Bless the Skies: Review

Although “Bless the Skies” by Julie Elise Landry took me quite a few pages to really get into, it turned out to be a marvelous book and one that I couldn’t stop reading. Although the writing wasn’t as polished, the story and characters really put me in the mind of Scott Lynch’s “Lies of Locke Lamora”. The words in this book, the characters, and story just had the same taste as Lies, which kept me wanting to read more long after the story was finished.

“Bless the Skies” follows the lives of 3 young ladies- the Tavens Sisters, Elaina and Laeli, and their friend, Sophie. Although they lead a rough life as prostitues and thieves, it is a relatively safe one. At least it was until they botched a robbery and Elaina was kidnapped as bait by Lord Anderton, an absolutely horrendous villain. I won’t give away any more details, because all of this happens in the beginning of the book, but I will say that there is a lot more going on than just that. There’s a war brewing, a mysterious man called the “fog”, and a unique world just waiting to be explored.

The characters in this book are all very solid. At the beginning of the story I found myself not really liking any of the women and I couldn’t understand how this Lord Anderton character was supposed to be the villain. By the end of the book, all of the women had really grown as characters and I found myself rooting for them. As for Lord Anderton… well let’s just say that he turned out to be an incredibly disturbing man, portrayed in a way that was so realistic and rational it left me too disturbed to go to sleep.

The writing in this book, while not perfectly polished, is easily readable and fits smoothly within the genre. The only true gripes I had with the writing itself were that the author changes perspective too frequently and suddenly to suit me, although I did get used to this by the end of the book, and the author throws the reader right into the middle of the story without much explanation or introduction. I was rather confused at the beginning, this story takes place in a slightly different world and contains complex characters and a fast moving plot, but the author provides the reader with a glimpse into the past about halfway through the book that worked wonders at clearing up all my questions and keeping me glued to the pages. The writing style itself reminded me of Scott Lynch and left a really pleasing taste in my head after reading. If the author continues to write at this caliber in her later works, with only a little more organization, I will definitely be reading more.

“Bless the Skies” is a fantasy novel that represents the genre well. There’s a unique world within the pages that is just begging to be explored- one populated with diverse characters and just enough horrors to keep you reading long into the night.

I would recommend this book for lovers of fantasy, especially those looking for a dark and disturbing story. If you get confused easily by multiple perspective switches then you might want to pass on this book, but if you’re confident in your ability to keep characters straight then definitely give this book a shot. It’s a delightful glimpse into a fantasy world that’s realistic but dreadful. I look forward to reading more by this author.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.