Review : Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Take Back the Skies (Take Back the Skies #1)
Author : Lucy Saxon
Publication Date : June 3rd 2014
Publisher : Bloomsbury
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Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

Personal Thoughts

Take Back the Skies has some major flaws that could have been avoided, but there's no denying that it was an entertaining read that is going to only appeal to a specific audience. Despite it not being the best book, I enjoyed reading the book and I'm excited to read more by Lucy Saxon in the future.

Cat was a likeable character from the start, but she is very young and naive and tends to make hasty decisions that often put the people around her in danger. Her character, though, I felt was realistic given her young age. Throughout the book, she does grow to become a bit more stronger, but she still has a lot to learn and I'm looking forward to Cat's complete journey to becoming an independent, strong and mature girl. The side characters were also delightful though I wished they were a bit more developed and we had more of their back story to understand their motivations and feelings better. The skyship's crew were a tight-knit group and the bond that they shared was one of the highlights of the book for me. There was a bit of a romance between Fox and Cat, but I was not very convinced by it mostly because I thought Cat too much going on in her life to actually want to care for a romance. Regardless, I didn't personally feel the romance overwhelmed the plot too much.

The world-building is one aspect where Take Back the Skies needs a bit more work because it's not completely fleshed out and there's a lot more to learn, especially the flying ships. Don't get me wrong, Lucy Saxon, has some interesting concepts that will undoubtedly be explored further in the next books. While the plot was overall entertaining, I'll admit that I felt like the characters got out of the twists and turns that they faced rather easily. I would have liked to be a bit more shocked, although there was this scene at the end that did take me by surprise and it's something I don't approve of and I'm hoping the situation is going to be resolved in the next book. Besides that though, I found Take Back the Skies to be a fun and enjoyable read. There's no doubt that with time, Lucy Saxon will become a talented author.

Overall, Take Back the Skies probably will not be for every reader, but I think it's a worth a shot! Maybe, you'll end up liking it.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the e-ARC of Take Back the Skies.