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rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
At first, I believed that I would give The Other Side of the Sky five stars. I loved the beginning so much, how it introduced us to the very interesting world and how dramatic the plot was from the beginning. Sadly, this rating dropped as soon as the romance and a random villain were introduced, so I could give only 3.5 stars in the end.
Right at the beginning, I was intrigued by both worlds and the protagonists presented to us: One of the worlds is a more fantasy themed world where Nimh lives. Nimh was chosen to be the new goddess but there are two conflicts around this: First, her people start to no longer believe in her godliness since she hasn’t shown any special powers. Second, there’s some kind of deadly mist spreading. Both conflicts are introduced right at the beginning, giving the story first a fast pace. I especially found it interesting to see how Nimh navigated her position, and I liked the small court drama happening.
Our other protagonist, North, lives with his people in the sky in a sci-fi themed world. Their problem is that the island they’re living on are losing their height and that North is not happy with the restrictions his position as a prince brings. I loved this whole set-up with two worlds that don’t know of each other, and I liked the contrast between fantasy and science-fiction.
The plot starts to pick up its pace when North crashes down. Sadly, it significantly slows down around the half and everything became less enjoyable for me in general. Like I’ve said, I didn’t like the fact that Nimh and North fell so fast in love. What I especially had an issue with was the villain since they just appear out of nowhere. What also annoyed me towards the end with its many reveals that almost every character lied about their identity/had a secret identity: Inshara is the daughter of the former goddess, Elkisa is a traitor, Techetur (my notes are barely readable so I’m not sure if this is his name lmao) is not a traitor, and Nimh is the light bringer which leads to her character changing so much. In my eyes, the authors tried too hard to implement as many shocking twists as possible, but it just became tiring and not shocking at all after a while . Just in general, it got so predictable towards the end with North getting captured by the evil guys to force Nimh to do something. I’m pretty sure that even in the text, it was hinted at that something like that would happen . It obviously has to end with a cliff hanger as well where only Nimh and Inshara get ported to the sky .
I’m not fully sure what to think about the writing. On the one side, the settings were described so vividly and were just atmospheric. On the other side, there was a bit too much telling, especially when the world was introduced. Of course, it’s hard to introduce the readers to a new world without telling, but it was simply too much for me. I noticed this as well with the characterisation of Inshara; all the characters say that she’s so charismatic, but we never see this on the page.
Most of the things that I could say about the characters were already said above, but I can add two small notes: I really, really loved the street cat as a sidekick for Nimh and I also liked the fact that North has two moms and is poly if I interpreted it correctly.
The Other Side of the Sky was not able to fulfil its potential fully but I’m still curious how the story will continue – and end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Violence
sankta_aleena's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
librarianlayla's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
I wasn't sure about the juxtaposition of the worlds at the start of this book but as the story progressed I really fell in love with the characters and the journey they embark on.
There is a deeper theme of faith that wars with science, and I appreciated the turmoil that this caused for both parties.
I cannot wait for the sequel, there are still so many questions that need answers and I have my theories!
Perfect for fans of sci-fi fantasy blends, that have a budding romance, magic and plenty of fast paced high stakes action.
There is a deeper theme of faith that wars with science, and I appreciated the turmoil that this caused for both parties.
I cannot wait for the sequel, there are still so many questions that need answers and I have my theories!
Perfect for fans of sci-fi fantasy blends, that have a budding romance, magic and plenty of fast paced high stakes action.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence
c8_19's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
Can we say Disney princess adventure? (I mean, kind of...there's even an animal sidekick)
I enjoyed this story, remained curious throughout to see where it was going, and thought the world-building was solid. Were our two main characters unrealistically flawless and prone to insta-love? Uh, yeah. There is more killing, though, than a real Disney plot would include.
A strong feature of this book is that, as the first in what's looking like a duology, it sets up the sequel really well without straying into the land of info-dump. For instance, I read Realm Breaker (Aveyard) earlier this year and, while I liked it well enough, found it was more dense because it was clear the point of it, as the first in its trilogy, was to introduce a billion characters and really get readers situated in the world, which makes sense. It just bogged down the book. Again, here I found solid world-building, and I like that it wasn't at the expense of energetic plot progression.
I definitely was surprised by some of the character revelations and plot twists, and I'm curious to see how the thread of divinity vs. humanity persists. Specifically, there's this aspect of Nimh's life/duty as her people's goddess that states explicitly that she can't touch or be touched by someone unless they are another divine being. Otherwise, her divinity is tarnished somehow and stripped away. Or, at least, that's what has been ingrained in the culture...until we meet someone who suggests that's a load of nonsense. And, like, great for the people who are invested in the insta-love relationship because then Nimh and North can be together or whatever. But I think it's actually more interesting what this seems to be implying about purity culture, especially as it pertains to women. There's something, it seems, being said about the status people are assigned based on someone's history of being untouched or not that either elevates them and the perception of what they can accomplish and the reverence they deserve or sets them down with the rest of humanity. And it's interesting to see Nimh struggle figure out which sphere she wants to be in even as we, as readers, know there's bound to be overlap.
Book two comes out in January, apparently, so it's a good sign that I'm going to pop over to my library account and put it on hold right now.
I enjoyed this story, remained curious throughout to see where it was going, and thought the world-building was solid. Were our two main characters unrealistically flawless and prone to insta-love? Uh, yeah. There is more killing, though, than a real Disney plot would include.
A strong feature of this book is that, as the first in what's looking like a duology, it sets up the sequel really well without straying into the land of info-dump. For instance, I read Realm Breaker (Aveyard) earlier this year and, while I liked it well enough, found it was more dense because it was clear the point of it, as the first in its trilogy, was to introduce a billion characters and really get readers situated in the world, which makes sense. It just bogged down the book. Again, here I found solid world-building, and I like that it wasn't at the expense of energetic plot progression.
I definitely was surprised by some of the character revelations and plot twists, and I'm curious to see how the thread of divinity vs. humanity persists. Specifically, there's this aspect of Nimh's life/duty as her people's goddess that states explicitly that she can't touch or be touched by someone unless they are another divine being. Otherwise, her divinity is tarnished somehow and stripped away. Or, at least, that's what has been ingrained in the culture...until we meet someone who suggests that's a load of nonsense. And, like, great for the people who are invested in the insta-love relationship because then Nimh and North can be together or whatever. But I think it's actually more interesting what this seems to be implying about purity culture, especially as it pertains to women. There's something, it seems, being said about the status people are assigned based on someone's history of being untouched or not that either elevates them and the perception of what they can accomplish and the reverence they deserve or sets them down with the rest of humanity. And it's interesting to see Nimh struggle figure out which sphere she wants to be in even as we, as readers, know there's bound to be overlap.
Book two comes out in January, apparently, so it's a good sign that I'm going to pop over to my library account and put it on hold right now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
angelareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Warning: Cliffhanger
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and Medical trauma
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, and Suicidal thoughts
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