Reviews - All Our Shimmering Skies

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622 reviews for:

All Our Shimmering Skies

Trent Dalton

3.91 AVERAGE

taryncharlotte's review against another edition

4.5

medium-paced

cnolz's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

Adventure & magic. Heartbreaking and hopeful. Trent Dalton 🙏🏼

seclement's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

After having read 2 Trent Dalton books that I loved, I was pretty disappointed in this. It had a lot of Australian stereotypes in it, which isn't necessarily unique for him, but it really didn't land for me this time, especially with the Aboriginal characters and the Japanese pilot who drops from the sky. There's the usual mix of magic and reality, and the young, naive central character, which you see in his other books. But when you combine it with WWII Australia (and the Australian mythos around what it was like then), a mix of stereotypical characters who were difficult to connect to, and an account of Australian landscapes seemingly written by someone who doesn't seem to have spent much time there; I just struggled to even get through the story. Although the stereotypes might have aligned with the time at which the story takes place, he doesn't really nail the narrative to make that work. I have said a few times that I think Dalton is one of Australia's best modern fiction authors, but I think I have to put a caveat on that now to say he is at his best when he writes more in line with his own experience, with characters who have tough lives and weird, wonderful, and sometimes tragic coping methods, in Australian cities and suburbs. This book had its moments, but don't start here if you are new to his work.

Also, this was far longer than it needed to be, given the story

Content Warnings

skyshadow24's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ijoh016's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

peachybee53's review against another edition

3.0

Things I loved about this novel; the gorgeous descriptions of vast Australian landscapes, inclusion of First Nations characters and spirituality, Molly Hook's relationship with the sky and her way of looking at things.

Things that I didn't love about this book; the story itself. It just didn't click with me. I prefered Boy Swallows Universe. I enjoy some ambiguity in characters rather than the typical good-vs-bad-guys because it feels somewhat childish. It felt like there were some long sections where not much happened. The references to Yukio's history felt irrelevent except where directly related to his actual experiences. And I felt a bit disappointed by the ending.

liz246810's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Beautifully written - lyrical like poetry. An engaging and compelling read. The narration was brilliant and really made the book come to life. Molly was such a wonderful character as was Greta. I loved listening to this book rather than reading. It really helped to emphasize the beautiful and poetic style of writing