Sky's End (Above the Black)

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I read Star Trek was an inspiration for this, and I can see it, the Klingons being the Thell'eons, etc. And just as Star Trek, it's great in the way that it's kind of cheesy but super addictive and fun. Cassiel Winters is one of few women training to be a part of the ESE (Earth Space Exploration), an agency dedicated to space travel, discovery, and protection of Earth. After failing her combat test for the first time, Cassiel is about to get a second chance. However, she didn’t join the ESE and move up to space to live in a space station for nothing. Cassiel’s brother has gone missing on a secret mission for the ESE, and she is determined to find out what happened to him. But she also has a secret; she has episodes called deju vu, where she has visions of things that have happened and things that are soon to happen. Nobody can know about her talent, or who knows what they’d do to her. Cassiel Winters is a space cadet with the ESE, trying to continue her studies so that one day she can study alien species. The main reason behind her joining of the ESE, though, is her missing brother. Daz was one of ESE's best pilots, but disappeared during a mission gone wrong. All has Cassiel has left of him is a note telling that says to hide. When she fails her hand-to-hand combat test, the commanders of ESE propose a way for her to stay in the program--steal her way onto an alien ship and seduce information out of said aliens. If she does this, not only could she find her brother, but she could be with the guy she's falling for, and find out the reason behind her strange "deja vu" ability. There were plenty of issues concerning gender roles, and I think the author, by the end of it, had the characters make the right decisions. The plot and action really just made this book for me. My heart was constantly racing, and I just wanted to know what would happen next. I enjoyed how the story unfolded, and there were several plot twists that I didn't really expect, and I look for the plot twists, so that's saying something.

What was weird and definitely Mary Sue-ish is how every male (human or alien) Cassiel meets is enamoured with her. She's everyone's object of desire. What's most desirable about her? Her virginal innocence. I mean... I mean, really. There was enough writing talent here to preclude the need for this... whatever this is. Whether you love or hate this book (and I have a feeling it will divide readers) is likely going to come down to your age. The book is written with all the colloquialisms and feel of a 2013 teenager mindset. Which will either make a reader feel like they can be that girl (e.g., a teen reader) or make the girl sound like a vapid, sex obsessed, foul mouthed valley girl on the way to the mall (older than a teen reader). E.g., main character Cass has typical exclamations such as: "ewww" or "I am so not going there" or "whatever" or "lame" or "I mean, come on. Control the Universe?" Is it just me or are aliens the new vampires? I admit that I fell into that vampy fad when I was a teenager, and have started to fall into an alien obsession. It's just such an intriguing concept! Alien speculation has been around forever, but until the past year or so, I never really paid attention. Now books about aliens are increasing in YA lit, and in my library. I've really enjoyed reading them, even if I struggle to understand some of the themes. I know that I am not the most scientifically-prone (does that even make sense?) person in the world--though I loved my biology class--and reading books like this really make me remember that about myself. This is a book that, while there is a lot of action and romance, does deal with scientific elements, some of which meant completely over my head. Sky's End was an absolutely fascinating story that will appeal to those interested in what lies beyond our world. EDIT (6/15/23): I've added content warnings at the bottom of the review to help inform readers if Sky's End is right for them, or for the teen in their life. Once the book starts going out into the world, let me know if there is anything else I should add.

There was almost always a lot going on. But, even if there wasn't, Cassiel's voice, her narration, was so provocative, it was beyond entertaining. I loved her take-no-bullshit attitude about everything. She was a very, very well-written, believable, and personable character. Having carefully considered Sky’s representations in response to the Notification issued under Section 96A of the Communications Act 2003 on 14 May 2021 (see below), Ofcom has concluded that where Sky’s pay TV services rely on digital satellite transmission, Sky provides a public electronic communications service to its customers. As such, Sky is a ‘regulated provider’ within the meaning of General Conditions C1.21 to C1.29 and it is obliged to send end-of-contract notifications to its customers of those pay TV services. From the first sentences on I was drawn into the story. This is probably due to the first-person perspective. Cassiel Winters is 21 years old and is faced with something that seems " to grow over her head"(as we Germans say). We have decided that Sky must take all necessary steps to comply with its regulatory obligations to send end-of-contract notifications to customers of its relevant pay TV services, starting no later than nine months from the date of this decision. In addition, Sky must provide Ofcom with a progress report no later than four months from the date of this decision on the steps that it will take to ensure that the remedy is fully implemented within the nine months given. If Sky brings an appeal against our decision, those directions will be suspended pending the outcome of a first instance decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Regulated Provider is defined as all providers of Public Electronic Communications Services for the purposes of this Condition.

As a result, vets "face the prospect of being asked to put to sleep healthy dogs whose behaviour poses no risk", the RSPCA said. So the book...YA for sure, clear sides of good and bad with a few people who ride the line between or move from one side to the other. Characters weren't stagnant, they changed their attitudes throughout based on the plot development. You've got all the normal YA tropes, nothing too cliche, but what got me was the story. The whole time I was wondering what the monsters' motives were. Why do they destroy cities? And that was fully fleshed out by the end. The mechanics to fly a ship were unique, the roles in their class structure made sense, the character relationships were great, and the ending was an actual surprise. I always enjoy when an author decides no character can cheat death. There's no plot armor for anyone, but also the deaths made sense. And they were pretty gruesome. I feel like the pacing was perfect, action with consequences, deal with the aftermath, onto the next piece of action. Gregson created a wonderful cast of characters who were very real and went through tumultuous character arcs. There were many twists and turns I had no idea were coming, and some parts of the book were so stressful that I was holding my breath with my hand over my mouth. In a four-star review on London Theatre, our critic said"You'd need a heart of stone not to be moved by this generous portrait of humanity: a true homegrown triumph."The multi-award winning new musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge– winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, UK Theatre Award for Best Musical Production, and the South Bank Sky Arts Award – transfers to the West End following sold-out runs at the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres.​ EDIT (10/20/23): Guess what?! You can read the first 8 chapters of Sky's End. For FREE! https://issuu.com/holidayhousebks/doc... Young's interest in astrophysics really came out in Sky's End. She didn't shy away from trying to explain some of the more scientific concepts, which I appreciated. I don't know if they are right, but I definitely give her credit for the attempt! It was refreshing to see not only a sci-fi, space travel story, but a story that wove in elements of time and bending time as well. A minimum term can also apply if you take up certain offers from us, but we’ll tell you this before you accept the offer. When do I have to pay early termination charges? At times I found myself cheering Cassiel on and there were other times where I was thoroughly annoyed with her. She is smart and loyal and really wants to protect the people who are important to her. This includes not only Daz but King and eventually, Or’ic. Does she always make the right choice? Definitely not but she has good intentions so I give her credit there. She struggles with who she is and what her role is in the whole scope of things. I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t get into the details but it is clear Cassiel has a very different future in the works than she was originally thinking.

This book really surprised me because I hated the beginning. It didn't catch me off the bat, the writing felt weird, and the naming structure for the world... high, medium, low? It felt like everything was a place holder.This year I decided there should be no crime novels or Contemporaries, why not something futuristic, with a female protagonist and a bit of romance? Well what should it be? After a long search, a trilogy and some excerpts later - I found „Sky 's End" at GoodReads. For Sky Broadband and Talk products, the final amount is rounded up to the nearest 25p. How are early termination charges calculated? But, on that note, are we to assume that every planet she went to, or ship she floated in, was under the same acceleration due to gravity as Earth? At one point the difference was briefly mentioned about the gravity on Thell'eon, but her weight never seemed to change. That would have been an incredibly easy piece of the science to accurately work in. Just sayin'.) An absolutely amazing book that deserves all the recognition it is getting, and I cannot wait for more people to have the opportunity to read it when it comes out next year. Trust me, you don't want to miss this! Anyone living on the socially stratified floating islands can rise in status by dueling or entering a Trade. Conrad, once a High, is demoted after his uncle kills his father and assumes the role of Archduke. After his mother is killed, Conrad tries to reunite with Ella, the sister his uncle abducted, but Uncle demands that he first enter the Selection and rise through the ranks of one of the Twelve Trades. Chosen by Hunter, which is responsible for exterminating the menacing, steel-scaled gorgantauns, Conrad is soon taking part in the Gauntlet, a deadly contest between airships to see which crew can kill the most gorgantauns. But he won’t just have to battle sky serpents—Conrad also faces the ever-present threat of mutiny, a murder attempt, and shifting loyalties. Amid budding friendships, the crew unearths startling truths about their world, revealing a more profound conflict than Conrad envisioned. Gregson’s YA debut provides a skillful blend of action, suspense, and comic relief. After each airship battle, readers can barely draw breath before political intrigues turn the story on its head, but this is also a touching story of found family and personal growth. Most major characters read white; in this racially diverse world, one crew member has dark skin.

There is more going on here than Cassiel just trying to find her brother. When her test ends disastrously, ESE proposes a way for Cassiel to stay in ESE as well as potentially help figure out what is going on with Daz. Her mission is to infiltrate a Thell ‘eon ship and find out everything she can about a supposed weapon called a Sift. Also, Thell ‘eon’s are a race of aliens that just happen to be pretty intimidating for a number of reasons…including the fact that they just happened to kill the spies that were sent to their planet. My last problem was the point of view the story was told in. My least favorite POV is first person, however many young adult novels are told in first person and I barely notice it. In this book, the POV distracted me from the story throughout the entire book. The narrative should not distract me from the story, it should be invisible, helping me place myself in this world, in this person’s shoes, without getting in my way. It was frustrating that this was not the case. Perhaps a mix of first person and third person would have been better.As delightful as the characters and world building was, the plot was ok. I enjoyed it and I appreciated some of the twists and turns. There was nothing too unpredictable but I think that’s mostly because the author set the scene really well and so the twists slotted into character development quite nicely. I also didn’t love the last quarter of so - it felt a little rushed and I think I would have rather had the book be a bit longer so things could work themselves out a little less perfectly.Truthfully the plot was interesting and engaging, but it’s the characters and the world that really make this a 5 star read for me.