Cover Image: A Light in the Sky

A Light in the Sky

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Member Reviews

This was a really fun and addictive read. It was so easy to lose myself in this story. Loved it!
It’s action packed, fast paced and has really awesome story elements.
The horse riding is one of my favorite elements. The romance wasn’t entirely necessary written this way I think (triangle) and influenced the story-line progress at times, but overall it was really enjoyable and a good first book in a new series. I’ll be definitely getting myself a printed copy of it and can’t wait to read the next instalment! Highly recommend if you want a fast-paced, action packed story that’s really fun and has horse riding in it.

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Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for this e-arc. I was grateful to receive the book. a good fantasy novel but It wasn't brilliant in my opinion.

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This book was proposed as Red Queen meets The Scorpio Races, which means I could not wait to get my hands on it. Unfortunately it never grabbed me from the beginning, and its taken entirely too long for me to make my way through it. I think if I had read this book 10 years earlier, it may have made it in to my top recs, but it just didn't leave a lasting impression for me.

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It was difficult to get into the magic and excitement that should have been felt when reading this. It is definitely geared towards the younger end of YA, and is probably better suited to younger preteens than anyone else.

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Sadly I just couldn’t get into this. I found the beginning too slow to want to continue and commit to the characters and I didn’t get the sense of getting enveloped in the magic. I think this needed a crisper, tighter beginning to orient the reader on the journey to come and endear the characters and world.

This also felt very familiar, feeling formulaic of old school YA fantasy that, now that the genre has blown up significantly, feels very rote and repetitive. There isn’t anything I found creative or memorable. Nothing egregious surely, but just not anything refreshing sadly.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publusher for the advance reader's copy of A Light in the Sky by Shina Reynolds.
This was an easy to read, fast paced YA fantasy with all the mystery, love triangle, and self discovery themes.
The book I would say caters to the younger side of YA, but thats not to say I didn't enjoy it!
I love a wide world with lots of characters, and A Light in the Sky has all of this.

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This book has a pretty neat concept overall, but it does read like a debut. The characters are ok, some are better than others. I am one of the seemingly few who actually really like love triangles when they are well done, so I was excited to see that element come out in this book. But I feel like it was very back and forth, and I wasn't really sure which guy I was pulling for.

The world itself was exciting, and I really liked the concept of the different kingdoms fighting against each other in a good vs. evil type vibe. I also love horses, so to have a book filled not just with horses, but with flying horses! I really liked that aspect of the book.

Overall, I think this was promising as a debut, and I'm curious to see how the author's writing evolves over the years. I think this will still be a hit with some younger readers though!

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A Light in the Sky is a good read. It is bogged down with a large cast of characters with difficult names to remember so I found myself a bit lost at times on who was who. After deciding to get through it I needed to let that go I started to enjoy it more. The story flows well and although it isn’t overly complicated as far as the storytelling or world building it is an enjoyable read. This has potential with sone deeper world and character development.

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What compelled me to read this book is the idea of Pegasus in the story!
If you like hidden identity, love triangle and secrets waiting to be revealed then you can give this one a try.

The plot is simple and action-packed. The writing style makes it easy to understand the flow of the plot.
There’s no info dumping at the start of the story as well which is really good. Even though sometimes I find the world building slightly confusing.

There’s a lot of mystery in this story, it keeps me flipping the pages to know the truth of what really happen, the true identity of our main character and also about the villain and what their goal is.

It took a while for me to warm up to Aluma (FMC), her character is a bit impulsive and I didn’t like some of the decision she made towards the ending. Hopefully she’ll grow more as the series progress.
I also like the secondary characters, especially Wolkenna. I hope we got to know more about her and others as well.

As for the romance, I was fine at the beginning with Aluma might be having feelings toward her best friends and I was excited to see how that relationship would developed as the story goes.
However, the new character in the middle of the story changes everything. Suddenly there’s a love triangle that I'm not a huge fan of. The interaction between Aluma and the love interests felt too rushed and there's no room for them to develop these feelings.

The ending really intrigued me and I’m curious to know where will their next adventure go - towards the unknown.

Overall, for a debut novel it’s pretty good. It has a potential to be a great series and I’m hoping some things got more developed as the story got deeper.
I'm looking forward to the sequel of this book!

Actual rating: 3.5⭐

I received this review copy for free through Netgalley, I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the Wink Road Press and the author.

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DNF at 25%

Under completely normal circumstances I most likely would've finished this book, but I find myself extremely busy these days and I simply don't have the time to finish a book that I am not loving. That's not to say that this book isn't enjoyable, as I have found myself interested in the plot from the beginning. It is just the way that the book is written that is causing me to not want to continue.

This book is written almost exactly like Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, so I can see why they included the title of that book in this one's blurb. I first read Victoria Aveyard's novel in middle school and I really loved it, however when I reread the book at some point last year I felt that I had outgrown it and that I should've kept it in the past. That is almost exactly how I feel about the writing of A Light in the Sky. It just feels too young for me, like something I would've enjoyed back in the day.

That is not to say that this is not a good book, I just do not think it was meant for me at this point in my life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a fantastic, fast-paced read that left me on the edge of my seat the entire time! This book is a fast-faced adventure fantasy full of mystery, secrets, competition, and best of all, flying horses! The main character had my attention from the first page, the story had me captivated, the writing was beautiful, and the competition made me feel as if I was right there! Definitely a brilliant start to a series and I can not wait for the sequel.

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As with a lot of fantasy it was hard to get to grips with the long names of people and places. This book definitely fell on the younger side of YA

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Honestly, I could not finish this book. There was not enough intrigue for me to keep reading this so I DNF’d it very early on. The beginning was decent, but a lot of information is thrown at you without very many interesting plot points. I stopped reading around 25% of the way through.

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This was a great fun, quick read for me. I loved the world building and the characters that Shina Reynolds created. It had everything that a ya fantasy should have and I enjoyed the different relationships throughout the book. I am looking forward to the next book.

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1/5 stars. Thanks to the author and the publisher for a free copy of the novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really didn’t like anything about this book. It is like the author took every possible overused trope and executed them all in the same overdone way. Family issues, chosen one/very poor/not like other girls main character, random charming prince who falls for her, some very mediocre and not-so-developed fantasy world, bland and overly descriptive writing.

I respect people for liking this kind of read, but this book is just not for me. The book is 420 pages long, yet nothing real or of importance is told. The main character, default for all traditional YA fantasy mains, is so, so bland and uninteresting that I was speed-reading it, yet regret even reading further because I would miss nothing as everything is recapped in the last paragraph of each chapter. This is not an essay, you don’t have to include a conclusion paragraph.

There is no flow to the writing, descriptions are too much, and it kind of doesn’t make sense that in the middle of danger, the main character is thoroughly describing some random leaf of some random irrelevant flower.

In a nutshell, this book is very uninteresting, bland, default-setting-like and underwhelming.

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So I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pick this book up because I say a Pegasus on the front cover and I love horses -so flying ones? Big yes. The book itself was a pleasant surprise! It was and enchanting book that gave me a feeling of nostalgia. The characters were written well and Reynolds explored a plethora of different relationships from ones between families, friends and romance. It did have a love triangle that I didn’t enjoy too much but the rest of the book could make up for that! The world was complex so that it was interesting and engaging but not so that it was too complicated. Overall, this was an interesting read and not one that I’d usually go for but enjoyed it nonetheless!

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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‘𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰.’

Magical flying horses is a completely new genre for me but one I thoroughly enjoyed. This book was such a fun read although I read this a while ago, I can honestly say I have not come across another book quite like it. Yes it's plot does have some similar aspects to popular YA series, I truly felt like as I was reading this book I could not predict the plot twists or which characters were the potential villians.
The magic was quite beautiful and unique. I found the characters to be fun and loved the relationships that formed.
Hopefully there is a sequel or two because I would definitely like to read the rest of this story !

I want to say thank you to net galley for providing me a copy of Vampire Hearts in exchange for an honest review. This is my personal opinion of the book.

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A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

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To be honest, I didn't really love this one. I liked the concept and the writing style, but the story just wasn't for me.

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Debut Author Shina Reynolds A Light in the Sky is the first installment in the authors Clashing Skies series. This book has been marketed as being Red Queen meets The Scorpio Races in a high-flying new fantasy filled with passion, betrayal, and adventure. Seventeen-year-old Aluma Banks has always dreamed of soaring freely through the skies astride a powerful winged steed of her own. But flying is a privilege granted only to the Riders of the king’s Empyrean Cavalry, the aerial warriors who defend the borders of their land from the fallen Kingdom of Laithlann.

Aluma's father, Hearn, was a former Empyrean rider, and something of a legend. Aluma's mother left long ago, and her brother is a sneaky little snot who needs to be punched in the throat. Unfortunately for Aluma, and her family, they are hanging on by a thread thanks to the King's property rights rules, soldiers keep taking more than they need. Now, the only way to keep her family home, may mean that her father may need to come out of retirement and become a rider once more.

Each year, a select few people from each city compete to join the king's elite Empyrean Cavalry in the Autumn Tournament. Only the most skilled warriors and their equally remarkable horses are given a chance to participate. After, horses belonging to the new Empyrean Riders are granted their wings, going from a wingless horse to an Empyrean steed overnight. Positions in the Cavalry are extremely limited because of the power it takes to give the horses their wings, so the competition is fierce,.

Aluma, trained to ride and fight by her father, knows she has what it takes to prove herself worthy—if only her father hadn’t forbidden her from joining their ranks, in the hope of protecting his only daughter from the perils of war. To make matters worse, Thayer, Aluma’s best friend who could be becoming something more, is competing—and if he wins, he’ll leave her behind. When Aluma’s father is tragically injured just before the Tournament, she finds herself unexpectedly thrust into this year’s competition.

But as Aluma begins to pursue her dreams, she learns devastating secrets about the king and his never-ending war with Laithlann. After a battle against the "Scalers" Aluma finds herself in Laithlann where she meets Gattacan and his family which includes his sister Wolkenna. Of course, this is where the dreaded triangle of doom pops up its ugly head when her best friend Thayer arrives after believing that she was dead. Now, Aluma and her friends are considered to be traitors by Prince Sutagas.

In her quest for the truth, Aluma discovers a power deep within herself that may be the only way to save Eirelannia and the people she loves from the darkness that threatens to consume them all. A few things, the story ends on a brutal betrayal, and a cliffhanger. Where the story goes from here is anyone's guess. Aluma has been thrust into the spotlight by her own father, but her father didn't prepare her for what's to come in a world that sees her as a possible way to balance the light and the darkness. She's a naive character at times who does silly things that end up in bad situations. This book also has elements of a dystopian novel in that Laithlann is considered to be Old World where they have tall skyscrapers that existed in the world before numerous wars.

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