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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
My first Wendig book! I've read his blog forever, but this is the first time I've read any of his published work. I am definitely a fan. ;)
It seemed pretty short but I also found it hard to put down, so that may have made it seem like it wasn't long!
I'm excited for the rest of the series!
It seemed pretty short but I also found it hard to put down, so that may have made it seem like it wasn't long!
I'm excited for the rest of the series!
This was definitely written with a younger audience target base, which I knew before buying it, but I still thought it was worth a shot after reading [b:Wanderers|32603079|Wanderers|Chuck Wendig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542215231l/32603079._SY75_.jpg|53184096], which I was pleasantly surprised with. Under The Empyrean Sky is still enjoyable for a reader of any age, it has good pace, nice elements and the characters are ok. But I have to admit I constantly thought to myself, while reading, that this would have been amazing if written as an adult horror sci-fi...but that's just me.
There isn't much in the way of plot, it all feels quite static, as if we're being prepared for the next books in the series, which is fine if your plan was always to read all three books in the Heartland trilogy, the second and third being [b:Blightborn|20483018|Blightborn (The Heartland Trilogy #2)|Chuck Wendig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393361744l/20483018._SY75_.jpg|32573536] and [b:The Harvest|25122002|The Harvest (The Heartland Trilogy, #3)|Chuck Wendig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430403823l/25122002._SY75_.jpg|44257289]. And if you do read this first book you will definitely want to read the next.
Despite the couple of gripes I have with the book it is still very enjoyable and definitely worth a read. [a:Chuck Wendig's|17152|Chuck Wendig|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1294919586p2/17152.jpg] writing is very consistent and colourful and he's painted a fantastic world. I for one am anxious to see where we go from here.
And yes, I have bought the other two books in the trilogy.
There isn't much in the way of plot, it all feels quite static, as if we're being prepared for the next books in the series, which is fine if your plan was always to read all three books in the Heartland trilogy, the second and third being [b:Blightborn|20483018|Blightborn (The Heartland Trilogy #2)|Chuck Wendig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393361744l/20483018._SY75_.jpg|32573536] and [b:The Harvest|25122002|The Harvest (The Heartland Trilogy, #3)|Chuck Wendig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430403823l/25122002._SY75_.jpg|44257289]. And if you do read this first book you will definitely want to read the next.
Despite the couple of gripes I have with the book it is still very enjoyable and definitely worth a read. [a:Chuck Wendig's|17152|Chuck Wendig|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1294919586p2/17152.jpg] writing is very consistent and colourful and he's painted a fantastic world. I for one am anxious to see where we go from here.
And yes, I have bought the other two books in the trilogy.
While the story is a typical coming-of-age arc, the setting and the supporting cast are able to overcome the protagonist's currently-douchey attitude. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.
3.5 stars
I've heard good things about Chuck Wendig, and I do enjoy his blog quite a bit, but I'd been reluctant to try his fiction. It sounded a bit more gruesome and, er, intense than what I usually like to read. But when I read his Big Idea post on Scalzi's website, I knew I at least had to check this one out. I mean, cornpunk? Come on.
In Mr. Wendig's words, the idea for this book started out as a joke:
Well, I was pretty much done for after reading that. Even if I didn't end up loving the book, he'd piqued my interest enough that I pretty much needed to read it right away. I didn't end up loving it, but I still think it was worth it.
Here are my main thoughts about Under the Empyrean Sky:
1. For most of the book, the story falls victim to the standard YA dystopian plot arc. If you've read any amount of YA at all, you can probably guess where most of this is going. This mostly applies only to the worldbuilding.
2. HOWEVER. That standard YA worldbuilding is almost entirely covered with a thin layer of Wendig's own special brand of whatever it is he's got going on in his head. The cornpunk thing was by turns mind numbing, intriguing, and horrifying. He's created a nightmare world out of Americana: farmland, corn, the Heartland . . . they're all cursed in this book, and it's bleak as fuck. It actually reminds me strongly of a dystopian version of The Grapes of Wrath.
3. Relatedly, one of the reasons I wasn't feeling this book in the beginning is that it did remind me so strongly of The Grapes of Wrath, a book which I do not like. In fact, for whatever reason, I really can't stand books or movies that are set in and around the dustbowl and the Great Depression. I hate them. So that definitely affected my reading of this book.
4. Though it was well-written, and the characters were three dimensional and interesting, I didn't actually like any of them, so it wasn't really that fun to read about them.
5. The ending really picked up and once a certain thing happened, I was interested in seeing where else Wendig would take his story, now that he's got the intro bits taken care of.
All in all, worth checking out even if it wasn't necessarily my thing -- it's DEFINITELY better than most of the YA shit that gets published these days. And who knows, maybe someday I'll be brave enough to try some of Wendig's adult fare. Although I doubt it. In her review of Double Dead, SJ mentioned that one might need brain bleach while reading, and the need for brain bleach is a pretty strong deterrent (I don't really like zombie books, either).
Anyway, Wendig seems cool, even if his books sound like they'll give me nightmares, even his YA ones (seriously, guys, corn everywhere like a virus, people going sterile and getting tumors all over the place . . . gag).
I've heard good things about Chuck Wendig, and I do enjoy his blog quite a bit, but I'd been reluctant to try his fiction. It sounded a bit more gruesome and, er, intense than what I usually like to read. But when I read his Big Idea post on Scalzi's website, I knew I at least had to check this one out. I mean, cornpunk? Come on.
In Mr. Wendig's words, the idea for this book started out as a joke:
I blog five days out of seven at terribleminds and sometimes the blog posts come easily and other times they come like I’m trying to perform a root canal on a velociraptor and one of the times the blog post came easy was one where I talked about – and asked people to submit their own – SomethingPunk derivatives. You got cyberpunk, dieselpunk, bugpunk, and so forth, and I thought it’d be a whole sack of hoots for folks to invent their own silly SomethingPunk subgenres.
One of my suggestions was “cornpunk.”
I wrote:
'The yaddayaddapunks generally posit a world essentially fueled by the yaddayaddathing, right? Everything runs on steam in steampunk, cyberpunk shows a world ineluctably married to futuristic corporate computer culture, and splatterpunk reveals a future where everything is based on an economical ecosystem of gore and viscera. (Okay, I might have that last one wrong.) If you were to assign our current day and age a Somethingpunk name, you might think of it as “Oil-and-Cheeseburger-Punk,” but that really doesn’t have a ring. But. But! Everything is also based on corn. I think with a few knob twists and lever pulls, you could crank that up and offer up a crazy moonbat podunk dystopian future-present where all of Western Civilization is powered by corn and corn-derivatives. It’s all silos and cornfields and giant mega-tractor-threshers and it’ll be all “Great Depression II: Sadness Boogaloo.” And fuck me if this didn’t start out as a joke but now sounds completely compelling. I call dibs! I call dibs on cornpunk! And niblets, too! Corn niblets! I call dibs on corn niblets because they are delicious!'
Well, I was pretty much done for after reading that. Even if I didn't end up loving the book, he'd piqued my interest enough that I pretty much needed to read it right away. I didn't end up loving it, but I still think it was worth it.
Here are my main thoughts about Under the Empyrean Sky:
1. For most of the book, the story falls victim to the standard YA dystopian plot arc. If you've read any amount of YA at all, you can probably guess where most of this is going. This mostly applies only to the worldbuilding.
2. HOWEVER. That standard YA worldbuilding is almost entirely covered with a thin layer of Wendig's own special brand of whatever it is he's got going on in his head. The cornpunk thing was by turns mind numbing, intriguing, and horrifying. He's created a nightmare world out of Americana: farmland, corn, the Heartland . . . they're all cursed in this book, and it's bleak as fuck. It actually reminds me strongly of a dystopian version of The Grapes of Wrath.
3. Relatedly, one of the reasons I wasn't feeling this book in the beginning is that it did remind me so strongly of The Grapes of Wrath, a book which I do not like. In fact, for whatever reason, I really can't stand books or movies that are set in and around the dustbowl and the Great Depression. I hate them. So that definitely affected my reading of this book.
4. Though it was well-written, and the characters were three dimensional and interesting, I didn't actually like any of them, so it wasn't really that fun to read about them.
5. The ending really picked up and once a certain thing happened, I was interested in seeing where else Wendig would take his story, now that he's got the intro bits taken care of.
All in all, worth checking out even if it wasn't necessarily my thing -- it's DEFINITELY better than most of the YA shit that gets published these days. And who knows, maybe someday I'll be brave enough to try some of Wendig's adult fare. Although I doubt it. In her review of Double Dead, SJ mentioned that one might need brain bleach while reading, and the need for brain bleach is a pretty strong deterrent (I don't really like zombie books, either).
Anyway, Wendig seems cool, even if his books sound like they'll give me nightmares, even his YA ones (seriously, guys, corn everywhere like a virus, people going sterile and getting tumors all over the place . . . gag).
**4.5 Stars**
This book simply ASTOUNDED me. I went into it with pretty low expectations, but Wendig really delivers. The book starts out with a throwdown between Cael and Boyland Barnes Jr., Cael's archrival and the mayor's son. Both Cael and Boyland are scavengers, meaning they scour the Heartland (Earth) for artifacts and interesting things that the community can sell to the cities in the sky, the Empyrean. Boyland has quite the reputation as a scavenger because he plays dirty (and being the mayor's son helps with this) , thus the rivalry. Boyland's dirty tactics are illustrated in the first chapter.
The amazing part of this book is how detail-oriented the plot and world are for the page count. Within the first few chapters we get a clear picture of the world Cael lives in. Basically the Earth (Heartland) is completely ruined for any agriculture except this crazy, scary hybrid strain of corn (the corn is very creepy). As a result, only a few towns exist solely to grow the corn and keep it somewhat under control with chemicals. This had led to numerous problems such as lack of resources and eating the chemically corn, stillbirths, Blight (where body parts are made of vines), tumors, deformities, etc. Think consequences of exposure to radiation. Meanwhile, anyone who really matters is living in the cities in the sky - the Empyrean; large, floating flotillas of rooms and passageways that make up dozens of cities. Naturally there is some discontent from those in the Heartland. All that barely scratches the surface.
Another strong point for Under the Empyrean Sky is how well written it is. Most of the characters, even secondary characters, have more than just one face. Even a character that you may think you have completely figured out could still surprise you in the ending. For example,. As late as the last 10 pages, I was STILL surprised. It was crazy!
The only drawback to this book was that maybe it had a little too much going on in one book. I really like everything that happened in the last 50%, but to me it felt like it had multiple climaxes. Everything goes haywire, then it calms down, then it's all crazy again, then it calms down, and then it's crazy again. To be honest, it was too much of a rollercoaster of emotion. Nevertheless, I immediately bought the sequel and eagerly wait to see what happens to Cael & company!
This book simply ASTOUNDED me. I went into it with pretty low expectations, but Wendig really delivers. The book starts out with a throwdown between Cael and Boyland Barnes Jr., Cael's archrival and the mayor's son. Both Cael and Boyland are scavengers, meaning they scour the Heartland (Earth) for artifacts and interesting things that the community can sell to the cities in the sky, the Empyrean. Boyland has quite the reputation as a scavenger because he plays dirty (and being the mayor's son helps with this) , thus the rivalry. Boyland's dirty tactics are illustrated in the first chapter.
The amazing part of this book is how detail-oriented the plot and world are for the page count. Within the first few chapters we get a clear picture of the world Cael lives in. Basically the Earth (Heartland) is completely ruined for any agriculture except this crazy, scary hybrid strain of corn (the corn is very creepy). As a result, only a few towns exist solely to grow the corn and keep it somewhat under control with chemicals. This had led to numerous problems such as lack of resources and eating the chemically corn, stillbirths, Blight (where body parts are made of vines), tumors, deformities, etc. Think consequences of exposure to radiation. Meanwhile, anyone who really matters is living in the cities in the sky - the Empyrean; large, floating flotillas of rooms and passageways that make up dozens of cities. Naturally there is some discontent from those in the Heartland. All that barely scratches the surface.
Another strong point for Under the Empyrean Sky is how well written it is. Most of the characters, even secondary characters, have more than just one face. Even a character that you may think you have completely figured out could still surprise you in the ending. For example,
Spoiler
Gwennie is betrothed to Boyland, but is in love with Cael. When she is taken to the Empyrean, Cael tries everything to get her back to the Heartland, but so does Boyland. Boyland isn't just a dumb brute. When Gwennie sees this, she is actually a little at war with herself over feeling sympathy for him. Gwennie may have to make a real choice in the futureThe only drawback to this book was that maybe it had a little too much going on in one book. I really like everything that happened in the last 50%, but to me it felt like it had multiple climaxes. Everything goes haywire, then it calms down, then it's all crazy again, then it calms down, and then it's crazy again. To be honest, it was too much of a rollercoaster of emotion. Nevertheless, I immediately bought the sequel and eagerly wait to see what happens to Cael & company!
This was an amazing book. A "hopeful dystopia" as I like to call them. I've been waiting impatiently for the sequel, and cannot wait to get it and read it as well.
Mr. Wendig has been one of my favorite authors for a few years now, but I am glad to finally be able to share his books with some of my friends who need a gentler introduction to his style. I've already used this novel to turn a couple of people on to his Blackbirds series.
Mr. Wendig has been one of my favorite authors for a few years now, but I am glad to finally be able to share his books with some of my friends who need a gentler introduction to his style. I've already used this novel to turn a couple of people on to his Blackbirds series.
Wow, I love it. In-your-face characterization, juicy world-building, economical, punchy language. Really skillful. Looking forward to parts 2 & 3.
Parental rating: I asked the author if my 10 yr old could read this (when I bought it). He said, "wait until he's 12". I'll probably wait a bit longer. There's some teen sex in one scene and a lot of the story includes romantic attraction and entanglements. There's also a lot of bleak dystopian stuff that probably won't appeal to my older son until he's 14 or 15. The later installments get more graphic (though the sex is still very tasteful and teen-appropriate IMO). The violence is not glorified but it is gritty. If your younger teen is going to want to romp through the whole series (and they will) you'll need to be ok with them being exposed to graphic war-time violence and finding out where babies come from ;)
Parental rating: I asked the author if my 10 yr old could read this (when I bought it). He said, "wait until he's 12". I'll probably wait a bit longer. There's some teen sex in one scene and a lot of the story includes romantic attraction and entanglements. There's also a lot of bleak dystopian stuff that probably won't appeal to my older son until he's 14 or 15. The later installments get more graphic (though the sex is still very tasteful and teen-appropriate IMO). The violence is not glorified but it is gritty. If your younger teen is going to want to romp through the whole series (and they will) you'll need to be ok with them being exposed to graphic war-time violence and finding out where babies come from ;)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
interesting world but i probably won't continue the series. love the author's other stuff and this wasn't bad but i just wasn't enthralled by it like his other works