“A compelling, well-voiced look at how teenagers deal with tragedy.” — School Library Journal “Powerfully crafted and captivating.” –Midwest Book ReviewFrom the author of We Speak in Storms comes a compelling mystery about three friends searching for the truth in the aftermath of a plane crash.The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering … crash.
The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering overhead. Then they and their classmates watch in shock as a plane crashes into the water. When the passengers are finally recovered, they are identified as Izzy’s twin brother, Israel, Cass’s ex-boyfriend, Shane, and Janie’s best friend, Nate. But Izzy can feel when her brother is in pain, and she knows he’s not really dead. So she, Cass, and Janie set out to discover what actually happened that day–and why the boys were on the plane.
Told in alternating timelines and points of view, this powerful and captivating novel follows the three boys in the weeks leading up to that fateful flight, and the girls they left behind as they try to piece together the truth about the boys they loved and thought they knew. A spellbinding story about the ripple effects of tragedy, the questions we leave unanswered, and the enduring power of friendship.
Praise for The Sky Above Us:
“Achingly human with hints of magic, this tale of loss in its many forms builds a compelling mystery.” —Booklist
“Lund proves adept at smoothly navigating a complicated plot, building and holding suspense, and creating easily relatable, multidimensional characters.” —Publishers Weekly
“A bruising look at loss from many angles.” —BCCB
“A deftly written and simply spellbinding story about the ripple effects of tragedy, the questions we leave unanswered, and the enduring power of friendship.” –Midwest Book Review
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Book: 3/5
Audiobook: 4/5
When I read the synopsis of The Sky Above Us by Natalie Lund I was immediately intrigued because who doesn’t want to read about teenagers searching for answers? This is a dark read and the general feel to me was pretty pensive and melancholy. There are multiple timelines as well as multiple viewpoints, and I definitely would have appreciated fewer POVs. I got really confused about who everyone was and had a hard time keeping them all separate in my mind, but this mostly happened with the guys as opposed to the girls. I think it was meant to be an emotional read but I didn’t feel very attached to any of the characters or their storylines which made this less emotional than I was hoping for.
The conclusion was surprising, and I didn’t see it coming, and the book is full of heavy, gut-wrenching topics which I am sure will resonate with plenty of readers. The main theme is suicide so if that’s a trigger for you then you might want to skip this. Luckily it isn’t a trigger for me, but I definitely got a different story than the one I was expecting. The Sky Above Us is described as a twisty, psychological thriller and honestly, I didn’t get that feeling at all. It felt more like young adult literary fiction, and about the only twist was the very end. I did enjoy this on audio though and it is told with almost a full cast of people narrating. Kirby Heyborne, Laura Knight Keating, Brittany Pressley & Maria Liatis were the narrators, and I was happy to have Pressley on the list. She was definitely my favorite of them all, but I did enjoy the other narrators as well. This is just a really hard book to describe without giving anything away, and I recommend checking it out for yourself if you think it sounds interesting.
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you Turn The Page Book Tours for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
The Sky Above Us
By: Natalie Lund
REVIEW
The Sky Above Us is a riveting young adult novel that is difficult to explain, without ruining the plot, that is. Natalie Lund has written an emotionally impactful story on the inevitability of change, the bonds we share, choices with definitive consequences, the idea of reincarnation and profound human powerlessness in a vast unknowable universe.
Narrated through six teen points of view, in past and present time, readers experience several story threads from different angles. It’s actually not that confusing. A dramatic unbelievable thing just happened, and a reckoning has come for everyone. As the teens struggle with universal unanswerable questions of how and why this horrorible nightmare happened, each will realize, too late, the value of something now forever lost and the despair of ignorance, especially in light of new knowledge that might have changed everything.
I won’t pretend The Sky Above Us is a happy tale because it’s not. The subject matter is heavy, intense and, largely, heartbreaking; however, this is also the kind of read that grabs and stuns you from the start with shocking scenes, mysterious situations, improbablites and the need to know more. I honestly couldn’t put this book down until the last page, and I have thought of it often since.
The characters are complex, broken messes who elicit sympathy and tear at your heart. Being so young and deeply embroiled in a major tragedy is terrible. I believe each character had a path to take, and throughout the book, we learn of the actions and choices that led to this particular path. The question is whether different choices would have led to a different path, and if so, for better or worse? Was this chaos always destined to happen, or not? Do you believe in life after life after life and in the possibility that you were once someone else?
Despite the doom and gloom tone of my review, The Sky Above Us is well worth reading. This is the type of story that gives you something, possibly bizarre, to reason over and consider in new and different ways. You are asked to just be open to these crazy possibilities. If you can do that, I highly recommend trying this compelling book!
Loss. Grief.
It’s never easy losing a loved one. The pain that comes from the emptiness you feel, is very hard to bear. Three deaths. No answers.
I was not expecting such a heavy story. I didn’t feel like this story was a thriller. A lot happens within each person’s life and we get a peek into what each person is dealing with. The choices they make/made and how they affected everyone around them. Mental illness is mentioned and I liked that. Too many shy away from that topic but it is a real thing affecting many people every day. While I enjoyed the story, I felt like there was too much going on. Too many characters. I didn’t connect with many of them.
This is a good YA story and while I expected a thriller, I got a different kind of story and I enjoyed it. This is my first Natalie Lund book and I enjoyed her writing. I will look for more works by her. I give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.