To be honest, I was beyond excited to read this novel. Every time I hear the word “dragons” in a synopsis I immediately add said book to my TBR, so needless to say O went into Shatter the Sky with so high expectations, and though there were some parts that I really enjoyed about it, I overall have mixed feelings about it, and I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing with the series.

The main thing about this book was that I’m not sure after finishing what was the plot of the story. Sure, there was the girl-trying-to-save-her-girlfriend trope very present throughout the story, but apart from that I feel there wasn’t much else. There were times where I couldn’t really tell the direction it was following or the reasons why, and it was mostly little subplots and a more character driven story.

However, I have to say that the world building was incredible. For such a short book we got to know a lot about this fictional world and the society, and even though there was a lot of info dump thrown at us at the very beginning and I found it a bit confusing to place everything and get into the story the first few chapters, I still think it was so complex and really well created, and one of my favorite parts.

Another part that I adored and wish it was more present in the book was the dragons. I think we got a fair glimpse at the creatures in Shatter the Sky, which I loved, but it would have been even better if we got to see them much more than that. It was such am interesting thing what the author did in regarding to them, and I think it’ll be explored much more in the next installment, but still.

What happened with Shatter the Sky that made me not enjoy the story as much as I wanted to was that it was such a short book, and its pacing was a bit off sometimes. There were times where there were a lot of things happening and twists and turns that kept me intrigued, and other times where nothing (literally nothing) was happening. And for such a short book, I found it a bit inconsistent.

When it comes to the characters, I have some mixed feelings. I really enjoyed our protagonist and I think she had such a strong and interesting voice, and I also appreciated her bravery and everything she did to rescue Kaia, but her arc was pretty much the same at the beginning and at the very end of the book. There wasn’t really anything that made her grow, and there were some tropes that were part of some revelations regarding some side characters that are quite common in YA and didn’t really surprise me as much. I think that the reason why everything felt so rushed regarding our characters’ interactions and the plot of the story had much more to do with the length of the book than anything else, because if it was longer I think there would have been more time for progression between certain scenes and more development of the characters.

Overall, there were some things I really adored about Shatter the Sky, and thought were interesting to kept me wanting to kept reading, but I had a few issues with the plot and the length that made me lower my rating a bit.

The Quick Cut: A teen girl leaves home and goes to great lengths to get her girlfriend back from the kingdom leaders that took her. Drama and chaos unfolds when the bigger picture reveals itself.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do to save the love of your life? While most people only have to do the usual favors, words, and processes to hold onto those they care about - this book takes the heroic save of your love to an LGBTQ angle with the story of Maren & Maia.

Maren and Maia are in love with plans for the future. Living in the mountains, these two girls have spent their time determining where to go after they grow up enough to leave their town and what the future will look like. However, that process gets halted in it's tracks when the Emperor's prophets called Aurati come and take Maia away. Maren refuses to lose her and leaves home with a plan to get a dragon in order to get the girl back. Will the seemingly crazy scheme work or is all lost already?

THIS STORY! A lot of LGBTQ books unfortunately fall into a category I like to call "shouters" where the focus becomes so much on the character's orientation that it's practically shouted at you in every page you read. I was so happy to see this story be the exception with the rule in the way that the focus is on the action, not the sexual preference.

The action really hits the ground running and launches the reader directly into the world. With very little explaining, the reader understands how the land is oriented, who plays what roles, and why all that matters. My only gripe is the rush to wrap up the loose ends in those last couple chapters. Personally, I would have really enjoyed seeing it play out a little longer when truths were revealed.

Dragons play a pivotal role in this fantasy novel and the author's take on them adds flair to an already enjoyable read. The Aromatory is an essential component of training a dragon through the combination of oils, powders, and other substances to open up the opportunity needed. This can vary from allowing a dragon to smell their proposed linked human to creating a specific emotional response in them. It's a small change that I've never seen before and enjoyed how a small addition could transform a tired fantasy trope into a shiny new perspective.

Maren is passionate, strong, determined, and best of all: deeply flawed. Even though she leaves home to get her girlfriend back, she ends up finding a friend in a boy named Sev (and yes, there's a chemistry). They have a shared goal and a flirtation occurs, which seems to set up future emotional angst. Although I can see some HATING this angle (girl vs boy for the heroine's affection? Really?), it plays out naturally and I had no issues with it. I would love to see how it unfurls in the sequel, but it's definitely going to require careful consideration to pay off right.

I'm already eagerly anticipating the next book in what is bound to be an exciting series!

My rating: 4.5 out of 5

An interesting worldbuilding and a perfect story for fans of The Dragon Prince, which was ultimately just a little too forgettable for me.

This book starts with a really great premise, a QPOC girl who decides to go save her girlfriend and undertakes a journey in a very interesting fantasy world with dragons that can bond to humans.

I thought the execution was okay for a debut, but if you've read a lot of fantasy books this will read a little too generic. The protagonist, Maren, is on a deadline to save her girlfriend, and yet we conveniently forget about the time issue for the time that it takes Maren to learn useful skills and important bits of worldbuilding and forge new friendships and relationships. Then time is suddenly relevant again and everything has to move forward rather fast. So, overall the pacing doesn't usually bother me and it didn't here, but it was definitely something I noticed. Some things were also very predictable, and all the foreshadowing was very obviously foreshadowing from the moment you read it and not 100 pages later when it actually became relevant. This is all just nitpicking and it's just something you notice if you've read a lot of books, like I said.

Probably my favorite part of the whole book was the dragon egg that reminded me so much of The Dragon Prince, one of my favorite shows. It was really cute.

Maren is a bi girl in an already established relationship with a girl, that will be the reason for her whole quest. And here comes the part of this review that I dread to write, because it's impossible for me not to mention it but as a bi girl I am aware of all the nuance in this. Of course, there's a boy and Maren is like, immediately attracted to him. While still in a relationship with Kaia, her girlfriend. Think of it as you like, I personally was annoyed at this aspect of the story. There are other ways to show bisexual attraction without involving actual emotional cheating (and I use this term because it was more than just, "oh he's so hot."). Does it happen IRL? Of course. But maybe it's not great in general and especially when the bisexual character is the one doing it. In any case I was mostly able to overlook it and pin it to the writer's inexperience, I just want to warn other bisexual readers that this is something that happens.

So, would I recommend this book? I think the worldbuilding was interesting and it has a lot of potential for the rest of the series, if you can overlook some of the more debut-y aspects. I'm going to keep an eye out for the next installment if I remember, but even just a few weeks after reading it I don't remember enough about this to really crave the sequel.

This was such a fun read! It was entertaining and delightful. I loved the adventure the author brought with this story! It was detailed. It made me think I was apart of the journey!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I absolutely love the cover of this book and it sounds like something I would truly have enjoyed, but unfortunately none of my devices are able to get this book to open, and please believe me when I say I’ve tried. I can see from other reviewers I’m not the only one who’s run into this issue.

Because I will be getting this once it comes out, for now I’m going right in the middle with 3 stars, which will be adjusted once I’ve been able to review.

(This review is based on an advanced reader's copy provided by NetGalley.)

3.5 stars rounded up. While not earth-shattering, this was a solid, enjoyable, quick read. It has a similar feel to Of Fire and Stars (a book I wasn't very impressed with), but this book is better: more creative, more intricately plotted, more unpredictable. I will say the plotting is not exactly Dickensian - I feel like many readers, especially adult readers who are deeply familiar with YA tropes, will find some of the reveals not particularly surprising. How to put this? I didn't predict the reveals, but afterward I felt as though I should have seen them coming; they managed to surprise me even though some of them felt almost familiar. But it was still a good time.

The other big difference is that Of Fire and Stars is straightforwardly a romance (and, in my opinion, does that part well), while this book has an established relationship and, by the end of the book, hints of a second, competing love interest. This book is more about the main character's own character arc - which is nicely done - than about a romance arc.

Another book this reminded me of is The Abyss Surrounds Us, though that's sci-fi rather than fantasy: both books are based on the concept of fantastical beasts that trained humans can control through special devices. In this book, humans control dragons via scents - a concept I really enjoyed.

This particular type of fantasy isn't my favorite, in general - it has a lot of names of fantasy geopolitical entities (provinces? nations? not totally clear), which I always find hard to keep track of. But I liked this book more than I like most books that do this, and it had some interesting, if basic, political worldbuilding, like how the Aurati (the emperor's special police force) are feared and hated in the main character's hometown but revered in other regions.

A cool thing about this book is that (also like Of Fire and Stars) it's set in a fantasy world that seems to have no sexuality- or gender-based discrimination or history thereof. The main character and her girlfriend never hesitate to be open about their relationship, even when they're being scrutinized by the emperor's hostile police force that has unchecked power over the populace. (Bonus: the girlfriend has two moms!) Also, most of the most powerful characters other than the emperor are women, the main character has her mother's last name instead of her father's, and her mother is a government official while her father is a homemaker.

I spent a lot of the book wishing there were even more dragon content, but it delivered in the end. The book stuck the landing with a great dragon scene. In fact, the ending was so satisfying that I'm not sure if I'll read the sequels.

Frankly, another reason I'm iffy on the sequels is that the main character has already sort of almost cheated on her girlfriend with the second (male) love interest, and the book seems to be hinting that she's going to go further down that path, whether by cheating or breaking up with her girlfriend, and I don't really want to read either of those outcomes. (I'm not at all suggesting that those two outcomes are comparable - you're allowed to break up with people! I am bisexual and I support books with bisexual m/f romances - Noteworthy by Riley Redgate is a great one. I just personally am not interested in reading either of those outcomes in this case.) I was excited that the book had an established f/f relationship, because I don't see a lot of those, so I was disappointed to see it start to fall apart this way. And here's the thing: if the book made a good case for it, if it showed us how the competing love interest is better for Maren than her girlfriend is, I wouldn't mind so much. But he's not even a good love interest! He keeps hitting on her even after she tells him she has a girlfriend!

Overall verdict: If I had not already read this book but somehow knew the exact degree to which I would enjoy it, I probably wouldn't buy it, but I would definitely still read it.

This book looked promising upon selection, and the description is intriguing. However, no matter which device or format I tried to open this book with, it just didn't work. I wish that I had gotten to read this book, and I will keep trying to open it and give an updated review when/if I can.

The description, cover, and title look so promising that I am going to give it three stars for now, pending any future ability to access this title.

3.5 stars. This was fun!

Think, a super diverse high fantasy with dragons and a bi mc who is one of very few who can communicate with them. The first half was pretty slow paced but the second half was considerably more exciting and that ending was very cool and makes me excited to see what will happen in the sequel.

I liked the mc & the world & the dragon aspect was super cool (once they were actually introduced - it took a hot minute). My main disappointment was the romance. I was expecting it to be very centred around a f/f which it wasn't. The premise is, when in reality the mc is only really interacting with her girlfriend for about 3 chapters in the entire novel - it's very centred around an almost m/f romance. As someone who's bi myself, I do love seeing bi characters in other relationships not just same sex (it makes you no less bisexual to be in m/f relationship despite what some people think lmao), but it wasn't quite what the premise of the book was promising so it felt disappointing as I was hoping for something different.

Apart from the romance, I would say this book delivered. Loved the diversity (there's like... not a single white person in sight folks - and there's also no discrimination against lgb relationships), I loved the dragons (baby dragons being cute and mewing!!), and while a lot of the plot / character twists felt typical of young adult fantasy tropes, it was still satisfying and the ending was just... Badass.

That is all. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

This book was enjoyable enough to read however it felt like the same thing I've read a hundred times before. It was a pretty by the formula story. There were some dragons which I always appreciate and this was a book that had a positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community. There can never be too many of either of those things in my books. Still I wasn't swept away by this by any stretch of the imagination.

This book was good, but it didn't really blow me away the way I wish it had. It was a some-what classic story of an unwilling hero who after their call to adventure goes off to save someone she loves and her task soon turns into something bigger than she planned. There was just nothing that I felt brought anything new to this type of story. That aside, it's not to say this was not enjoyable or poorly written.

The first few chapters are kind of slow to get through, and I had some difficulty picturing the village. There was a little bit of exposition, but it was also woven into the story so it wasn't that noticeable. Things don't really pick up for what I feel like is a bit into the book. There was a slight lacking in urgency for me. I felt that Maren should have had more agency, it just wasn't as fast paced as I would have liked for how worried she was for Kaia.

I suppose I felt the lacked agency and urgency because she is a very unwilling hero, she's not exactly brave, so she's a little hesitant to more boldly look for a way to get a dragon other than waiting and listening.

All in all, this was a good book, and I was entertained. I am looking forward to where this series is headed.

Unfortunately I couldn’t open this book in any format therefore I can’t actually review it. I’ll leave it at 3 stars just because it’s totally unfair to leave it at 1.
Hopefully I can figure it out and read it!

SHATTER THE SKY follows, Maren, who has been raised in a small mountain town. She and her girlfriend, Kaia, have big dreams of leaving and carving their own path. First, they must get through a ceremony with the Aurati of the emperor, who had conquered the country in which their town resides, and who frequently take girls from their village for unknown reasons. Kaia reassures Maren- but then, Kaia is taken. Maren plots to steal a dragon and save Kaia from the Aurati.

As she travels into the Zefedi lands, she must pose as one of them and infiltrate the fort where the dragons are trained. Beginning as a food taster, she schemes to get closer by becoming an intern for the Aromatory and learn how to train the dragons. As the clock ticks against Kaia, Maren pushes forward to achieve her task. However, the world is more complex than she anticipated and many surprises are in store.

What I loved: Maren is a fantastic main character, and I loved following her journey. Plus, it’s always great to see LGBTQIA representation in YA fiction, especially when that is not the primary focus but just a part of the characters. The world-building is enough to be intriguing but not enough to overwhelm. However, the glimpses into folklore/legends were fascinating, and I really hope to get more of the history of this world in future books.

What left me wanting more: The plot drags a bit as Maren seeks to find a way to steal a dragon. Her time as a food taster and then working her way to the Aromatory was a little slow. However, it does speed up quickly in the last half of the book as there is more action/advancing plot.

I also would have liked more background/context for Maren and Kaia’s relationship. We get glimpses at the beginning and then it falls to the wayside. More passion about Kaia, rather than just saving her, would have been lovely to see throughout the book. However, as it is, this leaves the door open to a potential other love interest/triangle. Still, it would have been nice to have Maren think more about Kaia throughout (e.g. remember their past, consider how Kaia would view the adventures, etc.) to reconnect with the passion of why she is going to such lengths to save her.

Final verdict: Overall, this is an exciting start to a new YA fantasy series, and I would definitely love to continue with the series. With an intriguing new world, LGBTQIA representation, and dragons, this book is sure to delight fans of immersive YA fantasy.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Shatter the Sky was an intriguing young adult LGBTQIA fantasy novel that contained the following : kingdoms controlled by a tyrant, fulfilling prophecies, young women ripped from their homes and loved ones, a daughter of dragons, and of course, dragons. It was also a story of love. When Kaia was taken from her home, her heartmate Maren was determined to do anything to get her back. Undeterred by the mounting dangers that awaited her in her quest to steal and then bond with a dragon, Maren raced against time to save Kaia before death claimed her.

This novel had an interesting storyline with young adults trying to change their political and tyrannical environment. Added to that was the strength of character demonstrated by a young woman who sought to right some wrongs by those in power and possibly save her homeland.

Overall, this was a very engaging and well written read that will certainly captivate its targeted audience, as well as adult readers.
Highly recommended!

You had me at sapphic adventurers and dragons. But Shatter the Sky is even more than that. Not only is it a series opener (and you will immediately scream for book two), but it is a story about confronting hardship and change. We've seen so many adventurers who have braved dangerous odds for the ones we love and seeing it fueled by f/f love is even more fulfilling.Shatter the Sky is a book about a moment in time - a bubble about ready to burst - as the world is going to change for them - ripped apart by prophecy and uncertainty. It's a book that is very aware of what it's like to live in a home that isn't technically ours anymore, a history that has been stolen from us, and how Maren has to steal a dragon to rescue her girlfriend.

Likes

I picked this eCopy up on a whim after Netgalley alerted me to its being Read Now for the first 300 readers. I'm always here for LGBTQIAP+ rep and this had lesbian rep so I was all for it, simply for that, but then Wells threw in dragons and I was completely sold. Maren is an awesome main character. You can feel her love for Kaia from the moment you start reading about their relationship on the first page. She is inquisitive and gifted and she learns so much about herself over the course of the book. That discovery really hit the nail on the head for me and she was willing to try whatever she needed to save Kaia. I enjoy when the romance is established and you already feel blown away by it. But this book isn't strictly romance, though this is a driving factor in Maren's journey. This book gave me Priory and Crown of Feathers vibes with the way she approached the dragons and made the book feel fiercely female. There are also some hidden identities in this one that I definitely didn't see coming and I was so shocked by! The world-building was certainly well-set up for the second novel. I'm really glad there's a second novel by the way--I hadn't checked if it was a series before reading it and I was like NO WAY THIS NEEDS ANOTHER BOOK! and I was glad to see that it's getting one. The ending is definitely a cliffhanger and leaves you wanting more, which is something I really appreciate at the end of the first book in a series.

Dislikes

I can't say I disliked much about this book. I felt like it did take me a little while to get into it but it took off once I was into the story. It also was pretty fast-paced so keeping up with it proved to be a tiny bit of a challenge but it exhilarated me at the same time. 

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to fans of LGBTQIAP+ rep as well as those who are looking for a new fantasy filled with dragons and magic!

I was super excited for this one. But it didn't wow me, I did really enjoy the dragons though. I am a sucker for dragon books and anything to do with them. I dd enjoy the LGBT rep in this book as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy!

I don't tend to read or request NetGalley books that can only be read via computer but I decided to break that rule for this book. The cover does not show how amazing this fantasy was! It was almost a 5 star read for me, dragons, great characters, and much more! I recommend checking it out. Full review coming soon.

I loved this book! I will be recommending it to all my young adult readers! Thank you for this opportunity to connect books to their readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book. This book is extremely well written. I could picture the whole story. The author’s plotting is clear and the pace is perfect, not to fast of slow. The main characters sticks out. She is not another “Katniss” replica. The story is exciting and original. I will most likely be purchasing this book for the library. If not for the library definitely for myself.

Ok sooooo I don't really (or almost never) like books that have dragons in them. Is that weird? I just don't seem as interested.

But this book. THIS. BOOK. I may actually start to enjoy books that involve dragons just because of Shatter the Sky.

Just take my stars. TAKE THEM. I only have 4.25/5 to offer, but that's way more than I expected to give.

So. The book. Can I just start this off by saying I appreciate just how outwardly queer this is? It doesn't hide anything and just goes out full force like "Yes. This is what I am. So what? Deal with it." I love it. I love the political commentary woven into the plot -because I mean I'm a 20 year old female Chicana in Cali, I live for politics- and I seriously think it helps out with the complexity of the plot. The characters are so relatable and enjoyable when it comes to their strenghts, weaknesses, and their goals. Maren is just trying to do her best to be able to save Kaia, and I do love me a good reluctant hero story tbh. Going back to the dragons: It didn't bother me at all! I found them to not be as in-my-face as I expected based on the summary, and I'm pretty glad about that! It was a good balance and I thought it worked out fine!

Only issues is that I did find the pacing to drag at some points in the middle. It was enough to bother me at times, but it would recover well enough that I could move on. Again, dragons are a hard pitch for me, so even though I was fine with it, it still takes a while for me to fully enjoy them. That's more of a me problem though and not so much the book. I'd still be interested to read the sequel though!

So yeah! I really think this is one worth checking out! It's a really strong debut novel, and I'll be looking forward to the next book and any other works Rebecca has planned!

ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.