A light in the sky - Shina Reynolds

Ummm Not really sure what to say about this one. I couldn’t get into it and therefore didn’t finish it.

In A Light in the Sky, the first in a series, readers are introduced to Aluma Banks who dreams of soaring through the skies on the back of her winged horse just as her father did before her. Unfortunately, her father has forbidden her from ever entering the competition that would allow her to enter the Empyrean Calvary as a Rider. That is until an accident occurs and in order to save those she loves, she must enter the competition and train as a Rider. What follows is a fast-paced, unexpected journey into a world where war is looming, truth is not always what you think it should be, and adventure awaits around every corner. Author Shina Reynolds has created the first in a series that is sure to draw readers with a love for strong female leads, interesting characters and a story line that pushes readers to the end.

Thank you, the author and NetGalley, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, congratulations to the author on her fantastic debut book.

Wow! That was a great read! Can I write spoilers in my review? Probably not! I’ll try hard to stick with the basics, although there are many things that I would like to discuss and share in my review.

At first, I thought I was reading a typical fantasy story, but soon I discovered that the world had advanced technology and futuristic settings. I LOVE it when the author mix fantasy with technology. You can sense some dystopian vibes (The Hunger Games) came to my mind while reading (I am a huge fan), so this is an extra reason why I was totally into this book.

The beginning was a bit slow, and there was a little bit of info-dumping (I don’t mind that at all, it set up the world perfectly), and the pace picked up quickly. If you like a page-turning book, then look no farther!

The characters were well developed and easy to love and connect to them. Aluma massively grew as the book progresses, and it was easy to communicate with her. Now I can’t wait to read the next book!

Overall, I highly recommend A Light In The Sky for fans of YA dystopian/fantasy stories.

I did not know what to expect going in this book but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot was well developed and intriguing but I especially loved the characters and the relationships developed throughout the book whether they are platonic, romantic, or family. This was a great debut novel and I will be happy to read another book by this author! Bonus point for the world-building which was incredible in this book.

This was a fantastic book. The story is well written, engaging, and crazily entertaining. I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t bring myself to put it down. Aluma is a beautiful character, and I'm dying to find out what happens next.

This book hooked me from the start, the story plot is gripping and the book just drags you in so you will not want to put it down, highly recommend this book, I was lucky enough to get an ARC copy and I will definitely be getting the paperback

This book was a very pleasant surprise, to say the least. I became interested in it after seeing the beautiful artwork on the cover and after reading its synopsis. We follow the story of Aluma, a girl that loved flying more than anything else in the world, and her quest to fullfil her father´s wishes, alongside others with the same interests. The plot is well constructed and fast-paced, so you won´t be bored reading this book, if anything it makes you want to keep reading it. It is also well-written and the characters are easy to love. My favorite part about this book was the world-building and the characters relationships. We are introduced to the world by parts, as the plot progresses, so it´s easy to follow up and the friendships formed between the characters are very heart-warming to read about. Regarding tropes, we have some well loved ones and some of my favorites, such as the "Revolution" trope and "the chosen one" trope. There are also hints of romance in the book, but nothing well-established for now. We got an open ending, so i´m curious to see the future of each character in possibly another novel. I really liked this book and it´s definitely one of my favorites of the year. Truly reccomend it!

It's an enjoyable young adult fiction book. It is not for everyone but if you love fiction you will like this

As a self-proclaimed horse girl, I often struggle with inaccurate horse books. Thankfully, this wasn't one of them! When done well, I absolutely love reading about girls who love horses as much as me, and this one does not disappoint. Aluma is a wonderful heroine - impulsive at times, and a little naive - but strong willed, brave, and caring. Her group of found friends have a great dynamic, and I loved seeing them all come together over the course of the novel.

I thought the pacing of this one was good - it doesn't start out too slow, and we have almost constant movement and plot progression. For the most part, it doesn't feel forced either. There isn't a huge info dump despite the world building necessary to this story, and everything was pretty easy to follow. For the most part, I loved the relationships we see build throughout the book - I could do without the love triangle, but it wasn't badly done by any means. The betrayal felt a smidge predictable, but everything else was fantastically done. I'm really excited to see where this series goes, and can't wait to read the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an e-ARC.

This is a YA fantasy novel about a young girl who dreams of being one of the elite group of riders who fly on winged horses. She secretly steals out of the house at night and breaks all the rules by flying her father’s horse. Of course, events change the course of her life and she ends up getting her chance and becoming one of the Empyrean riders. However, this means that she has to pledge her allegiance to the king who has conquered her country and forced her people into poverty.
For a debut novel, I was seriously impressed. A lot of it covers familiar ground: young people meeting in a school and forming relationships, rebelling against the ruling classes, a love triangle, however, the story moves along at a good pace and the world building is excellent. The world is revealed to us gradually as Aluma finds out how little of her world she understands. I also liked the elements of a dystopian future. Aluma is a strong main character who drives the plot forward. In a way, she is too central as I felt that all the other characters were a bit lacking in depth. I did feel that some of it was predictable, however, I still found myself thinking about the book and wanting to finish it to find out how it all ended up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wink Road Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Alright, sorry, just had to get that out of the way because this book was amazing.

A Light in the Sky is a fast paced book that has horses and pegasi, a great plot that keeps you wanting to know more, and adventure. I loved the world, characters, and can't wait for the next book! The writing was great and it just shows that Shina Reynolds is meant to write because this was her debut book that didn't feel as such. Reynolds did amazing with her first book and I'm so glad she wrote this because I ride horses myself and never see books that have horses as a big part of the plot in them. So as soon as I saw A Light in the Sky on Netgalley I jumped straight to requesting and reading.

This book does have a vibe of "The Hunger Games" with the dystopian factors (which I liked) and I will say some things I was able to predict towards the end but it actually didn't falter my love for the book, though I can see it faltering others if you were iffy from the beginning. Another thing I wished and hope to see more of in the sequel is Aluma and Cashel's bond grow. I feel like we didn't get a lot of bonding moments between the two, and I see more of a horse and rider relationship with Aluma and Darwith.

But other than those small things, I loved this so much! I can't wait until it comes out so I can get a copy to hold in my hands and to put on my shelf. I would say if you like fast paced books with horses, adventure, plenty of action, twists, and a bit of romance this is the book for you!

Also, I'm team Thayer and I hope to the stars above that he's endgame.

Release date = November 9th (2021)
4.5 stars

I haven't finished this yet as it's rather overly descriptive and kind of hard to get through. It is enjoyable buy a tad dry in places. Characters are a little scattered. Other wise very entertaining.

A Light in the Sky is a YA Fantasy book which follows the story of a seventeen-year-old girl named Aluma Banks who has always dreamed of flying freely through the skies on a flying horse od her own. But too bad for her, flying is a privilege granted only the soldiers of the king. She wants to be part of the king's circle but her father is too afraid to let her go to war. Yet, an unfortunate series of events force her to compete to become one of the soldiers.

I picked this book up because of the red queen recommendation. I enjoyed the banter between characters and the romance but i did not like the heavy world building that begins in chapter one. It was too much and difficult to get through. The competition i really enjoyed. I would recommend this to people who enjoy books about rivals, competitions and political intrigue.

Reynolds creates interesting characters and explores many relationships such as father-daughter, sister-brother, love and even platonic ones. This book follows Aluma, who is forced to take part in a tournament after her father was mysteriously injured and although she is finally allowed to pursue her dream of flying, she learns the devastating secrets behind the king and the centuries-old war with Laithlann.

For a debut novel, this was actually really good. I enjoyed reading about all the characters and the plot was so wonderfully planned out and was unexpected in the right places. However, due to my natural bias against love triangles, badly written or not, I had to take off one star for the unnecessary trope (in this instance it wasn't really necessary because she met the other guy two days ago or something and he wasn't even the villain). And I 100% love that even with all the character development, she's still reckless and commits to her insanely stupid ideas.

Thank you netgalley for sending me a digital arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

A light in the Sky is a YA book about the adventures of a seventeen year old girl living with her dad and brother on a farm in Cintrenia, on the island of Eirelannia. Cintrenia is one of the kingdom ruled by King Breasal. The king and its retinue are from Tarmensil, capital of Uladmond. Its people are wealthy, rich and well fed. The king and his brother have been adding to their realm by annexing lands close-by. And Cintrenia is one of these annexed lands, where famine is on everyone's doorstep due to heavy taxes from the king. So rebellion is in the air. The last kingdom to be annexed is the kingdom on Laithlann which, to me, seems like New York under water. Tall skyscrapers, their base in water, define the capital city.
Aluma's dream is to become an Empyrean Rider and to fly a Pegasus-like Empyrean Steed. The horses have wings. How cool is that! Every year, at the Autumn fair, a tournament is held to select the next candidates to go to Galghesworp, the Riding training center. Aluma would like to compete but her father is dead set against it.
From there flows a really nice story on what happens to Aluma and her family. The story is full of friendship, love, filial duty but also betrayal, spite, heartache, hatred and death. As the book evolved, Aluma is faced with choices that will impact other people's lives and destinies, And these choices are not easy to make.

I like the story overall. It had a good rhythm, the key characters were well developed (i would have liked a little more details from the secondary characters), I had no issue turning the pages to find out what happened next.
What i didn't like as much were ..... the names. I am not sure why but they struck me as odd but i couldn't shake the feeling that they were very very odd. Also I am not sure about the timeframe of this story. Are we talking post-apocalyptic? what year or century? what happened to Eirelannia and when?
It would also help to know if this is book one of a series. If it is not, then this story needs a lot more. There are some ends that need to be tied: Aluma's mum and brother for e.g.

Overall a good effort from the author. I think that teens or young adults will really like this story, especially if you are into horses.

#ALightintheSky #NetGalley
thank you to Wink Road Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

In general I thought this story was pretty good and has a lot of potential, but the love triangle was insufferable (I just really hate love triangles) and the cast of characters had absolutely zero diversity. It’s going to be a series so I’m excited to see this author improve their skills!

I was given the book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF
I got past page 400 and just couldn't continue.
This book was not for me. It started off good with a lot of potential. The further I got into it, I got a "Hunger Games" feeling with the dystopian fantasy theme going on. Then it started to become predictable.
I really had high hopes for this but...nope.
It didn't feel mature enough for the genre.

This is a great fantasy, young adult read that captures the attention of the reader from the very beginning. The story follows Aluma, who has dreamed of becoming a rider in the Empryean cavalry to protect her nation. In order to join, she must survive the notorious Autumn tournament and the dangers that come with it.

This story did an amazing job on the world building. The setting involves a futuristic society with advanced technology but still engaged in a war that has. been destroying both nations. I really enjoyed the characters and their dynamics throughout the story, The relationships further illustrate the complex relationships these characters share.

This is a great teen read that involves all the tropes readers love in YA: a strong female main character, love triangles, and a society filled with secrets and magic. I recommend this book to any fans of the genre.

This book was a very pleasant surprise, to say the least. I became interested in it after seeing the beautiful artwork on the cover and after reading its synopsis. We follow the story of Aluma, a girl that loved flying more than anything else in the world, and her quest to fullfil her father´s wishes, alongside others with the same interests. The plot is well constructed and fast-paced, so you won´t be bored reading this book, if anything it makes you want to keep reading it. It is also well-written and the characters are easy to love. My favorite part about this book was the world-building and the characters relationships. We are introduced to the world by parts, as the plot progresses, so it´s easy to follow up and the friendships formed between the characters are very heart-warming to read about. Regarding tropes, we have some well loved ones and some of my favorites, such as the "Revolution" trope and "the chosen one" trope. There are also hints of romance in the book, but nothing well-established for now. We got an open ending, so i´m curious to see the future of each character in possibly another novel. I really liked this book and it´s definitely one of my favorites of the year. Truly reccomend it!

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.

Each year, Rider hopefuls across Eirelannia compete in the Autumn Tournament for the honor of joining the Cavalry. Aluma, trained to ride and fight by her retired Empyrean Rider 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. 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.

The constant action means there is never a dull moment ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️