A story about a young girl who steals off in the night to ride her father's winged steed. Only certain people are allowed to even own and ride the winged horses. There is some Hunger Games flavor to the beginning. There is the haves and the have nots. Everything is taken from the working people to give to the rich. There is a life or death competition that will earn you a coveted place in the king's army. There is also some Red Queen similarities with a young lady who has special powers and will save them. She doesn't even realize she is special until half way thru. The story draws you in and you are invested in many of the characters. I could see this as a movie or a series. It definitely seems like there is a lot more to come and more stories to tell.

This young adult fantasy creates a world that is very fascinating and complex. The magic system is something really interesting that I have never seen before. Some of the characters are well developed and we got to understand them but I feel that other secondary characters were left in their development at a superficial level. A lot of the situations in the story were predictable for me but it was really interesting to see the story develop. I feel that Aluma was a really great lead character, I loved her determination and her sense for doing what she believed in. I think that this book can be appealing for any fan of fantasy because it has a world and characters with great potential.

Let's face it, the cover is great -- who doesn't want to read a book with a winged horse on it?! So this is the one time I'm going to say, go ahead, judge a book by it's cover! Reynolds creates an engaging story about finding ourselves while embracing the unknown not just for ourselves, but for our family. A Light in the Sky sets the reader up for what I'm sure will be a thrilling series -- if you love coming of age stories with pining, love triangles and magic, this book is for you!

Having read The Red Queen and DNFed Scorpio Races, this totally gave me mixed feelings when starting to read the book.

Gladly, this was quite interesting as I am looking for a quick read. I was thinking that this middle grade sometimes but this is YA and geared for the younger readers of the genre. I always like the fantasy and adventure aspect of this books.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing a copy of A Light in The Sky. I have reviewed honestly.

This book was beautifully executed, for the most part. I did find some scenes lacking conviction which made those parts drag. The characters were lovable but basic. The world building was spectacular and vivid. I also think some of the horse talk will just fly over the heads of people who didn't grow up horse crazy like myself because it could be quite in-depth at times. Overall, a well written book for middle grade and young adult readers alike.

Aluma's father is a retired Rider who hasn't allowed her to train to be a Rider herself. But one day, she just might have to become one. 🐴

No, no. 😒
I was enjoying this book a lot up until the 60% mark, and I should just have DNF'd it then and there. 😔
I wanted to give it 4 stars, because I was enjoying the story quite a bit. It is not revolutionary in any way, and I did not understand the horse-talk one bit, but it was okay. 😁

And then it all just went downhill. 🧐
The romance was badly set-up, which only made me hate all of the characters involved.
Every trope known to mankind was used in this book, which makes everything extremely predictable (furthermore the foreshadowing was extremely clear...). 🙃

I haven't hate-read a book in a long time, but this one made my eyes roll pret-ty often. 🙄

Such a good start, but a very disappointing middle and ending. 😕

Middle-school me would have loved this story. In a dystopian future, Aluma unexpectedly finds herself competing to be an acclaimed Empyrean Rider, one of the elite soldiers whose horses are given the ability to fly. She’ll need all of the weapons and riding skills she learned from her father to navigate the training ahead, figure out what’s going on with her best friend Thayer, and uncover the trail of mysteries that somehow connects her and her family to an elusive conspiracy.

Of course, the flying horses are awesome, and there’s an interesting mix of modern inventions (ambulances and jeans) with medieval elements (swords and cryptic prophecies). Some parts felt predictable, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the terribly long names for geographic regions and nationalities, but I could see this being a fun book for younger readers in the mood for Hunger Games with a fantasy twist.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC**

"'Your father would be so proud of you,' she says in a hushed voice, as if she's reminiscing - like she knows him. Like she knows me."

Actual Rating = 2.75 stars, rounded up to 3

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a classic YA Fantasy in all its love triangle-y, info dump-y, not-like-other-girls glory. That's not even really an insult because I probably would've loved this if I found it when I was 16 and hadn't read a ton of very similar stories.

What this book has to differentiate it from the run-of-the-mill YA Fantasy is the sky horses (my term, not Reynolds). Now, I am not, nor have I ever been, a horse girl. I grew up in a major metropolitan area and, while I've spent time in more rural locations, I'm a city girl at heart. I think horses are pretty and I understand how useful they are for farmers and ranchers but like, that's a large, powerful animal. No joke, my husband's cousin basically had her face kicked in by a horse and had to have a ton of reconstructive surgery. So, while the sky-horses are super unique, I'm probably just not the type of reader who'd be enchanted by it.

For its intended audience (which I am admittedly not), I think this will probably be very popular and I would recommend it to readers who are in that place of their reading journey.

This is probably one of my favorites novels of the year. This book is such an interesting YA Fantasy read that kept me up at night reading more cliffhangers that left me speechless. I absolutely loved it. You can certainly tell how the characters developed in the story and i fell an attachment fo Aluma and Thayer. They have a cute friendship and I love that!
I also love the plot of this book, it is so interesting, mind blowing, and the world building really just sucks you into Aluma’s world fo flying. Definitely my favorite read!

Flying horses? Yes please!

I was enchanted by the first two chapters as Aluma secretly flies through the world and spends some alone with Thayer before he competes to be a Rider in the Empyrean Calvary. I fell in love with them both immediately and it was a gentle way to accomplish some important world-building.

The writing is lovely, descriptive and straightforward. Several intriguing questions are posed in the first quarter of the book to kick off the plot and the tournament itself was tense and engaging.

The pace and plot continued to be smooth as the book progressed. Though at times I wished there were firmer obstacles put in Aluma’s way during her quest to find answers. A few times important conversations were stopped for weak reasons like we’re too tired from training to talk more now—despite the fact that a character just dangled earth-shattering news in front of her. By the midpoint enough mysteries are solved that we are propelled into the rest of the book.

This was a fun YA read and I would be interested in a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley for this complimentary digital ARC.

This one is a bit hard to rate. I enjoyed the beginning and most of the first half of the book. I was hooked from the start but this fizzled out for me.

Some things I just couldn't get past, like the overuse of italics. They were everywhere - in Aluma's inner thoughts, in everyone's speech. It felt like every other word was being emphasized after a while. I know this may seem nitpicky but its how I felt. Can't change that so not sorry. The world building was also lacking a bit, making me somewhat confused about the kingdoms and what should be acceptable and not for this world. An example of this is Aluma thinking about how she is wearing JEANS and others were dressed up. Up to this point nothing was mentioned with any modern slang so it jolted me out of the fantasy world the author was creating. Later on, they are referred to as pants made of denim. But that was not much better. Then in the arena during the contests to see who would become riders, all of a sudden there is a giant screen TV with an announcer (much like the announcer in the Hunger Games) and its simply stated that it was technology that survived the wars. It felt like the part needed technology so technology was written in.

I didn't mind the love triangle at all. I love a good love triangle! And I thought the book flowed quite well, with short enough sections to move things right along. I LOVED the flying horses! They had their own personalities and they were awesome. I liked the secondary characters and would've liked more depth to them. For the most part, I liked Aluma's "voice" (except for those italics!) and some parts of this book were quite poetic and wonderfully written.

Aluma was very naive about many things in this book. Some of that can be forgiven, and no one wants a perfect character because those don't feel real either. But some of the stuff she did was pretty foolish, which was a turn off for me.

This was a very "young feeling" young adult book. My preference is for older feeling characters or at least characters who act more mature. Others may love this book just fine, but it was not for me.

This story has a very old-school YA fantasy vibe, but in a nostalgic kind of way.

It's rather simple with pretty straight-forward world-building, characters, writing, tropes, plot, and (of course) love triangle. And it does everything a first book in a series is supposed to do. It introduces the characters, gives a lay of the land, shows some magic, and sets it up for the story to continue.

That being said, it does all seem very one note to me. The characters are a little bland, the fantasy elements are pretty standard, and the plot is a bit basic. If I had read this in my teens, I 100% would not be bothered by this at all. And I'm not really bothered by it now - I've just come to prefer more complex storytelling.

I think for the intended audience, this is a real winner and I'm pretty sure the concept of pegasi will sell a lot of readers. For me, personally, it's a decent book/story and I would be willing to continue the series.

I had high hopes for this book based on the description, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I am rounding up my 2.5 stars to 3 stars because I am coming at this YA fantasy as an adult reader and I try to keep in mind that teenage readers may not be as critical and enjoy many of the aspects of this book that I didn't. Great idea and plot concept, just faltered on the execution.

The MC is 17 year old Aluma, who reads as much younger than she is supposed to be written as. Her dream is to ride a Pegasus, which is only allowed for those chosen to be in the king’s Empyrean Cavalry. Aluma trains to join the Autumn Tournament, a competition to find new Cavalry recruits from across the kingdom. Her father is a retired Empyrean rider, but he has forbidden her from ever becoming one herself to spare her from the horrors of war.

The book dives right into the action, which made things flow nicely and kept the reading going at a good pace. There weren't chapters wasted on training, which was really relieving. There was plenty of detail and description, painting the scene through some good worldbuilding. On the other hand, the dialogue and language was sometimes awkward and hard to read. This book managed to include nearly every YA and fantasy trope all in one. She's the young heroine out to save the nation from an evil ruler with very little depth. I normally don't mind a love triangle in a YA, it's fairly common, but I don't like it when it is all the female MC can think about. Unfortunately, here, Aluma was consumed by her feelings for her blond best friend and the dark and brooding prince. I wanted to read more about Aluma's relationship with her family, especially her father. I wanted her to be a kick-butt heroine who didn't tie her own worth or value to a boy and that she never deviated from going after her dreams to pursue a romance. I understand the author's choice to make her naïve since she is young, so naturally she is going to screw up, but there were times where it bordered on her having no common sense. As a horse owner myself, I was really looking forward to a lot more of Aluma with the pegasus, but it seemed like the pegasus became an afterthought very quickly and fell to the wayside.

It was fine, a pretty typical YA, it just didn't blow me away. But, there are many younger teen readers who will enjoy this book.

I will be completely honest...I went into this book almost blind. All I saw from the cover was a pegasus and really, that's all I needed to know. Magic and tech blend together in this dystopian world and I couldn't have been more excited. I really enjoyed this, but I went into with no expectations. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh I love this book, such a good story and Thayer is now my new book boyfriend!
Aluma has always wanted to be an Empyrian rider, when the opportunity arises, its not all it seems.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC, I swept through it quickly and I think it's going to be continued which I will eagerly await.

A Light in the Sky by Shina Reynolds, is a captivating story of hope and fighting for freedom. The main character, Aluma Banks, has always dreamed of riding a winged horse. The only way she has been able to ride is secretly at night. Then everything changes, and she is thrust into a competition to become an Empyrean soldier.
She must find a way to keep the light and uncover the secrets that threaten to destroy her and her family. I enjoyed the love triangle that emerged. I would have liked seeing more of the love triangle explored. I can not wait to read the next book in the series.

A tournament to become a warrior who rides on a flying horse? Sold. Until I realized how young and silly the characters and dialogue turned out. The villain was supposed to be the big bad, evil just to be evil, but it was more about talking about it than seeing it. A love triangle is always a hit or a miss and here it was a miss.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley; I’m reviewing it voluntarily.

A light in the sky was a really pleasant and refreshing read. While the plot structure and storyline isn't uncommon for a YA novel (chosen one has to save the world and fight against the darkness), the plot shines in the pacing. There aren't any lulls and it was difficult to put down, and it keeps compelling you to keep reading. Despite its target demographic it also doesn't pull any punches in letting characters experience loss and failure, while remaining age appropriate. Thanks to that it feels like there are actual stakes and it's very engaging to read.
I enjoyed the character, especially the cast of skilled and powerful women, however I could have done without the two love interests huffing and puffing at each other.

Altogether this warmed my horse girl heart and I really enjoyed reading it, I'm looking forward to any upcoming sequels and will make sure to follow this author's work.

I'm struggling to rate this but will actually go high with a four because I know many will truly love this book. The idea of horses magically being changed into something resembling Pegasus from myth was great but I am undecided how I feel about them seemingly understanding speech.
This does move at a fair old clip ( sorry couldn't resist ) and I liked that we weren't bogged down with tournaments or training academies which are frankly overdone in YA fantasy. I hate to say there is that old triangle situation here which honestly I don't think it needed because our protagonist and the dynamics in her family were actually interesting enough.
I will say I feel the ending was something of a damp squib and very frustrating but then again gaping holes throughout when it came to world building frequently left me guessing so maybe no surprise there. An interesting story that perhaps could have been polished up a bit but still enjoyable and I wonder how the author will proceed with the follow up ?
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

A high-flying adventure A Light in the Sky is a fight for freedom, a tale of betrayal and a story of hope.

Aluma is the daughter of a retired Empyrean Rider and she wants nothing more than to follow in her Father’s footsteps and protect her kingdom from the sky atop a winged horse. Denied the chance to compete to become a Rider, Aluma feels crushed by the laws of her Kingdom, confused by her brother’s fawning affection for the selfish King, and curiously suspicious of the strange behaviour of her father and his friends.

When betrayal leaves Aluma’s father near death, he urges Aluma to take the the reins and become a Rider – to be the light. Suddenly, Aluma’s entire world is changing and nothing is quite as it seemed.

What I liked: The world building was thorough but comprehensive. While it could be a little confusing following the names of the Kingdoms and cities at first, it starts to come together and form a history.

The story is well paced – the focus is on the action, but Reynolds makes it clear that time is passing and the tension starts to build. By the time we’re in the belly of the whale, figuratively, relationships have developed between our main characters and it is easy to understand where (and why) their loyalties lie.

The flying horses. They are some beautiful, magical flying horses. At times, the book really paints a picture of what it is like to ride a flying horse.

‘His long, feathered wings branch out stiffly on either side as we coast, allowing us to surf the air like invisible waves in the sky.’

What I didn’t like: I’m showing my age here a little, but these characters felt very hormonal. There is a lot of looking at firm abs, strong chests and chiselled jaws. Not to mention fuzzy tummies and blushing cheeks. It wasn’t bad but the typical YA love triangle feels cliched and unnecessary to the progression of the story.

While I enjoyed the book (enjoy to read it in an afternoon!), I do feel like the language could have been tighter. In trying to paint a detailed picture of the world, some passages get quite wordy:

The crowds have diminished as I rush down the main street through Cintrenia. I’m later than I thought – only a few people are still filtering in through the giant arena arches. I break into a run when I hear the inaugural opening trumpets sound from inside, a brazen reminder of my constant tardiness.

A Light in the Sky, Chapter 7
The crowds have diminished – only a few people.
I’m later than I thought – my constant tardiness.
Inaugural – opening.
While the paragraph paints a picture of the streets and Aluma, it also felt very repetitive and took me out of the moment.

Conclusion: A fun read, a daring adventure and the perfect introduction to the Clashing Skies series.