Title: Shatter the Sky
Author: Rebecca Kim Wells
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: NetGalley eARC
Raised among the ruins of a conquered mountain nation, Maren dreams only of sharing a quiet life with her girlfriend Kaia—until the day Kaia is abducted by the Aurati, prophetic agents of the emperor, and forced to join their ranks. Desperate to save her, Maren hatches a plan to steal one of the emperor’s coveted dragons and storm the Aurati stronghold.
If Maren is to have any hope of succeeding, she must become an apprentice to the Aromatory—the emperor’s mysterious dragon trainer. But Maren is unprepared for the dangerous secrets she uncovers: rumors of a lost prince, a brewing rebellion, and a prophecy that threatens to shatter the empire itself. Not to mention the strange dreams she’s been having about a beast deep underground…
With time running out, can Maren survive long enough to rescue Kaia from impending death? Or could it be that Maren is destined for something greater than she could have ever imagined?
Sapphic romance, a country in turmoil, dragons dragoning, kidnapped maidens, and a quest to save one’s “heartmate”.
Do I have your attention yet? On paper, this book sounds perfect, right? It ticks all the boxes. I am a weak, simple bookdragon, so how could I possibly resist?!
I’m going to be upfront and admit that I came really close to DNFing it (and would have, if not assured that the ending was worth it). Ultimately, it was an enjoyable book, if not quite delivering on the promises laid out in its blurb.
I think this just ended up being a case of not the right book for me, personally. When I picked it up, I was expecting some sort of epic adventure quest sort of book with a go-getter character. Instead, it felt more like a Bildungsroman (coming of age) story. Had I known that, would I have picked it up? Probably not, simply because I know I tend not to enjoy coming-of-age stories, personally.
With all that being said, though, the end was pretty much exactly what I originally expected. So do I intend to read the sequel? Yeah, probably.
❧ Move over, Prince Charming. Girls got this covered.
Who needs a knight in shining armor rescuing a damsel in distress when you’ve got a woman willing to give up everything she knows to steal a dragon and save the woman she loves?
Maren is a normal homebody girl with seemingly no talents. She’s pretty much as average as they come. But why should that stop her from saving the day?
I loved Maren’s character arc in this one, because she doesn’t magically become a new character over the course of the book. She just learns to trust herself. As a person with crippling self-doubt, I can affirm, 10/10, this is a real PITA to do.
I also really enjoyed that a woman gets to save the day. This isn’t at the detriment to men (in fact, there’s a male character that plays a large role in the story). But it is a nice change to the stereotypical damsel needing rescuing from the big, strong man.
❧ Maren has one of the most awesome arcs, of an average, homebody girl discovering the world and learning that she is, indeed, more capable than she ever imagined.
Of all the arcs I’ve read, I think Maren’s is definitely one of the strongest. It comes in bits and pieces as she focuses on her goal and is derailed time and time again, so she has to rework and scheme. Everything was in her to start with. She just had to learn how to trust herself. Watching her evolve from a sort of blah humbug character to the strong woman I hoped she’d be was really a nice transformation.
❧ Book has dragons. What more do you need? Plus, it treats them in a bit of a unique way.
If I’m honest, I would’ve liked to see a little more of the dragons … but then again, who wouldn’t? You could have a dragon on every page and that may not even be enough. It’s the sad truth.
What I really liked about these dragons, though, is that not only do they bond (or not, sometimes) with a single person, but this is accomplished through aromatherapy, basically. Because dragons have really sensitive snoots, of course. I haven’t seen this done before, but I enjoyed how the different scents could elicit different emotions in the dragons. And therefore, the person who makes those scents? Arguably more powerful than the emperor, which leads to some … tension. Who doesn’t love more tension between powerful individuals?
I am a dragon girl without a dragon. But what if I got one? What could I do then?
❧ The ending was pretty much everything I had hoped the book would be and wow did it really kick into gear at the end there.
I mean, you know I can’t actually talk about any of it, right? What I will say, though, is that I was going to DNF this at about 60%, but someone recommended that I read it through because it would be worth it. And they were so right. There’s definitely a lot to love about the last 15% or so of the book. It felt more like the book I had been expecting, so it gives me a lot of hope for the sequel.
❧ I feel like there was some disconnect between what the blurb says the book’s about and what the book is actually about, which is a shame, because I loved the idea of it.
The blurb sounds very much like a badass female risking it all for the woman she loves, and this is that … sort of. But more than that, it feels like a bildungsroman, where a self-doubting girl from a small town leaves it for the first time to rescue the girl she loves, but then discovers the world is a really big place and feelings are complicated and she learns about herself. Which would have been fine … if that was the book I had thought I was picking up.
The main character, Maren, isn’t just lesbian; she’s bi. Which means that, of course, there’s a love triangle with a guy.
Which, don’t get me wrong, bi rep is cool and all, buuut … that’s not what I was here for? Considering the F/F relationship gets, like, 5% screentime and the other side of the triangle gets, like, 50% … welp, the triangle didn’t exactly feel isosceles, okay? It feels like there was some disconnect between the marketing and the content.
❧ Everything’s a little too easy for Maren.
Sure, things come up that inconvenience her, but then she magically has some sort of coveted skill or ability or meets just the right person who decides to help her. It never feels like she really works for anything, but is sort of just handed all the answers. At one point, she makes an assumption about another character based on a bit of dust on his arm, and this requires phenomenal leaps of logic that I couldn’t follow even if I wanted to. But she’s right, obviously, because of course she is.
❧ The timeline felt a little wonky to me, and was both too rushed and too slow.
It’s a weird dichotomy. A lot of this book is traveling, but a lot is also at the hatchery. Neither of which was particularly overly exciting? Traveling is … well, traveling. Without any sense of danger introduced (which there wasn’t), there wasn’t a huge sense of urgency or movement in the plot, so it felt like it dragged a bit. Then, by the time Maren reached the hatchery, time sort of flew past, but maybe a little too fast. At the same time, it almost went too slow, because it fell into this quotidian daily cycle where it sometimes became repetitive.
❧ I don’t like Kaia. There, I said it. I know, it breaks my heart, too.
The problem here, I think, is twofold, because on paper, Kaia sounds like she’d easily be my favorite character. Sarcastic, confident, take-charge attitude. What’s not to love?
First, Kaia appears very little in the story, by necessity, so we don’t actually really get to know her as a character. We have to learn about her through other people—mostly Maren. Which is where point two comes in: despite loving her, Maren talks about Kaia in an almost jealous tone, making her sound like a Mary Sue, but in a negative way. So … the opposite of a Mary Sue, where the perfection is seen as really bad by the characters? A Sary Mue?
Maren’s thoughts tend to cycle like this: Kaia is so much better than Maren. Kaia would be able to do this easily, but Maren’s just not like her. Everyone wishes it was Maren taken away, and not Kaia, who had an actual future. Kaia’s just way too good for Maren. These are just … not healthy ways of thinking about the person you love.
Since this is Maren’s story, and I get to know Maren the most, I want Maren to be happy. But the way Maren talks about Kaia, there’s no way that, in my mind, she can possibly be happy with Kaia, because she’ll always be living in her shadow or feeling less than somehow.
Which again, I came here for the badass F/F power couple! So this was incredibly frustrating for me. Listen, even if this couple remains endgame, it will always be tainted for me and one that I just can’t support.
❧ Maren’s hypocrisy really just drove me absolutely bonkers.
I’m pretty sure I even shouted at the book at one point. That’s probably not healthy, but hey, I felt better.
She gets mad at others for keeping secrets, even though she’s keeping secrets herself. She trusts no one (probably a good idea, to be honest), but at the same time expects everyone to just inherently trust her and is mad when they don’t because how dare they keep things from her and not tell her everything.
She’s mad at those evil people who would enslave dragons and use them for their own purposes … but hypocrite much? I just wanted to shake someone because hellooooo, nothing you’re currently doing is in order to directly benefit dragons, either. You only want to steal a dragon to serve your own purpose, too.
❧ This is really nitpicky and I’m going to own that, but … Maren on the cover looks nothing like Maren that’s described in the books to me.
I mean, for one, her skin color is often described as reddish and tanned, compared to light on clay, for example, so I was expecting something that looked a little less … East Asian? I think the world was supposed to be an Asian-inspired one, but I guess I missed it. I didn’t get that feel, but to be fair, I also don’t think I paid that much attention. Also, at the point where Maren would be holding a knife, she was imitating the hairstyle of that culture, where women plaited their hair, sometimes with smaller braids on the side of their head, and that hairstyle sounds so freaking interesting. I’m disappointed not to get the chance to see it.
Again, this has no real bearing on the rating or anything. Just something that struck me as I was reading and looking at the cover.
This was such a thorough review. Will you be reviewing the sequel, too?
Thank you! I’m hoping to, when it comes out. 🙂 This book really felt like a set-up for the greatness to come, and it seems like the second book is gearing up to be more what I expected when I picked up this one.
Interesting, I have seen a couple of other reviews similar to yours, so it’s not just you. It’s hard to pass up a dragon story, though. I was tempted by this too until i read a few reviews…
I think what really hurt it for me was expectations vs. reality. If you go in with more knowledge of what you’re really getting (and if you’re not expecting some fast-paced action thing but more of a character-driven story), then I think you’d enjoy this a lot more. 🙂 I hear you, though. Dragons are really hard to pass up.
This is a great review. I was going back and forth on STS. I definitely wouldn’t have DNFd it. But I did think the relationship with Maren and Kaia was completely unhealthy. Maren was just in her shadow and had no self-esteem. The whole relationship and how she (and everyone around them) thought Kaia was queen bee and Maren was basically nothing was bordering abusive. It was most definitely detrimental to her as a person. Once Kaia was taken away Maren had a chance to shine because Kaia wasn’t there.
Thank you! I didn’t set out to DNF it. I had a library book that was due, so I set it aside to rush read that so I could return it, and by the time I finished, I sort of realized I just didn’t really want to pick up STS again?
I think that’s what disappointed me the most, because I was really expecting a power couple. I’m interested to see what happens in the sequel, though.
It was more like a power struggle until she was taken. I’m not really interested in continuing the series. It just didn’t keep me interested like that. Oddly there are a few series like that. Even I really liked the first book? When the second book comes around? If I’m kinda meh about it? I realize it was just in the moment and that was it.
Hopefully you find the second book a big improvement over the first!
You’re definitely not alone in that. I have series like that, too. Some that I may even return to later, but that I don’t have the desire to pick them up soon after they come out.
It’s odd to think about how into the first book (like crown of feathers … the sequel just dropped on Edelweiss and I’m like meh… no) and then a year later and not so much lol.
Great review! I´m still doubting though if I shpuld pick this up.. The plot sounds interesting, but i tsounds like it wasn´t that good.
(www.evelynreads.com)
Thanks! I think if you’re a fan of any sort of character-driven, coming-of-age story, this might be a better fit for you. If you’re look for more plot and action, it’s a bit of a slog.
Maybe not than haha, I prefer plot driven books!
So I don’t think I would steal a dragon because – that sounds kind of mean. I would befriend a dragon and hope that we would bond and become friends and then save the world every once in a while but also eat s’mores. I really, really, really love this review, Sammie. No wonder I look up to you.
I don’t think you can look up to me. I’m terribly short. 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed the review! Also, I want to read a story where a girl befriends a dragon, who’s obsessed with s’mores, and they save the world together. You should definitely go write that.