For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent who are looking for something new …HER FIRST EIGHTEEN YEARS WERE FILLED WITH LIES. SHE IS ABOUT TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH.Eighteen-year-old Seven and her best friend, Ten, live where all is peaceful … except for the violent war raging above the sky. Lifelike humanoid robots and self-operated drones tend to everyone’s needs, leaving people free to spend … leaving people free to spend their time stimulating their minds and enjoying life’s pleasures. But there are strict rules and few choices.
Every year, on Assignment Day, the path of each eighteen-year-old’s life is laid out. Some are given the jobs for which they have shown exceptional aptitude and are “paired” for mating. The others are sent off to fight in The War and never return.
When Assignment Day comes for Seven, the assignments shatter everything she’s ever believed. The rules force everyone to accept their fates, but Seven decides to do something unprecedented: to go against the Decision Makers’ wishes.
Praise for ABOVE THE SKY:
“This book was AWESOME! … An epic read … If you are a fan of YA dystopian fiction, and love books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, this book is right up your alley … Five stars!” — Stephanie, TeacherofYA’s Book Blog
“Fast-paced … Great storytelling … This is NOT a cookie-cutter dystopian read.” — Dianne, Tome Tender Book Blog
“I didn’t want to put it down the entire time I was reading. When I did put it down it’s all I could think about. I still can’t stop thinking about it.” — Megan, Starky Reviews
“This book offers everything from action to romance with twists that keep you guessing. If you enjoyed the Divergent Series you will definitely enjoy this! A must-read.” — Ashley, Goodreads
“An intensely awesome read … The action, the suspense and the thrilling scenarios kept me on edge … Very creative and brilliant … Highly recommended.” — Denise, Goodreads
“An amazing read … Most stories seem predictable at some point but this one surprised me. At only one single point was I able to say, yep I see what’s going to happen next. Yeah, right. I was totally wrong.” — Amanda, Goodreads
If you love suspense, adventure, and romance, don’t miss this action-packed read!
ABOVE THE SKY is a young adult / new adult futuristic science fiction story of a young woman coming of age in a dystopian society founded on lies. Filled with constant suspense, surprising twists, forbidden romance, imaginative adventure, and thought-provoking philosophy, ABOVE THE SKY is perfect for readers who enjoyed THE HUNGER GAMES (by Suzanne Collins), DIVERGENT (by Veronica Roth), THE FIFTH WAVE (by Rick Yancey), THE MAZE RUNNER (by James Dashner), THE GENDER GAME (by Bella Forrest), and THE GIVER (by Lois Lowry).
Books in the SKY trilogy:
Book 1: ABOVE THE SKY
Book 2: RETURN TO THE SKY
Book 3: PART OF THE SKY
RETURN TO THE SKY and PART OF THE SKY are sold separately. Read ABOVE THE SKY (Book 1), RETURN TO THE SKY (Book 2), PART OF THE SKY (Book 3), and THE SKY (Books 1-3) Kindle ebooks for FREE with Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited.
more
I would absolutely give Above the Sky 5 stars! It grabs you right away and never lets go. This dystopian world, where people are given numbers rather than names, is full of unexpected realities. Once a year, the 18-year-olds are assigned to either a career to help the world they live in, and a partner to go with, or they are designated as Warriors, headed off to never be seen again. Every chapter seems to take a new twist. Danger lies in unexpected places. Suspenseful and well-written, I give this book 5 stars and I’m looking forward to the next installment!
A dystopian tale with rich descriptions, life like characters, and a killer plot. Imagine a world where you’ve never been outside. A world where everyone is named by a number, and each person’s fate is decided for them. Jenny Lynne has created such a world in Above the Sky. A fantastic story that will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end.
Read for 2021 SPSFC
Overall Thoughts
While pretty firmly YA and Dystopian, genres I’m not always on great terms with, I really enjoyed this book. It has the hard aspects of dystopian fiction, but still contains a lot of hope and feel-good moments. It also contains the simplicity and first love of the YA genres, while not being demeaning. Many of the characters here, like in many dystopians, don’t understand some of the concepts or artifacts common in our world. I also often have the problem of “how did the world really get into this bizarre configuration?” (I’m looking at you, Hunger Games and Mortal Engines.) I was pleasantly surprised there were not only answers to those questions, but that they came as a natural extension of the plot. It looks like there are four books in this series, and it’s definitely one I’d consider continuing, once I get through reading the SPSFC books.
Plot
To avoid most spoilers for this, I’m going to have to be pretty vague in both the Plot and Setting sections, but I enjoyed that nothing ever felt rushed here, though many months were covered. Each time the reader starts to get settled with the status quo, the story changes, or reveals a little more information to propel us to the next mystery.
I’m also a big fan of Fulfilling Promises (or Chekhov’s Gun, if you want). There were several things I was prepared to be angry with in the first few chapters concerning how the society is set up, but my qualms were not only answered later on, but given further explanations that made me want to know what came next. There is one Surprising yet Inevitable twist in the first third of the book that I really should have seem coming, but didn’t because I was enjoying the story so much.
Setting
Again, I really can’t say a whole lot about this. The basic set up is that the characters live in a very controlled and what seems like oppressive environment, where people are assigned to jobs and families, and a certain percentage of children are taken away to die in a never-ending war once they turn eighteen and become full adults. It’s obvious something really big has happened, because many things from our world are not recognized, or given descriptions by characters not familiar with them. Again, I was prepared to be grumpy about this, but enough answers are forthcoming early enough (as opposed to, say in The Hunger Games), to pique my interest.
Character
This is a YA story, so much of the character growth is in the form of growing up for the two main characters. While it’s not as deep as growth arcs I’ve seen in adult sci-fi, there are many tender moments, and a lot of real love shown in the character’s family. I will say there is not as much tension as there could be in the moments of conflict, even for a YA book. Many of the moments of stress for the characters are deflated too early by a caring word where I was not expecting one yet. One other place the characters fell down a bit for me was in the antagonist for the main character, who doesn’t have as big of a resolution as I would like and is not in the story as much as I would expect.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: An easy read, a thought-provoking world, and a plot progression that pulls the reader in. The characters could be challenged a bit more to give them depth, but there is still enough conflict for me to want to read the rest of the series. 8/10