(I received an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review.)

Like lots of people, I heard this was about someone saving her girlfriend with dragons and I leaped for it. It isn’t perfect, but I enjoyed it. Which is why I come down straight in the middle overall.

The world building is fantastic. There are different countries and cultures, whether that comes up in regards to fashion or customs. They aren’t all shallow archetypes based on European history, either. From the beginning, the details of the world are clearly well thought out and the delivery is natural and never too much at once.

Unfortunately, the plot and characters are rather weak. None of the characters are particularly memorable, including the protagonist. I forgot most of the names soon after finishing the book and had to look them up to write about them. Maren, the protagonist, has a decent arc though, going from timid and lacking confidence to being assured of her own worth and power and taking direct action. But this doesn't alleviate the wobbly, happenstance nature of the plot.

While the pacing is slow and sometimes quite sleepy, I can’t bring myself to criticise it. I was never bored, and there were even times when the conflict would change Maren’s situation dramatically and I would be sorry not to see the status quo develop naturally rather than being interrupted. Which is (sadly) one of the reasons the plot feels so wobbly. Maren’s initial plan is a daydream-like impulse.

<blockquote>I am a dragon girl without a dragon. But what if I got one? What could I do then?</blockquote>

There’s not a clear way for her to achieve her goals. She even seems aware of this, more than once. The plot is a mix of incomplete plans and luck. To be bluntly honest, sometimes when the dragon stuff was driving the plot, I literally put the book down and reread parts of Joust. The plot promise of stealing a dragon and raising it in secret was far better in that book. Pit Dragon too.

However, the ending is fireworks and joy. It’s bombastic and even has some nice aha moments. I loved it. It’s honestly everything I signed on for. Dragons, girlfriend-saving. If you get to a part of the book you feel is sagging, stick in there for the ending. I promise it’s worth it.

I’m not entirely sure how to drop the sad news bomb about the bi rep, which I feel like I do often. From the beginning, I didn’t like Maren and Kaia’s relationship. It wasn’t that it was overly idyllic—that felt like part of setting up the tragedy of their separation—it was that they didn’t seem like two whole people in a relationship. It gets worse after they’re separated and we have only Maren’s perspective. Maren has some self esteem issues, and they appear to revolve around seeing herself as lesser than Kaia. To Maren, Kaia is this perfect being: prettier than her, braver than her, better than her. I hated every time Maren lamented a failure by telling herself that <em>Kaia</em> wouldn’t have failed. Certainly didn’t help that Maren follows attractions to two other people in the course of the story—not to the point of physical cheating, but certainly to emotional cheating.

The worst of it being that, in a story where the girlfriend is kidnapped and therefore not with the protagonist or even present for most of the story, there is basically a replacement love interest who is male. This is the guy Maren interacts with (more than Kaia in book real estate), and he has arguably more plot relevance.

I’ve thought about this a great deal. It just raises so many questions, and reminds me of exactly how deliberate a book is. Mren’s relationship with this guy takes up significant time and follows much of the tropes/expectations for a YA romantic subplot. Why couldn’t they just be friends? Why did Maren even have to be bi if the author didn’t know how to relate that orientation without showing her pursuing attraction to people other than her “heartmate?” Did someone think Maren had to “prove” her bi-ness or something? Why give her a label at all? Just tell us she’s in love with Kaia and that’s all that should matter.

But while I’m being bluntly honest all over the place, I did appreciate the attempt. I wouldn’t condemn it as a “nice try,” it’s better than that. Maren feels legitimate. Being unfaithful could be a character flaw—the problem is just that it’s a frequent, harmful stereotype for bi characters.

Do my complicated feelings show enough? heh. I want to reiterate that I had a good time reading, and my thinking this much about what bothered me is because it matters. I am grateful for the increasing number of LGBT+ representation in books, and this book is part of that. (I wrote all of this with one hand and trying not to aggravate a sprained wrist, so hopefully it’s all still clear.)

Girl loves girl. Girl loses girl. Girl sets out to steal a dragon to get girl back. Sign me up! Marren has spent her whole life in a conquered mountain nation and has no plans to leave. She loves her family, her life, and her heartmate, Kaia. Kaia has always wanted to leave and see the world, and though Marren considers setting out with Kaia someday, all of that changes when Kaia is taken by the Aurati to serve the empire. To get her back, Marren will risk life and limb, and steal a dragon from the stronghold far from her homeland.

I knew going in there would be more than one book in this series, but still when it got to about 90%, I was worried things would end of a cliffhanger. Everything doesn’t get wrapped up in a neat, little bow, because the audience has to have something to look forward to, but the ending was satisfying enough, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

There is a bit of a love triangle, which is almost always a turnoff for me, but I did appreciate that Marren is bisexual, and I like the relationship building throughout the story, even if I wasn’t a fan of the more than one potential sweetheart storyline.

Dragons, though. Can we talk about the dragons? That is a big part of why I signed up for this book, and they did not disappoint! There are wild dragons, trained dragons, and even BABY dragons! If you’re looking for cool dragons, look no further than this book.

This one is out on July 30th, so keep an eye out for it, and I’ll be impatiently waiting for book 2, Storm the Earth sometime next year.

Howdy, howdy! It’s the last Wednesday of July, so you should all know what that means. It’s time for another book review! This month, I felt like getting into something fantastical, maybe with dragons or something, so that’s what I looked for on NetGalley. They recommended the young adult novel Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells, which was released yesterday (July 30th). It sounded interesting, so I went ahead and requested it. I must thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me access to an ARC (advanced reader copy) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Now, let’s get to the review.

Shatter the Sky follows Maren who leaves her secluded home in the hopes of rescuing her girlfriend, Kaia, who is taken by the Aurati seers. Maren never actually wanted to leave her home and always believed she was average, especially next to Kaia who was obviously meant for greater things than the mountains could provide. But when Kaia is stolen, Maren decides she needs to reclaim a dragon from the Flame of the West (the warlord who loves nothing more than conquering lands) and rain down fire and destruction upon the Aurati. But how is an average girl like her supposed to do that? With a little help from friends, apparently. But is Sev, a guy she meets along the way, really a friend? And can his allies really help her rescue Kaia? Maren doesn’t have any idea what she’s doing or who to trust, but she does all she can to keep moving forward.

The plot is pretty standard fantasy fare. An underdog rises above her challenges in order to achieve her goals, discovering along the way that she’s actually super special. Not only must she face physical obstacles, but there’s also a budding romance with the new friend despite her devotion to her heartmate, which brings up shame and all that good stuff. And there’s an adorable little dragon that gets sucked into the adventures. It’s a little predictable at points, but still enjoyable.

It’s not the plot that pulled me in, but the characters. Of course, in the beginning, Kaia is the obvious choice for a heroine, but then she’s abducted and we only get to see snippets of her in Maren’s visions. By the end, she’s so completely changed that it makes me want to read the next book to find out what she really becomes. Maren is headstrong and a little flighty. She rarely has more than a vague notion of a plan, but that never stops her. However, her insistence that Kaia is somehow better than her does become annoying. Sev is an ambiguous character that could either be really good or he could go really bad, which is fun. He’s adamant that his cause is the only way to a better future, which most villains feel the same way. But if he keeps with Maren, and lets her influence shape him, he could become a hero in his own right. This book is leaning toward the latter for him, but it doesn’t mean he won’t veer off in the next book. Otherwise, I love the dragons and want more of them.

The writing itself was smooth and a made for nice read. A lot of the description was beautiful and the pacing pulled me along at a good clip. The dialogue occasionally felt stilted, but not enough to really distract from the story.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Shatter the Sky so much that I’m looking forward to book two and am a little sad that I have to wait for it.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Like I said, it’s standard fantasy fare, but the characters made it worth reading for me. If you enjoy character development and can get past some predictableness, this is definitely worth reading.

I tried really hard to get into this, but I couldn't find myself caring about the characters within the first six chapters. The pacing was kinda slow, and I felt like there needed to be a bit more worldbuilding. I was so excited for sapphic dragon riders, but was disappointed.

3.5 STARS

CW: animal cruelty, violence, loss of a loved one, kidnapping

If I have anything to say about Shatter the Sky, it's that it appeals to everything I have ever really wanted out of fantasy. Big scary dragons and a chosen one who's their friend? Yep! Girlfriends who would do anything for each other? Check! Ominous layers of prophecy that actually admit to being fallible and mutable? For sure! The oncoming throes of revolution set to tear down an unjust empire and consciously create better institutions in its wake? Oh yeah, even that!

Which means that despite the book's shortcomings, I still had a great time reading it. Really, this is a great example of being able to enjoy a book that's not really perfect, mostly because its flaws aren't too glaring, and the parts that speak to me sat front and center enough to hold my attention. It's a balancing act, essentially.

On the plus side, I absolutely LOVED Maren. From the outset, you can see how much she cares about Kaia, how far she's willing to go to make sure she and her girlfriend get the long, happy life they both deserve. Not only that, but she thinks the world of Kaia, and the consequence of that, especially to start, is that she thinks very little of herself. Watching her grow from that position of "I'm not good enough" (which, btw, is how I feel with Anxiety Brain™ all the freaking time) to a place where she could still want to move heaven and earth for Kaia but feel worthy of that love, feel equal to Kaia, even feel that she has her own strengths that no one else shares? That sank in deep for me, really deep. I'm all for characters realizing their own self-worth and becoming stronger for it, and Maren embodies that fully.

Another great thing was the passive aspects of the world! There's so much casual queerness (which, if you've been here very long, you know is my favorite thing), not only with Kaia and Maren being girlfriends, but Kaia has two moms, Maren responds to flirting from male and female characters, and there's just no sign of homophobia anywhere! Yay for that!

Another great feature that's not so much worldbuilding as it is just a narrative choice I'm delighted with? THE MAIN CHARACTER DOES NOT HAVE DEAD PARENTS. Yes, you heard that right! Maren's parents are alive and active in her life, and while their direct role in her quest to save Kaia is limited, it's a breath of fresh air for YA parents to actually be there supporting their child instead of being dead/providing revenge fuel/acting as antagonists.

On the flipside, though, I think the thing that did bum me out a bit with this was the pacing. Maren's journey of self-worth is nicely paced in its own right, but the plot leading up to actually going after Kaia moves in fits and starts, trailing off in directions I wish had been given more depth, more anchoring. With a rebellion on the horizon, I wanted to know more about the possible roles the Aromatory might play, especially when she discovers Maren's role in it. I wanted to hear from Maren's brother, who's used as a warning by her parents early in the book but never really mentioned again. I wanted Kaia herself to be around for more than about thirty pages altogether, to be part of a dream team with Maren and dragons. 

Really, I just wanted more depth. Shatter the Sky rings a little hollow on this front, setting up for a fully imagined world and then digging into so little of it at length. It has potential, and so much of it, but the delivery itself is lacking. It doesn't have the punch, the oomph, the weight I want from a book about dragons and overthrowing corrupt regimes and rescuing your girlfriend from a vicious society of soothsayers. 

[This review will go live on The Words Gremlin at approximately 10am EST on 7/17/19.]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My reviews are spoiler-free and are unaffected by the free copy.

I have to admit that I wasn't as engaged with this story as I thought I would be. The first part was really interesting, but as the story continued I sort of disconnected. I don't know if it was because of the main character or that the story didn't feel like it had any urgency to it, but something about it wasn't grabbing me. I wasn't really thinking about the story when I wasn't reading it and I didn't feel eager to get back to it. It could just be one of those "it's not you, it's me" situations.

As I said, the start was promising: Maren's girlfriend is taken against her will and Maren decides to go on a journey to save her. She vows "whatever it takes" to get Kaia back. Sounds great, right? Except it slows down almost immediately when Maren gets to this fortress. Maren is still telling herself she has to save Kaia and "whatever it takes", but she doesn't really act with any urgency. There's a lot of down time for her to bond with other characters. I would've liked more single-minded determination and Maren literally doing whatever it took, even if it was morally questionable.

Also, it was really weird how other characters acted around her. Maren is propositioned very early on in her travels by another woman. Then a guy flirts with her and she thinks to herself she should've been prepared for this after the incident with the woman. But my question is "why"? Is Maren just that beautiful that everyone hits on her or tries to get in her pants? Maren acted just as weird back, though, and for some reason didn't just come out and say "No, I'm not interested, I have a girlfriend I love". Like, she got flustered and was having thoughts about these characters hitting on her. It was so weird and kind of uncomfortable when the whole purpose of her journey was to save her girlfriend.

Which leads me to Sev. He was actually a pretty interesting character. I would've liked him fine if he hadn't fit into the "object of romance/lust" slot of the story. One would think that having a main character already in a committed relationship would save this book from the YA romance tropes, but you would be wrong. We still have Maren getting flustered and blushing every time he touches her or goes near her, we still have her fantasizing about kissing him despite having just met him. Sev touches her a lot in this story, by the way. He gets in her space or leans in close way more than necessary, and frankly if it was me I would've been uncomfortable by all that breaching into personal space from a guy I only met a few days ago.

The dragons should've been the coolest part. And they were certainly interesting, but I didn't really get why they were treated the way they were in this book. Maybe my brain skipped over that detail when I was reading. These dragons are fire-breathing, flying creatures! Why would any thinking person treat them in any way other than respectful, possibly with a wise amount of fear? I also got pulled out of the story by the dragon Maren got for herself. I guess this is a spoiler, but I have to point this out: the dragon was blue and female. Does that remind anyone else of something?

I'm not saying this book is bad. I'm sure it'll find an audience. I just think it was missing a sense of urgency in Maren's actions, and it still fell prey to YA romantic cliches despite what the premise told us.

Dragons lie at the heart of Rebecca Kim Wells’ debut novel Shatter the Sky. The story opens in the mountains of Ilvera with Maren and Kaia, childhood sweethearts. Ilvera, once the land of the dragons, has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory ever since the emperor invaded and stole the dragons away. Kaia, the more bold and daring of the two, has grand plans of leaving Ilvera to travel the world. Maren, less certain of adventures, is reluctantly resigned to follow the love of her life wherever she goes. All of this changes, however, when the emperor’s band of Aurati come to Ilvera and steal Kaia away. Maren, usually timid and cautious, decides to steal a dragon from the emperor and use it to break Kaia out of the mysterious city of Lumina where she is imprisoned.

I really and truly adored the world of this story – Wells does a brilliant job at making her universe seem real and lived-in. I particularly loved all the small details of Ilvera culture, especially the focus on music and its connection to dragons. I was also super intrigued by the idea of the Aromatory and the use of condensed scents to control and communicate with dragons. Unique details like this are sprinkled throughout the book, keeping me interested and wanting to learn more and more about the characters and the world they live in. I can’t wait to learn more about the Aurati and the emperor going forward – Wells just touches the surface of these subjects in this first book, and I know things are going to get wild in the sequel!

Maren’s journey and character arc was such a delight to read, and rightly my favorite part of this book. She went from timid and cautious to fierce and independent in the span of 300 pages – and I believed every moment of it. Watching her become more and more self-confident throughout the book was so beautiful (I particularly loved all the scenes at the dragon training academy!). I can’t wait to see how her character continues to develop and grow moving forward, especially in relation to other characters like Kaia and Sev!

Shatter the Sky is 100% the kind of book I wish I’d had in middle school and high school – it has passionate and resourceful young women, beautiful world-building, DRAGONS, and of course a totally amazing and earnest love story between two girls (and a possible love triangle with a handsome prince???). Basically, this is everything I ever wanted as a kid, and I’m so delighted that young readers have access to books like this now! If you love amazingly queer YA fantasy, pre-order it now – we need to support more fantastic diverse fiction like this!!

The world needs more sapphic girls riding dragons and this book did not disappoint. I’ll take the sequel now, thank you. Also, I apologize in advance that this review is going to be kinda awkward and short. For some reason, my e-ARC copy is telling me that I no longer have access to it, so I wasn’t able refer back to the book OR my notes when I wrote this review.

Shatter the Sky follows Maren as she leaves her hometown in the mountains for the first time in order to save her girlfriend, Kaia, who was kidnapped by the Aurati, prophetic representatives of the emperor. Knowing she can’t save her by herself, Maren takes a job at the fortress where dragons and the riders are trained, making plans to steal a dragon. But as Maren finds herself involved in more than she could have ever imagined, she must decide what she’s willing to risk to save Kaia.

This book was such a delightful adventure! It was so easy to read and to get sucked into. I loved the unique culture and portrayal of dragons. They use scents to train dragons, how cool is that? I also appreciated Maren as a protagonist. Maren’s a girl who’s filled with insecurity and doubt; she’s always felt like she’s been in Kaia’s shadow. I liked seeing her character development as she’s forced to break out of her shell and as she continues to compare herself to an idolized version of Kaia that she holds in her mind. The dragons and Maren made this book for me.

Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t rate this book any higher because the story felt too short and that it needed to be fleshed out more. Maren’s journey takes her all over the land, but she never stayed in one place long enough for me to get a proper feel for the world. Additionally, it seemed as though every obstacle that opposed Maren was too easily overcome—and there were a lot of them. Which again, is probably because Maren was moving around too much.

Another minor detail that bugged me was that during Maren’s journey, the buds of a love triangle appeared. Now this could either be squished in the sequel, or it could bloom, I don’t know, but the fact that it was there to begin with pissed me off. I think the author included it to make Maren question the future she’s always assumed for herself, but it seemed like an internal dilemma for a later book. A really fascinating internal dilemma, but putting it in the first book just made it feel like it muddied Maren’s motivation a bit. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I just wanted to note this element—BUT it’s not a flaw that should discourage you from picking up this book.

Overall, I adored Shatter the Sky and I can’t wait to see how the author further develops this world and how Maren’s character will continue to develop. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for more dragon fantasy novels, though I think it could appeal more to younger readers in particular. Also, in case you needed any more incentive to give this book a try: it has BABY DRAGONS. Which gave me The Dragon Prince vibes, so just go check this book out, okay?

Actual rating: 3.75

When I first heard about this book, I was immediately intrigued. Established sapphic couple? Dragons? Rescuing her love? Sign me up! But…this didn’t quite live up to what I hoped for from the premise, and I’m not even sure why.

Maren ben Gao Vilna lives in an isolated village atop the mountain that was once the home of dragons and their riders, before the conqueror known as Flame of the West came, stole the dragons for his own purposes, and became ruler of the empire. All her life Maren has been taught not to trust the world outside her village, but her heartmate, Kaia, has always dreamed of seeing the world beyond the village, and Maren has promised to go with her. But all those plans change when Kaia is taken by the Aurati, a group who does the Emperor’s bidding and has been known to take girls from the village based on unknown reasons. Maren is at first brought down by her grief, but then she makes a decision - she’s going to steal a dragon from the keep Downmountain and rescue Kaia.

There is some interesting world building and I was definitely intrigued by the history of the dragons. I loved seeing the ways the village kept remnants of their culture from the time of dragons, despite the ways their history and culture was stolen from them.

I think one of my favorite elements of this book has to be Maren’s growth and development of inner strength. She leaves Ilvera with only the thought of rescuing Kaia, but along the way her goals and dreams grow to encompass freeing dragon-kind. She discovers that she’s not nobody or nothing and she can do the things she sets out to do. I really loved seeing that develop and also appreciated that she never really wavered from goal to rescue Kaia.

I don’t know if it’s the writing style, but this book was kind of hard for me to get into. I enjoy world building, and as I said, there is interesting world building here, but sometimes this felt stagnant, especially when Maren initially gets to the fortress. It took until almost the halfway point to be truly invested and even then it was the end that makes me actually interested in seeing what will happen in the sequel.

With regards to relationship, I’d seen some reviews talk about how, though Maren is in an established relationship with Kaia, there’s elements and scenes that suggest she also develops a romantic interest in Sev. At the end of the book, Maren and Kaia are still deeply in love, though both have been changed in the time they were separated. But, and this kinda excites me, I think there is a potential for a polyamorous “endgame” with the romantic relationship because there is a point where Maren is told her heartmates - PLURAL!! - will be safe/freed. I do have some qualms with the way things with Sev can be considered emotional cheating because she’s still in a relationship with Kaia while developing feelings for Sev, but I’m definitely curious to see how the romance will play out in the sequel.

Overall, this is definitely a book with potential, but in some ways it dragged for me. It took me a while to become truly invested, but there’s solid world building and interesting history developed. The ending was especially exciting and I loved the ways foreshadowing was employed to reach the conclusion.

Maren and Kaia live in the mountainous outer reaches of the Zefed. When the emperor's Seers come to their village, Maren and Kaia are forcibly parted. In order to get Kaia back, Maren must start a journey that helps reestablish the bond between the humans who first settled the mountains and the dragons that lived there. There are prophecies, dragons, soldiers, hidden identity, and a lot of action. I believe it will have a sequel. The book releases at the end of July. I will be pre-ordering the Kindle and Audible versions.

The Buzz

I didn't know anything about Shatter the Sky except that it was about a queer girl in love with her girlfriend. And DRAGONS! Yes, I'm a dragon fan and am always down to learn dragon lore interpreted by a new author.

Shatter the Sky is a neat title especially for a dragon book, even though I'm not sure the story lived up to the name. And the cover is quite ho-hum as well. I do find the colors incredibly pretty and it makes for a great Instagram photo, but it doesn't really say anything about the story. It kind of says everything about the problems in Shatter the Sky...


The Premise

Shatter the Sky puts forth this idea of a F/F romance so powerful that a girl who would rather never leave her remote village is propelled down the mountain and into the world in order to save her. And the method of saving? Yes, a dragon!! And I liked Maia. She is your typical fiery and capable girl who is beloved by all who know her and you totally get why Maren loves her so. At first I really liked the contrast of Maren to her passionate lover. Her soft and homebody personality is quite different from what we normally read in YA fantasy. While it was really obvious what would happen (the premise tells a bit too much) I was excited to start from this beginning.

And once we get to the fortress some neat stuff happens. Especially anything connected to the dragons I pretty much enjoyed. But GAHHHH Maren became such a drag in Shatter the Sky. Either she went about doing basic stuff with less than no personality or she suddenly had all the answers and got out of the fix she was in. It made for very uneven enjoyment as I felt jerked back and forth in and out of the story. I ended up thinking way too much about the story instead of being IN the story. Maren ended up just doing whatever was needed to further the plot without any connection to an actual personality, set of skills, or ability to think.

It's very odd. If you told me what was going to happen in Shatter the Sky I'd say... that sounds like a book I want to read!! But when I read it I wasn't offended but I wasn't impressed at all. Everything was quite predictable from page 1 and that never let up all the way to the last page.


My Experience

After I got through the setup at about 35% I was happy to finally meet someone interesting in Shatter the Sky. That person is Neve! I loved her. I could have read an entire book where Maren was her apprentice and went through the entire process to take up that position legitimately. Give her Maia's personality and Maren's ability to think on her feet and I would have been sold. I think I felt this way because FINALLY something happened that captured my interest. I wasn't just reading to finish the book.

Then we meet Sev. I like Sev TBH. I knew who he was right away, but that was fine. I wanted to know what his role would be and I enjoyed that part of the story. He has a neat role that I wish we could have seen through a dual POV. We could have skipped much of Maren's dull traveling (when we switched POVs) with meeting Sev. Also having his POV of Maren would have helped immensely to improve how I saw her. Maren isn't a very self assured person to begin with so it was a struggle to see what Sev saw except to assume she's a special snowflake. (Which basically we were told she was from the very beginning and everything turns out just as I assumed.)

Anyway it was odd when Maren started to have sexual feelings for Sev! They didn't even interact that much when she suddenly was overwhelmed with lust. It was really quite odd. Especially when she's in this passionate F/F relationship. (Which was a little sick because it sounded like Maren idolized Maia more than she loved her.) And yet Maren was never uncertain about her desire to "save" Maia. Not that it ever felt like Maia needed saving. If Maia was the person she appeared to be in the beginning of Shatter the Sky then she'd have been fine. Either way she'd have become Aurati and have been able to fulfill her personal dream.

I know I make Shatter the Sky sound dismal! It really isn't that bad... The love interests are a bit messed up yes, the beginning slow and the conflict too easily resolved but there’s a core I enjoyed at the heart of Shatter the Sky. I loved the idea of the Aromatory and the Aurati ... They are both totally matriarchal and powerful. I loved the dragons (best part so I won't ruin it by raving about details) and with their bigger part to play in the next book I can see myself being curious about what happens next.

If I could use only one word to describe Shatter the Sky I'd say it's a soft story. Soft. Nothing is strong or impactful but its breezy and easy with things like dragons, ghosts and apprentices that I enjoy. The end is fun and the relationships are messy. You could find must worst ways to spend an afternoon...

I admit it. I requested this book based more on the cover art than the description. But, with very creative world-building, fun characters, and an action-packed story, this book exceeded my expectations. This was a really fun read.

What I Liked:
World-Building:

This book had some complex and exciting world-building! There were several kingdoms, each with its own complicated customs, clothing, food, and histories. And then there were the DRAGONS!!!

Oh, I love stories with dragons! There is so much to love about how the author presents these mythical creatures. How they hatch, are trained, and then are treated, make for compelling reading. I also loved that Maren connects and dreams with a dragon! She starts to have so much compassion for these creatures, she starts to question their treatment. I loved this self-reflection.

Characters:

Maren has a compelling journey. She begins the story as a person with extremely low self-esteem. She is always in the shadow of her girlfriend, Kaia. While everyone raves about how wonderful Kaia is, Maren is overlooked. After Kaia is taken away, it is up to Maren to rescue Kaia. I loved how Maren often had to talk herself into doing brave things by saying to herself, "What would Kaia do?". Being brave is about doing something you are afraid of despite your fear, and she showed that resilience.

Kaia has a journey that seems opposite of Maren's. While we only get glimpses of this, it Kaia appears to lose her confidence the longer she is held by the Aurati. This is understandable. Even the bravest person will have trouble with fighting back if they are being tortured and humiliated by their captors. This shift in their relationship is something I wish the author did more with. I hope this will be explored much more in the sequel.

Story:

This is a coming of age road trip story. It just happens to be set in a fantasy world filled with dragons. I loved how the more Maren sees of the world, the more confidence she gets. She also has the opportunity to reassess her beliefs as she sees more parts of the kingdom.

I also loved that dragons were so central to the story. As the book progresses, we get to see how the dragons are raised, and how they bond with humans.

What I Was Mixed About:
Romance:

The very start of the book has us investing in Maren and Kaia's great love story. But, as the novel progresses, Maren starts to have feelings for a guy. The book gave no indication that Maren was interested in boys until that point. So I found this confusing. Also, I would have just loved it if the guy was interested, and Maren just blew him off and said, "Nope"!

There didn't need to be a love triangle in this story. It would have been refreshing to have a story where the guy doesn't automatically assume the girl will be into him.

What I Didn't Like:
Ending:

Yes, I know there will be a sequel. But I hate it when a story ends literally in the middle of a scene! Only a portion of the story was resolved. There could have been much more done to show where Maren's relationships with others stood. This left me feeling very unsatisfied.

I feel like I've been looking for this book my entire life.

It was a masterpiece. I can't stress enough how fantastic it was. It's Malinda Lo meets The Goose Girl with a little bit of Game of Thrones thrown in.

The world building was incredible. The history and geography of the world was super well planned, and I felt completely immersed. I would love to see a map. Maybe that will appear in the finished book.

That leads in to the main strength of the book, which is the diversity. As you can see from the cover, the main character is non-white. She appears Asian on the cover and that's how she is described. Her love interest, Kaia, has dark curly hair and darker skin, as do most of the Zefedi. It's so realistic to have different people in different parts of the world not look all alike. The culture was really well-developed, too. Maren has to figure out how to fit in.

Kaia and Maren. Ah, they really are the sweetest. I can't describe how happy I am to have a prominent lesbian couple in a fantasy novel. It melts my heart into a puddle of gay butter. And Maren is bisexual! (Or pansexual.) The one thing I was not keen on is that there's a bit of a love triangle, which I never enjoy. And bi people tend to be stereotyped as promiscuous or more likely to cheat, so the love triangle doesn't do any wonders to help debunk that stereotype. That knocks half a star off.

The plot is all over the place, and I mean that in the best way - I didn't predict a single thing. Maren's goal at the beginning is to rescue Kaia, but it gets amended several times throughout. That's because of the outstanding characterization. Maren grows SO MUCH throughout the book and I am SO PROUD of her. She goes from being a shadow of her girlfriend to being this amazing, independent, strong-willed, powerful character and it's truly amazing to read about.

And, dragon bonding? I'm 100% here for it. The Aromatory is an absolutely fascinating concept and plot point, and I'm super impressed with Rebecca Kim Wells' creativity.

Honestly, this is one of the best books I have read all year, and I can't recommend it enough. Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC. It did not influence my review; I genuinely LOVED this book.

Update 5/7/19: Review has been posted to my blog, social media and Goodreads.

Shatter the Sky is a fun and unique new fantasy world with a fantastic magic system, cool as hell dragons and a bisexual MC.

Maren and Kaia are best friends and lovers, living in Ilvera under the rule of their Zefedi oppressors. Ilvera had been the seat of dragons, but the Zefedi conquerors had stolen the dragons, and now trained them in captivity as war machines. When Kaia is violently kidnapped by the emperor's seers (the Aurati), Maren embarks on a journey to steal a dragon and rescue her.

I don't think you can get more 'me' than bi girls + dragons, and this book definitely did not dissappoint. I am in love with the dragons, and the magic system around them. The dragons can be controlled via a set of oils, some of which encourage the dragon to fight, others which make them go to sleep. I haven't seen something quite like this before and it was so interesting! Maren manages to blag her way into the dragon training castle, and in her investigations ends up as the apprentice to Neve, who works in something called an Aromatory. There, Maren learns how to make the oils which control the dragons. The bonding process/training of the dragons is just so dark in a book that does have a lighter writing style. The dragons seem able to think and understand like humans, and can see into the minds of others. And yet they are reduced to nothing by use of these drugs to force them to behave in certain ways.

I also thought the Aurati were extremely interesting, and I wish we'd found out more about that organisation (hopefully this will come later in the trilogy!) The Aurati seem so evil from Maren's POV, and as the book progresses we do get some more info about how their seer powers work which I won't describe as it would give a lot away, but it is SO COOL, and I really hope we find out more about how it works in the second book.

I absolutely love seeing bisexuality in fantasy - particularly when it's the main character! It's so rare and I love that it was just part of the story and not a big deal at all. In saying that, the romance between Kaia and Maren was actually my least favourite part of the story and the reason I didn't give this book 5 stars. I really struggled with Kaia, who just doesn't seem like a very nice person at all. Their relationship felt more like hero worship from Maren, with Kaia just enjoying that worship and thinking she deserved it - there didn't seem to be much more depth. I struggled with the first 50 pages or so because of this, as I just couldn't root for their relationship and wasn't particularly interested in hearing Maren mope about Kaia. However once Kaia is kidnapped and Maren embarks on her resuce mission, the story and characters really pick up. Maren really developed without the shadow of Kaia over her into a powerful and strong character, angry at the empire and willing to do whatever it takes to resuce Kaia and free the dragons. I really like her friendship with Sev, a guard at the dragon training castle who seems to be hiding as many secrets as Maren in. I like how Maren's feelings develop for him, from thinking he is just a tool she can use to help her, to be willing to save his life. I'm interested to see how these relationships pan out in the second book. Maren has changed so much and it really lets her see Kaia in a different light. As much as I would have LOVED to see a f/f relationship at the core of this book, I really hope the relationship with Sev is developed more - Sev is willing to fight to change things, whilst Kaia just doesn't seem to be (yet at least) and so I feel Sev and Maren are much more suited to each other.

There are also a few other secondary characters who I thought were really interesting and definitely hiding something. I really want to see more of Neve, the head of the aromatory. She seemed less than keen on the empire, and yet still worked to train the dragons. We don't see how Maren's actions affected her at the dragon training castle, so I'd love to see more of her. I also am really keen to see more of Rowena and Melchior - they both seem like super fierce (also 100% got queer vibes for them both!!) women and I hope they feature more in the second book.

This was a really exciting start to a new fantasy trilogy and I am so excited to see where it goes (especially after that cliffhanger!!) I adore the dragons and the magic system, and can't wait to see the 'lil baby dragon grow up! Maren grew so much across this book into a fierce and determined woman and I am really excited to see her set fire to the empire.

Review will be posted to Anxious Nachos (my blog), Twitter and Goodreads 30 days prior to publication.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. It started out a bit weak for me but the author quickly picked up the pace. Maren is a strong willed and determined character who is willing to fight for her own and for what's right. She takes off on a journey and finds out much more than she was looking for. Sev is a companion she finds along the way and realizes she is willing to look out for him as well. I really enjoyed the world building in this book and often found myself visualizing Maren's journey. I loved the idea of the dragons and the oils that are used to bond them. The little dragon kit was absolutely adorable! This was definitely an interesting start to a new series and I can't wait to see what's next!

Nothing particularly exciting happens through most of this book but I still enjoyed it! I feel like this is a promising start to a new series.

Although Shatter the Sky got off to a slow start for me, the pace picked up in the latter half and I couldn't put the book down. The premise is intriguing—Maren is from Ilvera, a conquered mountain nation and birthplace of dragons. Her people used to live and bond with dragons, but the empire stole them and now use them as weapons. When Kaia is taken away by the empire's Aurati, Maren sets off on a mission to save her.

Despite the time-sensitive nature of Maren's mission, I felt like there was a lack of urgency in the second quarter of the book. Perhaps it's because Maren is an unlikely hero, someone who never wanted to leave the mountain in the first place, so she's not particularly adept at planning. She always emphasizes that she's nothing special and that Kaia's the special one, but throughout the story she becomes braver and more confident. Leaving the mountain opens her eyes to how ignorant she was about the situation in the empire and she develops her own beliefs.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in Shatter the Sky and there's some well-developed history, but I didn't get a good grasp on the kingdoms. I couldn't tell you their names or which was which. The ending really delivered though, and I can't wait for the second book!

This was a really great, really queer, really diverse, super amazing story, full of love and dragons and a quest to save the land. I really loved Maren and her love for Kaia and the journey she went on to get Kaia back. I loved Sev and his secrets and the dragon and the love triangle. Honestly, this is the only kind of love triangle I would ever be okay with. I loved the story, though it felt a little slow at time and I think I just needed more actions. And more dragons. And more Sev. I can't wait for the next book in this series to see where these kids take us (and I just really need to know how this love triangle turns out, because I am deeply invested).

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐


A thank you to the Publisher(s), as well as NetGalley for the eGalley ARC in return for my honest opinion. These are my thoughts...

Synopsis/About:

Raised among the ruins of a conquered mountain nation, Maren dreams only of sharing a quiet life with her girlfriend Kaia—until the day Kaia is abducted by the Aurati, prophetic agents of the emperor, and forced to join their ranks. Desperate to save her, Maren hatches a plan to steal one of the emperor’s coveted dragons and storm the Aurati stronghold.

If Maren is to have any hope of succeeding, she must become an apprentice to the Aromatory—the emperor’s mysterious dragon trainer. But Maren is unprepared for the dangerous secrets she uncovers: rumors of a lost prince, a brewing rebellion, and a prophecy that threatens to shatter the empire itself. Not to mention the strange dreams she’s been having about a beast deep underground…

With time running out, can Maren survive long enough to rescue Kaia from impending death? Or could it be that Maren is destined for something greater than she could have ever imagined?

My Thoughts:
A determined young woman sets out to rescue her kidnapped girlfriend by stealing a dragon from the corrupt emperor in this stunning fantasy debut that’s perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson, Rae Carson, and Rachel Hartman. A high stakes fantasy adventure, with romance, dragons, and fierce characters!!
Sure to be a must read!!

An emperior, dragons, a girlfriend to save, a prince, powerful women, need I say more?
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.