Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - A Sky Beyond the Storm

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

38 reviews

r1vana's review

5.0

Not gonna lie. I did kind of pushed myself to finish this book in a day. And I succeeded.
Never have I expected this many deaths in this book, with characters that I have been attached in so little amount of time, with little appearance: Harper and Darin. Their presence has impacted many people around them: Helene, Laia, Elias.
Not gonna lie, I was not expecting a HEA with this book, bcz of Elias being the Soul Catcher. But again, the author was able to twist up: Mirra is alive and deciding to take Elias’ place as the SC.

—

Characters:

•Helene: in the first two books, I genuinely disliked her and her “ignorance” towards the ones who are ‘inferior’ to the Empire… But! She does grow a lot from the end of book 3. In this book, she looses her little sister and her lover, who, she wanted to protect at all cost, but fail to. In that burden and heavy grief, she accepts on becoming the Empress until her nephew is old enough to become the Emperor.
The ending with Musa; let’s imagine that with both grieving with their partner, they get together…

•Laia: I don’t know why some dislike her character. I did love her. I get it, she was a roller coaster. She does acts upon her emotions and due to that recklessness, some fixed plans changes. But again, that is how fate is. She is definitely one of may favourite fantasy female character: strong, loving and ambitious. Death of her brother, Darin, was so sudden and painful.

•Elias: is now included in my book boyfriend list. This man has always been righteous, from the first book. Him being a Soul Catcher was hard bcz he was distant and always cold + it stopped the relation between Laia and him…( wish there were more moments together). But Mirra is alive and Elias was able to be with Laia.

I mean, this man legit crafted a wooden amulet for her, since she ‘looses’ her to the Nightbringer…
Also Keris aka the Commandant… wished she was killed by Helene, for her revenge on killing Harper. But I do understand the need to kill her in Mirra’s hands.

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Ps: as someone who loves mangoes, Elias and Laia made me realizes different ways to enjoy them.

Content Warnings

alyssasaurus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

jackiepreston's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

chlomonte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

starting the new year off with an absolute banger of a book. i loved every page, a stellar ending to one of my now favourite series

Content Warnings

kilic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

shahdhazem's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved this so much like the rest of the series it was a great conclusion. The plot was led out nearly perfect I loved how the author managed to explain everything flawlessly. There was a HUGE character development for both Laia and Helene which I absolutely loved. The series discuses themes of slavery and colonisation in a very complex way and it also lights a spot on mental health and how to find your self in the middle of absolute chaos also themes of losing loved ones. I'd strongly recommend this series but like I said before and will say again now check the trigger warnings before you read. I think that's it it was a really beautiful experience for me I got attached to the characters and got my heartbroken but still I can see myself re-reading the series in the futures cause it's exactly my type.

Content Warnings

plumpaperbacks's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I’ve finally finished this series, and I have more emotions than I know what to do with. This is undoubtedly my favorite book in the series, even though (because?) it broke my heart the most. Sabaa Tahir is not afraid to rip my heart out, stomp on it, and then glue it back together. I respect that but also hate it. (Nothing against Sabaa. She’s great. But also, how dare she??)

I read Reaper back in 2018, and looked up a recap of that book before starting this one. It’s a sign of Tahir’s skill that as soon as I started reading, I fell back into the world as if it hadn’t been three years since I did so last. I was sucked into the story immediately, and terrified for all of the characters.

Unexpected things I loved: Helene, Helene and Harper’s relationship, Laia and Helene’s friendship. The theme here is that, despite sometimes wishing her chapters didn’t interrupt me reading about Laia and Elias, the girl really grew on me. I have so much respect for her, even if, at times, I was internally shrieking because she was being so dense regarding her love life. Also, her and Laia bonding over how much men suck was the quality content I didn’t know I needed in my life. Such a small thing, but a great one.

I knew I loved Laia and Elias, but in between Reaper and Sky, I forgot just how much. They caused me SO MUCH PAIN as I was reading this freaking book, I don’t know how to express it all. The romantic tension between these two and Elias’ tendency to nope out of literally every conversation because he couldn’t handle his own feelings… oh my god. I mean, that specific part of Elias did make me giggle occasionally, but for the most part, I was just internally screeching. When she brought him a mango. When he helped her with her hair. SO MUCH SCREECHING. So help my hopeless romantic heart.

Characters aside, the plot was also brilliant. No one ever caught a break. I never knew what was about to happen. Nothing ever felt repetitive, and there were certainly no easy victories. I think Tahir took the story with the jinn in a very clever direction, one I personally didn’t expect. The war certainly didn’t go the way I expected. I was getting closer and closer to the end, and more and more stressed because of how few pages were left and how much was still wrong. I love books that scare me that way. I’m only being a little bit sarcastic. :)

As for the ending…

I can’t believe both Harper and Darin are dead! That’s so cruel. That’s evil. My poor girls. Helene lost her boyfriend, Laia lost her brother… I’m honestly not sure who broke my heart more. Thank every deity out there that, miraculously, Laia’s mom was alive and took over the role of Soul Catcher so that Laia at least had Elias. If she lost her brother AND they weren’t endgame, it was extremely likely that I would’ve thrown the book across the room.

So much heartbreak. So much pain. But a surprise came in and sort of saved the day, a little bit, so not everything was awful. The last couple of chapters actually had quite a few happy moments, including for Laia and Elias, and if not for the fact that it was after 2 in the morning and I share a small apartment with my family and didn’t want to wake anyone up, who knows how loudly I would’ve squealed. Internally, I was squealing very loudly. The last couple of pages fixed my broken heart with their Elaia content. I’m choosing to focus on that more than… other things.

I’m happy for Helene too, and I think something might eventually happen with her and Musa?? But I was 90% focused on my ship, and wow, did Sabaa deliver. My heart was about to explode when Elias gave Laia the engraved armlet, especially since he got all flustered at the end. It was ADORABLE.

This review is a mess because I finished the book at nearly 3 in the morning and now it’s 4 a.m. and I’m also a mess. But it’s definitely honest, and even though I seriously did ramble, it got my point across. I loved this book so much, despite the emotional turmoil I experienced while reading. Like I said, it’s my favorite in the series, followed by Torch, then Reaper, then Ember. I think. It’s been a hot minute since I read the first three, but anyway. The whole series is spectacular, and I can’t wait to read more from Sabaa Tahir. 🖤

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