This book… WOAH! Going in I truly had no idea what to expect and I was taken completely by surprise!

The Endless Skies is a stunningly unique tale full of adventure, magic, and wonder! I was drawn in right from page one. We follow Rowan, a warrior-elect, trained for battle with the ability to shift into a winged lion. (Like what?! How cool right!) She hails from the amazing floating city of Heliana. Ya guys, floating. *cue magic heart eyes.

Heliana, holds a tumultuous past with the humans located on the mainland and when Rowan discovers a disease that is laying waste to the local children, she must decide between two fates: stay and protect the city and monarchs she swore to defend, or abandon her station, be labeled a deserter and leave her city to search the human lands for the only known cure.

The humans are said to be deadly, untrustworthy and she will be starting this journey on her own. With a warrior motto like Loyalty above all… what will she decide?

Shannon Price knocked the world building and character descriptions out of the park! The magic system was creative and unlike anything I have come across in other YA books. It felt palpable and with every high and every low I was right there alongside these characters. To me, that is true talent. I also really loved that this story is told in multiple POV’s.

I was completely enthralled up until about the 70% mark where we begin to encounter some decisions plot-wise that I didn’t entirely agree with. I still think overall, Shannon Price did an amazing job.

I would have loved for the surrounding cities and characters to have been a bit more fleshed out. I mean, we are talking about mermaids and people that can turn into bears! Tell me more please! I also tend to always be looking for romantic relationships (in YA) to have solid foundations and I felt these were a little lacking - be warned for all my love triangle despisers, this does have one.

If you are in the mood for descriptive battles, unexpected betrayals, endless adventure, found love, broken hearts, so much turmoil but also, HOPE, then I would definitely recommend this book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it!


Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review and a huge shout out to the design team at Tor for literally nailing this cover design! It is absolutely stunning.

Absolutely loving Price's debut YA fantasy novel. The characters are spunky and compelling, and having multiple POVs shows us various perspectives on the conflict and stakes for different community members. The writing is so cinematic -- I can picture the citadel with such clarity. And the winged-lion forms are so cool.

Some readers may find it too close to home to read about a pandemic during an ongoing global pandemic, but honestly I find this fictional pandemic comforting because of how the community rallies and prioritizes the cause, instead of devolving into petty and selfish politics (a la real life).

I would like to thank Netgalley and Shannon Price for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange of an honest review. The endless skies is a young adult fantasy set in a world where there are different kingdoms. Three of these kingdoms are occupied by shapeshifters. These three kingdoms are connected through a counsel. The last kingdom is occupied by human's who despise the shapeshifters. Rowan a winged lioness shapeshifter citizen of Heliana of the Leonodai people dreams of becoming a warrior like her sister and late father. But days before she goes from a warrior elect to a warrior a mysterious illness strikes Heliana. We follow Rowan in adventure, heartbreak, friendship and bravery throughout the book. The Endless Skies is a standalone and I am glad for that as I feel that Shannon Price has ended and closed this story quite well. The story had an easy flow, and the world building was steady and easy to keep up with. The story was told from multiple different points of view. However, I often found myself frustrated with the lack of side character's point of view. Often hoping that Rowans would end and that Shirine wouldn’t just have a point of view every fifty-something pages. This was often the cause of under and poorly developed side characters. However other then that the story was decent. The story was quite original and unique, and I was happy and impressed as it is quite difficult to write a unique and not stereotypical, predictable fantasy. However, this was only for about a quarter of the book as after that the story was predictable and followed some very boring and overused tropes in fantasy. However, tears were brought to my eyes at the end and that only shows how powerful the authors words are. The Endless Skies is a great read for the right people. I wouldn't recommend it to people who enjoy complex fantasy and not for people who are not a huge fan of fantasy. Overall, it is a great read, and I did enjoy it, well maybe not the ending because it broke my heart.

This book was a lot of fun to read, and I felt like I was defiantly taken on a journey with all of the characters. I really enjoyed stand alones, and I was very impressed by the author and how she still was able to write well rounded main characters in such a short amount of time, especially with how expansive the plot was already. I would have still loved to see this as a series. The world was so interesting and I would have loved to see more of the side characters progress as well as some of the romances between the main characters. But overall for a stand alone this was an incredible story!

Rowan was a great main character, and I feel as though the author did a great job at letting the reader see her consider every choice from all angles so we were really able to understand her. Often main protagonists can be a little bit annoying at times, however Rowan was one of my favourite characters in this series!

I felt like the plot was very unique, and in fantasy these days I do find that to be rare. A society of shapeshifters? That was just so cool in itself. So if you are sick of fantasies that all follow a very similar idea I totally recommend trying this book out so that you can get something different!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Overall: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing:4/5

The Endless Skies is one of my most anticipated reads this year and I was so happy to be approved of an eARC! For fans of Adrienne Young and Wonder Women, what's not to like? If you enjoy the tropes of YA books, then this is for you.

The Endless Skies is a character quest, fantasy book for young adults. I found certain elements of the world and its characters interesting - I loved the concept of the floating island, Heliana and the shapeshifting race who live there! The Leonodai are a people who can transform into winged lions, who are in an ongoing conflict with humans. When a terrible sickness breaks out and affects their children, the Leonodai warriors are sent on a mission to find the only known cure, which happens to be in enemy territory.

I found this a fun and easy read. The main character Rowan finds herself torn between two love interests but the author handled this well - I tend to find love triangles a bit irritating in most books but this wasn't the case with The Endless Skies. I didn't really mind who she chose and I think that might be because the book is definitely plot-driven rather than character-driven and there was room for more character development. I could happily have read fifty more pages and sacrificed the pace for more time spent on the characters but that's just personal preference!

Overall I like the fact that this is a standalone (not everything needs to be a 'trilogy!) but because I really enjoyed the author's imagination I would definitely read another book set in the same world.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for approving me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was so much to like about this book, starting with the gorgeous cover.

However, I felt like too much was trying to be set up for the story to really hit the way it wanted to. The world is so interesting and held so much promise, and there could be many different ways to continue working in this world. But, I felt like all the world building was crammed into a story that didn't have room enough to breathe.

I liked how strong a character Rowan was, but there were multiple POVs and I don't feel like I got to know the other characters as much as I would have liked. Rowan stuck out the most to me, and I feel like she was the most developed out of all of the characters we meet.

The story is full of action, which I loved, but the romance aspect lacked a little for me. I think if the story had been broken into maybe two installments, it would have given readers more time to fall in love with the characters and to make the romance more believable.

I really think readers will enjoy this book for what it is, even if it may not exceed expectations. It is truly an original idea with a magic system unlike most things on the market. It has so much potential! It's still worth the read.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor/Forge for this Arc!

I love this idea. A floating city which is home to shapeshifter warriors. A strange sickness is taking root and harming the children so teams of warriors strike out to the human world to find the cure in the form of a magic flower. And, there is romance.

However, this was not my favorite read. I felt like the romance, which was actually a love triangle, did not feel real to me. It's hard to explain. The relationships did not feel sincere. I could definitely see other readers enjoying this fully though. I just don't think this story was a perfect fit for me.

If your a YA fan of Adrienne Young and Adalyn Grace then I’d recommend this tale.
Told from different POVs and hood world building this stand alone is a good introduction to fantasy if your wanting to get into this genre.
Could have more depth to the world building and character development but is a good story. Would be even better and stronger if the author decides to maybe do a duology with this world.

This was not a bad book, it just wasn't the book for me.

This story is about the Leonodai, a race of lion shapeshifters, facing a plague that is targeting the young. Told from three POVs, The Endless Skies shows how the race for a cure effects this new world.

Shirene is a part of the government, in fact she is the newly appointed King's Voice. As she navigates her new role, she discovers secrets and lies. Rowan is Shirene's younger sister who is about to make the transition from Warrior-Elect to Warrior. Callen is Rowan's best friend, who is a full-fledged Warrior.

Despite the multiple POVs, it soon becomes clear that this is Rowan's story. Callen's POVs are often centered around her because not only is Rowan his best friend, she's also the love of his life. Shirene's POV is not that focused on Rowan, and we see her practically disappear from the narrative when it comes to the middle of the story, which is a shame because I was really interested in her story line. Also, Shirene and Rowan's sister bond just felt lacking to me. Rowan has the most POV chapters and we see her POV dominate the story. It isn't a bad thing, I was just looking forward to multiple perspectives and seeing how the plague/pandemic effected different people in this world. (Shirene has 8 POV chapters, Callen has 18, and Rowan has 24)

Plus, there's a love triangle. It's probably the nicest love triangle I've ever read - the two guys don't duel each other, they're both nice, and they both seem content to let the girl (Rowan) choose. So yay for letting the girl decide who she wants to be with.

The Endless Skies is a good standalone YA fantasy novel with an interesting world. I can easily see many people enjoying this. But at the end of the day, I didn't love The Endless Skies, which kind of hurts because I really wanted to.

Special thanks to YALLWest and TorTeen for this eARC through NetGalley! I really appreciated the opportunity to read this.

Three and a half
I have to preface this review by stating that this isn't a terrible book my rating is a bit low simply because it took me quite a while to truly engage with this world.
Rowan is a lion shifter determined to help protect her people from humans. When the children start getting infected and dying its learned that a flower grows where the humans live that could save the rest. As Rowan hasn't yet fully qualified she's told she must stay home but Rowan quickly finds out that dangerous secrets have been withheld ! She knows she risks being branded a traitor but Rowan makes her decision to leave home and follow the warriors already searching for a cure .
I loved the idea of lion shifters living in a floating city and the story truly got interesting when Rowan stepped up. Sadly there is a YA triangle here which truly was neither needed nor actually really worked. For me a romantic triangle adds tension and perhaps causes doubt but both the male love interests are sweet, loving types so it didn't add much if anything. What I did like was seeing Rowan sally forward in the human world making friends and discovering just how strong she was. The world building perhaps needed work and honestly the lies and deception by those in power wasn't truly addressed but nevertheless I enjoyed the second half of this book and I'm sure many other readers will also have fun reading this book.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I absolutely love reading this book! The fact that it is a standalone really keeps me pumped! Love Rowan in this story, so badass and strong and brave! Also the characters were really well-crafted!

This book was good but it should have had much more worldbuilding: the story and the characters were very compelling, but we lacked a lot of information.

Thank you NetGalley for sending this arc for an honest review!

I normally like fantasy but this wasn’t ideally my cup of tea. Perhaps because I was looking for something with more romance but I suppose I didn’t grasp the kind I wanted.

What I did enjoy about the book was the MC though. Rowan wasn’t boring or anything she was such a strong female warrior who fought for the greatest and I just kill for female action.

Rowan has trained her whole life to be a warrior, just like her father and sister before her. A Leonodai, Rowan is a shapeshifter – a human and a winged lion – who lives on the floating island of Heliana. On the eve of her oath, Heliana is struck by a deadly disease that is killing the islands children and warriors are sent into enemy land in search of the fabled cure, panacea. Angry to be left behind, Rowan accidentally stumbles on the truth of what is going on in her beloved city and now she faces an unbelievable choice: stay in the city as expected or risk everything she’s worked for to save those she loves most.

Despite the synopsis focusing on Rowan, this book is told in three perspectives: Rowan, her friend and fellow warrior Callen, and her older sister, Sentinel Shirene. While the multiple perspectives helped the reader to know fully what was happening in multiple places at once, I almost wish it had been solely Rowan’s perspective of just Rowan and Callen. I loved Shirene as a character, but her perspective didn’t offer much to the story and was lost in the action-packed chapters of Callen and Rowan. I wanted either more of her or none and nothing in between. None of the characters are particularly likable and the character development is minimal at best.
I could have done without the love triangle, too. It didn’t add anything to the story and felt unnecessary.

I love the author’s style of world building. The book drops you directly into the action at the first chapter and builds the world and characters around it. There could have been more elaboration, but for a standalone it was enough to carry the story and get the plot from beginning to end. The plot was consistently exciting, with a few plot twists to keep the reader on their toes, and it didn’t slump in the middle.

The Endless Skies was a fun, quick, action packed read. Perfect for anyone looking for a good action fantasy without having to commit to a series. Would recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one had potential but fell flat for me. I enjoyed the story and background of the groups. Felt like it couldn't decide if he wanted to have a romance or not. Too many events seem just thrown into the book for convenience of the story. Rowan was a good character and she had a great fighting personality even though I didn't like the back and forth with her romantic feelings. It just wasn't developed enough for the flip flop. The General and the "evil people" weren't developed enough for me to feel the friction and causes of the animosity.

Cinematic, lush description leaving me mesmerized only to find hours had passed. Shannon’s worldbulding & magic systems were rich with in lore that made my nerdy self scream in excitement. This is a fast pace edge of your seat ride that will leave you wanting to soar high above the clouds.

Fun, fresh, and a must-read for all fantasy lovers! The ideas were unique and the writing really enhanced the book. It's always such a bummer when a great plot and characters are ruined by bad writing, and it was so nice that this book didn't have that problem!

This was a fun read! The world building was a bit confusing, but I highly recommend fans of the ACOTAR series to give this book a read. It was very interesting and made me attached to the characters. I also like that the warriors were not overpowered. A fun read!

A deadly disease is on the loose and killing children... and its up to Rowan and her friends/love interests to figure it out. The story revolves around a world where there are humans and shapeshifting warriors. Rowan lives in the city of Heliana, a place above the sea where winged-lion shapefshifters protect their kind from humans. Rowan has trained for years to become a warrior but on the day before her training is complete her best friend and the boy she is crushing on are both sent off to fight and she wants to join. Her childhood best friend confesses to her before he leaves and now she is stuck in a love triangle trying to sort out her feelings between the boy who has always been her anchor and friend from the boy who makes her feel alive. Along the way politics, secrets, and war are all unleashed. Rowan must find a way to stop the disease and protect her people, while also deciding who she belongs with. Overall a interesting story, I am usually not one for love triangles and so for me that just didn’t work so well in this story but otherwise it was an okay read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*