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A review by bisexualwentworth
Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
About a year and a half ago, I embarked on a quest to find good gay dragon books, and Shatter the Sky was one of the first recommendations I got.
This book's setup feels very familiar: a teenage girl leaves her small mountain town to rescue her girlfriend from a magical organization that serves the emperor whose empire is occupying their lands. In the process, she makes new friends, learns new skills, and experiences personal growth. Dragons are involved.
I predicted every major plot twist in this book because it's following such a familiar formula, but I wasn't mad about it at all. I love this formula. It's one of my favorites. It's exactly what I was looking for when I said I wanted gay dragon books.
The dragon stuff gets more interesting as the book progresses, which makes me very excited to hopefully learn more dragon lore in book two. I'm very interested in where the essential oil stuff came from. Not sure if we're going to get more information about that, but I hope we are.
The queer aspects are very much what I wanted, as well, which I know is going to be a controversial opinion. Maren and Kaia love each other, but they're also teenagers with teenage issues, and their dynamic is very unequal. If Kaia had not been taken, I probably would have wanted them to break up. And I love that Sev is someone who actually sees Maren and pushes her and encourages her to grow. So no, I'm not mad at the bisexual love triangle. In fact, this is some of the best casual bisexual representation I've ever encountered. I really don't care who Maren ends up with (one, both, or neither all seem like valid options at this point) so long as the characters talk through their various issues first.
Additionally, this book is set in a queer-normative world, which is a choice that I really respect and appreciate in YA fantasy in particular. Sometimes it's valuable and important and interesting to explore issues of homophobia and transphobia, but sometimes I just want to enjoy a fun queer story without dealing with those issues (and of course the characters have all sorts of other issues to deal with, not least imperialism). Kaia has two moms, and there's also a nonbinary side character near the end of the book.
Honestly, the only reason I see why anyone would have an issue with the queer aspects of this book is if you're biphobic and you think that Maren should be a lesbian. If that's you, maybe think about that for a minute.
Was this a good book? I don't know. Objectively, I think it was fine. It didn't blow me away, and it probably won't blow you away either. But I liked it, and if you enjoy dragon books and want one where the main character is in a bisexual love triangle on top of all of the usual tropes, then you'll probably like it too.
This book's setup feels very familiar: a teenage girl leaves her small mountain town to rescue her girlfriend from a magical organization that serves the emperor whose empire is occupying their lands. In the process, she makes new friends, learns new skills, and experiences personal growth. Dragons are involved.
I predicted every major plot twist in this book because it's following such a familiar formula, but I wasn't mad about it at all. I love this formula. It's one of my favorites. It's exactly what I was looking for when I said I wanted gay dragon books.
The dragon stuff gets more interesting as the book progresses, which makes me very excited to hopefully learn more dragon lore in book two. I'm very interested in where the essential oil stuff came from. Not sure if we're going to get more information about that, but I hope we are.
The queer aspects are very much what I wanted, as well, which I know is going to be a controversial opinion. Maren and Kaia love each other, but they're also teenagers with teenage issues, and their dynamic is very unequal. If Kaia had not been taken, I probably would have wanted them to break up. And I love that Sev is someone who actually sees Maren and pushes her and encourages her to grow. So no, I'm not mad at the bisexual love triangle. In fact, this is some of the best casual bisexual representation I've ever encountered. I really don't care who Maren ends up with (one, both, or neither all seem like valid options at this point) so long as the characters talk through their various issues first.
Additionally, this book is set in a queer-normative world, which is a choice that I really respect and appreciate in YA fantasy in particular. Sometimes it's valuable and important and interesting to explore issues of homophobia and transphobia, but sometimes I just want to enjoy a fun queer story without dealing with those issues (and of course the characters have all sorts of other issues to deal with, not least imperialism). Kaia has two moms, and there's also a nonbinary side character near the end of the book.
Honestly, the only reason I see why anyone would have an issue with the queer aspects of this book is if you're biphobic and you think that Maren should be a lesbian. If that's you, maybe think about that for a minute.
Was this a good book? I don't know. Objectively, I think it was fine. It didn't blow me away, and it probably won't blow you away either. But I liked it, and if you enjoy dragon books and want one where the main character is in a bisexual love triangle on top of all of the usual tropes, then you'll probably like it too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury