DNF Review – Let the Sky Fall (Sky Fall, Book 1) by Shannon Messenger (2/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1442450417
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Sky Fall series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 2/5 stars
“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.”
I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while and was excited to finally sit down and read it. In the end it just wasn’t for me; I read the first 100 pages or so and stopped. I didn’t like the characters, thought the writing was choppy, and didn’t enjoy the story or the pace. It wasn’t awful but it also wasn’t something I wanted to invest more time in.
The story alternates between Audra (a sylph sworn to protect Vane) and Vane (a teen who survived a horrible tornado which killed his parents). I didn’t like either character. Audra comes off as whiny and overly self-sacrificing, while making the same mistakes over and over. Vane comes off as cocky.
Supposedly, there are evil anti-sylphs that Audra is trying to protect Vane from until he comes into his powers. I found the whole story a bit silly and boring and decided to give it up.
Overall this wasn’t my thing. I didn’t really like anything about this book. I think it was written okay and some YA readers who like a lot of corny romance and cocky characters in their stories might enjoy this. However, it wasn’t for me and I won’t be continuing the series.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge