking skills of a kindergartner.
And yet somehow, everyone she meets on the dangerous world of Earth absolutely adores her without question. WHY? She does nothing to prove she is no threat to these people who've been living in a world where they can trust nothing. Yet, Griffin and his gang fall all over themselves to care for and accommodate her. It's almost at a point where you could envision people just supplicating themselves at her feet for the glory of being able to aid her in some way. Griffin, barely knowing her a day, goes way out of his way for her and offers to make a perilous journey to help return the spoiled princess to her home. I like to assume he does this because he, too, can't stand her.
The side-characters, if not already obvious, are basically 2D cutouts to serve as a backdrop for Kali's plot. We learn little about their personal motivations, and apart from Griffin, nearly zilch about their backstories. Elisha, for instance, is bright as dirt, with little capacity for complex thought. She seems to have little purpose in life other than to wait around for Kali.
The ending was supremely melodramatic to the point of being cheesy.. There is a lot of theatrical dialogue as the villain unveils himself. I felt like I was watching an old-school action movie, with lots of grand dialogue and haughty looks thrown askew. Think Smallville.
TLDR: Could have been so good. Could have.
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ruthsic's review
3.0
As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits—by her duties as a member of the royal family; by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman; and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known—a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft.
When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks, and other terrifying beasts. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.
You know, for that blurb, I expected much more of an adventure from this book than I actually got. Even letting go for the fact that it is a standalone, I was expecting much more development from this book. Kali is a princess of a floating kingdom in the sky, said to been held aloft by the magic of a phoenix. The earth below is overrun by monsters of every kind, and when she falls off her kingdom, it is a BIG change for her. For one, there are creatures about to eat her at every turn, and then there is the fact that she doesn't exactly have a way to get back. When Griffin enters the scene, it becomes obvious that there are humans on Earth, too, not just on the floating kingdom. As the lies she's been told come apart, a conspiracy is revealed that makes her even more determined to get back.
Kali is a strong girl who adapts quickly to the situtation - a thing that saved her life down there. For her entire life, she has been doing what was expected of her, even if she would rather just watch over her kingdom from a lonely high outcropping. Griffin, for his part, is very good-natured, bright (despite his painful past and the terrible existence of a world overrun with monsters) and well, that's all I got of him. The book is terribly short, and though it is filled with excitement, adventure and some great action scenes of monster-slaying, in the end, though, I felt it was missing substance. The backstory and canon of the world was poorly explained - like how the Rendering happened, the Benus, that generator thingy, the two (?) moons and the ending was also a bit anti-climactic. It sounded more complex in plot than in execution, and this is why I was let down.
Overall, I found it innovative in conception but wasn't rendered properly enough.
When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks, and other terrifying beasts. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.
You know, for that blurb, I expected much more of an adventure from this book than I actually got. Even letting go for the fact that it is a standalone, I was expecting much more development from this book. Kali is a princess of a floating kingdom in the sky, said to been held aloft by the magic of a phoenix. The earth below is overrun by monsters of every kind, and when she falls off her kingdom, it is a BIG change for her. For one, there are creatures about to eat her at every turn, and then there is the fact that she doesn't exactly have a way to get back. When Griffin enters the scene, it becomes obvious that there are humans on Earth, too, not just on the floating kingdom. As the lies she's been told come apart, a conspiracy is revealed that makes her even more determined to get back.
Kali is a strong girl who adapts quickly to the situtation - a thing that saved her life down there. For her entire life, she has been doing what was expected of her, even if she would rather just watch over her kingdom from a lonely high outcropping. Griffin, for his part, is very good-natured, bright (despite his painful past and the terrible existence of a world overrun with monsters) and well, that's all I got of him. The book is terribly short, and though it is filled with excitement, adventure and some great action scenes of monster-slaying, in the end, though, I felt it was missing substance. The backstory and canon of the world was poorly explained - like how the Rendering happened, the Benus, that generator thingy, the two (?) moons and the ending was also a bit anti-climactic. It sounded more complex in plot than in execution, and this is why I was let down.
Overall, I found it innovative in conception but wasn't rendered properly enough.
gubuchu's review
2.0
Initially started it a while back but the beginning was kinda a slog so I started other books but I began and read it for realz I'd like to think on June 16 if my memory serves me correctly. So that's what I'm going to put for goodreads. Okay, random anecdote over, time to get to my review.
I normally don't ever put gifs or pictures in reviews and I'm on my phone so I don't think I can right now but if I could I would say this is castle in the sky Sheeta meets Princess Mononoke male San LOL
I mostly read it 'cuz I recently got a story idea about floating islands and well I wanted to see what how other people explored the idea (besides castle in the sky because I loved that). So far, I've read Lauren DeStefano's Internment Chronicles and this book about floating islands. This was... Okay. I say it generously. Between this book and Interment Chronicles I would pick Internment Chronicles, personally.
The main character was annoying many times and I thought it was just me being harsh but other reviews seem to say the same, also I agree that this book only got interesting around the end.
I normally don't ever put gifs or pictures in reviews and I'm on my phone so I don't think I can right now but if I could I would say this is castle in the sky Sheeta meets Princess Mononoke male San LOL
I mostly read it 'cuz I recently got a story idea about floating islands and well I wanted to see what how other people explored the idea (besides castle in the sky because I loved that). So far, I've read Lauren DeStefano's Internment Chronicles and this book about floating islands. This was... Okay. I say it generously. Between this book and Interment Chronicles I would pick Internment Chronicles, personally.
The main character was annoying many times and I thought it was just me being harsh but other reviews seem to say the same, also I agree that this book only got interesting around the end.
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