An extremely well-crafted and powerful story highlighting the Black American experience in a new way. It was challenging and hopeful with deep and meaningful character development.

This book was so creative! I could have never predicted where it would go. The daughter wore on me at first but I came around to her. Im glad we got an explanation as to what made the white folks walk into the water. Id definitely read this author again

Sky Full of Elephants is a deeply provocative and immersive speculative fiction debut that reimagines America after every white person mysteriously vanishes. This high-concept premise plunges us into a world restructured—not without trauma, but with space for new possibilities.
At the heart is Charlie Brunton, a formerly incarcerated professor navigating his identity in this new reality—and his daughter Sidney, who emerges from isolation to confront her biracial past. Their road trip across a changed South is equal parts emotional reckoning and cultural rediscovery. Campbell’s prose pulses with poetic intensity—at times breathtaking, occasionally overwrought—but always compelling. The setting and internal landscapes he crafts linger long after turning the last page. While pacing slows in the middle and some dialogue feels forced, the emotional core between father and daughter pulses with raw honesty. At its best, the novel becomes a meditation on race, legacy, and the possibility of renewal.

This book had a generally interesting concept for a dystopian fiction plot, but I think it ultimately felt like it was written in the 1970s or something? It was very much hyper-focused on the intersection of multi-racial people, rather that exclusively focusing on what a society suddenly without white people could mean for that remaining society of black people. It felt like it was trying to do too much to balance every scenario and made itself feel a bit contrived.

I was not able to read and review this book before its publishing date. However, now that I have I gave it 3 stars.

What an interesting concept. I was hooked from the beginning! It’s an uncomfortable read as a white person, but I think thats a good thing! It’s really well written, but I would have loved even more if it were a bit shorter!

While the pacing lags after a tremendous and fascinating start, overall this is a beautiful, thought-provoking reflection on race and trauma in the United States. The self-exploration of Sydney, a mixed-race girl who spent most of her life with white relatives, is particularly strong. The ending wavers, and I would have liked more explanation for the drownings, but the story is still enjoyable.

I didn't know what to expect with this premise, but what I got was a beautiful, complex, thought provoking novel. I have struggled to write a cohesive review of this complex book, so I am just going to detail some of my thoughts below.

As someone from Mississippi, the portrayal of it's people and their pain/aimlessness after the death of all white people hurt a bit. However, I think the book did a good job in showing diverse ways of dealing with the new world, from joy to denial to pain to freedom. . . There are some really beautiful passages about the power and connectivity of black people and culture that where my favorite parts of the book.

Another thing I really liked about this book is the portrayal of Sydney, a mixed girl raised predominantly with the white side of the family. As a mixed woman, I have unfortunately read multiple books where we are portrayed in a stereotypical manner, and this was not the case here. Sydney and her journey/struggles with connecting to her father and to her black heritage felt real and nuanced, though she is not always the most likable character.

My main struggle with this book was the ending. I think the explanation for the cause of the drownings felt incomplete and too abstract. I think I would have rather there been no attempt at explanation and instead the book just focus on the characters and life in the new world. For me, the ending detracted from the rest of the book.

However, overall, I am glad I read this book. It is a beautiful and thought provoking read, and I have thought about it multiple times since.

hanks to NetGalley for an ARC. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this book was *almost* life-changing. I’m actually rating it 4.5 stars but rounded up. For the first like 1/3 of the book I was sure this was going to rock and completely change my world. It didn’t quite hit that level, but it is still remarkable.

At the root of this is a story about family - those by blood and those you find. The ancestor& heritage vibes coupled with the importance of music to Black history reminded me of Sinners (please go see this movie!)

“Family, Charlie saw, in skin, in bone, in spirit, impossible to bury, chain down, or educate out of the mind.”

“Twenty years in prison did everything it could to erase family from Charlie’s heart. And yet, as good roots often do, family remained.”

This book kicks off with a bold and fascinating premise: imagine waking up to find the world as you knew it completely dismantled—its systems, structures, and gatekeepers wiped away. What emerges from the rubble is a vision of possibility, especially in the powerful portrayal of a thriving Black collective relearning how to live, love, and support one another. That sense of community was, for me, the heart of the story. Learning to heal from the trauma over generations of people oppressed and mistreated- those aspects of the story worked.

Enter Charlie, a man once imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, now a respected professor with students who hang on his every word. But beneath his calm exterior, he still carries the weight of a life interrupted. Then comes a call from Sidney, the daughter he’s never met, asking for help. Her request? Take her to a family that somehow survived the mysterious “music” that changed everything.

I was hooked until about the 40% mark.

Once Charlie reaches Sidney, things took a turn. I wanted to do more than slap her. In this scene, I could see the relevance of how deeply ingrained bias and superiority can be. Even in a reimagined world, it's a commentary that still rings painfully true today.

The slow pace of the book and maybe it was too character driven for my liking because Sidney really got on my nerves.

I considered DNF’ing, but curiosity won out, and I finished the rest via audiobook from my library. In the end, this story wasn’t quite for me, but I appreciated the ambition and the thought-provoking layers it tried to peel back.

I posted somewhere that I wasn't smart enough to read Sky Full of Elephants, and that's because this book will make your brain hurt. The author he dares you to think. Every sentence feels intentional, layered, and thought-provoking. It's the kind of book that demands close reading and active engagement with the ideas being explored.

The premise is ambitious: what would the world, specifically the United States, look like without white people? As a Black woman from the South, I was intrigued by the concept. The book opens strong, with gripping prose and a compelling setup. The questions it raised about identity, race, history, and power made me lock in early. And from the jump, the author challenged me to “figure out” what it means to be Black—and more specifically, what it means to be a Black American.

But then…the pacing shifted. Somewhere in the middle, things got muddy. The plot lost momentum, and I found myself asking, “What are we getting at?” The transition into magical realism/sci-fi was jarring and unexpected, and at times, the narrative felt more like a philosophical thought experiment than a cohesive story. The rhetoric around generational trauma became heavy-handed—not because it isn't necessary (it is)—and redundant, which I guess was the point.

And then there’s the daughter. She was insufferable, and it was extremely difficult to empathize with her—which, again, I think was intentional—but it created a barrier between me and the emotional core of the story.

Still, I can’t deny that this book made me think. Deeply — I still don't think I quite understand the ending. The author’s take on a world without whiteness was not what I expected, and it forced me to wrestle with my own assumptions and inner contradictions. Even if it didn’t fully land for me, I appreciate the ambition, the beauty of the prose, and the questions it left me sitting with.

A Sky Full of Elephants is a challenging read that won’t be for everyone—but it’s a bold, necessary contribution to conversations about race, power, and the complexity of Black American identity.

The story was good, but I thought that the pacing fell off and kept me from getting attached to the characters enough to care.

SKY FULL OF ELEPHANTS was simply profound. I’ve seen a lot of people say it made them “uncomfortable,” and I think that’s exactly the point. America’s racist roots run deep. Relationships are devastatingly—and beautifully—complicated. And this is the kind of speculative fiction that doesn’t just build new worlds, it deepens the ones we already live in.

A bold and thought provoking exploration of race, identity, and connection. The characters are richly drawn, with resilience and internal struggles. It is a memorable read that lingers after the final page.
Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

There was so much that was really good about this book. First of all, the idea of this world where all white people in America essentially off themselves, leaving the country to everyone else is an interesting speculative fiction idea to explore what could happen in a “post-racial” America. Then we get such strong characters in Charlie and Sidney, both of which have had such vastly different experiences growing up in America. The ending was a little ambiguous, but otherwise I really had fun with this book and appreciated the perspective this book brings to looking at race in America, something that is greatly needed given our current government.

This is a very creative work, following a father and daughter reunited due to a phenomenal event where all whites in the US walked to the nearest body of water and drowned themselves. Teenage Sidney, abandoned by her white father, stepfather, and stepbrothers; reaches out to the Black father she never knew, now freed due to the event from being imprisoned for his wrongful conviction for raping her mother. He comes to find her from his collegiate life putting his vast mechanical skills to work teaching the remaining population how to fill the void left by all the whites disappearing. He finds her, and they deal with numerous challenges in this newfound world on her quest to meet up with an aunt who left her a note that she was going to Alabama. They pick up some pilot friends along the way, and go to the mysterious kingdom that has become Alabama.
There are amazing twists and turns along the way seeing how different people have adapted to the circumstances. Some, like the pilot Sailor and his kid, are very interesting but get mainly shunted aside for the Mobile crew, who are themselves spread thin in page time but many have very distinct moments, especially the ones that take Charles and Sidney under their wings as what was going to be a quick trip turns into and extended stay in apparent paradise.
As an allegory, there are of course several gaps -- as what happened to other people of color in the US and anyone in other countries is barely touched. What is and isn't working due to the disappearance of whites is also played for convenience to the plot, but that is understandable. Overall, this is a great meditation on dealing with intergenerational trauma, opportunity, and many other important considerations.
Sound those trumpets, sky elephants!!

Cebo Campbell's Sky Full of Elephants, is a thought-provoking and emotionally rich exploration of identity, community, and healing. Recommended!

This started out with a clever and interesting plot in the vein of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West: one day a so-called “event” causes every white person in American to walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, a black man named Charlie gets a call from a daughter he didn’t know he had and sets out in an adventure across a new country of unknowns to give her what she wants - to go to Alabama where her remaining family might be.

The first half of this was so good. I was curious to see this new world and see Charlie and his daughter go on an adventure seeking closure on their identity. Instead I got a seemingly random ending with no closure and it felt very much like there was no ending. I was expecting a profound closing to a unique premise but it fell so flat for me.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot on identity and how the characters saw themselves in this new world. But there was also a king and queen of Mobile, a resurrection of Mardi Gras and what felt like an oversimplification of many complex topics. Also this one is ~very~ Aspen-y and I can see why it made it this year’s long list! I personally don’t think it’s a contender for the short list but we will see in a few weeks!

I will say, I loved the author’s grit and imagination and I will for sure be reading anything else he writes! But for this one I give it 5 stars for the first half and 2 stars for the second. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Definitely was excited to read this book, the premise really drew me in and I felt like it was bound to be a hit for me. Unfortuantely, I DNF'd this book at 57%. I just couldn't get into the storyline, and the MC's daughter was getting on my NERVES with how racist she was. I understand why she was racist... however it still irritated me! So, due to the fact that I also felt the plot was dragging, it just wasn't enough for me to see the book through.