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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this book!
This story is set in the 28th Century on a depopulated Earth. Car-En lives on a ring station called the Stanford and is on her first scientific research Mission to Earth to observe a viking like village and its inhabitants. Many villagers die in their mid-life due to a mysterious illness and Car-en risks everything to violate her departments policy of No intervention to help the village and its people. The policy of No intervention is to protect both civilisations- the inhabitants of the 'sky' and ring stations and also the villagers on Earth. For the inhabitants of this village to meet Car-En and her advanced technology and knowledge could jeopardise everything.
A villager called Katja is kidnapped by a strange and mysterious being. Katja's brothers Trond and Esper set out to find and bring her home. Unknown to them Car-En is also following to observe and research their behaviour. Car-En aims to help the brothers and they end up meeting and setting out on the journey together. The villagers are suspicious of Car-En and her supervisor on the ring station back home is becoming more unhinged.
This book kept me on edge!
Although it is set in the 28th century you feel like the inhabitants of Earth and their living ways are similar to past centuries such as the times of the vikings where the average life expectantcy is quite low and they have traditions and ceremonies that we might associate with eras of the past.
Car-Ens life and the population and lives on The Stanford bring the element of futuristic fantasy with their advanced technology and the way they observe the earths inhabitants onboard ring stations in the sky. This creates a great crossover where the futuristic meets the ''past''.
The book keeps you on the edge of your seat as you wait to find out the outcome of the book, is Katja saved? do we find out what is causing the mysterious illness? what happens when Car-En and the villagers meet?
We find all of this out and it is a wild ride!
I don't want to elaborate much more as it would be very easy to give spoilers but if you're looking for a book that has elements of ''past'' eras mixed with the futuristic, an Earth mission to collect research, kidnapping, mystery and action then this is a great book to read.
I am very much looking forward to reading the next book to continue this story and world.
This story is set in the 28th Century on a depopulated Earth. Car-En lives on a ring station called the Stanford and is on her first scientific research Mission to Earth to observe a viking like village and its inhabitants. Many villagers die in their mid-life due to a mysterious illness and Car-en risks everything to violate her departments policy of No intervention to help the village and its people. The policy of No intervention is to protect both civilisations- the inhabitants of the 'sky' and ring stations and also the villagers on Earth. For the inhabitants of this village to meet Car-En and her advanced technology and knowledge could jeopardise everything.
A villager called Katja is kidnapped by a strange and mysterious being. Katja's brothers Trond and Esper set out to find and bring her home. Unknown to them Car-En is also following to observe and research their behaviour. Car-En aims to help the brothers and they end up meeting and setting out on the journey together. The villagers are suspicious of Car-En and her supervisor on the ring station back home is becoming more unhinged.
This book kept me on edge!
Although it is set in the 28th century you feel like the inhabitants of Earth and their living ways are similar to past centuries such as the times of the vikings where the average life expectantcy is quite low and they have traditions and ceremonies that we might associate with eras of the past.
Car-Ens life and the population and lives on The Stanford bring the element of futuristic fantasy with their advanced technology and the way they observe the earths inhabitants onboard ring stations in the sky. This creates a great crossover where the futuristic meets the ''past''.
The book keeps you on the edge of your seat as you wait to find out the outcome of the book, is Katja saved? do we find out what is causing the mysterious illness? what happens when Car-En and the villagers meet?
We find all of this out and it is a wild ride!
I don't want to elaborate much more as it would be very easy to give spoilers but if you're looking for a book that has elements of ''past'' eras mixed with the futuristic, an Earth mission to collect research, kidnapping, mystery and action then this is a great book to read.
I am very much looking forward to reading the next book to continue this story and world.
I don't know where to start with The Sky Woman. I'm going to say upfront that I did not finish this book. I could not read any more of it & only had about 100 pages left.
From the beginning, this book seemed to be confused about what it want to be. The cover & synopsis are presented as sci-fi, but it opens with more of a medieval fantasy story. It was nonsensical, cheesy, and difficult to connect with. I don't know if this book appears to be marketed as sci-fi to draw a certain type of reader in, but apparently my expectations about this book were completely wrong.
This book moves slowly & it went in so many different directions. It was incredibly disjointed, and my entire reading group struggled with it. I did not care for the attempted mix of fantasy and sci-fi - it did not blend well at all for this story.
There was so much unnecessary information, and the romance was nauseating. It became impossible to take seriously. I don't know what the purpose of this book was, or what type of reader this book is for, but hopefully someone else has better luck with it.
From the beginning, this book seemed to be confused about what it want to be. The cover & synopsis are presented as sci-fi, but it opens with more of a medieval fantasy story. It was nonsensical, cheesy, and difficult to connect with. I don't know if this book appears to be marketed as sci-fi to draw a certain type of reader in, but apparently my expectations about this book were completely wrong.
This book moves slowly & it went in so many different directions. It was incredibly disjointed, and my entire reading group struggled with it. I did not care for the attempted mix of fantasy and sci-fi - it did not blend well at all for this story.
There was so much unnecessary information, and the romance was nauseating. It became impossible to take seriously. I don't know what the purpose of this book was, or what type of reader this book is for, but hopefully someone else has better luck with it.
adventurous
medium-paced
As a whole, I have to be honest and say I was disappointed with The Sky Woman. There is so much potential here but it never quite delivers; possibly due to diverting story time to underdeveloped side plots.
I really liked Moyer’s blending of sci-fi and medieval fantasy genres; his detailed descriptions of the villages, and the history behind how the Earth went from what we know today to where it is in his story were my favorite part of the book.
Sadly, I think the book struggled with the characters and side plots. I couldn’t get invested in any character and I felt that only Adrian and Trond were developed characters - everyone else felt flat or caricature-like. For a story relying so heavily on characters and relationships, I want to see much more development.
Lastly, I personally hate the love-at-first-sight trope, but if it’s going to be in the book I think it should be more developed. Why is so and so attracted to so and so?? What are the repercussions to this attraction?? In short, why should I care? Moyer doesn’t give us much reason for Car-En and Esper’s relationship and doesn’t develop it at all. They literally meet and then have sex. That’s boring.
I will still be giving the second book a chance, but I can’t recommend The Sky Woman.
I really liked Moyer’s blending of sci-fi and medieval fantasy genres; his detailed descriptions of the villages, and the history behind how the Earth went from what we know today to where it is in his story were my favorite part of the book.
Sadly, I think the book struggled with the characters and side plots. I couldn’t get invested in any character and I felt that only Adrian and Trond were developed characters - everyone else felt flat or caricature-like. For a story relying so heavily on characters and relationships, I want to see much more development.
Lastly, I personally hate the love-at-first-sight trope, but if it’s going to be in the book I think it should be more developed. Why is so and so attracted to so and so?? What are the repercussions to this attraction?? In short, why should I care? Moyer doesn’t give us much reason for Car-En and Esper’s relationship and doesn’t develop it at all. They literally meet and then have sex. That’s boring.
I will still be giving the second book a chance, but I can’t recommend The Sky Woman.
This fantasy sci-fi mash-up imagines how our present can lead to a future straight out of a D&D adventure. Recommended if you like your scifi hard and your fantasy fantastic, especially if you enjoy heady and detailed discussions that feel well-researched, reminds me a bit of Kim Stanley Robinson's discussions of Mars.
I went into The Sky Woman expecting hard science fiction but this entertaining story which follows multiple narratives is actually an intriguing mix of sci-fi and fantasy. The opening chapter follows Tron, a strong and powerful smith who lives in a simple Viking-like village where he makes arrowheads for a mysterious sounding Burning but must also forge weapons and bodkins to sew leather armour which will protect the villagers against attacks from Haakon, the cruel and dangerous leader from a neighbouring village who has already twice raided Happdal. One in three men and one in five women in the village sicken in early adulthood and his uncle, Bjorn is the latest to be Afflicted. Tron treats his uncle's talk of the gast - an evil forest sprite who destroys minds and steals bodies - to be merely a result of the fevered dreams of a dying man but this turns out to be an important secondary storyline - although more of that later in the review.
When Car-En is introduced in the second chapter, the science-fiction elements of the story come into play as learn about her mission on Earth. As the novel progresses we discover more about why humans who live on a ringstation orbiting Earth are technologically and biologically advanced while those on Earth have devolved to live primitively without much of the knowledge that had been learned over the centuries of human advancement. This, for me, was one of the most fascinating parts of the book and I really enjoyed the occasional excerpts from a paper entitled 'The Four Phases of Earth Depopulation' which serves as an interesting and cautionary explanation of the history of the planet and the reasons behind depopulation and knowledge loss.
Car-En's mission is to observe but not to interact but she finds she becomes attached to the villagers - and Trond's brother, Esper in particular. It's perhaps not surprising that despite their differences, she should feel empathy for what are her fellow humans and can't resist ignoring her orders to just bear witness, instead revealing herself to the villagers and offering to help when Trond and Esper's sister, Katja is abducted. Katja's disappearance is the catalyst for the secondary storyline which is woven well into the plot and involves a complex but engaging subplot involving a sentient quantum framework which has become a sort of prison. I didn't fully understand the physics here but nevertheless found this challenging and ambitious part of the book hugely enjoyable.
My only criticism of The Sky Woman would be the speed at which Car-En and Esper's relationship blossoms. It's not a major problem, however, and is understandable in a fairly short book with such a thoroughly developed and engaging plot which expands on so many different themes and ideas - including the long-term climatic and cultural impacts our current lifestyles may have on the planet, the possibilities for genetic advancements creating almost super-humans, and more relatable questions about home and the universal need to belong. I loved the juxtaposition between the two disparate groups of humans, and the various antagonists who present different yet no less deadly risks to the villagers and Car-En. The Sky Woman is a compelling and vividly imaginative novel which considers a thoughtful and plausible future for humankind and there's definitely scope for more. I would love to find out what happens next, particularly to Car-En whose experiences lead her to make huge decisions about how she wants to live her life. I haven't read as much SFF as I would have liked this year, The Sky Woman has reminded me of what I've been missing and I'll certainly be looking out for more of J.D. Moyer's books in the future.
When Car-En is introduced in the second chapter, the science-fiction elements of the story come into play as learn about her mission on Earth. As the novel progresses we discover more about why humans who live on a ringstation orbiting Earth are technologically and biologically advanced while those on Earth have devolved to live primitively without much of the knowledge that had been learned over the centuries of human advancement. This, for me, was one of the most fascinating parts of the book and I really enjoyed the occasional excerpts from a paper entitled 'The Four Phases of Earth Depopulation' which serves as an interesting and cautionary explanation of the history of the planet and the reasons behind depopulation and knowledge loss.
Car-En's mission is to observe but not to interact but she finds she becomes attached to the villagers - and Trond's brother, Esper in particular. It's perhaps not surprising that despite their differences, she should feel empathy for what are her fellow humans and can't resist ignoring her orders to just bear witness, instead revealing herself to the villagers and offering to help when Trond and Esper's sister, Katja is abducted. Katja's disappearance is the catalyst for the secondary storyline which is woven well into the plot and involves a complex but engaging subplot involving a sentient quantum framework which has become a sort of prison. I didn't fully understand the physics here but nevertheless found this challenging and ambitious part of the book hugely enjoyable.
My only criticism of The Sky Woman would be the speed at which Car-En and Esper's relationship blossoms. It's not a major problem, however, and is understandable in a fairly short book with such a thoroughly developed and engaging plot which expands on so many different themes and ideas - including the long-term climatic and cultural impacts our current lifestyles may have on the planet, the possibilities for genetic advancements creating almost super-humans, and more relatable questions about home and the universal need to belong. I loved the juxtaposition between the two disparate groups of humans, and the various antagonists who present different yet no less deadly risks to the villagers and Car-En. The Sky Woman is a compelling and vividly imaginative novel which considers a thoughtful and plausible future for humankind and there's definitely scope for more. I would love to find out what happens next, particularly to Car-En whose experiences lead her to make huge decisions about how she wants to live her life. I haven't read as much SFF as I would have liked this year, The Sky Woman has reminded me of what I've been missing and I'll certainly be looking out for more of J.D. Moyer's books in the future.