Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
In this fantasy novel, the Leonodai people, winged lion shape-shifters, live on a floating island above the rest of the world, away from the brutal humans with whom they had been at war. There are other magical species – the sea-folk, bearking, and fox-kin who have been wiped out by the humans. The story is told in alternating POV – Rowan, who has just finished her warrior training; older sister Shirene, a sentinel on the king’s council; and Callen, a warrior and Rowan’s best friend who is also in love with her. A disease from birds is infecting and killing the Leonodai youth and the cure is found deep in the human’s territory. When warriors are sent in teams to find it, Rowan finds out more information that could put the mission in jeopardy. She and the other warriors-elect are supposed to stay and defend the city – Loyalty above all is the Leonodai motto - but will she risk a desertion charge to bring this new information to the warriors?
While I enjoyed this fast-paced adventure, I was a bit disappointed in the ending. This is a stand-alone novel but with the other magical peoples, there could be companion stories. I would recommend this book for grades 8 and up.
#TheEndlessSkies #NetGalley

The Endless Skies is an enjoyable and entertaining standalone YA fantasy. Heliana is home to a race of magical shape-shifting winged lions called Leonodai. A deadly illness is spreading among the children of Heliana, death is occurring within ten days from the first sign of the disease and all remedies are proving ineffectual. A team of Leonodai warriors travel into enemy territory, the human world, to try to obtain the magical wild plant which will cure the illness.

The story is narrated from the multiple points of view of Rowan, Shirene and Callen, although Rowan stands out as the main character. The world is intriguing and interesting and I liked the idea of an island floating above the sea. There are some lovely descriptions of the island and scenery, but I was craving more detailed descriptions and I wanted to know much more about the world, its people and history.

The action scenes are great and injected a bit of excitement and drama into the storyline and I particularly enjoyed Rowan’s action scenes in the human world. On the whole the story moves at a fast pace and the writing style is easy to follow. The characters are likeable but I didn’t particularly connect with any of them, although I did admire Rowan for her determination and bravery. The basis was there for some excellent characterisation, however they came across as a little one-dimensional. The romance is a little underwhelming and lack lustre, it’s a bit too sweet and lacks energy and passion. Love triangles have the potential to be quite explosive but this one resolved itself a little too conveniently and politely.

The novel lacked depth and complexity and at only 294 pages much more could have been packed between the pages. However, that aside this is an enjoyable and fun adventure story with a sprinkling of romance and is the perfect easy read for YA fantasy readers requiring a quick fix.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC to review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (5 stars)

“Warriors aren’t meant to feel in battle. They are meant to obey.”

‘High above the sea, floats the pristine city of the Heliana. Home to winged-lion shapeshifters—the Leonodai—and protected from the world of humans by an elite group of warriors, the Heliana has only known peace.’

Rowan survived years of brutal training and is now finally ready to prove her loyalty by taking the warrior oath. However, before she can do it, a deadly disease strikes the city’s children. Her friends are sent to find a cure deep within enemy’s territory, but all she can do is stay and protect the city.

Left alone, she finds out a devastating truth and for the first time in her life, she has to make a decision. Stay with the city and become a warrior like she always dreamed, or risk her future in an attempt to save everyone she loves.

Will she blindly follow orders or do what her heart tells her?

“I am Rowan An’Talla, and I have to decide on my own.”

The idea of this book is just so enthralling. I loved everything about the story. The characters, the plot and even the world itself felt magical. All of the characters were so interesting and I loved the switching perspectives. Each of them had unique voices and personalities, which made this such a compelling read.

Additionally, the first thing that caught my attention was the absolutely STUNNING writing. The introduction to this completely new and magical world was so well-written and the character introductions were just perfect.

“This isn’t the time or place for my heart to be deciding what it wants, but eventually, the time and place will arrive. I only hope my future self will know what to do, because right now, I am as lost as ever.”

THIS quote. THIS is what I mean when I say that the writing of this book is BEAUTIFUL.

I would DEFINITELY recommend this book to anyone!

Thank you so much for providing me with the ARC of this book!

(all quotes are taken from an unfinished version of the book. Everything is subject to change)

this was an absolutely interesting and inventive standalone fantasy story. i really loved the three different pov's that we explored. the magic and the fantasy were unlike anything i have read before. this story was one that you don't want to miss out on reading. i loved Rowan and how fearless she was. the animal shapeshifting was such a unique element to the story. i felt the standalone had great pacing and i was so happy with my time with this story. i look forward to reading more from Shannon Price in the future.

↠ 5 stars

Rating: 2.5/5 (dnf @52%)

Format: ebook. I’d like to thank the author and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review!

To sum up:
Rowan is a warrior-in-training, hoping to soon become one of the fierce winged-lion shapeshifter protectors of her floating city Heliana. Before Rowan can take her final oath, however, a deadly sickness invades their secluded city. An elite force of protectors is sent on a special mission to sneak into the human realm and retrieve a special flower that will reverse the effects of the disease and save their city. Although Rowan isn’t permitted to go on this mission, she uncovers a secret that changes everything and is determined to do whatever is necessary to make sure it doesn’t fail.

What I enjoyed:
This story has a very cool and fantastical premise. I enjoyed learning about the magical and mundane worlds, their history, and their politics. I also thought the shapeshifting and magic were interesting and wanted to know more about this world.

What was meh:
Although I liked the world, I really struggled with the characters and plot. At about 22% I started to feel that the characters and story had all been done before. There wasn’t anything really unique about these characters or the writing. I tried to push through to see what might happen at the midpoint but after about 52% I realized that I wasn’t going to be invested in this story.

Overall, I’m really disappointed this story didn’t grab my interest. I want to give it a few stars even though I didn’t finish it because I feel that it definitely had potential. I would still be interested in reading what this author writes next because I think they have the potential to write something I really like.

If you like shapeshifting fantasy, this book may be great for you! It just wasn’t enough for me.

I found this to be a fun, refreshing fantasy read!

It wasn't too in your face, and was an excellent standalone novel. The characters and the world felt written well, even reaching to wanting more!

I enjoyed the action, and it is definitely one that I recommend for those wanting an adventurous fantasy hit!

Review: 3.5/5

Standalone ya fantasy.

Pro: I have read many Ya novels and this one managed to be unique.

Con: I did struggle to connect at first. I found there to be alot of set up and character point of view switching which made it hard for me to really get in the groove and fully immerse myself in the no

Overall: In all this book had some unforseen twists and drama and an extremely relatable and timely plot. ( a disease is out of control and the warriors must go one a deadly quest for a cure to save there people and preserve there way of life.) This book also had a really unique magic system and world. It main characters are magical shape shifters that go from humans to winged lions. They are a race of loyal warriors giving off a wonder woman/ Spartan feeling. Their main land is in the sky which also gives off some fierce vallhalla vibes. Real cool combination. As well as being unique in its world building it was basic in a few plot points. There was a love triangle set up in thd first few chapters that may make you roll your eyes and some younger sibling whining that had me worried I wasnt going to like the main characters. As the book goes on the pros out way the tropes. Definitely worth the read. May even become your new favorite book.

Title not downloaded in time for the release. Rating given as not to hurt the overall rating of the book.

This book starts out fast-paced and stays that way through the end of the novel. It was a great weekend read, as I quickly felt pulled into the book and interested in how the story would unfold. There were some interesting twists that I did not expect. I did wish for a few quieter, low-tension moments, but appreciated how quick and engaging a read this was.

The story is broken into three points of view: Rowan, the young warrior to be who wants to prove herself, Shirene, her older sister in the king’s council, and Callen, Rowan’s childhood best friend with a crush. Splitting the protagonists for such a fast-paced book didn’t work well for me. While all of the characters were enjoyable, I didn't feel especially close to or invested in any of them. It also didn't feel necessary to split the point of view, as it resulted in a lot of repetition of important plot points. The story likely would have been just as enjoyable if only told from Rowan’s perspective.

This story features an interesting magic system and a unique race of creatures, winged lion shapeshifters. The human-magic relationships were a unique feature of the story, especially as the characters explore outside their magical world and into the human one. It was difficult to feel settled into the world early on, due to the switching of point of view and the quick pace of the action. About 15% of the way through, I felt confident in understanding who exactly a winged lion would look like and what role they played in this world.

The Endless Skies is a standalone epic fantasy novel by Shannon Price. This book features a fantastic, fast-paced plot that will grab and hold your attention. The magic and race created in the novel were exciting and unique. The book does rotate point-of-view characters, which felt like an unnecessary feature as I was reading through. I definitely recommend this to fans of fantasy novels. This is the perfect vacation or long weekend read.

Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen Publishing and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of The Endless Skies in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 48%

I am not going to leave a starred review for this book because I can't accurately judge the entire book - only the terrible first half I was able to get through. I am so sad I didn't enjoy The Endless Skies because it had a really intriguing synopsis and I was looking forward to reading it.

In The Endless Skies, we have three POVs - Callen, Rowan, and Shirene (mind you, I literally had to check my updates of this book to remember their names). Pretty much everyone in Heliana, their floating city, are Leondai - winged-lion shapeshifters. They protect the other four magical realms as an elite group of warriors that endure years of training. Rowan, one of our main characters, is going to become a certified part of these warriors the next day after training for four years to prove her loyalty to the kingdom. However, an unknown and deadly disease shows up in over 15 children from their city. Callen and Ox, Rowan's BFF and crush, are sent to the enemy/human lands to find the cure.
Rowan can't become the warrior she always dreamed to be and being the selfish and impatient girl she is, she seeks out information to have an excuse to go help save the kingdom. She finds said information and decides to desert to prove herself (and supposedly save) those she loves. The clock is ticking though - the humans will attack soon and even worse, the expected time frame to cure the sickness is cut in half.

I am majorly disappointed. The premise for this book was so amazing which is the reason why I requested it! I had to force myself to even get to 50% because there were so many confusing info-dumps from the worldbuilding early on. In addition, I disliked all of the characters and the obvious love triangle that showed up from the get-go couldn't entice me to continue. I was skimming for the last 10% I was reading simply because the story wasn't all that interesting. In addition, Shannon Price used the same phrases and words that just made me want to scream - "roar," "one last time," "skyward," etc. There was also so much "showing" instead of "telling" that I literally skipped several pages and still knew what was going on

I was so looking forward to reading this book and am heartbroken I wasn't able to finish or enjoy it.

The Endless Skies by Shannon Price is a standalone, young-adult, fantasy releasing on August 17th 2021. Not long to ago!

In the sky, floats Heliana, the city of winged-lion shapeshifters (Leonodai). A day before Rowan can pledge to become a part of the elite warriors to keep Heliana peaceful and safe, a disease spreads amongst the children. Once her closest friends are sent on a risky mission to get the cure from their enemies (Humans), Rowan is left behind. As time starts running out, Rowan learns something that could save Heliana, but the truth comes with a price.

The story is told from three point of views: Shirene, Rowan, and Callen. The first chapter is Shirene’s introduction, creating a sense that either she’s the main character or a really important factor for the story. Shirene was an interesting character, she seemed strong and badass. From get go, as she is put in a position of power by the King’s side, I liked her. Even though there seems to be a lot to her, from her love interest, role in the hierarchy and perspective, she doesn’t seem to play as key of a role as I had expected. She doesn’t have a character arc through which she grows and develops. In the end, she is simply Rowan’s sister and someone with a high position in the system.

Rowan, the main character was brave and a character that I could easily root for. But beyond that, I didn’t feel too much for her. Callen, her best friend slash love interest and warrior, was another character that I didn’t dislike nor did I love. To me, the characters felt under-developed. The multiple point of views could’ve easily been simplified to a single narrative or even two point of views.

A love triangle between Rowan, Callen and Ox brews in the story. Typically, I’m not a fan of love triangles, and it’s very rare that I make an exception for that and even rarer that I enjoy them. I was really excited for this book due it’s incredible premise so I decided to give the love triangle a go. This is one of the rare times, where the love triangle didn’t anger me, which is a plus. In saying that, I didn’t enjoy it either. The best way to describe the love triangle is: rushed. Time was split between Callen and Ox, not going into either the feelings either were evoking well enough. Due to that, I didn’t care who Rowan ended up with. I feel that if we had just had one romantic line going on, it would’ve had a chance to expand and thrive more.

The world was really interesting and one of my favourite parts of this story. It was a really interesting concept. Winged-lions? How cool is that? As if, lions and wings weren’t badass enough on their own. I loved everything about it, from the role everyone played in it, the animosity between humans and Leonodai. If this was a series, I would’ve liked to see the world explored more, especially the other kingdoms that we catch a glimpse of in the first chapter.

The first thing that I noticed about this book and possibly the most disappointing, was the writing style. It felt like there was too much telling going on and less showing. Usually, I see this in the descriptions and dialogue tags, but I picked up on this through the dialogues, too. It seemed like the dialogues were also a bit ‘info-dumpy’. I think if this had been fixed, I would’ve probably felt more attached to the characters. There was a lot of ‘I care about this person a lot’ and not actually showing me the relationship between the characters. This made it really hard to believe any of what was going on.

The overall plot and concept was the highlight for me. I liked the idea of the disease threatening the peace of Heliana and their only hope lying with the humans. I enjoyed reading about the stakes and how the plot progressed and questioned everything Rowan knew. This was a great adventure as we moved between different settings.

As the story wrapped up, I was left a little confused. The ending seemed all too convenient for me and there wasn’t enough of an explanation to justify it. The Leonodai don’t believe in luck, but the ending felt exactly that. Perhaps, that was the point, but I still wish we had explored that a bit more.

Another positive for me would be the messages in the books. I especially enjoyed the importance of individual’s morals and values, and how that shapes a person and their actions. Cruelty of human actions was also weaved well into the story, which was very thought provoking.

I was completely surprised by the betrayal portion of this book. It played into the ‘messages’ part of this story, and I ate it up. That was well done!

I know, I dissected this story quite a bit, but I did enjoy reading this. It was fast, thought-provking and a great standalone. But the issue with standalone fantasies will always persist – it’s hard to create such intricate worlds, characters and stakes without rushing them in only so many pages. Please also keep in mind that I received an ARC, which means changes could’ve made for the finished copy.

If you’re looking for an action packed, adventurous fantasy that doesn’t require commitment and takes you to a novel world of warriors, I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy when it comes out in a few days.


Rating: 3.5 Stars

This was a really great book!! The idea of winged-lion shapeshifters was really interesting and new (to me at least). I loved that Heliana and the Leonodai are loosely based on Ancient Greece and Greek mythology, and I loved the little Odyssey easter egg in there.

The collective relationship of the Leonodai and the other three magical races with the humans was really interesting and nuanced. They start out thinking of each other wholly as the enemy, but then they begin to discover that nothing is that black and white, which is something that I really enjoy in books because it's reflective of real life.

Rowan was such an engaging character to experience this beautiful, magical world through. She's fierce and loyal and cares deeply for her family, her friends, and her people. Her internal conflict over whether to do what she feels is right, or to follow the orders given to her, injects really great tension into both her character arc and the plot. I really appreciated that her core motivation was rooted in a desire to help her people, rather than a more selfish reason that ends up aligning with the broader cause.

I also really enjoyed getting to see another side of the story through the perspective of Shirene, Rowan's older sister, who is one of the nine Sentinels (councillors) of Heliana. It was really interesting to see the governmental side of the same issues that Rowan is struggling with, and to see Shirene's reactions to those as well.

Overall this is an excellent book! The world is very fresh and new, the characters are all really relatable and well-written, and the plot has plenty of twists and turns that'll make it hard to put down!

The plot for The Endless Skies sounded fantastic, had a lot of potential, and I was quite intrigued by it, but sadly it fell short for me. It had some interesting moments, but overall it was ok to me. The plot started off strong and then seemed to become less appealing, to me, as the book progressed. The story progressed plot wise, but felt very stagnant at the same time. The plot felt like it needed to be developed a bit more. There were many elements to the story, but I wish it was flushed out more. It felt like things would build up and then fall flat or something would happen out of no where and quickly move onto something else. The different POVs was ok. Rowan and Callen's POVs were good and I liked following them. Shirene’s POV gave us insight to what was going on back home, but I didn’t interest me much.

The world itself was fantastic to read about and I really liked it. I found the idea of the Leonodai warriors fascinating. I loved the idea of them being able to transform from a human form to creature form and fly. It gave a nice touch to the story.

The love triangle didn’t do much for me and it felt just there. Again, something I think needed to either be flushed out more or taken out. The story would’ve read just fine without it I feel. We would see Rowan battling between her feelings for Callen and Ox, but it just felt not important. With that said, I did like the friendships she did have with Callen and Ox.

I received this book as an eARC from Netgalley. All opinions are my own!

As a deadly disease strikes the children of the Leonodai, shapeshifting winged lions, warrior-in-training Rowan discovers secrets that could bring their flying city crashing down - literally. All too quickly, Rowan finds herself in the middle of the battle, and for better or for worse, she will remain loyal to her people until the very end.

The first thing that really stood out to me about this book was the world-building! I feel like it was a really unique world for a story that has shape-shifters. At first, I was a little weary of the winged lions, but they felt really well done and weren't as forced as I had feared they might be! I really enjoyed learning about the lions and their history as it intertwined with the humans, and I loved that it was unique to where I didn't feel as though I'd read something of the sort before!

It did take me a little bit to get attached to the characters, and I think this had to do with using first person but switching POVs. But once I got attached, boy was I attached! I really enjoyed these characters and just wanted to spend more time with them in the end. Rowan's development throughout the story was really fun to watch and be part of.

If you're looking for a unique fantasy story full of compelling characters, this is the book for you!

This was my first shifter book (I’m pretty sure ever) and what an adventure! I will say that the synopsis did confuse me a bit because I was expecting the story to only be from one point of view, Rowan’s, but I didn’t mind that there were multiple ones. I loved Callen, and he was actually my favorite point of view. Rowan was great too, a little annoying at the beginning, but once I understood her character, I really enjoyed her perspective and her unwillingness to just go with what everyone else believed. Shirene was my least favorite, I just felt as though she was kind of bland and there could have been a lot more done with her storyline. I just never really felt connected to her at all and it hindered part of the story. I do understand why her perspective was added, but I don’t really think it was necessary.

I did really love the adventure of the book, there was so much happening. Parts of the quest were a bit too convenient, but at the same time, things always took a turn. The fight scenes were done well and I enjoyed the action of the story. Plus there were definitely some twists that I didn’t see coming.

I do think the love triangle could have been done better, there just wasn’t much that happened and it didn’t make me as invested or as confused as I would have liked to have been, as I basically chose one person from the start. Whereas I prefer to struggle with the character and not know who they’re going to pick. I just don’t think I really got to know one of the love interests very well, so as nice as he was, he just wasn’t a match at all.

Overall, it’s a well paced, fun adventure with an action packed storyline! I was never bored, and who doesn’t love people that can shift into lions with wings?

Great strong female character. Full of adventure and a little romance. Love the magic. Lions are the best. There is still more story to tell, please.

Stunning epic fantasy packed with believable characters you can care about, supported by in-depth worldbuilding and conflict.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Tor Teen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and wish it would continue. I liked the fact how the different worlds meshed together from the Leonodia people/shapeshifters who live in the sky and the humans who live on the land. With these two worlds at war it made for definite adventures.

I was drawn to the cover. I love the warrior girl look.

This story is about a girl named Rowan who is about to become a warrior for her kingdom. Just before the ceremony takes place a plague comes into her kingdom that is making the young children sick and die in just a few days. The only cure they have is found in the human world. The problem is that these two worlds are continuously at war with each other. Different cohorts are sent out to go into the land and retrieve the flower that cures the disease. Rowan is unable to go because she hasn't taken the oath or been through the ceremony. Upon learning new information about the plague and that it is killing the children faster than the healers thought and now that the Prince has been infected Rowan takes off for earth to retrieve the cure herself.

This was a great plot and even had a romantic twist. It had a lot of adventure and a girl coming of age. This was a very fast read and a pretty clean read. I would like it on my shelf for the cover alone.

This book is once again proof that reading books because one author you liked blurbed them is completely reasonable.
The Endless Skies is absolutely brilliant. With an intricate and easy to understand world, Price makes the book so enticing and readable. The main characters are all compulsively likable, and I can see why a phenomenal author like Nicki Pau Preto thought of it positively.
One of my favorite parts of the book was actually the romance. There’s a love triangle in the book, but it’s fairly straightforward who’ll “get the girl”, even though both love interests are actually brilliant people who I’d gladly be around or befriend. I love Ox and Callen so much. Callen is actually part of a childhood friends to lovers arc, and he confesses VERY early on, but he’s so respectful to Rowan, and Rowan herself takes time to figure out what she wants, something I feel like doesn’t happen often enough with friends to lovers (it’s always “oh these feelings were always there” after five minutes).
The Endless Skies is exciting, sad, and beautiful, and EVERYONE should read it.

*****My review contains spoilers****


I have mixed feelings about this book. It was decent but I also felt like it dragged. The writing was good and the plot was not bad. The world building wad great. Winged lion shape shifters who live in a city in the sky was unique and creative and I loved it!
I think my issue was with the characters. There were three POVs and I did not like a single one of them. Their personalities were different and individual enough but each one was annoying. Rowan was brash and arrogant and while she did the right thing her attitude about how she knew better and could do no wrong because she was doing the right thing drove me insane. Her love triangle confusion between Ox and Callen was childish and unnecessary. Callen honestly came across as an incel. He was whiny and sad and all he could think about was Rowan and Ox. I'm sorry but dude, you waited too long to say how you felt. If the girl is with someone else then you keep your mouth shut, accept your fate, and respect your choice. The fact that Rowab chose the Callen over Ox is honestly bs.
As for Shirene, she barely had any chapters so I don't feel I have enough content to form an opinion other than there was not enough time for her to really be developed.
All three characters were incredibly static.
The positives of this book are the fascinating world and cultures but they are overshadowed by poorly written characters.

Still, I did somewhat enjoy this book and I think people who prefer character driven stories to world driven stories will enjoy it.