Rating: 2.25 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Adam, the acting King of the Continent, has finally subjugated the Red Island, the last remaining stronghold against his army. It’s the culmination of years of war and it means Adam can finally strip the last magicians of their power. It should be a moment of celebration, but for Adam, it seems to be another sign of how he has failed his father, King Albert, who, aside from being infirm, loathes his son. When Adam commits an unforgivable act, he is imprisoned and stripped of power. Only the actions of his loyal bodyguard see him free, but Adam’s unsure of how to go forward.

Edward’s mother, the Queen of the Red Island, in a last act of magic, glamours him and hurls him from the losing battlefield to the Continent. There he looks like the enemy and finds himself adrift amongst strangers. Still, he’s committed to fighting back against the Continent and finds his way to a group of rebels that are trying to bring down the King. Edward and Adam meet under unusual circumstances, but find themselves fighting for the common good. But older and greater forces have a stake in the future of the Continent, and Adam and Edward may have to make a terrible decision in order to save the to the world they love.

Sky Song was, on the whole, rather simply constructed. That doesn’t mean it was necessarily terrible, but it lacked a maturity of world building, storytelling, and character structure. The end result was a somewhat bland story that never offered much emotional connection for this reader.

Adam and Edward aren’t quite single dimension characters, but they’re close. I didn’t feel as though I really knew either of them. Their path to romance was stilted and felt like something that was happening simply because of their proximity to one another rather any actual connection between the men. They’re an adequate couple, but I didn’t find them overly engaging.

The world building in Sky Song is relatively weak. Red Island and Green Islands are standard as far as naming and the Continental reasons for subjugating their enemies aren’t fully developed. There are things that happen, such as King Albert’s sudden recovery, that never really get explained, while the description of the Continent doesn’t really offer much by way of originality. It could be any place or no place and there aren’t enough details to make the Continent seem like a real world.

Sky Song didn’t work for me on most levels and it really came down to weak characters and poor world building. The story isn’t terrible, but it’s far from memorable and, when combined with the book’s other issues, the total package is sorely lacking. Sky Song needed more of nearly everything to make it worth the read and unfortunately failed to deliver. I’d have to recommend giving this one a pass.