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phyrre 's review for:
Shatter the Sky
by Rebecca Kim Wells
You can read my full review at my blog, The Writerly Way, here.
Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Sapphic romance, a country in turmoil, dragons dragoning, kidnapped maidens, and a quest to save one’s “heartmate”. Do I have your attention yet? On paper, this book sounds perfect, right? It ticks all the boxes. I am a weak, simple bookdragon, so how could I possibly resist?!
I’m going to be upfront and admit that I came really close to DNFing it (and would have, if not assured that the ending was worth it). Ultimately, it was an enjoyable book, if not quite delivering on the promises laid out in its blurb.
I think this just ended up being a case of not the right book for me, personally. When I picked it up, I was expecting some sort of epic adventure quest sort of book with a go-getter character. Instead, it felt more like a Bildungsroman (coming of age) story. Had I known that, would I have picked it up? Probably not, simply because I know I tend not to enjoy coming-of-age stories, personally.
With all that being said, though, the end was pretty much exactly what I originally expected. So do I intend to read the sequel? Yeah, probably.
My Thoughts:
- Move over, Prince Charming. Girls got this covered. Maren is a normal homebody girl with seemingly no talents. She’s pretty much as average as they come. But why should that stop her from saving the day? I loved Maren’s character arc in this one, because she doesn’t magically become a new character over the course of the book. She just learns to trust herself. I also really enjoyed that a woman gets to save the day. This isn’t at the detriment to men (in fact, there’s a male character that plays a large role in the story). But it is a nice change to the stereotypical damsel needing rescuing from the big, strong man.
- Maren has one of the most awesome arcs, of an average, homebody girl discovering the world and learning that she is, indeed, more capable than she ever imagined. Of all the arcs I’ve read, I think Maren’s is definitely one of the strongest. It comes in bits and pieces as she focuses on her goal and is derailed time and time again, so she has to rework and scheme. Watching her evolve from a sort of blah humbug character to the strong woman I hoped she’d be was really a nice transformation.
- Book has dragons. What more do you need? Plus, it treats them in a bit of a unique way. What I really liked about these dragons is that not only do they bond (or not, sometimes) with a single person, but this is accomplished through aromatherapy, basically. Because dragons have really sensitive snoots, of course. I haven’t seen this done before, but I enjoyed how the different scents could elicit different emotions in the dragons.
- The ending was pretty much everything I had hoped the book would be and wow did it really kick into gear at the end there. I mean, you know I can’t actually talk about any of it, right? There’s definitely a lot to love about the last 15% or so of the book. It felt more like the book I had been expecting, so it gives me a lot of hope for the sequel.
Sticking Points:
- I feel like there was some disconnect between what the blurb says the book’s about and what the book is actually about, which is a shame, because I loved the idea of it. The blurb sounds very much like a badass female risking it all for the woman she loves, and this is that … sort of. But more than that, it feels like a bildungsroman, where a self-doubting girl from a small town leaves it for the first time to rescue the girl she loves, but then discovers the world is a really big place and feelings are complicated and she learns about herself. Which would have been fine … if that was the book I had thought I was picking up.
The main character, Maren, isn’t just lesbian; she’s bi. Which means that, of course, there’s a love triangle with a guy. Which, don’t get me wrong, bi rep is cool and all, buuut … that’s not what I was here for? Considering the F/F relationship gets, like, 5% screentime and the other side of the triangle gets, like, 50% … welp, the triangle didn’t exactly feel isosceles, okay?
- Everything’s a little too easy for Maren. Sure, things come up that inconvenience her, but then she magically has some sort of coveted skill or ability or meets just the right person who decides to help her. It never feels like she really works for anything, but is sort of just handed all the answers.
- The timeline felt a little wonky to me, and was both too rushed and too slow. It’s a weird dichotomy. A lot of this book is traveling, but a lot is also at the hatchery. Neither of which was particularly overly exciting?
- I don’t like Kaia. There, I said it. I know, it breaks my heart, too. The problem here, I think, is twofold, because on paper, Kaia sounds like she’d easily be my favorite character. Sarcastic, confident, take-charge attitude. What’s not to love? First, Kaia appears very little in the story, by necessity, so we don’t actually really get to know her as a character. We have to learn about her through other people—mostly Maren. Which is where point two comes in: despite loving her, Maren talks about Kaia in an almost jealous tone, making her sound like a Mary Sue, but in a negative way.
Since this is Maren’s story, and I get to know Maren the most, I want Maren to be happy. But the way Maren talks about Kaia, there’s no way that, in my mind, she can possibly be happy with Kaia, because she’ll always be living in her shadow or feeling less than somehow. Which again, I came here for the badass F/F power couple! So this was incredibly frustrating for me. Listen, even if this couple remains endgame, it will always be tainted for me and one that I just can’t support.
- Maren’s hypocrisy really just drove me absolutely bonkers. She gets mad at others for keeping secrets, even though she’s keeping secrets herself. She trusts no one (probably a good idea, to be honest), but at the same time expects everyone to just inherently trust her and is mad when they don’t because how dare they keep things from her and not tell her everything. She’s mad at those evil people who would enslave dragons and use them for their own purposes … but hypocrite much? I just wanted to shake someone because hellooooo, nothing you’re currently doing is in order to directly benefit dragons, either. You only want to steal a dragon to serve your own purpose, too.
- This is really nitpicky and I’m going to own that, but … Maren on the cover looks nothing like Maren that’s described in the books to me. I mean, for one, her skin color is often described as reddish and tanned, compared to light on clay, for example, so I was expecting something that looked a little less … East Asian? I think the world was supposed to be an Asian-inspired one, but I guess I missed it. I didn’t get that feel, but to be fair, I also don’t think I paid that much attention. Also, at the point where Maren would be holding a knife, she was imitating the hairstyle of that culture, where women plaited their hair, sometimes with smaller braids on the side of their head, and that hairstyle sounds so freaking interesting. I’m disappointed not to get the chance to see it. Again, this has no real bearing on the rating or anything. Just something that struck me as I was reading and looking at the cover.
Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Sapphic romance, a country in turmoil, dragons dragoning, kidnapped maidens, and a quest to save one’s “heartmate”. Do I have your attention yet? On paper, this book sounds perfect, right? It ticks all the boxes. I am a weak, simple bookdragon, so how could I possibly resist?!
I’m going to be upfront and admit that I came really close to DNFing it (and would have, if not assured that the ending was worth it). Ultimately, it was an enjoyable book, if not quite delivering on the promises laid out in its blurb.
I think this just ended up being a case of not the right book for me, personally. When I picked it up, I was expecting some sort of epic adventure quest sort of book with a go-getter character. Instead, it felt more like a Bildungsroman (coming of age) story. Had I known that, would I have picked it up? Probably not, simply because I know I tend not to enjoy coming-of-age stories, personally.
With all that being said, though, the end was pretty much exactly what I originally expected. So do I intend to read the sequel? Yeah, probably.
My Thoughts:
- Move over, Prince Charming. Girls got this covered. Maren is a normal homebody girl with seemingly no talents. She’s pretty much as average as they come. But why should that stop her from saving the day? I loved Maren’s character arc in this one, because she doesn’t magically become a new character over the course of the book. She just learns to trust herself. I also really enjoyed that a woman gets to save the day. This isn’t at the detriment to men (in fact, there’s a male character that plays a large role in the story). But it is a nice change to the stereotypical damsel needing rescuing from the big, strong man.
- Maren has one of the most awesome arcs, of an average, homebody girl discovering the world and learning that she is, indeed, more capable than she ever imagined. Of all the arcs I’ve read, I think Maren’s is definitely one of the strongest. It comes in bits and pieces as she focuses on her goal and is derailed time and time again, so she has to rework and scheme. Watching her evolve from a sort of blah humbug character to the strong woman I hoped she’d be was really a nice transformation.
- Book has dragons. What more do you need? Plus, it treats them in a bit of a unique way. What I really liked about these dragons is that not only do they bond (or not, sometimes) with a single person, but this is accomplished through aromatherapy, basically. Because dragons have really sensitive snoots, of course. I haven’t seen this done before, but I enjoyed how the different scents could elicit different emotions in the dragons.
- The ending was pretty much everything I had hoped the book would be and wow did it really kick into gear at the end there. I mean, you know I can’t actually talk about any of it, right? There’s definitely a lot to love about the last 15% or so of the book. It felt more like the book I had been expecting, so it gives me a lot of hope for the sequel.
Sticking Points:
- I feel like there was some disconnect between what the blurb says the book’s about and what the book is actually about, which is a shame, because I loved the idea of it. The blurb sounds very much like a badass female risking it all for the woman she loves, and this is that … sort of. But more than that, it feels like a bildungsroman, where a self-doubting girl from a small town leaves it for the first time to rescue the girl she loves, but then discovers the world is a really big place and feelings are complicated and she learns about herself. Which would have been fine … if that was the book I had thought I was picking up.
The main character, Maren, isn’t just lesbian; she’s bi. Which means that, of course, there’s a love triangle with a guy. Which, don’t get me wrong, bi rep is cool and all, buuut … that’s not what I was here for? Considering the F/F relationship gets, like, 5% screentime and the other side of the triangle gets, like, 50% … welp, the triangle didn’t exactly feel isosceles, okay?
- Everything’s a little too easy for Maren. Sure, things come up that inconvenience her, but then she magically has some sort of coveted skill or ability or meets just the right person who decides to help her. It never feels like she really works for anything, but is sort of just handed all the answers.
- The timeline felt a little wonky to me, and was both too rushed and too slow. It’s a weird dichotomy. A lot of this book is traveling, but a lot is also at the hatchery. Neither of which was particularly overly exciting?
- I don’t like Kaia. There, I said it. I know, it breaks my heart, too. The problem here, I think, is twofold, because on paper, Kaia sounds like she’d easily be my favorite character. Sarcastic, confident, take-charge attitude. What’s not to love? First, Kaia appears very little in the story, by necessity, so we don’t actually really get to know her as a character. We have to learn about her through other people—mostly Maren. Which is where point two comes in: despite loving her, Maren talks about Kaia in an almost jealous tone, making her sound like a Mary Sue, but in a negative way.
Since this is Maren’s story, and I get to know Maren the most, I want Maren to be happy. But the way Maren talks about Kaia, there’s no way that, in my mind, she can possibly be happy with Kaia, because she’ll always be living in her shadow or feeling less than somehow. Which again, I came here for the badass F/F power couple! So this was incredibly frustrating for me. Listen, even if this couple remains endgame, it will always be tainted for me and one that I just can’t support.
- Maren’s hypocrisy really just drove me absolutely bonkers. She gets mad at others for keeping secrets, even though she’s keeping secrets herself. She trusts no one (probably a good idea, to be honest), but at the same time expects everyone to just inherently trust her and is mad when they don’t because how dare they keep things from her and not tell her everything. She’s mad at those evil people who would enslave dragons and use them for their own purposes … but hypocrite much? I just wanted to shake someone because hellooooo, nothing you’re currently doing is in order to directly benefit dragons, either. You only want to steal a dragon to serve your own purpose, too.
- This is really nitpicky and I’m going to own that, but … Maren on the cover looks nothing like Maren that’s described in the books to me. I mean, for one, her skin color is often described as reddish and tanned, compared to light on clay, for example, so I was expecting something that looked a little less … East Asian? I think the world was supposed to be an Asian-inspired one, but I guess I missed it. I didn’t get that feel, but to be fair, I also don’t think I paid that much attention. Also, at the point where Maren would be holding a knife, she was imitating the hairstyle of that culture, where women plaited their hair, sometimes with smaller braids on the side of their head, and that hairstyle sounds so freaking interesting. I’m disappointed not to get the chance to see it. Again, this has no real bearing on the rating or anything. Just something that struck me as I was reading and looking at the cover.