When I read the cover blurb for this, it sounded like something I would really like--an examination of super heroes, power, failure and redemption along the lines of Watchmen, but in prose. It is all that. But it takes a while to get there. And the reader is required to put in some effort to jump into a story in progress and hold onto the disparate story threads until they are woven into something more coherent.

The writing is good, if at times a little stylized, written in the present tense like a comic book. This keeps things moving. The characters are many and varied and have realistic, for the story world, reactions to things.

What ultimately disappoints is that the story feels like it wants to be epic. The characters and setting demand and imply it. But it's not. It's a little thin and repetitive where it should be dense and action packed.

I think comic book fans will be intrigued enough by the premise to push through and enjoy this book. Fans of literature might also be interested enough to see how this experiment turns out. I doubt that others will find enough here to captivate them through the end.

[Disclosure: I received a free copy for review.]
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Good book. Not amazing but did keep me engaged. With a diverse cast of POC and female side characters even if all the main characters were cishet white dudes.

Even kept me guessing for a time. But I dunno, nothing felt "great" about it. Nothing makes me want to tell you to read it. That said, I don't feel the time I spent reading it was a waste. Just that I didn't gain much from it, you know? ( )

Most people who know of Tom King are probably familiar with him from his work writing for comic books (Batman, Mister Miracle, etc.) I have found King's stories written for comics some of those that I enjoy the most, and I expected the same when I started reading this A Once Crowded Sky. I can say that King's skill and experience as a comic writer are uniquely displayed in the text. This however, is not necessarily a positive thing, as the book is written an out line for of a series of comics, written in a third person present tense style, which is uncommon and comes off as odd. Admittedly, this choice in writing style does have a reason but is not apparent until the late chapters, but that doesn't help for the first early chapter.

As for the plot itself, the first portion is enjoyable with a classic "who done it" sort of story that does draw the reader in (even with the odd style). However, interest may wain in the later parts of the story as it becomes more meta-texual. Having some familiarity with common superhero tropes and King's graspable explanations do keep thing for becoming overly confusing though). As for the ending, well without giving it away is a pretty big downer but not the worst I've read.

Overall, King makes some interesting choices in A Once Crowd Sky. A fairly average novel that I might recommend for afternoon reading for those looking for something different or have a deeper familiarity with comic books, and do emphasize comics books, rather then superheroes to achieve the greatest amount of amount of enjoyment. ( )

Yet another great premise killed by lousy writing. Couldn't finish this, which pisses me off, because it was a great idea, and with some cool graphic panels thrown in, just like a comic book, it looked like it was a well-thought out package.

Then I started to read it.

In the 56 pages I read, it felt like King randomly forgot sentences or paragraphs. There was a whole lotta missing context at times. I'm sure he thought this was edgy, or mysterious, but it was simply annoying.

However, the final nails in the coffin arrived with two lines of narrative that showed up within pages of each other, and, on the last one, I literally closed the book and said, "Nope. I'm out."

The first was, Felix hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since his last drink.

Not the stupidest line I've read in a book... that would be a toss-up between Tom Clancy's The sun rose promptly at dawn, and Lee Child's It was as distinctive as the most distinctive thing you could think of.

Seriously. He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol since his last drink of alcohol? Seriously? Like, I haven't gone swimming since the last time I went swimming? Isn't that what "last time" means? Lazy ass writing.

Then, a couple of pages later, we get, The cry cries again. Jesus. Let's ignore using the same word twice in a row, but how in the holy hell does a cry cry? Can a singing sing again? Can a scream scream? No. The person making the sound can make it again, but a verb can't verb again.

So, I'm out. I have no idea what the next 300 pages held, but with writing like this, I really don't give a shit anymore. ( )

Okaaaaaay. Maybe a little too meta, jumbled... I think a second reading would help but I honestly have so many other books I want to read I probably won't for a very long time. Cool concept but didn't quite sweep me away, unfortunately. ( )