A review by sleeping_while_awake
Cloudbound by Fran Wilde

3.0

I preferred Cloudbound to its predecessor Updraft. I also preferred Nate as a main character, compared to Kirit, as Nate tries to view things at the larger level, rather than taking everything personally. Kirit puts others in danger rather consistently.

In Cloudbound, now that the Singers have left a power vacuum, others are scrambling to fill it. There is a Council that is trying to do right, however, they don't have strong leadership and there are disagreements. One of Nate's mentors, Doran, is attempting to seize power, with harsh restrictions against the Singers and fledglings. As the plot progresses, it's clear that there is someone else making a power grab that is far worse than Doran.

Nate and Kirit venture down to the clouds to investigate some mysterious occurrences, and they become entangled in the power plays. It's basically Nate, Kirit, and a bunch of their friends hiding out in the clouds (still far from the ground), trying to come up with a way to reveal bad things happening to all the people without making themselves look like the bad guys.

By the end of the book, there is some reveal about the world, so if you were really wanting to know what the bone towers are, you'll find out. Although there are still many surrounding questions left to answer.

It's hard not to give a summary without spoiling. Wilde does not give any sort of recap from the previous book so it took me about 100 pages in before I felt comfortable and understood what the heck was going on in the plot. After that it was engaging, but prior it had a hard time keeping my engagement.

The plot seemed more mature to me. Probably because there's no learning and school element at this point. Even the younger kids are having to deal with adult decisions. It does take a dark element on when people are threatening to throw people off the towers to their deaths.

There was a nice mix of action and dialogue that hit its stride around page 100. Definitely a lot of flying and fighting. The ending really left me hanging for the next book. I need to understand this world!! So much mystery, I have so many questions
SpoilerWhy would taking residence in what is essentially a horn growing out of an animal be a good idea? How could this knowledge be lost? Were are those adventurers who need to see what's out there? So many questions...