Lucy Saxon
Auteur van Take Back the Skies
Werken van Lucy Saxon
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I stopped at page 90. After Cat miraculously learning to pick pocket, fighting off two guards and outrunning them, I can tell this one isn't for me. There is a lot of awkward dialogue to fit in explanations for the reader and of course Cat is already swooning for the boy. The world sounded cool, but I haven't learned enough about it to want to continue.
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: Though there were plenty of flaws, I found this novel enjoyable all the same.
Opening Sentence: Rain fell lazily from charcoal-coloured clouds as Catherine Hunter sprinted through darkening streets, her long hair tied in a tight braid and tucked beneath a black knit cap.
The Review:
Catherine is a privileged girl with a government father. She has managed to escape the Collections in her social status, the days that children are stolen away from their families and forced to fight a war. But she doesn’t want to be married for status to some spoiled brat, so she runs from her greedy father and his money to live a life that is not as extravagant, but so much more satisfying. She stows away on a skyship and meets the crew, along with a handsome man named Fox, and begins to realize exactly how much the government has been hiding. And it’s not pretty.
Take Back the Skies was written by a teenager! How cool is that? Being young myself I found that a huge inspiration that publishers would even consider one of such an age. Immediately, this sparked my interest as I traveled into the world that Saxon created. (Oh. And by the way, Lucy Saxon is clearly a pseudonym — I mean, Doctor Who!) I have to say that though I did enjoy my time with the book, I did have problems with both the characters and the way the novel was resolved. I came into the book excited to read something by an eighteen year old, but somewhat wary: not many reviews had been positive and many people had remarked that it wasn’t very interesting to them. With that wariness, my expectations were somewhat lowered, and I ended up having a suffiecient reading experience. That’s probably why I had an easier time with it than others.
The main character, Cat, is much younger than characters I usually deal with. She’s 14, closer to a child than an adult. That being said, I felt that her reactions and bravery were somewhat exaggerated. She’s 14, shouldn’t she be more scared? I wish there had been more of a mention of her shaking, or her palms sweating, or any doubt, but instead she always squares her shoulders after even a second of being frightened. Boom, then she’s fine. Other than that I enjoyed her somewhat spitfire personality and wit. Also, her point of view (and just the writing overall) was very simplistic. If she was excited, than “Cat felt excited”. There was much more telling of emotions than illustrating, if that makes sense.
The love interest had to be one of the more major problems for me, however. Fox and Cat fought more than they talked. Literally, every few pages, Fox would have a sudden mood shift and be spiteful and rude. Not that Cat responded any better. They never held back any hateful, rude thing they could possibly say. If it could be any worse, there was a clear case of insta-love. Those who read my reviews know that I am not a fan of this. As soon as she saw him she couldn’t keep her eyes off him, because he’s apparently soo handsome and intriguing and wow! Once they got together, they could not keep their hands off one another, even in the presence of others, and the fighting suddenly ceased. I’ll admit, I did start to enjoy Fox when he got nicer, but there wasn’t much development on his character, nor Cat’s.
Take Back the Skies, no matter my nitpicking, was an okay read. It was intriguing enough for me to enjoy it. I did end up liking Cat and probably my favorite aspect of the story were the side characters. The world building was rich, if not a little sloppy, and it was refreshing reading a novel that was wrapped up in one book. There were quite a few large twists, but only two that I didn’t see coming. The rest were pretty predictable. As for the ending, I have to say it was unexpected, and haven’t processed it enough to have a large opinion. I loved hearing about the skyships and how there was the storms that were perpetually there, and the lands that resided in the strange world. One thing I can say in this story is that there was lots of action, so it wasn’t a slow read! I will encourage lovers of science fiction who don’t mind a simple writing style or annoying love interests to read this story, as it wasn’t really that bad.
Notable Scene:
She looked around the room for an even smaller place to hide and pulled open the doors of a large oak wardrobe that was bolted to the wall and floor.Heart racing, she pushed aside a pile of clothes at the base of the wardrobe, squeezing herself right into the corner. Covering herself with a long wool coat, she hoped she looked like just another pile of clothes. Catherine laughed shakily to herself. She wrapped her arms around her legs, then leant her chin on her knees. All she could do now was wait.
FTC Advisory: Bloomsbury USA Children’s provided me with a copy of Take Back the Skies. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (meer)
Quick & Dirty: Though there were plenty of flaws, I found this novel enjoyable all the same.
Opening Sentence: Rain fell lazily from charcoal-coloured clouds as Catherine Hunter sprinted through darkening streets, her long hair tied in a tight braid and tucked beneath a black knit cap.
The Review:
Catherine is a privileged girl with a government father. She has managed to escape the Collections in her social status, the days that children are stolen away from their families and forced to fight a war. But she doesn’t want to be married for status to some spoiled brat, so she runs from her greedy father and his money to live a life that is not as extravagant, but so much more satisfying. She stows away on a skyship and meets the crew, along with a handsome man named Fox, and begins to realize exactly how much the government has been hiding. And it’s not pretty.
Take Back the Skies was written by a teenager! How cool is that? Being young myself I found that a huge inspiration that publishers would even consider one of such an age. Immediately, this sparked my interest as I traveled into the world that Saxon created. (Oh. And by the way, Lucy Saxon is clearly a pseudonym — I mean, Doctor Who!) I have to say that though I did enjoy my time with the book, I did have problems with both the characters and the way the novel was resolved. I came into the book excited to read something by an eighteen year old, but somewhat wary: not many reviews had been positive and many people had remarked that it wasn’t very interesting to them. With that wariness, my expectations were somewhat lowered, and I ended up having a suffiecient reading experience. That’s probably why I had an easier time with it than others.
The main character, Cat, is much younger than characters I usually deal with. She’s 14, closer to a child than an adult. That being said, I felt that her reactions and bravery were somewhat exaggerated. She’s 14, shouldn’t she be more scared? I wish there had been more of a mention of her shaking, or her palms sweating, or any doubt, but instead she always squares her shoulders after even a second of being frightened. Boom, then she’s fine. Other than that I enjoyed her somewhat spitfire personality and wit. Also, her point of view (and just the writing overall) was very simplistic. If she was excited, than “Cat felt excited”. There was much more telling of emotions than illustrating, if that makes sense.
The love interest had to be one of the more major problems for me, however. Fox and Cat fought more than they talked. Literally, every few pages, Fox would have a sudden mood shift and be spiteful and rude. Not that Cat responded any better. They never held back any hateful, rude thing they could possibly say. If it could be any worse, there was a clear case of insta-love. Those who read my reviews know that I am not a fan of this. As soon as she saw him she couldn’t keep her eyes off him, because he’s apparently soo handsome and intriguing and wow! Once they got together, they could not keep their hands off one another, even in the presence of others, and the fighting suddenly ceased. I’ll admit, I did start to enjoy Fox when he got nicer, but there wasn’t much development on his character, nor Cat’s.
Take Back the Skies, no matter my nitpicking, was an okay read. It was intriguing enough for me to enjoy it. I did end up liking Cat and probably my favorite aspect of the story were the side characters. The world building was rich, if not a little sloppy, and it was refreshing reading a novel that was wrapped up in one book. There were quite a few large twists, but only two that I didn’t see coming. The rest were pretty predictable. As for the ending, I have to say it was unexpected, and haven’t processed it enough to have a large opinion. I loved hearing about the skyships and how there was the storms that were perpetually there, and the lands that resided in the strange world. One thing I can say in this story is that there was lots of action, so it wasn’t a slow read! I will encourage lovers of science fiction who don’t mind a simple writing style or annoying love interests to read this story, as it wasn’t really that bad.
Notable Scene:
She looked around the room for an even smaller place to hide and pulled open the doors of a large oak wardrobe that was bolted to the wall and floor.Heart racing, she pushed aside a pile of clothes at the base of the wardrobe, squeezing herself right into the corner. Covering herself with a long wool coat, she hoped she looked like just another pile of clothes. Catherine laughed shakily to herself. She wrapped her arms around her legs, then leant her chin on her knees. All she could do now was wait.
FTC Advisory: Bloomsbury USA Children’s provided me with a copy of Take Back the Skies. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (meer)
After Blythe (Finding Bliss in Books) pitched Take Back the Skies to me as sort of She’s the Man meets Firefly, obviously I HAD to have it. What’s funny is Blythe thought I wouldn’t like the romance but would enjoy everything else, but my issues were more with the writing than the romance. I did find Take Back the Skies engaging and a pleasantly quick read, but I also think it would have benefited from different marketing and some serious tightening of the writing. Saxon’s debut has a lot of promise, but I think it will work better for middle grade audiences than YA as it has been marketed.
Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.… (meer)
Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.… (meer)
Statistieken
- Werken
- 3
- Leden
- 128
- Populariteit
- #157,245
- Waardering
- 3.5
- Besprekingen
- 7
- ISBNs
- 12
Overall I did enjoy it, and the steampunk vibe is a nice change from vampires. I will certainly be looking out for her next book and I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops as a writer.… (meer)