Beautiful! Well written and with characters that you care about. I really liked the world building the most. It was something of another world.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Only realised days before this book expired on NetGalley that I hadn’t read it yet! Devoured it in three days, absolutely great book! Reminded me of Jenn Lyon’s Ruin of Kings in parts. Characters were great and lots of twists that kept me on my toes. Will definitely read any sequels!

I am very intrigued by this book and have added it to my list to read. Unfortunately this one wasn't available to download on kobo.

This novel was a fun read. The story pulled me in right away with its space/sky dynamics. This book does a great job of mixing emotional depth with mystery and tension to keep the plot moving. I liked Marix and I feel like his character was well though out and I could empathize with him which is always nice when reading. I liked that this book wasn't strictly fantasy or strictly sci-fi but a mixed bag of sci-fi, fantasy, and speculative fiction.

Thank you NetGalley and Look—See—Press for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When The Sky Breaks alternates between personal narratives from Marix, who's trapped in a space prison, and Corvun, who's evading arrest by sailing the perilous seas. Their separate worlds are linked by an artefact that draws them onto a converging path, and ultimately delivers a twist. I had expected the twist while reading, but was pleasantly surprised by how the author decided to resolve the conclusion. The ending was very satisfying indeed.

Worldbuilding took a while for me to get into, but once I got my bearings, it was an exhilarating ride. I ended up taking a week to get through the first third and binge read the rest in a day.

Pacing was rather fast, and each chapter ended on a page turner, which made it a breeze to read. Also, was nice to have some foreshadowing between several chapters in the form of letters between two other characters, though it only added to the confusion initially.

Something minor to note. Although When The Sky Breaks is marketed as a YA novel, it explores mature themes, including politics, drug abuse, and violence.

I think if you liked stories such as Six of Crows and Illuminae, When The Sky Breaks should be on your tbr.

Big thank you to Look—See—Press and Septimus Brown for a copy of the book via NetGalley!

When someone from Marix’s past shows up at the lunar prison he works at, the course of his future is changed forever. Packed with prison breaks, sea voyages and ancient relics, this book is jam packed with action.

The characters in this were really well written, believable and complex. The story is written in such a way that assumes the reader has the ability to dive deeper than surface level to explore the themes and truths that are touched upon, rather than being spoon fed. Which, was nice, but maybe not for everyone. Marix’s journey of self-discovery is beautifully written and was just as important as the story of rebellion. The pivotal twist that hits makes ‘Oh, well dang,’ moment that may even eventually lead me to reread this book.

The world building was, if I’m being honest, a little lacking. The history, geography and the reasons for conflict are left unexplained to the point that I was kind of confused up until about halfway through the book leaving me a little frustrated.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. It really was a wild ride.

3.75 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book.
Going into When the Sky Breaks, I didn’t have all that many expectations. It was available for automatic download on Netgalley, and looked alright, so I decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised! The writing was amazing! Some of the best writing I have read all year! Debuts at the moment are often so bogged down by bad, generic writing with plot holes and repetitive storylines, but this was most certainly not the case for When the Sky Breaks. The writing flowed so well, it was lyrical and beautiful and captivating. It was a rather unique story, which I enjoyed. And while the genderpunk aspects were a little odd at the start, they were interesting and different and I think worked quite well.
The actual storyline was alright, it was different, and done very well. I did guess the plot twist but it was still clever and done well. The characters were fine. Nothing special, but still complex, they were very human, which was nice.
By the end I sort of felt that nothing had happened, but it was a very nice book to read.
I would recommend to anyone looking for an entertaining enough read, with cool sci-fi and fantasy elements, and that is rather different (in a good way) to most other things currently being published.
I enjoyed When the Sky Breaks and would happily read whatever Septimus Brown writes next, even if it is purely for the writing!

When the Sky Breaks was fast paced sci-fi book with an interesting world, and realistic characters. It could be read as a standalone, but leaves room for an epic series. (Which I hope is the case) The world building was a bit dense and hard to understand at first. You are given facts about the world without it being explained, sort of a learn as you go kind of thing, which ends up working well for this book, but left me feeling confused in the beginning. Over all, I really enjoyed this book, and I hope the series continues.