Let the Sky Fall, 1 (Sky Fall, #1)

by Shannon Messenger

[jnikkir]

I preordered this quite some time ago, because the premise sounded like something that's right up my alley - YA paranormal romance with sylphs and tornadoes. I am fascinated by tornadoes, so combining them with my favorite genre sounded like a recipe for my perfect book. Now, having read the book, I can say that tornadoes don't make very many appearances in the traditional sense, other than being a part of Vane's and Audra's past (his parents and Audra's father were killed in the same tornado). But the sylph thing was obviously a main part of the book; sylphs have always sounded fascinating to me, but they are seriously underrepresented in YA lit--or at least, I haven't seen much of them. (Is there something I'm missing??)

Anyway, what we had was a recipe for a GREAT book, and it turned out beautifully.

The chapters were written in Vane's and Audra's alternating perspectives, and this is one reason I loved LTSF. A lot of the time, alternating perspectives end up sounding too much like each other, especially when the book is all narrated in the first person. But Audra and Vane each had completely distinct voices, and I don't think I ever had a problem telling them apart, even when I didn't glance at the character designation at the beginning of the chapters. Vane is sarcastic and really funny; I laughed out loud more than once at his lines. Audra is extremely serious most of the time: Her actions, and her outlook on life, are dictated by the guilt she places on herself for what happened to hers and Vane's parents. So both characters' voices are the result by very different pasts, and it completely shows through in their narration.

Another thing I loved was the sylph mythology that's being built. Some of it confused me a little at first, when Audra would be narrating and say things without explanation. But most of that was just a slow reveal; the details start to fill in as Audra explains things to Vane about his heritage, abilities, and what happened to their parents and why. Most of first 2/3rds of the book is taken up by Audra training Vane so he's prepared when the warriors come after them - it's a sort of slow built-up to the ending. But I didn't mind the pacing, since it allowed for the cool explanations of sylphs and their abilities.

Obviously, another thing that made the slow pacing totally worth it was the relationship between Vane and Audra. Vane is already head over heels for Audra when he first sets eyes on her, because he's been dreaming about her since the tornado. But even though she's been Vane's unseen guardian ever since, and might-possibly-maybe have feelings for him, Audra is determined not to let herself fall for Vane. I was pretty sure that she'd end up with him in the end, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the tension. ;) Audra's personality and history gave her completely legitimate reasons to put a wall between herself and Vane, and I really enjoyed her slow growth and change of perspective.

And all of that leads to a very climactic ending. I thought it would be a pretty straightforward end-game -- the warriors find them, they fight, Vane and Audra beat the odds and survive -- but there were plenty of surprises that I was NOT expecting at all.

And now I'm dying to find out what happens next. 2014 is WAY too long a wait for the sequel. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get this book now, and endure the wait with the rest of us. ;)

(This review is also posted at: There were books involved...)