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sarahanne1994's review against another edition
3.0
I had wanted to read this book for a long time, since it sounded interesting and I was determined to read it. It was good, and weird, but I still felt like something was missing from it. The weirdness took a while to explain, and even then, the actual explanation came after that and it was a bit confusing to follow. It was an enjoyable read, but I might have to read it again to get my feelings for this book properly seamed out.
ashtheaudiomancer's review against another edition
4.0
Hey, ever pick a paranormal YA, read the back cover, and think, "Wow, this sounds so interesting and original!" and then it turns out to be yet another angsty love triangle with a bare minimum of actual world-building and plot? This is the book that DOESN'T do that. It's the one we all WISH we were reading every time we poke our heads back into genre. Bit of an abrupt ending, but with everything else it's doing so very right, I'll take it!
alanaes's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC of this title from Running Press/Perseus Books Group at ALA 2014
Kat Ellis had me hooked from page one. The very first chapter is told from the perspective of a haunted Weathervane (I mean...c'mon...that's great), and that's only a hint of the secrets buried in the town of Blackfin. The plot is, naturally, confusing at first. Sixteen-year-old Skylar Rousseau races to school one morning only to learn that...she's been dead for three months? What? Sky has memories from the past three months, and only fuzzy recollections of the night she supposedly died...so what exactly happened? And where was she?
I don't want to give too much away, but, I assure you, the mystery is worth it. This is a well-paced story with many colorful characters, great moments of suspense, and plenty of supernatural intrigue. I was worried the mystery might be too complex to resolve in a 300-page book, but I needn't have. Ellis does a great job building the world of Blackfin, and explaining the details, too. I will be recommending this one to my students.
Kat Ellis had me hooked from page one. The very first chapter is told from the perspective of a haunted Weathervane (I mean...c'mon...that's great), and that's only a hint of the secrets buried in the town of Blackfin. The plot is, naturally, confusing at first. Sixteen-year-old Skylar Rousseau races to school one morning only to learn that...she's been dead for three months? What? Sky has memories from the past three months, and only fuzzy recollections of the night she supposedly died...so what exactly happened? And where was she?
I don't want to give too much away, but, I assure you, the mystery is worth it. This is a well-paced story with many colorful characters, great moments of suspense, and plenty of supernatural intrigue. I was worried the mystery might be too complex to resolve in a 300-page book, but I needn't have. Ellis does a great job building the world of Blackfin, and explaining the details, too. I will be recommending this one to my students.
rachels1127's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
it's giving 2014 vibes. special snowflake female character, too nice white bread boy-next-door character, 2014 tumblr emo boy, flat characters all around. Felt way more MG than YA.
Creepy circus vibes and the magical realism aspect of the town were great.
(avoiding star rating since I was outside the target audience)
Creepy circus vibes and the magical realism aspect of the town were great.
(avoiding star rating since I was outside the target audience)
serenityyou's review against another edition
4.0
When I first started reading this book i didn't have honk i was going to enjoy it but not was i wrong.
Sky is a 16 year old girl who has just come back from the dead. She fell off the pier 3 months ago on her birthday. They pulled her body out of the water and buried her in the local cemetery. But Sky has just walked into school as if the last three months didn't happen. Sky can't remember that she died and thinks today is just another ordinary day in Blackfin.
But Blackfin in is a strange town filled with strange people and Blackfin holds plenty of secrets.
As everyone is starting to come to terms with Sky actually being alive, she starts to fade and go back in time to where the circus is held in Blackfin woods years ago. Sky tries to understand what is going on and why she has this gift and how it affect others in Blackfin
I really enjoyed this book so much. I really liked sky and couldn't wait to find out what was going on. I can't wait to read more from this author. I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Sky is a 16 year old girl who has just come back from the dead. She fell off the pier 3 months ago on her birthday. They pulled her body out of the water and buried her in the local cemetery. But Sky has just walked into school as if the last three months didn't happen. Sky can't remember that she died and thinks today is just another ordinary day in Blackfin.
But Blackfin in is a strange town filled with strange people and Blackfin holds plenty of secrets.
As everyone is starting to come to terms with Sky actually being alive, she starts to fade and go back in time to where the circus is held in Blackfin woods years ago. Sky tries to understand what is going on and why she has this gift and how it affect others in Blackfin
I really enjoyed this book so much. I really liked sky and couldn't wait to find out what was going on. I can't wait to read more from this author. I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
charleyreads's review
4.0
Check out my video review to see why I rated this book 4/5 stars!
http://youtu.be/IXij4gSsaQM
http://youtu.be/IXij4gSsaQM
chwaters's review
3.0
One morning, Sky is running late for school. When she gets there, the reaction from everyone she encounters is one of shock. As far as anyone other than Sky knows, Sky died three months ago when she fell (was chased?) off the pier and drowned. Even the ghost inhabiting the weather vane is surprised to see her run by. Sky, on the other hand, clearly remembers the past three months and cannot understand why everyone thinks she's dead. Even stranger, the grave that she supposedly occupied is now empty and a corpse strongly resembling her own is found in the garage of a set of super-creepy brothers who now seem obsessed with unexpectedly-living Sky. As Sky tries desperately to figure out what has happened to her, she begins to explore her oddball town with fresh eyes. She discovers the charred remains of a circus in the woods just outside of town and begins to discover that her exceedingly strange town may be the site of even stranger happenings, with Sky's family being the proverbial main attraction.
Blackfin Sky is a fascinating, if somewhat confusing, tale. There are a lot of angles that set this book apart from the pack, but to touch on all of them would spoil some major plot points. Sky is an interesting character and most of the secondary characters are as well. Some of the most unique characters in the book aren't people at all, but inanimate objects or places such as the haunted weather vane and Sky's family home, Blood House (which "speaks" to Sky via well-timed door slams, patterns in the wood grain, etc.). The town is the classic insular small town where outsiders are not particularly welcome and the locals are all just a bit quirky. Everyone knows that weird stuff happens in Blackfin, but it's become a part of everyday life for these residents. Things start to get a bit disjointed when the circus comes into play and I can't help but feel that it could have integrated with the storyline better. Everything comes together in the end and the vast majority of questions are answered. The writing is decent, but not exceptional. Overall, this is a fun, off-beat debut that will have readers puzzling it out to the end.
Blackfin Sky is a fascinating, if somewhat confusing, tale. There are a lot of angles that set this book apart from the pack, but to touch on all of them would spoil some major plot points. Sky is an interesting character and most of the secondary characters are as well. Some of the most unique characters in the book aren't people at all, but inanimate objects or places such as the haunted weather vane and Sky's family home, Blood House (which "speaks" to Sky via well-timed door slams, patterns in the wood grain, etc.). The town is the classic insular small town where outsiders are not particularly welcome and the locals are all just a bit quirky. Everyone knows that weird stuff happens in Blackfin, but it's become a part of everyday life for these residents. Things start to get a bit disjointed when the circus comes into play and I can't help but feel that it could have integrated with the storyline better. Everything comes together in the end and the vast majority of questions are answered. The writing is decent, but not exceptional. Overall, this is a fun, off-beat debut that will have readers puzzling it out to the end.
marjma2014's review against another edition
3.0
3.75 stars. Full review at https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-blackfin-sky-by-kat-ellis/
Snippet from the book:
Silas’ spirit had inhabited the rusting weathervane for many years. From his perch on the school roof he watched the townsfolk of Blackfin through his empty eye socket as they buzzed through their lives beneath him, no more significant than the grains of sand piling up against the shoreline, clinging to the struts of Blackfin pier.
Doesn’t that just grab your attention? It certainly did for me!
Edinburgh Book Festival:
I picked up a copy of Blackfin Sky at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and was lucky to get a signed copy as well as Cat Clarke’s The Lost and The Found. If you’d like to see my photograph with Kat Ellis and Cat Clarke, and my write up of their talk, The Disappeared, here’s the link: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/edinburgh-book-festival-edbookfest-cat-clarke-and-kat-ellis/
The Cover:
Do I judge a book by its cover? I have a tendency to do this to a certain degree as I think that well executed covers tend to give you a sense of the book. This one fitted the bill, I just loved this cover so much! It is so beautiful, and mysterious. Did the cover match the book? Yes in my opinion on the whole it did, Blackfin Sky had a lot to offer and was definitely mysterious.
My thoughts:
I was so excited about this book, that cover just had me trembling with anticipation but did it live up to my exalted expectations? Yes and No. I liked this a lot, but somehow it didn’t quite reach the ecstatic heights of loving it that I hoped it would. I think this was in part due to my not quite engaging enough with some of the characters in the novel, apart from the main protagonist, Sky, the others just didn’t seem to have enough depth to them. And the baddie with the amber skull, he just needed more baddie factor, I just didn’t really get him. At times Blackfin Sky seemed a bit confusing, and possibly a little too far off the believable line, (I do realise this sounds odd with regard to a fantasy story but even so the emotions sometimes seemed a bit dampened, particularly when Sky turns up after being dead, I just could have done with more feels. I know that Blackfin is meant to be a strange community but even so…..)
I think Kat Ellis tried to cram in a heck of a lot into this novel, (very ambitious,) which is something I like to do too, ah, makes me think possibly it is better to keep things a bit more simple? Maybe. Somehow it didn’t quite pack the four star/five star punch I’d hope it would, perhaps some of the plot threads could have been simplified…. to allow more time for secondary character development.
On the positive side it read extremely well, Kat Ellis can definitely write – no doubt about that, and it has a very imaginative fantasy setting, full marks for imagination Kat. I love the circus aspect, the Blood House, and the idea of pathfinders too. Yes, there are definitely aspects of this debut novel that really appeal to me, I think with a few tweaks it could easily have been a perfect read.
So would I recommend it ? Yes, I would. This is Kat Ellis’s debut novel, I do think she has great potential and amazing promise, so my recommendation would be to read this author and keep an eye out for her, I reckon her next novel might just pack that knockout punch.
By the way don’t forget to vote for your favourite debut author, Kat Ellis is one of the authors you can nominate for First Book Award, vote for your favourite, voting closes at 5pm on Friday 16th October: www.edbookfest.co.uk
My rating:
3.75 stars. Just short of 4, as I say with a few tweaks it could easily have been a 4 star read.
Snippet from the book:
Silas’ spirit had inhabited the rusting weathervane for many years. From his perch on the school roof he watched the townsfolk of Blackfin through his empty eye socket as they buzzed through their lives beneath him, no more significant than the grains of sand piling up against the shoreline, clinging to the struts of Blackfin pier.
Doesn’t that just grab your attention? It certainly did for me!
Edinburgh Book Festival:
I picked up a copy of Blackfin Sky at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and was lucky to get a signed copy as well as Cat Clarke’s The Lost and The Found. If you’d like to see my photograph with Kat Ellis and Cat Clarke, and my write up of their talk, The Disappeared, here’s the link: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/edinburgh-book-festival-edbookfest-cat-clarke-and-kat-ellis/
The Cover:
Do I judge a book by its cover? I have a tendency to do this to a certain degree as I think that well executed covers tend to give you a sense of the book. This one fitted the bill, I just loved this cover so much! It is so beautiful, and mysterious. Did the cover match the book? Yes in my opinion on the whole it did, Blackfin Sky had a lot to offer and was definitely mysterious.
My thoughts:
I was so excited about this book, that cover just had me trembling with anticipation but did it live up to my exalted expectations? Yes and No. I liked this a lot, but somehow it didn’t quite reach the ecstatic heights of loving it that I hoped it would. I think this was in part due to my not quite engaging enough with some of the characters in the novel, apart from the main protagonist, Sky, the others just didn’t seem to have enough depth to them. And the baddie with the amber skull, he just needed more baddie factor, I just didn’t really get him. At times Blackfin Sky seemed a bit confusing, and possibly a little too far off the believable line, (I do realise this sounds odd with regard to a fantasy story but even so the emotions sometimes seemed a bit dampened, particularly when Sky turns up after being dead, I just could have done with more feels. I know that Blackfin is meant to be a strange community but even so…..)
I think Kat Ellis tried to cram in a heck of a lot into this novel, (very ambitious,) which is something I like to do too, ah, makes me think possibly it is better to keep things a bit more simple? Maybe. Somehow it didn’t quite pack the four star/five star punch I’d hope it would, perhaps some of the plot threads could have been simplified…. to allow more time for secondary character development.
On the positive side it read extremely well, Kat Ellis can definitely write – no doubt about that, and it has a very imaginative fantasy setting, full marks for imagination Kat. I love the circus aspect, the Blood House, and the idea of pathfinders too. Yes, there are definitely aspects of this debut novel that really appeal to me, I think with a few tweaks it could easily have been a perfect read.
So would I recommend it ? Yes, I would. This is Kat Ellis’s debut novel, I do think she has great potential and amazing promise, so my recommendation would be to read this author and keep an eye out for her, I reckon her next novel might just pack that knockout punch.
By the way don’t forget to vote for your favourite debut author, Kat Ellis is one of the authors you can nominate for First Book Award, vote for your favourite, voting closes at 5pm on Friday 16th October: www.edbookfest.co.uk
My rating:
3.75 stars. Just short of 4, as I say with a few tweaks it could easily have been a 4 star read.
foreveryoungadult's review against another edition
Graded By: Mandy C.
Cover Story: Cue the Circus Theme
BFF Charm: Yay
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Talky Talk: Small Town Supernatural
Bonus Factors: Creepy Circus
Anti-Bonus Factor: Poor Sleuthing
Relationship Status: Moving In
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Cue the Circus Theme
BFF Charm: Yay
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Talky Talk: Small Town Supernatural
Bonus Factors: Creepy Circus
Anti-Bonus Factor: Poor Sleuthing
Relationship Status: Moving In
Read the full book report here.