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rhiancmoore's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
thrabenvaliant's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is a fun read, not book junk food as there is a lot to process, but very well-paced with enjoyably diverse vocabulary. The characters all have depth and are extremely believable. The magic in the world is more science and rules based and I absolutely love that about it. The battles are tense and the descriptions plentiful enough to follow easily.
Highly recommend!
Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse
colossal's review against another edition
3.0
A light space fantasy book that's action-packed and inventive but feels extremely derivative.
The Drifting Lands are continents floating in an endless sky. Somehow humans live on them and can travel between them using magical skyships and sorcerers that allow travel via teleportation portals. Aimee de Laurent is a newly graduated portalmage just starting as apprentice to the legendary mage Harkon Bright aboard his skyship Elysium. An unexpected outcome of her first teleportation portal puts the Elysium and her crew in the middle of an invasion of a peaceful kingdom by the Eternal Order led by the dark knight Azrael and soon everyone is fighting for their lives.
This feels very much like Star Wars to me. I can also see parallels to Final Fantasy. It's interesting that we only get the most cursory introductions to the supposed main characters Aimee and Harkon and the crew of their skyship. Instead the focus is on the more interesting character of Azrael as he stalks through the book like a deeply-conflicted Darth Vader. That's not to say that anyone gets much character development: it's very clearly an action-packed story that requires a lot of exposition without much room for other things.
I do have to say that I'm sad to see that Michael Underwood edited this, as the editing is probably my biggest complaint about the book. There are some real clunkers delivered here and there in the text (including in the cringe-worthy opening paragraph) that really should have been sorted out in the edit stage, as well as some truly awful story-telling cliches, particularly including several "as you know Bob" scenes.
The ideas and characters are fun; the execution needed more work.
The Drifting Lands are continents floating in an endless sky. Somehow humans live on them and can travel between them using magical skyships and sorcerers that allow travel via teleportation portals. Aimee de Laurent is a newly graduated portalmage just starting as apprentice to the legendary mage Harkon Bright aboard his skyship Elysium. An unexpected outcome of her first teleportation portal puts the Elysium and her crew in the middle of an invasion of a peaceful kingdom by the Eternal Order led by the dark knight Azrael and soon everyone is fighting for their lives.
This feels very much like Star Wars to me. I can also see parallels to Final Fantasy. It's interesting that we only get the most cursory introductions to the supposed main characters Aimee and Harkon and the crew of their skyship. Instead the focus is on the more interesting character of Azrael as he stalks through the book like a deeply-conflicted Darth Vader. That's not to say that anyone gets much character development: it's very clearly an action-packed story that requires a lot of exposition without much room for other things.
I do have to say that I'm sad to see that Michael Underwood edited this, as the editing is probably my biggest complaint about the book. There are some real clunkers delivered here and there in the text (including in the cringe-worthy opening paragraph) that really should have been sorted out in the edit stage, as well as some truly awful story-telling cliches, particularly including several "as you know Bob" scenes.
The ideas and characters are fun; the execution needed more work.
coinmanatee's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse
Child Sexual Abusesarrie's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes you just really want that fantasy but still somehow sci-fi, action movie style book. This is a book for those times. It was just a flat out fun read.
I also loved the world/setting and magic concepts, simple but well built for the length of this novel. I'm looking forward to the next book.
I also loved the world/setting and magic concepts, simple but well built for the length of this novel. I'm looking forward to the next book.
sbisson's review against another edition
5.0
Recent Reads: Skyfarer. Joseph Brassey's swords'n'spaceships extravaganza is Star Wars in a Roger Dean painting. A worthy, fun debut!
linwearcamenel's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun romp. The comparisons to Firefly are well merited. The crew is necessarily not very fleshed out, mostly stock characters that are found in most ragtag crew stories (the super close siblings, the genius engineer, the mysterious captain, the tough fighter) but hopefully in future books they will get more development.
The main character, Aimee, is an example of the rebellious, headstrong Tough Girl which is actually a trope I hate, because it's usually done as an excuse to write a Strong Female Character™, which is often in itself a way to write female characters without having to write any of that pesky femininity. I also tend to dislike characters who are insistent that they're right constantly and dive headlong into every situation without thinking about consequences for one second, without learning enough about the situation to have a chance of succeeding or listening to people who they actually admit know more about it than them. I'm equal opportunity with this one; it's also the reason I tend to dislike Poe Dameron more than most people (Team Vice-Admiral Holdo forever!) Again, usually. There are ways to do this well and Brassey manages to do so with Aimee, providing good character reasons for why she does the things she does, having her learn from her mistakes and develop as a character. Also, she manages to be likable, which is something so many of those Strong Female Characters™ somehow somehow manage not to be.
But the main reason this book is elevated from a three to four star rating is because of the other main character's story, Azrael. I expected a redemption arc story from the moment I opened the book, not only because it was well and believably set up, but because I had read an article by Joseph Brassey prior to the book's release about his favorite male characters who reject toxic masculinity (male authors who outright reject toxic masculinity are my faves) and one of the characters on his list was Prince Zuko. I am forever a fan of Prince Zuko and his amazingly well-done redemption arc and I'd expect anyone who likes him to write a good redemption arc themselves. Brassey does not disappoint. It's believable and well-done, not easy things for a redemption arc with a character who starts out more monstrous than Zuko ever was. All in all, a good read.
The main character, Aimee, is an example of the rebellious, headstrong Tough Girl which is actually a trope I hate, because it's usually done as an excuse to write a Strong Female Character™, which is often in itself a way to write female characters without having to write any of that pesky femininity. I also tend to dislike characters who are insistent that they're right constantly and dive headlong into every situation without thinking about consequences for one second, without learning enough about the situation to have a chance of succeeding or listening to people who they actually admit know more about it than them. I'm equal opportunity with this one; it's also the reason I tend to dislike Poe Dameron more than most people (Team Vice-Admiral Holdo forever!) Again, usually. There are ways to do this well and Brassey manages to do so with Aimee, providing good character reasons for why she does the things she does, having her learn from her mistakes and develop as a character. Also, she manages to be likable, which is something so many of those Strong Female Characters™ somehow somehow manage not to be.
But the main reason this book is elevated from a three to four star rating is because of the other main character's story, Azrael. I expected a redemption arc story from the moment I opened the book, not only because it was well and believably set up, but because I had read an article by Joseph Brassey prior to the book's release about his favorite male characters who reject toxic masculinity (male authors who outright reject toxic masculinity are my faves) and one of the characters on his list was Prince Zuko. I am forever a fan of Prince Zuko and his amazingly well-done redemption arc and I'd expect anyone who likes him to write a good redemption arc themselves. Brassey does not disappoint. It's believable and well-done, not easy things for a redemption arc with a character who starts out more monstrous than Zuko ever was. All in all, a good read.
thereadinghammock's review
4.0
Finished this book a bit faster than I expected to, if only because the Kindle version includes the preview of the next book in the page counter, so all of a sudden I had finished!
I love a story that doesn't get in it's own way trying to give you the set up of the plot. Most great TV shows have a "cold open" or drop you right into the middle of an already in progress story, which you kind of get with this book. Obviously that's much easier to do with TV and movie formats, so the author does well given the constraints of the format. Once you get through the initial two chapters to set up the conflict and characters, it's off to the races with an action-driven story that gives you little down time to mull and brood over the conflict at hand.
I had a few hunches as we got to know our characters, and while I may not have been on the nose with some of them, I was at least in the ballpark. I'm looking forward to picking up the next installment as soon as it's ready so I can see how the rest of my hunches pay off and/or how the ones I had continue to evolve!
I love a story that doesn't get in it's own way trying to give you the set up of the plot. Most great TV shows have a "cold open" or drop you right into the middle of an already in progress story, which you kind of get with this book. Obviously that's much easier to do with TV and movie formats, so the author does well given the constraints of the format. Once you get through the initial two chapters to set up the conflict and characters, it's off to the races with an action-driven story that gives you little down time to mull and brood over the conflict at hand.
I had a few hunches as we got to know our characters, and while I may not have been on the nose with some of them, I was at least in the ballpark. I'm looking forward to picking up the next installment as soon as it's ready so I can see how the rest of my hunches pay off and/or how the ones I had continue to evolve!
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