A review by kaden_kirtley
A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King

3.0

The rating should probably be a little higher but I can’t help comparing it to what it could have been. The cover and title are beautiful. I want a poster of this cover. The title A Once Crowded Sky will live in my head for a long time. And the story itself had the potential to be incredible. But two things prevented me from getting there. One was the writing style. I struggle with the sparse style that almost reads more as a script than a book. It was choppy and stoic and made it hard to fall into the story. The bigger problem I had with it was the cynicism which is admittedly an even bigger personal preference thing than the writing style critique. The impulse to make a superhero story more “mature” or “real” by framing it through a cynical lens is missing the mark for me on what makes these stories worth telling. The idea of a better tomorrow and that goodness can make a difference has been the calling card of superhero stories for 85 years and gritty reimaginings of the genre feel incredibly hollow to me.

It had the makings to be an all-time favorite for me and more than anything else I’m just bummed at the route it took away from that promise.