“Eclipse the Skies” by Maura Milan absolutely KILLED me, and I completely loved it. 100%, absolutely recommend!

The plot thickens! Writing style was better here and I liked the plot as well of course! The gorg cover doesn’t hurt

Rating: 3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars

I found myself getting bored at more points in this book than the first book. Also, what was that ending?! I know that Maura Milan did to make us have hope, but it's only a duology and I need to know what happened to Ia. She was actually one of my favorite characters.

The only real issue I had with the book was pacing. Maura Milan's writing was stupendous. I just felt there were many times when not much was going on. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the duology though.

I don’t know how this happened but this is not working for me and I generally love sci fi series more than anything! I am truly disappointed.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this E-Arc. All new releases as of February 2021 will be featured on my blog.

I unfortunately requested this book without the prior knowledge that it is a sequel. And once i found that it was, I had the full intention of finding the first book and reading so that i would get to Eclipse the Skies. But as time passed, I wasn't able to do that. But I do believe that if i were to have read this, I would have enjoyed it.

This was a good book. Albert Whitman please pay your authors. Maura Milan deserves so much better than your terrible business practices.

Wow wow wow, what an awesome sequel to Ignite the Stars! The story is simultaneously heartbreaking and endearing, and I think a lot of people will be torn by the ending. I applaud the author's risk taking and use of character development to entice and capture the hearts of readers.

I’m not gonna lie. Eclipse the Skies is a miffing wonderful read but of course it also got its own ~minimal~ flaws. But please let me rant first. WHY? MAURA MILAN DO U REALLY HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME???? THE ENDING. THE ENDING. I won’t say any spoiler-y things throughout this uhmm messy review but the ending is the only ending that could’ve perfectly work to wrap up this masterpiece. BUT ALSO HOW COULD YOU????!!!! i’m deusdamned mad.

Ya girl is not ready to wave goodbye to these wonderful characters who taught me a lot of things: Ai Cocha, Knives, Brinn, and many more. It was amazing to read their changes (for the better and worst *wink*) over the course of the duology. The development of the characters are all on point. You’d surely enjoy each of the character’s arcs. I’m a proud mom of ALL characters and yes including the villain. They each had their own spotlights and profound backgrounds. Especially our trio.

Eclipse the Skies is different from the first book, Ignite the Stars, in many many ways. This one explored lots of darker themes and definitely more action-packed. Very different with the witty and funny prequel. Both are well pulled-off by Maura Milan though. However, the pacing is a bit meh. I’m sure it could’ve done better because it felt dragged then too slow the next second. It made me winced. But other than that, everything was perfect. Including the book cover! Can you see that greatness of a cover which wholly screams Asian??? Mom, my heart is soo full. 😭💕

I recommend this duology if you’re up for some action-packed, exhilarating, and rollercoaster ride-like story. STOP SLEEPING AND READ THIS STUNNING YET UNDOUBTEDLY INFURIATING BOOK! It will make you question everything including why you aren’t reading this book.

A slow-burn romance stemming from a witty banter can easily win hearts and mine isn't made of steel so of course, I'm living for the love in this. It's always a moment of pride to see a POC woman in book taking strong decisions and facing consequences confidently. A perfect conclusion to a great genre-mix of science fiction & fantasy duology.

I am a huge fan of this series. First of all, because of the badass representation on the cover that makes my heart giddy whenever I see it. Second of all, "witty banter" can kill a book if executed poorly, but Ia and Knives has it in spades. And OH, that tension between them? It's a slow-burn but well worth it.

I liked the all the character arcs.

I was about half-way through before I got that "I can't put the book down" phase.

There were some fascinating moral and philosophical questions.

If I were to ever use this in a class, it would certainly prompt some interesting discussions.

The end was not the kind of ending I was hoping for.

I really enjoyed this book. It was equally as enjoyable as Ignite the Stars.
I found Brinn a little more tolerable in this book. Although she was still quite obnoxious sometimes. Near the end, however, I could really see her growth as a person and am happy with how her story ended.
As for Ia and Knives, I really want a third book.
I'm definitely hoping for that third book.

I did not realize this was a sequel when I requested this, and the title was archived before I was able to get the first book and download this copy.

This was even better than the first one! It was heartbreaking and amazing. There was definitely less dark humor in this and I missed it but SO MANY PLOT TWISTS. I loved Brinn's character development and am so glad the romance was kept to a minimum.

Such an amazing sequel!!! I loved the character arcs so much, and I’m so happy with how the relationships were developed. This book sent me on a wild trip and made me cry. I love how developed and in detail the lore is and how many twists are involved. And oh my god, that cliffhanger??? I NEED the next book right now! And might I just add, while I do love Ia and Knives together, you know what would be just as good? Ia, Knives, AND Vetty all together. Just saying.

I will say though, I don’t really appreciate having one of only two, out, gay people killed off :/

The cover is beautiful and matches the book well, the characters are well written and the world-building is amazing!

I'll excuse a lot for a fun story and characters I enjoy reading about. And maybe I let Ignite the Stars off the hook because I loved Io and Brinn so much. But there's some problems here.

Before I dive into what wasn't working, let's address what did work: the action and story pacing! Milan is very, very good at writing action scenes. It's not easy to capture the setting, movements, and energy. One of the best is Brandon Sanderson, and I would say Milan is better than Sanderson at crafting an action scene. I could see every scene in my head, and they were glorious.

The pacing of the story is rapid fire quick. There's never a lull or a halt to wax poetically on the political or ethical dilemma rooting the story to the human condition. The ethics, plot, and character development all happen at once. Nothing is compartmentalized.

Now for what didn't work. Everything I loved about Io and Brinn in the first book is tossed out in the second. Io becomes a moody and jealous person. Brinn's allegiances change so quickly, if you blink you'll miss it. Without the kickass heroine and the strong female friendship to keep this book afloat (or the reader distracted), now all I can see is what's not working. The world building doesn't make sense to me: <spoiler> the enemy base is only a couple days travel away, but is said to be "on the edge of the territory". In what universe is traveling for two days really far away? This base should be super easy to find for any galactic military fleet. </spoiler> There are dramatic twists and turns that have soap opera believability. And finally, sadly, the writing is clunky. Odd details, like the table being plastic, are shared while the mood or sense of a place isn't described.

It was enjoyable, but not rave worthy.

I have read from this author before and really like her books, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Seriously after that ending after Ignite the Stars where Ia will now fight with the Commonwealth. I was scared of what was going to happen in this book, but honestly, I was hooked from the very first page. It was nice getting back into this world after being away months. It kinda felt like I was being reunited with an old friend.

I was really glad this book did not disappoint, because this was a SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO THIS WONDERFUL DUOLOGY. Okay, seriously, can Milan please make more in this series. I need more especially after that ending where I almost teared up. This duology is wonderful, it has a POC on the cover, it’s Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and seriously needs to be more hyped. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

CHARACTERS:
I love how unique the characters are. I really had a feel for them in this book, unlike the last one. I could see each of their personalities shining brightly on the page. I’m pretty sure Ia was my favorite, but seriously, all three of them are so amazing. They are quite unique, and they don’t deserve what happened to them.

All three of them grew so much in this book. Their character development is phenomenal.

Ia grew so much from the last book. I love how confident she is, fighting for what is right even if their enemy is now her brother. She is seriously a strong character, and I really loved her in this book.

Brinn is seriously so amazing. I really loved her in this book, and how much she was struggling. She wasn’t confident as Ia, but she was questioning herself. It made her seem human and I so love her with that.

Knives is seriously amazing. I loved him. He has his morals, keeps Ia in check especially with her criminal’s antics, and dealing with the death of his mentor. He was an interesting character, and I really liked him.

PLOT:
The plot was interesting, but I seriously liked how it played out. Ia is now teamed up with the Royal Star Force, in order to kill her brother. It was cool to see it playing out, and the the background stuff was really good as well.

It was quite good. I think the most memorable part in this book was the ending, and I almost teared up after reading that. There was a few action scenes happening as well, and it was cool, but a little unmemorable.

WRITING:
I liked the writing in this book. It was really well done, and i loved how Milan described this world. It was an Us Vs Them situation in this book, but I liked the way it was well done. I also liked how she handled all these themes in this book, because it was really well done.

Though, one of my complaints is that it kinda of lacked humor between the group. I understand that this is a darker world, but at least with when they were together, that would have been cool to see, but overall, it really did not disappoint.