Audiobook Review – The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy, Book 1) by Nick James, Narrated by Jeffrey Kafer (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic
Length: 8 hours and 29 minutes(384 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: May 29, 2013
ASIN: B00D37RA82
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Skyship Academy series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“A devastated Earth’s last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers–political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth’s stratosphere–and the corrupt Surface government.

Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable–and dangerous–abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess.

Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn’t know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.”

I have had this book to read for quite awhile. I thought it looked like a really interesting premise (and it has a cool cover). It ended up being okay but not great. It takes quite a while for the story to get going and I never really connected with the characters or the story.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was fine. The narrator did a decent job with characters voices. The narration wasn’t anything special but it wasn’t bad either.

The first half of the book is pretty typical post-apocalyptic sci-fi stuff. Humanity has been split into the military on Earth and the Skyships above; they both fight over Pearls which are an alien power source that falls to Earth from the heavens. Things get a lot more interesting when our two heroes (one boy from a Skyship and one from Earth) have an encounter that leaves them both strangely changed.

I will say the characters are pretty balanced between male and female; there are strong characters of both. So this book should appeal to both female and male sci-fi fans. Some of the things happening towards the end of the book are very mysterious and interesting. The book ends at a decent spot; some things are wrapped up but there are still questions.

Overall this is an okay sci-fi read. I personally never engaged all that well with the characters or the story. However the book does pick up quite a bit in the second half and get more interesting. While I don’t plan on reading anymore of the series I would tentatively recommend to fans of post-apocalyptic earth type sci-fi; especially YA fans.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Audiobook Reading Challenge