delicate eternity logo
A haven for lovers of the written word
separate post

broken skyWhat: Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly

Who: Usborne

When: March 1st 2016

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Harper Collins Australia for review.

Welcome to a ‘perfect’ world.

Where war is illegal, where harmony rules.

And where your date of birth marks your destiny.

But nothing is perfect.

And in a world this broken, who can Amity trust?

From the bestselling author of the Angel trilogy comes Broken Sky – an exhilarating epic set in a daring and distorted echo of 1940s America and first in a new trilogy.

3cats2Broken Sky was more of a YA/adult crossover, and I really enjoyed that. Amity is eighteen years old, and living away from home at her country’s Peacefighter base (kind of like an army base) so it wasn’t your typical YA setting.

It has been quite some time since I read a dystopian novel, and Broken Sky was incredibly interesting in the way that this theme was woven into the story. Broken Sky is set in an alternate reality in the 1940s, and there were a lot of parallels to this era in our time, too. There was a dictator who was enforcing his own ideology on the people living under his rule, and blaming a certain group of people for all the downfalls of the country. People in these groups were then sent to correction camps (concentration camps, really). These parallels made the story in Broken Sky familiar, but since this is an alternate reality, it was still a very new story to read.

Amity is a Peacefighter, which means she partakes in plane fights to settle international disputes. The point of these fights is not to kill the other pilot, but to force them to evacuate their plane. In the prologue of Broken Sky, Amity is on the run for being falsely accused of murdering another pilot in a Peacefight. I’m not sure if the prologue needed to be included, especially because the scene that it explains is one of the last scenes in the entire book. Ultimately, Broken Sky was a lead up to an event that I already knew about. When chapter one starts Amity is a beloved Peacefighter, so there was the ultimate question of: what went wrong? But I also felt like the prologue spoiled the story somewhat in terms of surprise.

One aspect that I really loved about Broken Sky was the fact that it wasn’t your run of the mill dystopian novel where a teenager somehow manages to take down an entire governmental regime by themselves. Amity uncovers suspicious information, and wants to bring it to light, but she was never the hero of the nation or anything so exalted. She was just your general girl who found out something she shouldn’t have and wanted to tell the world about it. Amity is a skilled pilot, not a trained fighter, or someone who knows how to survive on the run and escape unscathed from the harsh world of corrupt politicians. I really appreciated this depiction of a character who plays an important role but wasn’t the typical “badass” type.

The romance between Amity and Collie was a sweet one, because it was best friends turned lovers (which is one of the bets romance tropes, let’s be real). I wasn’t the biggest fan of Collie, though, and there were a few scenes were I was pretty suspicious of him. I’m very interested to learn more about him as he is now, rather than as he was as Amity’s kid best friend.

There was actually a second main character, Kay, who had chapters every so often. I didn’t like her character at all, and I didn’t really understand her motivations, either. I understood why her chapters were included – to give us insight into what was going on in Central States (the nation with the dictator) – but everything about her was so unclear that I never particularly enjoyed reading from her perspective.

Unfortunately, even though I thoroughly enjoyed Broken Sky, I was never emotionally invested in the story, nor was I particularly attached to Amity as a character. I was interested in what would happen, and I am definitely going to keep reading this series, but I just never felt that extra pull that comes with stories I love. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Broken Sky, and if you’re looking for an awesome dystopian novel that turns the genre around into something completely fresh, then this is the book for you.

© 2016, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

trigger warning: murder, death of a parent via plane crash/possible suicide (intent not clear), physical assault, abduction, death via plane crash, death via drowning via plane crash, decapitation, attempted murder, police brutality, and world war ii themes (dictator, concentration camps, invasion) in this novel

Tagged with: /
separate post
Posted on: April 15, 2016 • By: Chiara

4 Responses to Review: Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly

  1. Oh man, I hate those instances when the prologue ruins the rest of the series because you know what is going to happen. It reminds me of Cooper Bartholomew is Dead! I actually skipped over this one because it was a long book but I wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not. A shame you couldn’t connect to the characters but I’m glad you found something that you enjoyed from it.

    • Chiara says:

      I know, right? Super disappointing, and I don’t know why they exist D; Ohmygosh, yes. The whole point of Cooper B was kind of erased by that, except for the little bit of mystery. I was surprised by how long this one was, but it was pretty engrossing, so I didn’t notice the length! Yeah, I’m hoping I might connect more in the later books!

  2. Prologues. PROLOGUES. Proooooloooooooguuuuuuueeeees.

    I could tear my hair out over those damn spoilery prologues.

    (On a slightly more related note: I have had such bad luck with in the dystopian-books-with-cool-premises-and-gorgeous-covers-but-disappointing-executions department that I am slightly wary of picking this one up :( I am so very glad you ended up enjoying it, though, despite your non-connection with the characters! Pros & cons, as always. <3)

    • Chiara says:

      I know, right? I was like: YOU SPOILED EVERYTHING. *shakes fist*

      I think I am lucky in the way that I hadn’t read a dystopian for a VERY long time, so this one was like rediscovering the genre for me. I’m glad I liked it, too! And yes, there are always ups and downs in reading, isn’t there?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *