Ok wow. Just wow. This was actually really great which I honestly didn’t really expect? I hadn’t read much about it before and I guess I should go in blind more often to be pleasantly surprised ❤️

A dark and gritty fantasy, in all the best ways! I absolutely loved the world that this story took place in. The setting was raw and unexpected, drawing me right into the action. Although I wish I would have been able to connect more with the characters as I feel we barely got to scrape the surface, this was an overall great read.

I’m very impressed by this debut novel and can’t wait to read more books by S. Hati in the future!
A special thanks to Bindery Books for bringing these books to life and for sharing an ARC with me in exchange for an honest review!

an impressive and compelling climate fantasy mixed with politics and a multi-pov narrative!!!

lots of tension and emotion, an impressive welding of characters and motivations - they’re messy and complicated, but the culmination of their efforts is so cool. everything leads up to a very dramatic moment, and is fuelled by the hate and desire for calor, making for some very intriguing moments and movements within the world!

with the characters all having such vastly different backstories it meant that they all brought something different to the story, especially with how they view power and money

a powerful and gut-punching climate fantasy highly focusing on the misuse of power and the destruction it can bring!

DNF. The quick chapters that shift POVs between 2+ characters made it difficult to find an entry into the story and to follow it consistently. Besides the dialogue—which felt unnaturally forced—the writing was really beautiful, and I do hope to borrow a hard copy after it is published.

Soft DNF. Lost interest in the story at some point early on and I just couldn't connect to the story or the characters enough to care about them. The writing was beautiful and I could tell that I lot of time and care went into crafting this story. I do plan on continuing this physically after its release to see if I can get back into it. Beautiful cover as well.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Bindery for this ARC. I love this book! An interesting and thrilling climate fantasy. Loved the tone of the novel and was completely hooked by 50%. Congratulations to S. Hati for her debut novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery Books for a copy of an eARC. Wow! This is a climate fantasy and it was terrifying. How many generations away are we from a global climate tragedy that finally wipes us out? Not only that but the hoarding of unsustainable resources is too realistic ugh.

I loved the prose. I can't believe this is the author's debut. I felt smarter after reading this 😂

I had trouble connecting with the characters during the first half of the book. The climate crisis was intriguing and the world building was great, but I just didn't really care about our 3 MCs until about half way through and I can't explain why. But I'm so glad I gave it time because by the halfway point I was here for all 3 of them. I think this is a book I would enjoy even more on a reread since I have a much better understanding of the world and the characters now.

Overall, so excited for my print copy to come in the mail this October.

My my, what a captivating little book we have here!

S. Hati introduces a magnificient world-building, simple enough to focus on one city, yet complex enough in political issues and history. It's equally magical and scientifical, charming in this connection and surprising in its intelligence. The author settles on the story that lately is not so popular – one that is driven by actual sotry, and the characters are just a part of a bigger picture. Do not be fooled, it doesn't equal they are flat or uninteresting, quite the opposite actually. But given so different perspectives it feels like all the characters are important, even those from the background, as they all work towards the same goal. And it works greatly. It evokes emotions, it drives your interest, while simultaneously providing clever commentary over discussed topics.

I love finding niché fantasy books that end up being a real treasure, and I'm glad to state that Hati's one definitely belongs among them. Amazing!

In a city on the brink of destruction where blood rains from the sky, a thief, a slumlord, and an heiress race to find a hidden cache of magical fuel in a quest for power and to save their home.

This fast-paced, standalone, Asian-inspired climate fantasy is filled with political intrigue and deception. While this is a story about the consequences of climate change and of colonialism, portraited both from the perspective of the colonizer as well as the colonized, it is also a story about loneliness, revenge, redemption, and love.

While I struggled to get into the different POVs initially, I was soon locked in, and S. Hati’s beautiful writing made it hard to put down. Overall, a wonderful debut and an emotional and thrilling read.

Thank you to Bindery and NetGalley for issuing me with a copy of this ARC.

i LOVED this dark and gripping take on climate fantasy. the characters working together in a seamless way, and the idea of calor as a powering force and what people will do to access it had me hooked.

Unfortnautely this is a DNF for me at 25%, I really tried to get into this as the concept really intrigued me but sadly I just could not get a feel for the characters or the setting and I the plot wasn’t strong enough for me to keep reading.

Even though I personally did not love he book, my boyfriend read it on my kindle after I did and loved it so we are adding it to my school's library even though, I did not really like it.

Can Zain, a young woman trying survive the slums, Iravan, a slumlord, and Anastasia, the colonizer's successor, reconcile their shared traumatic event of a decade ago while desperately trying to save their city's future from the deadly forces of a fractured climate?

The premise of this is what stands out: the thematic blending of colonization, resource extraction, power, and the subsequent consequences in the form of climate disaster (the sky literally bleeds) is unique and really drove the story forward. These themes, however, make this a bleak read. While the world is described vividly, the plot reveals took a bit too long for my taste, so I found this hard to follow and/or too slow paced at times. Likewise for the character reveals: it took awhile for me to understand everyone’s motives and I didn’t completely connect with anyone. The pace does pick up at the halfway mark, and the climax is action packed. All is revealed at the end, which made for a satisfying conclusion that included that added element of hope.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

And the Sky Bled is S. Hati's debut novel, and it is fierce! I have never read a fantasy book quite like this one, and for it to be a one and done is quite remarkable. A dying city ruled by colonizers where they are harvesting something called Calor which is a magical fossil fuel from the blood rains. It has many uses, but the harvesting of it is destroying the environment. Where man's greed takes precedence over it's consequences, and other's are foced to steal it to survive. Meanwhile, heiress Anastasia tries to take control of the city and crush the slumlords, when her path crosses with Zain, Iravan, and Anastasia who have set out to find the treasure and their reunion may bring this city to it's knees.
A unique climate fantasy that will be sure to draw you in.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

And the Sky Bled by @shatiwrites has made my list of my most anticipated releases for 2024.

While epic fantasy/ sci-fi isn’t always my jam, your girl does love some Piers Anthony and Brando Sando. This story brings to mind the complex world building of the Stormlight Archives while finding its own voice with a cast of unique brown voices.

The novel also deals with some very heavy topics, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge those before listing pros and cons.

Trigger Warnings:
🔹Child SA (mentioned but not seen)
🔹Loss of a child
🔹Loss of loved ones
🔹War
🔹Poverty
🔹Colonialism

PROS:
🩸The way all the above trigger warnings are handled with respect.
🩸THE IMAGERY *chef’s kiss*
🩸Stone forests
🩸Calor being a necessary evil
🩸Mariam
🩸Community
🩸Found family
🩸Overall use of they/them pronouns. Because we love representation.

CONS:
🩸There are multiple POV’s, so it can be a little jarring to jump between them depending on the content of the previous chapter.
🩸Dev. For so many reasons.
🩸The bloodstrippers… mostly
🩸People abusing the planet
🩸People abusing each other for resources
🩸”White men are dangerous” -the voice of Chief Powhatan every time the Gehannese did colonizer things
🩸People peopling and destroying the Earth and each other.

✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️ out of 5 model planes

Thanks to S. Hati and @netgalley for giving me the chance to read, review, and fall in love with this book.

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I really enjoyed And the Sky Bled. The premise of the book is that there is a society where a substance called calor both powers and poisons their society. There are classes of people trying to hoard the wealth of calor and hoard power, while many others are left to suffer. The story is told from the perspective of many different characters, all from different groups in their society. I liked the complexity of the characters, although it took me a while to remember all the different connections and relationships between them. It was an interesting contort of the conflicts that arise between those seeking power and those thinking in the best interest of humanity.

Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god???

I cant believe this is a debut book. And I refuse to believe this entire story was under 400 pages???

I was drawn into this world and story damn near immediately and it didn’t release me until the end. This book may be up there with Red Rising for me and I do not say that lightly. I cant wait to buy a physical copy and experience it all again.

I am totally blown away by this magnificent debut. The creativity, the execution, the language, and the story all weave an amazing tale that swept me off my feet immediately. It’s jarring and compelling in equal measure.

The characters immediately grabbing my attention. I loved the way they interacted with their world and how it guided the story. I fell in love with the way this author writes and I so hope to see more from them in the near future. This was such a treat to read early.

The author skillfully weaved history into the narrative, making the story not only captivating but also educational. It felt effortless to immerse myself in their world, as if I were growing and learning alongside the characters. This book has undoubtedly earned a permanent spot on my recommendation list. However, now that I've finished it, I find myself in a reading slump

This was a really cool ARC review book - And the Sky Bled had one of the most original and badass settings I think I've read for a while. Calor, a sort of Spice Milange for S. Hati's world, is the pivotal substance that drives the politics and dramas of the story. Aside from being a powerful metaphor for everything wrong with the world, I love the way it exists as a substance of desire and hate, a highly vivid motivating factor for the characters.

Against this background the scenes and action in And the Sky Bled were striking and often had been sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.

For a bit of balance however, I did have a bit of beef with this book - the characters themselves were somewhat hard to really get into. It wasn't that they were flat or even uninteresting, it was the strange way their pasts and motivations were presented through the story. Compared to the intensity of the setting I found the internal and character motivations of the book relatively disconnected - weird to read a book where I was more invested in the Calor than the characters! But it certainly showed a unique talent that should be celebrated.