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A review by jemofabook
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao
4.5
Loved It, 4.5 Stars
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H Rao was a blast! I had no clue what was going on half the time at the end, but I still loved it! In this world, the jungle is ravaged by earthrages, making it uninhabitable for human beings. Long ago, humanity acquired the ability to traject, and they were able to use this magic to create flying ashrams, supported by a sacred tree. Architects are able to control plant life through trajection, and this is how humanity has survived. However, the earthrages are getting longer, and trajection is becoming more difficult. We follow an estranged, married coupe, Iravan and Ahilya. Iravan is an architect, a member of the council, and one of the most revered citizens in Nakshar. Ahilya is his wife and she is an archeologist. She dislikes the power that architects hold and has dedicated her life to finding a way that humanity can return to the jungle to diminish the power of the architects.
The Surviving Sky starts off with the ashram getting ready to land during a lull between earthrages, and Ahilya preparing to leave on an expedition to find the elephant yaksha (an absolutely monstrously large animal) that she had tagged with a tracker on a previous expedition into the jungle. Iravan accompanies her, and events occur while they are in the jungle that set off the chain reaction over the rest of the book. There is a mystery element as the two work together to uncover answers to the mysteries behind what occurred in the jungle and attempt to keep everything from falling apart.
I'm going to start with the characters because they are a big part of what made me enjoy this book so much! Both Iravan and Ahilya are deeply flawed, but I felt like that made them so much more believable. I was frustrated by some of their communication throughout this book, but it is to be expected as we know they are experiencing marital difficulties. I felt like their interactions made sense for their characters, and I really appreciated how we got to see a couple a decade into their relationship. It's a nice change of pace from typical relationships that are depicted in fantasy, and I really enjoyed rooting for them to come back together.
I also thought that the world and the magic system were incredible. There is a strong element of Hindu philosophy and themes to this book, and while I'm usually not one for philosophy in general, I feel like it worked here. There is a lot of exploration of consciousness, rebirth, nature, and our interaction with the world around us. I am sure some of the deeper meanings escaped me, but I thought it was really well handled and not overly philosophy-ish. I felt like the magic felt almost science-like, and while I didn't fully understand everything that it was able to do, I still greatly enjoyed it.
Overall, it was well=paced and I thought it was a really great book. I am very intrigued to see where we go in future books with all the revelations at the end and where our characters are at. The only reason that this isn't five stars is that I was really confused for a lot of the revelations uncovered towards the end. It didn't diminish my overall enjoyment, but I did feel like I was missing something, and that took me out of the story a bit. However, I was quite content to be a little bit confused!
I received an early review copy from Netgalley and Titan books, but all opinions are my own. The Surviving Sky released June 13, 2023.
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H Rao was a blast! I had no clue what was going on half the time at the end, but I still loved it! In this world, the jungle is ravaged by earthrages, making it uninhabitable for human beings. Long ago, humanity acquired the ability to traject, and they were able to use this magic to create flying ashrams, supported by a sacred tree. Architects are able to control plant life through trajection, and this is how humanity has survived. However, the earthrages are getting longer, and trajection is becoming more difficult. We follow an estranged, married coupe, Iravan and Ahilya. Iravan is an architect, a member of the council, and one of the most revered citizens in Nakshar. Ahilya is his wife and she is an archeologist. She dislikes the power that architects hold and has dedicated her life to finding a way that humanity can return to the jungle to diminish the power of the architects.
The Surviving Sky starts off with the ashram getting ready to land during a lull between earthrages, and Ahilya preparing to leave on an expedition to find the elephant yaksha (an absolutely monstrously large animal) that she had tagged with a tracker on a previous expedition into the jungle. Iravan accompanies her, and events occur while they are in the jungle that set off the chain reaction over the rest of the book. There is a mystery element as the two work together to uncover answers to the mysteries behind what occurred in the jungle and attempt to keep everything from falling apart.
I'm going to start with the characters because they are a big part of what made me enjoy this book so much! Both Iravan and Ahilya are deeply flawed, but I felt like that made them so much more believable. I was frustrated by some of their communication throughout this book, but it is to be expected as we know they are experiencing marital difficulties. I felt like their interactions made sense for their characters, and I really appreciated how we got to see a couple a decade into their relationship. It's a nice change of pace from typical relationships that are depicted in fantasy, and I really enjoyed rooting for them to come back together.
I also thought that the world and the magic system were incredible. There is a strong element of Hindu philosophy and themes to this book, and while I'm usually not one for philosophy in general, I feel like it worked here. There is a lot of exploration of consciousness, rebirth, nature, and our interaction with the world around us. I am sure some of the deeper meanings escaped me, but I thought it was really well handled and not overly philosophy-ish. I felt like the magic felt almost science-like, and while I didn't fully understand everything that it was able to do, I still greatly enjoyed it.
Overall, it was well=paced and I thought it was a really great book. I am very intrigued to see where we go in future books with all the revelations at the end and where our characters are at. The only reason that this isn't five stars is that I was really confused for a lot of the revelations uncovered towards the end. It didn't diminish my overall enjoyment, but I did feel like I was missing something, and that took me out of the story a bit. However, I was quite content to be a little bit confused!
I received an early review copy from Netgalley and Titan books, but all opinions are my own. The Surviving Sky released June 13, 2023.