A review by poorashleu
Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger
5.0
I wasn’t going to post this. I was going to be a proper blogger and hoard it until the book is published but I can’t. I won this ARC copy from the author at a book signing she had, when I pushed my best friend out of the way and jumped out of my seat by knowing what Kiersten White wrote. (PARANORMALCY FTW!) I should point out that this pushing and throwing arms up in the air was in the front row in front of the author...yet not the most embarrassing thing I did in front of her (look to end of this review for that, please!) But back to the point, I needed to get this review out into the interwebz because I love this book THAT much. The last book I remember loving this much was this one (spoiler: same author wrote it.)
But this book, it’s completely different than Keeper of the Lost Cities, but it is still pure Messenger. Messenger’s writing makes you fall in love with her characters, her world, and her imagery. This world isn’t as science fiction as Keeper, yes two characters can control the wind, but this takes place in California. California, a place one can drive to and visit if they would like to. Actually if I drive from my house to Disneyland, I drive through this book's location. Hi Coachella Valley! Yet Messenger was still able to build a world I know nothing about and need to know more about. I'm not sure I'll be able to make that drive with the windmills ever again without thinking about Vane and Audra (who are beautifully placed on the cover.)
This is the story of Vane and Audra. Vane is a miracle baby. He survived a tornado that he has no true memories of, only blips and fuzzy memories and the knowledge that it killed his parents. His adoptive parents are pretty awesome though. They ‘get’ Vane, they try to let him be a teenager while still caring and loving him. It is quite nice to see in a Young Adult book.
Audra on the other hand remembers everything about the tornado, because she was there. She is Vane’s guardian. Vane, of course, doesn’t know that Audra is his guardian, or that he has one. What he does know is he has horrible luck with women and that this girl keeps appearing in his dreams. One day, Audra and Vane cross paths, mostly because he is going to make a horrible mistake and Audra is there to ‘fix’ the situation.
Audra finally tells Vane the truth, she is a sylph, his guardian and he is able to control the wind. Here’s the awesome thing about this book, Vane has a realistic, human reaction. The boy freaks the fuck out. First, he finds the girl of his dreams (literally) and then he finds out that while real, she isn’t human and he isn’t either. He has this whole new lifestyle to learn about. Did you know it’s hard to control the wind? It legitimately drains his body. While Audra is used to it because she’s been doing it her whole life, Vane has been doing it for days.
Unfortunately Vane has to learn fast. Vane and Audra draw attention to themselves, and by drawing attention to themselves, the Stormers are aware of their presence. Stormers who happened to kill both of Vane's parents and Audra’s dad. While Audra’s mom is still alive, she isn’t a pleasant person at all. Audra’s mom made me want to hurl the book across the room. Yes, it seems once again Messenger’s writing causes me a lot of feelings.
The climax scene of the novel is everything I wanted in a book. Once again the imagery and the writing kept me holding the book extremely close to my face turning the pages as fast as I could. Hope my eye doctor isn’t reading that! But, in all honesty, that is how good this book is. I couldn't read it fast enough but then again I didn't want it to end. The big fight scene? A legit fight scene! Messenger took her time and was able to get the reader to see the fight occurring in their brain and even wanting more.
The end of this book is perfect. No, really, I couldn't have asked for a better ending to this book, but then I found out there is going to be a second book in the series and then I hugged the book again.
I read this a month ago and all I’ve done since I put it down has been to read it again. If I could pass grad school by reading YA books and emailing my BFF I would have my degree by now.
If Keeper of the Lost Cities hasn’t put Messenger on the map, Let the Sky Fall definitely will. It’s a YA book I didn’t even know I wanted, or better yet, a YA book I didn’t know I needed. Please, run to the bookstore and get this in March. I promise, you won’t regret it. I’m sorry if I hyped it up too much for you, I hate when people do that to. (But not really, because I just love this book so much.)
By the way this to the left is my original review of this book on Goodreads. I’m eloquent when I finish books at two AM and I’m full of feels.
Here’s the thing I should tell you about Shannon Messenger: I pester her, a lot. Thank you Twitter! She likes to procrastinate writing, I like to tweet her random Saved By The Bell references, cupcakes, and pom pom encouragement. I email her random things including this awesome photo to the right. That’s how much I enjoyed this book. Every orange tab is something I loved and adored and fell in love with. I would have been a normal graduate student and I would have underlined in the book but I have at least three other people who are dying to read this book and I didn’t want to ruin my copy too much. But yes, I sent this photo to the author of the book, I also sent her a photo of me legit facepalming. Yes, I’m just as shocked as you are that she still talks to me. I'm telling you this because I have a friend who fears talking to authors on twitter, and I told her she shouldn't fear them. They love hearing from their readers, plus, I have dibs on being the weird one. Clearly.
While this copy was provided by the author, and the reviewer bothers the author on twitter, this review is the reviewers own opinions and feelings. The author has not influenced this review and is not aware that it was written.