Let The Sky Fall (Let the Sky Fall #1)
by Shannon Messenger
Summary: Vane Weston should have died in the category-five tornado that killed his parents. Instead, he woke up in a pile of rubble with no memories of his past - except one: a beautiful, dark-haired girl standing in the winds. She swept through his dreams ever since, and he clings to the hope that she's real.
Audra is real, but she isn't human. She's a sylph, an air elemental who can walk on the wind, translate its alluring songs, even twist it into a weapon. She's also a guardian - Vane's guardian - and has sworn an oath to protect him at all costs.
When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both their families, Audra has just days to help Vane unlock his memories. And as the storm winds gather, Audra and Vane start to realize that the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them, but the forbidden romance growing between them.
Source: I purchased a Kindle copy
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Review:
Let the Sky Fall had a unique premise that piqued my interest. I didn’t realize that, despite being a romantic novel, it was primarily from Vane’s point of view. Vane was the one who didn’t realize he was special or anything other than human. Audra was the unique and otherworldly being who protected Vane and tried to get him to come into his powers. I like Vane and I thought it was refreshing to read something from a guy’s perspective since that’s something I don’t often come across in romantic YA fiction. Vane was snarky, sarcastic, and enjoyable as a character. I liked that Audra was the mysterious character and had the upper hand.
Let the Sky Fall dealt with sylphs, who were essentially air elementals and can walk in and talk to the wind, controlling it to some degree. Some sylphs were obsessed with learning all the types of winds in order to be powerful, but Vane was the last living relative of his line and was the only person who would potentially know how to talk to/control his kind of wind. Guardians like Audra protected him from the power hungry air elementals. I enjoyed the plot and the role reversal a lot because I thought both were refreshing. It’s not often I come across elementals in paranormal YA romance, so it was something new.
However, Let the Sky Fall was extremely predictable. Vane was the ignorant plain character who was suddenly the entire key to saving the universe because of some repressed ability he had, which is the most widely used trope in paranormal fiction. And with just days worth of training, he was able to unlock said ability without realizing it and save the day. Vane and Audra started to develop feelings, but couldn’t actually act on that because apparently one kiss from Vane would bond him to whoever he kissed. Which is another terribly overused trop in YA. The “twist” at the end was something I saw coming from the first moment I met the character involved because it was one of the most obvious conclusions. I was terribly disappointed. These predictable moments and overused tropes negated the refreshing perspective and premise completely. Also, I didn’t like that the main character’s name was VANE and he was able to control wind. I just thought that was super cheesy.
It looks like most people enjoyed Let the Sky Fall, so I’d still recommend it if you’re looking for a fun, read in one afternoon, easy to read paranormal romance. I enjoyed reading it, but it failed to bring anything new to the table and didn’t live up to my expectations.
Labels: paranormal, Review, YA
