The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
a_manning11's review against another edition
4.0
This is a solid book - I really enjoyed Martin's story. However, it is kind of an 'easy' read. The story does not have any unexpected depths. The fact that Clare Dunkle has been able to create a dystopian world and an exciting adventure for Martin without becoming overly deep and convoluted has to be applauded.
I have high hopes for the sequel.
I have high hopes for the sequel.
jaydbug's review against another edition
2.0
I read the inside cover and was very excited; the actual book was something of a disappointment. This book could have been a lot better than it was. Good idea, just not executed in a good way.
megsnewcar's review against another edition
1.0
This book was boring and lead up to a spectacularly boring conclusion. I hate even remembering how pointless the whole thing was.
goffstown's review
2.0
I read this book a while back and am having trouble remembering any of what it was actually about. I plan to reread and review when I have the chance.
gabs_myfullbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
I was a bit unsure about this book, because Dystopian has just been getting more and more generic, in my opinion. However, I still managed to really enjoy the Sky Inside.
It's not a rip-off of Hunger Games, first of all, which I appreciated. I haven't read anything very similar to the Sky Inside, well, ever. It was also full of unexpected twists and turns, and unpredictability is something that I love in books!
The setting was not extremely unique, but it was unique for a dystopian. Basically, the people live in a 'suburb' where all the houses are the same. This is the part that I thought wasn't too new. But after that it gets a bit more interesting. For example, people don't have to work anymore. School is dumbed down, and Peter Pan is now a business man fighting a law firm. (And, as a huge Peter Pan fan, I can assure you that nothing says 'oppressive government' like changing Peter Pan into a business man.)
I loved Chip. He was such a cool dog, and I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did. He's a robot, and I usually don't like reading about robots too much, but you can't help but love Chip. He's loyal, funny, and rather adorable.
I was a bit confused at first, because I hadn't realized there was a sequel when I finished, and the ending didn't feel fully complete. So I looked it up, and there is a sequel! Yay!
I would recommend this to fans of Dystopian, particularly Uglies.
This review can be found on: http://myfullbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/
It's not a rip-off of Hunger Games, first of all, which I appreciated. I haven't read anything very similar to the Sky Inside, well, ever. It was also full of unexpected twists and turns, and unpredictability is something that I love in books!
The setting was not extremely unique, but it was unique for a dystopian. Basically, the people live in a 'suburb' where all the houses are the same. This is the part that I thought wasn't too new. But after that it gets a bit more interesting. For example, people don't have to work anymore. School is dumbed down, and Peter Pan is now a business man fighting a law firm. (And, as a huge Peter Pan fan, I can assure you that nothing says 'oppressive government' like changing Peter Pan into a business man.)
I loved Chip. He was such a cool dog, and I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did. He's a robot, and I usually don't like reading about robots too much, but you can't help but love Chip. He's loyal, funny, and rather adorable.
I was a bit confused at first, because I hadn't realized there was a sequel when I finished, and the ending didn't feel fully complete. So I looked it up, and there is a sequel! Yay!
I would recommend this to fans of Dystopian, particularly Uglies.
This review can be found on: http://myfullbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/
somewheregirl7's review against another edition
3.0
The Sky Inside is another distopian novel about life after the human race implodes on itself. People now live in suburbs - little fully contained communities inside a bubble where their only real purpose is to act as consumers. They'd don't even have the fun of making babies - nope those get delivered in rail cars fresh from the genetics engineering factory. In many ways, this book felt very like Louis Lowery's The Giver. It has the same feel, society, secrets etc.
The characters are interesting and the pace good, the description good and the dialogue good. Nothing really wows me in this book. It's good, not a bad read, just not a great one either and as I said, a close cousin to The Giver. The ending feels very unfinished.
The characters are interesting and the pace good, the description good and the dialogue good. Nothing really wows me in this book. It's good, not a bad read, just not a great one either and as I said, a close cousin to The Giver. The ending feels very unfinished.
abigailbat's review against another edition
2.0
Far in the future, Martin Glass lives in suburb HM1 with his mom, dad, and kid sister Cassie. Martin's not big on school and prefers messing around with video games and bots to sitting in class. Cassie is exactly the opposite. She's a Wonder Baby, a new model of child engineered to be highly intelligent and curious. But something's not right in HM1. With the help of a modified robot dog, Martin discovers some weird things about his suburb and he starts to suspect that not everything is on the level. When the Wonder Babies are "recalled", Martin knows he's got to get to the bottom of things and save Cassie. Can Martin find a way outside?
I really expected to like this more than I did. Dunkle builds up the futuristic world slowly and with tons and tons of detail. While some readers seem to have found this an effective way to build up suspense, I just wanted to understand their world enough that I could believe that it could have developed. I found all the extra details early in the story to be confusing and delaying the action that eventually unfolds. Although the origins of the suburbs are eventually explained, I didn't find it totally believable.
The story does have its moments. Certain creepy scenes and moments of revelation were absolutely excellent and kept me from putting the book down. But at the end, much is left unexplained (like why Martin happened to get a modified robot dog instead of the standard toy, and who is controlling all the bots that come after him on the outside) and the origins of the world are quickly told to Martin by one knowledgeable person (rather than Martin finding out on his own in a more organic fashion). It may appeal to fans of dystopian books (The Giver, Uglies, The City of Ember), but, even though I usually love those books, it wasn't my cup of tea.
I really expected to like this more than I did. Dunkle builds up the futuristic world slowly and with tons and tons of detail. While some readers seem to have found this an effective way to build up suspense, I just wanted to understand their world enough that I could believe that it could have developed. I found all the extra details early in the story to be confusing and delaying the action that eventually unfolds. Although the origins of the suburbs are eventually explained, I didn't find it totally believable.
The story does have its moments. Certain creepy scenes and moments of revelation were absolutely excellent and kept me from putting the book down. But at the end, much is left unexplained (like why Martin happened to get a modified robot dog instead of the standard toy, and who is controlling all the bots that come after him on the outside) and the origins of the world are quickly told to Martin by one knowledgeable person (rather than Martin finding out on his own in a more organic fashion). It may appeal to fans of dystopian books (The Giver, Uglies, The City of Ember), but, even though I usually love those books, it wasn't my cup of tea.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
Really cool book. I enjoyed the depiction of a dystopian future society, and the adventure really gets going in the last half of the book. Thirteen-year old Martin lives in Suburb HM1, one of several domed self-contained communities. No one ever leaves the suburb, or visits other suburbs, because they've been taught for generations that outside is only desert and death. In the suburb, the dome is painted blue with white patches called "Clouds" (Martin wonders why they're called that), plastic flowers are put on plastic lawns, hardly anyone has to work a job, and everyone is a consumer of things seen on television, including babies--who are literally brought by the Stork, a special "Packet" train. On the surface, it's a perfect life, but Martin begins to discover disturbing things about the Suburb. He already hates school, and when his parents give him an AllDog--a mechanical shapechanging "bot"-- for his birthday, he's insulted; pets are for little kids, Martin thinks. But his dog turns out to be pretty unique. Martin's 6 year old sister Cassie is a special kind of child, one of a generation of genetically altered genius "Wonder Babies"; these kids teach themselves at school, they're so smart. But not everyone loves Wonder Babies--they call them "freaks" and tease them, and Martin and his parents are dismayed to learn that Wonder Babies are going to be recalled--just like a bad product! What can he do to keep his family from falling apart?
crowyhead's review against another edition
3.0
Martin lives under a dome in the future version of a gated suburb. Everything is clean, everyone is nice (unless they aren't, in which case they tend to disappear), and all of the children have been genetically engineered to be good, healthy kids. The only source of strife is the most recent generation of new and improved children. These kids, like Martin's sister Cassie, just cause problems: they ask too many questions, they're much too intelligent, and they cause all kinds of problems because of this. No one knows how to handle them. Is a product recall in order?
I'd been looking forward to reading this, because I've greatly enjoyed Dunkle's fantasy novels, and I've found that even when she misses the mark slightly, her ideas are always fresh and her writing stands up well. I was disappointed when this novel didn't live up to my expectations. There are a lot of fresh, interesting ideas here, but they are jumbled up with cliches and entirely too many happy coincidences. The plot seems rambling, and all in all, this felt too much like the first draft of what might have turned out to be a really excellent YA science fiction novel. Instead, it's merely mediocre.
I'd been looking forward to reading this, because I've greatly enjoyed Dunkle's fantasy novels, and I've found that even when she misses the mark slightly, her ideas are always fresh and her writing stands up well. I was disappointed when this novel didn't live up to my expectations. There are a lot of fresh, interesting ideas here, but they are jumbled up with cliches and entirely too many happy coincidences. The plot seems rambling, and all in all, this felt too much like the first draft of what might have turned out to be a really excellent YA science fiction novel. Instead, it's merely mediocre.