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(4 / 5)
What a strange, but moving story. What is ultimately a fantasy tale starts out as a story of love and loss so profound that it made me tear up a little (and I can count on one hand the number of books that have done that to me). The fantasy elements of the novel are unique and different, about a whole world of beings that live in the sky. While exploring this new world from Aza’s point of view, we deal with the emotional turmoil of her “death” from Jason’s point of view. And I have to say, that despite the strange and beautiful world the Aza introduces to us, I was most drawn in by Jason’s journey: of love, loss, desperation, and discovery.
It takes a little bit of time to get used to Aza’s rambling style of narration, though it allows us to get a great snapshot of her history and character in just a few short chapters. Though the fantasy potion of the story was new and different, I didn’t feel like it was developed as well as it could have been. Our view of this new world was limited to the happenings of one airship, but there are mentions of huge sky cities to explore. Hopefully the next novel in the series will broaden its scope a bit.
The audio performance of this novel is phenomenal! The two narrators, Therese Plumber and Michael Crouch, alternate reading chapters from Aza and Jason’s POV respectively. There is so much heart and feeling put into the narration, that I really believed in their characters. I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed the book as much if I’d read it on my own.