Eyes Ever to the Sky

by Katie French

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Eyes to the Ever Sky is a quick read with potential for an interesting plot and likable characters. Conceptually it was inspired in some ways, but in other's I tend to feel as if it kind of missed the mark a little bit. Katie French's writing style is one where the reader will either like or not, making it a bit hard to enjoy the book as one normally would. It isn't uninspired by any means necessarily, but it is or was actually harder for me to really connect with the characters on an emotional level, in the way that I normally love to while reading. They just seemed to need a bit more tweaking, a little more development, and backstory to balance things out.

Novels, such as Eyes to the Ever Sky, are ones that I typically fall for and it was a bit of a let down when this one didn't live up to my expectations. I don't know, maybe I had set them a little too high, but this book just didn't seem to pull me in as much as I hoped it would have. The characters were slightly interesting, but there wasn't enough development there, for me to really easily connect with them in the way that I would have normally liked to. I found the sci-fi elements of this novel to be a bit lacking as well, or well, I don't know if that's the right word to use or not. I wanted more of an explanation regarding Hugh, more of an understanding regarding him and his people.

The whirlwind romance that seemed to form rather quickly between Cece and Hugh, was another thing that seemed to put me off as far as this novel is concerned. I can't say that I'm a big fan of insta-love, in any capacity, which is another reason that I gave this book a lower rating than I normally would have. I have a feeling that if French would have just slowed down the quick romance and focused more on developing the characters, introducing background knowledge, and building the potential even higher for the premise of this novel that it would have been a lot more enjoyable than I personally found it to be.

On the whole, the beginning of this novel, started out as promising and intriguing read. Soon after that, though, it started to tumble down hill for me. However, with that being said, I have to point to some obvious goodness that did come out of this book, like the beautiful prose that lent itself to some pretty imagery. French definitely has a way with words and they helped to paint chillingly dark and scary atmosphere that evoked some intense feels from me while reading certain parts of the novel. I did enjoy, that while amidst the bleak and dreary atmosphere, there was also some wonderfully beautiful and intensely poetic vivid details brought to light that may have otherwise been missed.

Eyes to the Ever Sky was an enjoyable book, it just wasn't the novel that I was expecting to blow me away, when I read the promising synopsis. Again, perhaps, I expected too much out of this novel. The thing is, I really wanted to be blown away, I wanted it to be better than it was. The dark and dreary paranormal aspect, the sci-fi elements, those were all filled with so much potential that I feel just wasn't tapped as much as it should have been. Perhaps, Katie French, will continue this story and the sophomore novel will be better, maybe Eyes to the Ever Sky will turn out to be like City of Bones or The Vampire Academy and will function as the book that sets up the premise to what could potentially be a fantastic new young adult paranormal sci-fi trilogy. In any case, this is what I am hoping, and I will definitely be sticking around for the second book in the trilogy, to see if the background and development that I was so craving in this novel shows up in the next one. I don't want to give up on what could turn out to be a really intriguing series.

For those who enjoy quick, fast paced paranormal romance, I would say to go ahead and give this book a chance, and then decide for yourself what you make of it.