Book Review | Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly

Title: Broken Sky (The Broken Trilogy #1)
Author: L.A. Weatherly
Publication: March 1st 2016 by Usbourne Publishing
Format: Finished copy in Paperback
Source: Provided by the Publisher
ISBN: 9781409572022

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Be transported to a new world, a perfect world.

Where war is illegal, where harmony rules.

Where all political disputes must be fought in the air – pilot against pilot, skill against skill.

And where, in his great quest for Harmony, John Gunnison believes he can cleanse society of criminals, rebels, in fact, anyone he chooses, based on the destiny marked out by their date of birth.

18 year old Amity Vancour is Gunnison’s Most Wanted.

Now with her closest family and her one true love at risk, Amity must clear her name and stop Gunnison.

But in a world of double agents and violent betrayal, who can Amity trust?

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I received a finished copy of this book from Usborne Publishing in exchange for an honest review. By no means have my review been affected and/or influenced.

In a post apocalyptic 1940s, political disputes by opposing countries are reconciled through aerial battles. Amity Vancour is a Peacefighter pilot from the Western Seaboard. She and other Peacefighters must defend their country and make sure all disputes against other countries are won.

John Gunnison is the leader of the Central States. He believes in a political theory that everyone’s fate is written in the stars and the key to harmony is taking away those who were born “discordant” based on their birth chart. But even with the stars aligned, Gunnison will stop at nothing to remove anyone he sees a threat to the world, and Amity is the biggest one. With Central States slowly taking over Western Seaboard, and the whole world, Amity must stop Gunnison before he takes away everyone she dearly loves.

A moment of silence for my dear heart… Broken Sky just left me “broken” and elated and extremely in awe about every single thing about it. I opened this book with zero expectations and finished it with a thousand and more praises for it.

To start, there were only a few words describing what Broken Sky is about (based on the synopsis). I tried to pay attention to what the covers say and get as many details as I can before diving into this unfamiliar book. The back cover of did say “Set in a daring and distorted echo of 1940s America, BROKEN SKY is an exhilarating epic of deception, heartbreak and rebellion.”. And indeed there was deception, heartbreak and rebellion and so much more! Broken Sky is such a gripping story that won’t make you put it down and keep wanting more.

The world Ms. Lee has created is realistic and immensely detailed. I didn’t have a hard time going around in an alternate 1940s (well, I haven’t experience the real 1940s too). The world in Broken Sky started after a Cataclysm that destroyed every nation. A few years after, a system has developed and all disputes are resolved through Peacefights. There are only 62 countries including Western Seaboard, European Alliance, Central States and a neutral territory called Heatcalf City or The Heat for the peacefighting base.

Evidently, Peacefighting is a major part of the book. It’s an aerial battle between pilots of different territories. Amity is a Peacefighter of the Western Seaboard, and a skilled one. She performs her duty well as a Peacefighter and goes to the extreme for her country. But not every dispute lies on the pilot’s skill alone, some are actually influenced through bribery. The perfect world doesn’t seem to be perfect after all.

Astrology was also a major part of the book. At first, I thought it was an uncanny combination for a plot but it was well incorporated in the story. It was perfect actually, that it was used to see how fast and great Gunnison’s influence is that even territories across his borders are starting to adapt to his beliefs.

One thing that I love about this book among a million other reasons are the characters. I just love how every character in this book has a significant role in the story and not just some display. Broken Sky has a great plot and a laudable world building, but even it’s characters are greatly portrayed. It clearly shows the effort that was put into each characters and how vital their roles are in the book.

The narration though, wasn’t consistent in Amity’s POV. I was surprised with the sudden shift from Amity’s 1st POV narration to Kay, an astrologer in Central States, in a 3rd POV perspective. Even with the shifts, it didn’t affect the continuity of the story and personally, I think it was better that way since it left Kay’s thoughts as mysterious as her character.

The story goes through Amity as a Peacefighter, some backstory about her past and her father that was a Peacefighter too, Kay’s POV that gives a glimpse on what’s happening in the Central States, and Amity and Collie’s relationship.

I don’t know but the Amity and Collie relationship made me think that it is becoming necessary to have a romance aspect in every YA book. I honestly didn’t mind it since I’m a sucker for swoon but I’m actually surprised to see myself not really getting into it. Okay, I did enjoy the romantic scenes but there were parts that I just want to tell Amity to stop thinking about Collie just for a second and think about herself.

Remember “deception, heartbreak and rebellion”? It got stuck in my head while I was reading this book and that’s why, I saw IT coming. That freaking plot twist that will make you want to jump and flail and throw yourself onto your bed. The twist wasn’t much of a surprise since I obviously took the warning (refer to cover) VERY SERIOUSLY but my my my… there’s no difference if you’re aware that you’d get hurt or not. It just hurts the same. Seriously, this book is good. Really, really good.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book to everyone, will shove it to you (nicely) if I have to. Maybe even buy this book as a birthday gift for you, or an I’m-so-happy-I-bought-this-book-for-you-to-read-gift. No, but seriously, you’ll be missing a whole lot if you ditch this book so go now and read it! And as for me, give me book 2, NOW!

Rating:

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• Plot Twist – I don’t even need to say it. It’s obvious enough how I love it, I don’t even know why. This book is brilliant and brutally clever. If I can only talk about the twist without spoiling everyone, I would. I still can’t get over it and I don’t think I ever would until I read the next book.

• The dogfights – I am curious about the amount of research the author did for the flying aspect of this book. It was very detailed that every time Amity would go and fly, my mind was visualizing everything that’s happening. I’m hoping that Darkness Follows will have more aerial scene too.

• Amity – She’s my girl. Not the typical YA heroine and that makes it eve better. She’s straightforward and brave. She stands up to what is right even if it means risking her life.

• Astrology – I am honestly not into Astrology. The only bit of Astrology I know are the horoscopes you read on the paper that was written in a comical sense but anyway, I really enjoyed the Astrology aspect of this book and how the star signs tell about your destiny and all that.

Look! It’s my official accreditation badge as a citizen of the Central States. 😛

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Book Description and Cover Image from Publicist, Goodreads