2.5 rounded up. The premise of this book is great! The description makes it sound awesome! It's unfortunate that it doesn't match the actual story, or at least the ARC version I read. Maybe it is also describing the sequel, which is being released the same day? That would help the description make a bit more sense, but it doesn't help manage expectations for this specific book.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one is about 70% of the book and focuses on Emily and the initial days after "the machine" basically ends the world as everyone knows it. The entire book should have just been focused on this storyline, or it should have been shortened and more of Emily's story should have been developed so that the transition to 15 years later - part two - wasn't so harsh.

Part two doesn't make sense. Much of part one is plausible for early days of a post-apocalyptic world (as much as I can imagine them, anyways). This world 15 years later? No. So many questions are left unaddressed, too. Again, maybe they're in the sequel, but then they shouldn't be in the description. And the SA? While definitely plausible because.... humans... the circumstances or writing, something wasn't right.

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Here is the book description, and my thoughts:

Poisonous clouds spill from the sky and erase the sun. Buildings collapse. Communications fail. Corrosive fog consumes everything in its path.

Emily Stark flees her crumbling home with baby sister Sammi and shelters with a shellshocked band of survivors. As she tends the injured and risks her life gathering supplies, she is keeping a secret… her father, her hero, caused this disaster.
*****Yes!! This is addressed in the book, although the "secret" doesn't last very long."*****

Fifteen years later. Against all odds, Sammi has grown up in the suffocating darkness and found love with soulmate Declan Chambers. When their hopes of a life together are jeopardised by mutiny in their commune, they slip past the guards and seek a life beyond its walls.
*****The mutiny isn't explicit?? They don't leave?!?!?!*****

But burning fog isn’t the only danger to face them in the wilderness. A savage gang called The Outsiders attacks anyone who crosses their path, even snatching children from their parents’ arms.
***** I guess this is fine. *****

Emily lost her young son to The Outsiders and she fears for her sister’s life beyond the commune. Not knowing where Sammi could be in the darkness, Emily has only one chance to save her: her father. Only she knows he has the power to return sunlight to earth, and only she knows where he is: deep inside the machine that churns the dark skies to acid.
***** What?! Is this the set up for book two? SPOILER Sammi isn't in the sequel given how the first book ends???*****

Can Emily find her father and make him reverse the catastrophe he caused? And will Sammi and Declan’s love be enough to survive in the brutal fallen skies?
***** These questions are not the right questions now that I've read the book. *****

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Audio version
Narrator: 4/5

This book is split into two distinct parts and the jolt between them ruined the book for me. The first part is focus on Emily and how her world changed one horrible day. Part one was four and a half stars for me, if book one had continued with her story instead of the giant time jump that came for part two and disconnected the story for me. Everything that happened in-between quickly summarized by characters thoughts. The second part of the book was rushed.

The twist was good but does not line up with the synopsis which is why the book is a three star for me. I went in it expecting one thing and this book was not it. If not for the synopsis, I would have given the book a 4 star review rounding up from a 3.5. I just cannot get past the synopsis not matching up with the book.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the advance reader copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

WOW … that was a wild ride!

We observe the beginning of a dystopian world as Emily and Sammi run from their crumbling home to escape the caustic fog that will bring down clouds and kill her world.

Emily’s secret doesn’t make it past the first half of the story. The second half occurs 15 years later. Emily has lost a son to The Outsiders and Sammi has fallen for Declan.

The evil in this world creeps in from places not expected & again humans are the monsters. The past is peppered within the story to expand the story & explain actions.

4.5 stars. Half a star reduction for the cliffhanger. I look forward to book 2. The narration was chosen well.

Thank you NetGalley & Bookouture Audio for an advance copy. Great book!

A little like Station Eleven and The Road, also reminded me of End of the World Running Club. REALLY enjoyed this listen. Narracltor was great and a good match for the story. Cover are maybe conveys YA, could be changed slightly for an adult audience. Really loved the plot and the character development, looking forward to more from the author or a follow up from this book maybe, that would be great

I love a good dystopian story. The genre doesn’t get nearly as much attention these days but this book was a great example of how one should be set up. I would have lived a bit more insight into the life after the fog hits, but loved that we started out just as it all kicks off. We see the initial struggles and how the apocalypse unfolded. Then we jump forward in time and get a glimpse into how life is after the event.
Would have loved more insight into the dad’s story but this book is the perfect setup for that to come in book 2 (hopefully!). What an ending as well. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book!

2 stars ✨

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced audio copy of When the Sky Falls, in exchange for an honest review.

Audio Version 🎧
Narrator 3/5

I am a huge fan of the dystopian/ apocalyptic genre. So I was excited to snag this arc. The beginning started off promising, with a man made fog coming from some type of machine that was causing chaos and devastation. It sucked me right in, the writing was pretty decent and I started to care for the main character and her family. It definitely wasn’t a perfect story, but it was entertaining. Then I hit about 35 % and things slowly started going downhill, until part 2 which it then became an entirely different book?!? I can’t even explain it, it just seemed like the author gave up and went in a totally different direction.

*Sigh* I kept hoping it would get better so I stuck with it, and I really wanted to like it, but unfortunately I didn’t. Too all over the place and I just kept scratching my head. As far as the narrator she did fantastic too , for the first half- but then it was like even she was confused, because kids who had grown up and were 18 and older in second half still talked like babies. It was a mess. The positive, it was mostly a clean with the exception of some mild language.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

This book started strong. I enjoyed the man-made yet somehow natural disaster that triggered an apocalypse. The young protagonist is believable.
Then part 2 begins and it feels like the authors hard work has been undone. The protagonist hasn't ages at all, she's still juvenile and immature, which in the apocalypse means she'd have been long dead by now.
And Sammy (3 at the time of the disaster) is even worse. She's basically generation 1 of the apocalypse and she's still running around as though there's not dangers around every corner. If I was pressed to describe bher, I would say idiotic.
This is why I can only give the book 3 stars.

This is a wonderful apocalyptic book. The end kind of lost me because it really shifted gears so I'm not sure about that part. The bulk of the book is really good and had me on the edge of my seat. The characters were lovable and relatable. Do not expect a happy ending with this one, though.

This story takes off like a rocket - A family has to hurry, hurry, hurry and get ready to leave, and just like in Independence Day, all the neighbours are moving as well. The daughters go with their mother, leaving just in the nick of time, while the father will meet them at the mall later. What's happening? Why are people dying? Why is their father somehow involved? Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC/audiobook.

Thank you to #netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the chance to read this advanced reader copy. When the Sky Falls by B.R. Spangler comes out side by side with the sequel August 14th.

**This Review contains spoilers**

Sigh. I wanted to like this book so badly. I received an ARC from this author several months ago and didn't get into it. I was so excited to have this audiobook as a chance to try this author again. The premise to this book sounded amazing. It starts off with a bang when a poisonous fog fills the skies, making it too dangerous to be outside. Our main character is woken up by her parents, and they have to get out because the fog will literally melt their skin, killing them in seconds. Speaking of melting things, it will melt their house. The only safe place is the mall, which our heroine uses GPS to navigate her car in the terribly thick deathly fog to save herself and her sister. There's hints that her father is the cause and worked at "the machine" and knows how to fix it. He is presumed dead twice in the book, and the last time we see him makes little to no sense. About 60-70% ish through the book we abandoned the current plot to fast forward into the future where the remainder of the book is 15 years down the road and focuses on the original main character's sister and her romance with a boy. There are also some scenes that involve SA with another boy character that felt so out of place.

Things I never got resolution on:
what was the "machine" that's referenced with causing the fog.
What was the dad doing inside the machine in the future? Why couldn't he leave?
There were hints that everything in the future was "all a lie," said by a character that was in a position of power and then mysteriously dies. What's a lie? The fog? The cause? The people?
The switch to the future felt weird, rushed, and out of place. I think if the first part of the book had been longer with more answers and scientific reasoning, you could have let Sammi's story be the second book.

Positive takeaways: The narrator was fantastic.

(4 Stars)

This is a good post-apocalyptic dystopian fictional story. It reminded me a lot of Hugh Howey's Silo series. The narration for the audiobook is excellent.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I think the plot was sound, most of the main characters had good development, and the the book length was just right.

On the other hand, this is not hard science and some explanations of events just don't seem to make sense. The minor characters were given backstories without good reason, and some of the major characters didn't have enough of a backstory to make you care about them as much as the book assumes you should. And like I said, the length was good, and I understand this is part 1 of a two part story, but there was no real closure.

With that being said, it did make me want to continue on to the next book in the series, so I did like it... and I hope the next book is able to tie it all together.

Emily Stark flees her home with her younger sister, Sammi, and their mother, when a toxic cloud ravages their world. Their mother doesn’t make it, and Emily has to grow up fast when she finds herself responsible for her own survival as well as Sammi’s.

What sets Emily apart from the other survivors is that she knows who caused this disaster - her father.

This type of future seems more of a possibility since Covid; lockdowns are the kind of thing we used to go to the cinema and pay to watch movies about, but just four years ago, it became our reality, so could this happen?

The story is told in two parts; from when the disaster occurs, it's devastating impact and the survivors efforts to stay alive. In part two, the book focuses mostly on Sammi, 15 years later, as she tries to create a life for herself and Declan, the man she loves. As well as the community she grew up with, there are also The Outsiders, a brutal group who attack anyone they come across.

I really liked Emily and Sammi and was rooting for them all the way through this excellent book. It's a while since I read this genre and I really enjoyed it. Tense and terrifying, yet also filled with hope and the power of humanity. I can't wait for book two!

Ina Marie Smith did a stunning job of bringing these fabulous characters to life.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, B. R. Spangler and Second Sky for an ARC in return for an honest review.