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leorejoanne's review
3.0
I really wanted to like this book; in fact, in the beginning I had the feeling that it was going to become a new favourite, the world it described was so different and interesting, and that point remained the strongest in this novel - the worldbuilding is really good, however it does not receive enough focus. Beyond that it was a bit of a miss, a constant "almost". The characters were not fully fleshed out, but rather cardboard-y and stereotypical, and some of them were not consistent in their actions. And finally, I myself have no problem with "chosen one" tropes, but this one did not feel especially fresh or exciting.
boogy_'s review against another edition
4.0
I’ve read this a few times and one of the only things that stands out to me is the city. The politics are decent, the characters are flat at times, but the worldbuilding is so unique and well crafted that I keep coming back to this. Kirit fell flat for me occasionally, but she became more enjoyable to read as the book went on. I just love the city! The setting is so original idk..! I think this is worth a read for all fantasy enjoyers which are looking for something different.
majkia's review against another edition
4.0
Imaginative complex worldbuilding, with characters well drawn. The plot swirled through the ups and downs of a city and people weighed down by secret even as they needed to soar on the winds.
lorialdenholuta's review against another edition
5.0
It didn't take long for me to be swept up above the clouds into the world of Updraft. Young Kirit gives us our point of view, as she struggles to learn not only her place in her city's future, but about the future of the city itself.
The city is astounding. Fran's worldbuilding skills are amazing. At times, I felt my heart pounding as I thought about what it would be like to live every moment of your life on precarious towers of bone rising to incomprehensible heights. I hope for more, as I would like to once again get my feet off the ground and learn more about the people and history of Kirit's city.
The city is astounding. Fran's worldbuilding skills are amazing. At times, I felt my heart pounding as I thought about what it would be like to live every moment of your life on precarious towers of bone rising to incomprehensible heights. I hope for more, as I would like to once again get my feet off the ground and learn more about the people and history of Kirit's city.
aneges's review against another edition
Tried it out before purging and even though the world is potentially interesting it seems to have too many tropes of typical young adult stories that I don’t like and also the whole plot starts because of a dumb premise.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Good, but definitely not as good as I would have hope. I was a big fan of [b:Windhaven|67957|Windhaven|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388467654s/67957.jpg|2960816], though it has been a very long time since I've reread that one. This one didn't strike me nearly as strong. But this world is definitely a weird one. I can almost believe the people in this world are alien, that is not human - though they seem human enough. It's just the pacing was off. And the setup against Kirit too unfair. And her skills just a little too strong. The conflict between the groups not quite strongly enough explained. But it was a story started in the middle, and it worked enough. 3.5 of 5.
missprint_'s review against another edition
3.0
Kirit Densira is counting the days until she can take her flight test and follow in her mother's footsteps as a trader. Kirit dreams of making a name for herself as a merchant, like her mother, and flying between towers with goods to trade and acquire.
Kirit's dreams are forever changed when she breaks Tower Law and exhibits a rare ability crucial to fighting the skymouths--monsters that can appear in the skies without warning.
With her family threatened by punishment for her crime, Kirit has no choice but to agree to train in the Spire to become a Singer and join them as part of the city's lawmakers and enforcers.
During her training, Kirit will learn more about her city and its laws. She will also make a choice that could change her city forever. Or destroy it in Updraft (2015) by Fran Wilde.
Updraft is Wilde's first novel and the start of a new series.
Updraft is filled with vivid descriptions that Kirit's world to life with all of its dangers and wonder. Compared to the well-realized backdrop for the story, the character motivations often feel like thin contrivances meant to move the plot along.
Wilde has create a strange and eerie world where towers are grown from bone, monsters with gaping mouths prowl the sky, and wings are the only way to travel in a community that abandoned the ground long ago.
Updraft remains firmly focused on its characters throughout, particularly Kirit who is followed with a close third-person narration. Wilde does an excellent job of expanding the world she has created here and introducing characters that promise fascinating adventures in future installments.
Updraft is a solid and evocative fantasy novel. Recommended for readers who like their fantasy adventures to be slightly weird and their prose literary.
Possible Pairings: Witchlanders by Lena Coakley, Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, Eon by Allison Goodman, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, Soundless by Richelle Mead, The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
Kirit's dreams are forever changed when she breaks Tower Law and exhibits a rare ability crucial to fighting the skymouths--monsters that can appear in the skies without warning.
With her family threatened by punishment for her crime, Kirit has no choice but to agree to train in the Spire to become a Singer and join them as part of the city's lawmakers and enforcers.
During her training, Kirit will learn more about her city and its laws. She will also make a choice that could change her city forever. Or destroy it in Updraft (2015) by Fran Wilde.
Updraft is Wilde's first novel and the start of a new series.
Updraft is filled with vivid descriptions that Kirit's world to life with all of its dangers and wonder. Compared to the well-realized backdrop for the story, the character motivations often feel like thin contrivances meant to move the plot along.
Wilde has create a strange and eerie world where towers are grown from bone, monsters with gaping mouths prowl the sky, and wings are the only way to travel in a community that abandoned the ground long ago.
Updraft remains firmly focused on its characters throughout, particularly Kirit who is followed with a close third-person narration. Wilde does an excellent job of expanding the world she has created here and introducing characters that promise fascinating adventures in future installments.
Updraft is a solid and evocative fantasy novel. Recommended for readers who like their fantasy adventures to be slightly weird and their prose literary.
Possible Pairings: Witchlanders by Lena Coakley, Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, Eon by Allison Goodman, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, Soundless by Richelle Mead, The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
kchen96's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a very interesting universe, but the plot itself somewhat sluggish and slow to build. writing style only okay to good.
xeyra's review
4.0
I confess that parts of this book seemed very formulaic of the dystopian genre. Societies divided in different towers are much like societies divided by districts or personality-based ranks. The powerful with secrets that an intrepid young teenager is going to find out and expose in order to change society for the better. It's all very 'been there, read that'. What usually makes something so cliched work is characters, writing and world-building, all of which Updraft is ranked very positively.
The writing is great, and though it cannot entirely avoid some of the tropes of the genre, it's compelling enough that you don't really care that they're there because the story is drawing you in. The fascinating society Fran Wilde has built with this universe, where people live in very high towers built on bone and are both united and divided by them. Transportation is done by flying with artificial wings and everyone does or grows up to do so. Tower loyalty is the most important aspect of this society, and your own tower's security is paramount, even if it means letting another tower fend for itself so you don't danger to your door. This is important due to the skymouths, tentacled predators that prowl the skies and may attack at any moment.
Our protagonist is a bit non-conforming towards this divide, wanting to become a trader like her mother in order to contact and help other towers in a way that's more acceptable to the society. And due to a thoughtless mistake and a bit of happenstance, she is deemed a lawbreaker and thus begins the story. Kirit is actually a really compelling protagonist with whom you can identify with. The story is told through her perspective and not once did I feel like slapping her for being too dumb (well, maybe a bit in the end because of what was unleashed) or too preoccupied with sex and guys and romantic triangles to have a proper logical thought in her head (there's only a smidgen of a romantic hint in this novel instead of full blown trope-y and angst-filled teenaged romantic melodrama).
There are some really beautiful moments in the novel and some really interesting secondary characters whom I really liked, and there's an interesting usage of traditional songs and law reciting. There's also some aspects that are less explored and where some suspension of disbelief is needed. For example, not once in the novel do I remember reading that our protagonist, Kirit, had any kind of martial training in weapons or otherwise; however, not long after she begins a certain training, she is being asked to enter combat and she fares very well at it. I understand that in a world under constant attack by tentacled flying monsters some kind of fighting would be taught to all their population, a bit of a hint towards this would have been nice earlier on, because all I could think was that this particular brand of badassery came out of nowhere.
Then there's the confusing end, where in order to expose secrets, Kirit just quite possibly gets a lot of people killed, and I guess this is typical of teenagers making any kind of important decisions without being fully aware of how bad the consequences can get, but I'd been enjoying this character so much for not being particularly stupid and then she goes and makes such a stupid, potentially lethal, move. And everyone just goes with it, too! It didn't ruin the book for me; it's a good ending in a way, if you don't think too much about how fast people came to her side, but her thoughtlessness did make me like Kirit a little less by the end of the book.
I am, however, looking forward to the next installment of this series and I do recommend it, dystopian tropes and all, because it is one of the better written in the genre I've read lately.
The writing is great, and though it cannot entirely avoid some of the tropes of the genre, it's compelling enough that you don't really care that they're there because the story is drawing you in. The fascinating society Fran Wilde has built with this universe, where people live in very high towers built on bone and are both united and divided by them. Transportation is done by flying with artificial wings and everyone does or grows up to do so. Tower loyalty is the most important aspect of this society, and your own tower's security is paramount, even if it means letting another tower fend for itself so you don't danger to your door. This is important due to the skymouths, tentacled predators that prowl the skies and may attack at any moment.
Our protagonist is a bit non-conforming towards this divide, wanting to become a trader like her mother in order to contact and help other towers in a way that's more acceptable to the society. And due to a thoughtless mistake and a bit of happenstance, she is deemed a lawbreaker and thus begins the story. Kirit is actually a really compelling protagonist with whom you can identify with. The story is told through her perspective and not once did I feel like slapping her for being too dumb (well, maybe a bit in the end because of what was unleashed) or too preoccupied with sex and guys and romantic triangles to have a proper logical thought in her head (there's only a smidgen of a romantic hint in this novel instead of full blown trope-y and angst-filled teenaged romantic melodrama).
There are some really beautiful moments in the novel and some really interesting secondary characters whom I really liked, and there's an interesting usage of traditional songs and law reciting. There's also some aspects that are less explored and where some suspension of disbelief is needed. For example, not once in the novel do I remember reading that our protagonist, Kirit, had any kind of martial training in weapons or otherwise; however, not long after she begins a certain training, she is being asked to enter combat and she fares very well at it. I understand that in a world under constant attack by tentacled flying monsters some kind of fighting would be taught to all their population, a bit of a hint towards this would have been nice earlier on, because all I could think was that this particular brand of badassery came out of nowhere.
Then there's the confusing end, where in order to expose secrets, Kirit just quite possibly gets a lot of people killed, and I guess this is typical of teenagers making any kind of important decisions without being fully aware of how bad the consequences can get, but I'd been enjoying this character so much for not being particularly stupid and then she goes and makes such a stupid, potentially lethal, move. And everyone just goes with it, too! It didn't ruin the book for me; it's a good ending in a way, if you don't think too much about how fast people came to her side, but her thoughtlessness did make me like Kirit a little less by the end of the book.
I am, however, looking forward to the next installment of this series and I do recommend it, dystopian tropes and all, because it is one of the better written in the genre I've read lately.
sylviep's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0