A review by chaithra
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i really enjoyed this i have some thoughts on
the whole “you need to be married with kids to have good bonds” situation


okay i have a laptop now, i can give a better review. i feel like i need to preface this by saying i did enjoy the book. i read it in a day, i was hooked! the magic system was unlike anything i had read before and so was the world. i also enjoyed reading a setting that was queer normative, kind of awesome

that being said, i want to delve into things i did not enjoy about this book and honestly, i'm not sure if i'll be continuing. the first being, our main characters are both 35-ish? yet they act a lot like erratic teenagers, their feelings go back and forth so fast it's like whiplash. it's part of the reason i veer away from ya books, i need more mature characters but this wasn't it. second, i feel like the end was too quick, too much needed to be set up for the sequel so the second half of the book just threw piece of information after piece of information at you so everything was set for book 2. third, the
whole “you need to be married with kids to have good bonds” situation
. so the architects need to have good bonds in order to not
fall into ectstacy
which i understand to a certain degree. but why the focus on
children. they outright say a spouse isn't enough, but friends? family? brothers? sisters? parents? cousins? grandparents? none of that is strong enough??
for a book based in south asian culture, i would expect more of an emphasis on family as a whole. and also!
you're telling me they keep things hidden until a spouse is pregnant or an adoption is started but oh they can stop the adoption or abort the pregnancy once the secrets are shared?? thats really fucked, like i'm team your body your choice but you have to go that far to know everything your spouse could go through???
seriously??

anyways, idk if i'll read book 2 and 3, i may sometime down the line, but it won't be a read i seek out.