I’m pleased to be the next stop on the blog tour for Shannon Messenger’s Let the Sky Fall. Today I have a review for you. Enjoy! Check out the full schedule for the tour and giveaways here. Also, Shannon Messenger is running a really cool preorder contest on her blog until March 4th. CHeck it out here.
Let the Sky Fall
Author: Shannon Messenger
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: March 4, 2013
Pages: 416
Series: Let the Sky Fall, book one
Source: Borrowed from awesome bookish friend
About the Book: Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.
Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.
When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.
My Thoughts: I have been hearing amazing things from my blogger and librarian friends about Let the Sky Fall and Shannon Messenger’s writing in general. As I was reading this book I just kept thinking, “Ahhhhhh. I totally get it now!” Wonderful writing and a fresh story kept me engaged throughout the book.
One thing I think the summary fails to mention is that Vane survived the tornado and lost his parents when he was seven. He has no memory of anything before that. His first memory is of a, “ beautiful, dark-haired girl” and he’s been seeing her every night for ten years. That’s pretty intense, right?
When I think back on Let the Sky Fall there are two main things that stick out to me.
1. It’s about sylphs. Seriously. Air elementals. So. Cool. Not only are they cool to begin with, Shannon Messenger writes a very cool mythos and history surrounding them. I was very interested in the way their “society” worked and how exactly the operate.
2. I just really enjoyed Vane and Audra. I liked learning about them individually and I loved the dynamics between them. Both their lives were drastically altered by the same event yet they are so very different. Audra has become so incredibly tough, physically and emotionally. They are both lost and trying to recover from such a catastrophic event (even if Vane can’t remember it. The tension between them just radiates off the page. So. Much. Smolder.
I will admit, the fact that the story deals with winds and weather and one of the main characters is named Vane threw me a bit at first (weather vane?) But once the story got rolling I was totally immersed. Let the Sky Fall is a well executed and dynamic story. It twists and turns but ultimately leaves the reader satisfied. I look forward to more from Shannon Messenger!
Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she learned–among other things–that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She also regularly eats cupcakes for breakfast, sleeps with a bright blue stuffed elephant named Ella, and occasionally gets caught talking to imaginary people. So it was only natural for her to write stories for children. KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is her first novel, with LET THE SKY FALL, a young adult novel, to follow in 2013. She lives in Southern California with her husband and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at shannonmessenger.com.
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