The sky is yours: book review
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Get Your Own Copy of The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith.
If you've ever picked up The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith you will get a grunge feeling from the neon-light-inspired graffiti cover. It's a different take on a traditional cover, but after reading the book, you realize that the design works well for the dark life the book ends up taking as you dive in further.
This is a story that follows the lives of several individuals in a fantasy sci-fi dystopian future where two dragons appeared from the depths of the water 50 years prior and took over the sky. They fly over Empire Island, where the story takes place, where the inhabitants learn to accept their fate at the dragons' mercy whether their homes burn or not that day.
The dragons' terror has been going on since they came to the world and the firefighters who were around to put out the fires disbanded several years prior to the story taking place, the control of the fire being regulated to building types and a rare chance at independent contractors who help fight the fires where they can.
This novel is written in a similar style to Mary Higgins Clark, where there's an alternating point of view to get a fuller perspective of what's going on in the story. The author has an omnipresent form of style, but it's a little hard to pick up on the writing reflecting the characters that it's focusing on at the time, using different vernaculars and descriptions depending on who the author is shadowing at the time.
Duncan, Swanny, Abby, and Sharky all appear to be the main individuals that this story follows, all of whose stories intertwine with each other. There feel to be some inconsistencies with how some of the characters are described and how they interact with their environments and the other characters, but this novel is best to be taken lightly in a similar fashion to fan art. It's definitely written in a style that Chandler Klang Smith wrote to appreciate herself and less for a general audience. (One big issue I had when reading it was that Swanny was introduced as her full proper name and then immediately addressed as Swanny from the author and not another character. There were light things like this that bring this novel into a casual reader environment and not something everyone would want to pick up.)
The biggest issue that Klang Smith faces is introducing new words to objects that aren't in our world, but prominent in Empire Island and the world of The Sky is Yours. There's HowFlys and LookyGlasses (sp?), all of which never get explained why they're called certain ways. HowFlys are a type of flying car, and any transportation seems to have a How- title to it, which must be a brand but is never addressed. LookyGlasses(sp) are a form of tablet communication device that can stream information and is a point of contact for others.
This novel is also not for the faint of heart as it dives into vulgar language and sexual scenes with all of the main characters.
I also found that the wrap-up of the story was kind of abrupt, although it was an acceptable way to end the story. The journey was great and really captivating as the characters develop with you as you learn about the environment. There isn't a consistent course of time that goes through but light hints indicate that the story takes place at least over a month of time.
The Sky is Yours was a surprisingly good read for me. I look forward to seeing what Chandler Klang Smith has to offer us in the future.
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