This book is such a well written YA book. Its fast paced, action packed, and entertaining. The story telling and pacing is very thorough and well done. I love a book that has spectacular world building and this book had it for sure, I felt immersed in the world and couldn't put this book down. I gave it 4 stars and would recommend to my audience.

Wonderful debut novel. It was a fast-paced read. I enjoyed it so much. I cannot wait for the rest of the series!

This is a really great book, and I’m glad it exists for YA readers! The characters have interesting interactions, and the last half of the book gets crazy in some really cool ways.

I would have cut the last part of the book and pushed it to the next one, just because it was a big slowdown, and would have been a better way to open the second book.

Can’t wait to read the next one!

I loved everything about this book and this says a lot for me in general because I have a very love hate relationship with YA. This story actually breaks away from the very recent YA formula that I noticed has popped up in the genre. What is also a super big plus is that this is perfect for teen Boys, that's not to say that this cannot be enjoyed by girls or even adults but we have to admit that there is a serious lack of YA books geared towards teen boys who enjoy reading. Another huge plus for me is there is basically no romance in this, there is the tiniest love story but it is so far from being the focus that it might even feel nonexistent to some its more along the lines of 'this kid has crush on this kid', but it doesn't go past that and over take the story and it's such a nice change.

In this we have action, giant mechanical sky serpents, politics and so much more, it was phenomenal from start to finish. Not once did I feel like the story was dragging or that any of characters were suffering from lack of personality or depth. Gregson also had a very intricate hierarchy system that was broken into multiple layers and it's so easy to grasp and understand but also so very intriguing. I loved the idea of each of the Skylands having its own type of fighting style that was actually shown to us. I enjoyed the commentary on the different social structures, which was basically how the rich will purposely keep the poor weak to prevent them from moving up. I liked how Gregson had Conrad learn this aspect of life and how it didn't take him long to figure out how the system was built to punish those who already had nothing. The way Gregson portrayed this in the plot makes it easy for young readers to grasp and personally I think it's important for them to learn this. The politics of this are also very easy to grasp while being intricate and very well thought out. There are few threads and having Conrad learn what is being kept from the public while also in his own way participating in keeping this information from the public was intriguing.

Conrad is an amazing main character, he goes from having everything to nothing and has to work his way back up to prove himself to his uncle, the person who took everything from him. He is standoffish and prefers to do everything on his own, insists that he doesn't need any friends, and has mega trust issues. He also has a lot of internal conflict about the choices he makes because his parents both tried to raise him in two different ways. Seeing him grow through the story was extremely satisfying, and I am looking forward to seeing what choices and how he makes those choices in follow up books play out. Now I will say by the end of the book my favorite character was Pound, the growth that this boy goes through is phenomenal and when I say the last like 10 pages of this story sent me on a rollercoaster of emotions and crying was absolutely present! Whatever is in store for this series my son better not be harmed or killed or anything, I will riot if anything happens to him. The best part about the characters in general though is that you never forget that these are 16 year old kids. They are going through horrific situations and are being tasked with jobs that technically they shouldn't be given but seeing as the state of their worlds situation they kind of have no options but to enlist kids, but the fact that Gregson made sure to be like "hey don't forget these are kids, not adults" was amazing, I don't know if anyone has noticed but a lot of YA books with 16 year olds feel more like they are 25, so I genuinely enjoyed that at times I was reeling from situations because I knew some of the events they were going through was extremely heavy and Gregson shows how that affects some of them.

I usually don't enjoy stories that involve a school system of some sort and while this does have a "training" school for hunters which is the group Conrad gets picked for, I will say it was entertaining and I did not hate it, I had questions and concerns as to why the adults were putting them through this but I still enjoyed it. I do feel like their system is flawed though since they talk about how many Hunters die just in the training sessions alone and I just think to myself, "well your system is.... not exactly smart". There is action present throughout the entire story, from fist fights to battle scenes to the unimaginable take down of a creature, every single action scene was satisfying. There are traitors on multi0ple sides, and frankly one had me bamboozled. The final action scene is explosive and reveals so much and builds up the anticipation for the follow up books.

I am without a doubt excited to continue with this story and this is a book I will be owning for my own personal collection at some point. Give it a shot, you will not be disappointed.


Side note to Peach Tree Teen please make sure the formatting for the ebooks is correct, I had a lot of issues reading my e-arc and had to wait till this was released as the bad formatting was actually affecting my enjoyment. I'm glad I gave it a proper chance with a correctly formatted physical copy.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

I think what gravitated me to this book was this 'sky' world, hierarchies, and a son / lording who has to redeem his place in society. True it was filled with tropes of things I had seen in other books, but it gave a Brandon Sanderson'esque feel to it so I decided to give it a shot.

The problem with this book is you can't settle, you can't feel as if you're taking in the situation. Everything is very BOOM BOOM BOOM. You're talked at instead of gently lured into the situation. ALSO: this is first person narrative. God help me, I can't stand badly written first person narratives.

Unfortunately, if you can't handle first person narratives and poor exposition, then you won't enjoy this book.

I really did try with this one so I pushed myself to 28% even though I should’ve dnfed earlier – because I could tell I wasn’t enjoying myself. The book sounded like something I would enjoy but ultimately I realised I wasn’t going to.

There were random capitalisations and I think it made sense for military terms – but every time it did it just seemed to pull me out of the story; making it harder for me to enjoy. This was also a First Person pov and I couldn’t get into the main character’s voice. The plot was okay but not enough to make me overlook the other things.

The beginning was a bit slow and I was sceptical with the plot but once it took speed, it was such a fantastic read.

• First, how majestic is the cover. Secondly, the story is unique and the characters in the book are well thought of. The book is medium paced and I loved how the characters have grown throughout the book, especially Pound.

• The world building was immaculate, the governing systems, the wealth levels... everything felt well- researched. The story is action packed, motive driven and I look forward to read the rest of the trilogy (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

This young adult fantasy is about a Meritocracy society divided into “high, medium, and lows” where it’s kill or be killed. The MC Conrad and the excellent world building drew me in immediately!
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The world building with the Floating cities in the sky reminded me a bit of Jeff Wheeler’s Harbinger series which I absolutely love. Gregson weaves a wonderful sci-fi and fantasy world with monstrous gargantuans fly through the sky and trade factions.
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After being selected as a trainee for the Hunter faction, the selections compete for the honor to become a captain.
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This is a fantastic book with Dark academia, brutal tests, and the ultimate underdog.

Thrilling and imaginative, Sky's End is the SFF adventure we've all been waiting for. Marc Gregson effortlessly sweeps the reader along on Conrad's journey.

I enjoyed the thrills of this book. It gave a nice perspective on a society where you can go from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs if you are willing to fight, literally. Conrad's character really grows and changes. He learns to listen to himself. The descriptions of the fights and monsters made them easy to picture. Can't wait for the next one in the series.

I was given an E-Arc by Netgalley and Peachtree Teen Publishing.
I am giving this book 4.5 stars! It was amazing! The story is unique and compelling, and the pacing is great. I would say my Favorite character is Rod! His comments and quick whit and sass is just amazing and matches Conrad bitter and overthinker personality very well! I am excited to read the rest of the series! I will be counting down the days!

This book was a step out of my comfort zone, and I am so glad I decided to give it a shot! It's been a while since I have read a fantasy/dystopian book, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the found family aspect and following all of the characters. I think this book would be great for those who do not normally read this genre. It was easy to follow, very enjoyable and kept me wanting to read more!

What an excellent contemporary foray back into the world of YA 2010s reminiscent dystopia. The meritocracy based society, different trade sectors, political cover ups and sci fi war games were all familiar and yet executed in a fresh and entertaining way. Our main character Conrad is the underdog hero you want to root for, and yet wildly unaware of his likeability - similar to Katniss in Hunger games. The monsters were interesting and original, and the action was never under or over done. I loved and hated the crew in all the ways we were meant to, and thoroughly enjoyed their growth and character arcs. This found family aspect really increased my enjoyment of the story. The vocabulary choices were often more middle grade to me, but I am well and truly out of the target age range of this book so can't complain on that front. At 16 I just know I would have devoured every second of this book, so I'm rating it 5 stars. All in all a very strong debut novel and I will definitely be continuing with the series as they are released.

Thank you to Net Galley, Peachtree Teen and Marc J Gregson for the opportunity to read an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.25⭐️
Sky’s End starts by throwing the reader straight into the action. Plus, the writing is super accessible and easy to read. Gregson is good at immersive storytelling; there’s no bullshit as we’re thrown straight into the story and I LOVED it - to an extent.

I didn’t necessarily dislike this book, but I did have some issues with the pacing. Although the story starts quite fast-paced, I felt like the story dragged in the middle. There was something about the Gauntlet that felt kind of monotonous and made the story lull. Despite the action and the occasional betrayal, this middle section really dampened my enjoyment of the overall novel and even made the ending feel a little rushed. Although I feel quite connected to a lot of the characters, I don’t know if this is enough for me to continue the series. But I think, despite having issues with the pacing this was overall a solid start to a YA Fantasy series.

I recommend Sky’s End to anyone wanting to read some YA Fantasy, but I’d say it’s definitely more geared towards a younger teen/YA audience. Perhaps fans of the Hunger Games might enjoy the ‘Selection’ process and the Gauntlet that followed!

There are graphic displays of brutal violence and the occasional swear (so definitely check TWs before reading), but outside of that I think this would be well suited for a younger YA audience wanting to dip their toes into fantasy.

Despite my criticisms, I’m glad I saw this on TikTok randomly last year and that I requested this from Netgalley! Bring on Book 2 because I’m interested to see how the story will progress!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

4.5/5 stars.

Sky's End is an incredible YA read, fast-paced with fully realized characters. I find characterization is a common weakness in YA books, but that was not the cast here. The characters were unique and flawed. There were plenty of mistakes made. The main character processed his emotions realistically. The worldbuilding was so fun, floating islands with beasts made of steel is always going to be intriguing but then add in the meritocracy system and the Selects, I was hooked instantly. I read this book over two days, could not put it down. It was paced well. The prose was appropriate for the YA genre, nothing too overly complex but also not simplistic.

I really enjoyed this read and am looking forward to continuing this series and following this author.

From the very first page, this author delivers sky-high stakes. Conrad, banished to live among the poorest people, struggles to earn enough money to keep himself and his ailing mother fed. He longs to see his estranged sister again, and the dream of reuniting his family is the only thing that keeps him going.

He’s got massive trust issues, which, considering that his father an uncle, both of whom had a hand in raising him and controlling his fate, are both abusive jerks, and the women in his life are either absent or terribly ill, makes sense. Though Conrad rejects the toxic behavior of the men in his family, it takes a lot longer for him to reject their teachings. Very late in the book, he not only considers willfully sacrificing a crew member he doesn’t like or trust, but he frames someone for murder as well, again justifying his actions as necessary because he doesn’t like the person.

Conrad’s relationships with women are also pretty limited. Mainly, he rescues them or is traumatized by his failure to rescue them. I was glad to see a story that doesn’t include romance– it’s nice that there are options for readers who aren’t interested or want a break from a romantic plot or subplot.

I first heard about this book through Instagram and was delighted to get the opportunity to read this work early (thank you NetGalley). I was not familiar with Marc but from here on out, I will read anything he puts out from now on! I don’t typically read YA books anymore but this was such a gripping surprise to what I’ve read in this category in recent years. Conrad is a strong and captivating MC and a refreshing step up from the typical personalities you see in the YA genre. I was intrigued by the world building and enjoyed the twists and turns of the story. For it being a debut novel from this author, Marc hit it out of the park! I cannot wait for the next installment of this soon-to-be legendary series.

DNF.

the writing is not for me. it doesn't create a connection between me and the story, making it hard for me to continue.

Sky's End perfectly scratches my itch for a political dyspotian fantasy. I had so much fun reading this and I know I will be following the rest of the series!

I was obsessed with the power struggle surrounding captaincy on the ship and the internal politics between the teenagers.

The characters, the world building, the writing- all of them were wonderful and left me aching for the rest of the books. The Conrad-Pound arc was especially awesome.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone I know who enjoys fantasy or dystopian fiction!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the arc.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.