madlee's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the action and the different locations, but I was often left confused on some important information that decided to pop up later in the story. The timing of the information was wrong and I was underwhelmed by the world building. There is a world with politics and planets, but it all became a jumbled mess and was hard to keep straight throughout the info dumps.
Also, the character motives were quite unclear half the time. Toward the end I kept thinking "Why are they doing this?" and would have to flip back a couple of pages. Apparently I missed a couple of character deaths and minor information.
The pacing of the story was rather fast and didn't flow very well. There were many great ideas but they were disorganized and underdeveloped. I wish Belleza expanded and went into more of the background of the world and characters. This is a rather short book so she had the room to do that. Hopefully she does that in the second book.
I cared very little for the characters and it was hard to believe Rhiannon was trained to kill someone and become Empress because she didn't express any of that. She was just thrown about and didn't have much impact on the story except for her presumed murder. The only character remotely interesting was Kara even though I still don't know how she ended up meeting Aly.
For the dual P.O.V., it was fun seeing everything play out from two different perspectives, but they never came together in the end. Sure there was a glance and some crossing storylines, but they never spoke a word to each other which was disappointing. After the build up I wanted them to meet and kick ass.
And the twist at the end? I called it while I was halfway through the book.
Overall, it was a fun quick read and I do recommend it. Sure it has issues, but I am interested in reading the second book in hopes of the gaps being filled in and straightened out.
mdettmann's review against another edition
4.0
luna_rondo's review against another edition
2.0
juliayoung's review against another edition
5.0
inwonderland49's review against another edition
4.0
My Thoughts
Okay, so let's get this out.. I really enjoyed this story! Were there problems? Sure. But all-in-all, I thought it was a great story. I liked the writing. I liked the characters. I thought that this was a good debut and I can only expect more from Rhoda in the future!
There were a couple issues, however. There are times where I can see some readers getting bored, but I feel like that there is enough action within the entirety of the story to keep someone entertained. It kept me entertained. The other issue I had was that there is one thing that you expect to happen from reading the summary.. and it just doesn't happen. Now this could be because it is from the Advanced Reader Copy and not everything is finalized in the ARCs. Or it could have just been the wrong way to summarize the book. But the main reason why I rated it 3.5 stars was because this particular plotline just wasn't there.
Other than that, I had a very enjoyable time reading this book and I loved the worldbuilding that Rhoda Belleza had created and I really wouldn't mind seeing more within this world (and thank god there's a second book to this)! If you love great worldbuilding, writing, and a strong Sci-fi presence, then I think you should give this one a try!
About the Author
Rhoda Belleza was raised in Los Angeles, where she grew up writing X-Files fanfiction and stuffing her face with avocados. She's a children's editor at a publishing house and writes from a sunny Brooklyn apartment stuffed with far too many bikes and far too many shoes. When she's not writing, Rhoda obsesses over nail art tutorials, watches kung fu movies, and sews together crooked things that pass for clothes. Empress of a Thousand Skies is her debut novel. Follow her on Twitter @rhodabee.
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Let's talk about it!
Did you read Empress of a Thousand Skies? Do you want to? What draws you into wanting to read this? Or what doesn't?
jazzyjan94's review against another edition
3.0
Even though Empress of a Thousand Skies was an interesting read, it was also kind of a let down. I’ve been trying to find something to fill The Illuminae Files void until Obsidio comes out in March, and I was kind of hoping that this would be the book to help make the wait easier. However, it ended up being pretty slow, I still liked it, but it was slow and confusing.
There were so many things that are not explained in the world-building of the setting of the novel which are mentioned later on the book. I don’t mind if world-building is continuously happening throughout the novel, but there were times things were mentioned and I had no idea what they were.
When it comes to the plot, even though it sounds like it would be interesting, it just isn’t executed in the way I was expecting. I liked the plot, but it was slow and never really gripped me. And the “major” plot points/twists that happen didn’t really capture my interest.
Characters…while I liked them, they also didn’t really develop much over the course of the novel. A lot of what happens to Rhee and Alyosha seemed kind of predictable and the ending didn’t leave me wishing that the sequel was out already. The dual story lines threw me off because I was expecting them to intercept eventually but they never did.
I did like the map and with the way it ended I am interested in checking out the sequel when it comes out later this year, but I am not going to rush out and get it…I’ll read it when I read it.
Due to lack of character development and a slow plot I am giving Empress of a Thousand Skies 3/5 Stars.
geldauran's review against another edition
2.0
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
4.0
A mom legit says to her son when he's out sitting in the sun and take into account he is black, she says "you'll get even darker" I cant even.
wingless13's review against another edition
3.0
deservingporcupine's review against another edition
4.0