Jason Chabot

Below by Jason Chabot was a good quality fictional novel.

The story and plot line had wonderful ideas within it. It had good direction and would be great for a Young Adult or Pre Teen reader. I was not super into this book, but it was good quality. Personally I found it very boring, but clearly the author thought out his ideas.

There wasn't any crazy development, and I did expect a bit more. Perhaps a younger audience would find this book entertaining, but sadly I did not.

I would still suggest people read it who want a book similar to Divergent or The Hunger Games. It wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't my type of book. I didn't understand the floating island or where the plot was going, but it was still a good story. Perhaps if someone who enjoyed the book gave me a general overview and then I reread it, I might find it more enjoyable.

Overall, I wasn't to impressed but the story wasn't aimed towards my "type of reader".

Two out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.… (plus d'informations)

This book was provided to me as an uncorrected digital review copy by the publisher, via Edelweiss.

Elia lives Above on a floating island, and has been taught to fear the eyeless, hunchback, monstrous scavengers from Below. Hokk lives Below, and has no idea what happens on the floating islands Above. His only concern is surviving the barren wasteland to which he has been banished. When Elia falls from her island and is discovered by Hokk, they have to learn to set aside what they think they know in order to survive long enough to make it to the city from which Hokk was cast out 6 years ago.

It was a little slow going at first, but by the end of the this book I was all about Elia being a BA and rooting for Hokk to find something worth respecting in himself. These are complex characters. Every time I thought I had them figured out, something new would pop up. The action was intense without being ridiculous or gratuitous, and the dialogue felt natural. The world-building is a little complicated, because there is so much that the inhabitants don't yet know about the relationship and origins of the Above and Below. This only adds to the suspense, and has me looking forward to the second book even more. I would recommend this book to any teen who enjoys a good fantasy adventure.… (plus d'informations)

Hokk, exiled from his home, manages to make a meager living in the wastelands by scavenging from the bodies that fall from the floating islands above. However, when he finds Elia, who has survived the fall, he thinks he may have finally found the prize that will end his exile.

Below, a post-apocalyptic tale by author Jason Chabot, is the first book in his Broken Sky Chronicles. The narration is in the third person and alternates between the stories of the two main protagonists as we learn more about both their characters and the two different worlds they come from. Above is a repressive empire ruled by the Twin Emperors while Below is governed by a group of citizens known as the Board. Above the people live in over-populated poverty-stricken villages with nowhere to expand the cramped spaces while the people below both live and raise their flocks and sheep in buildings that survived society’s collapse. The people from Above are dark skinned with two sets of eyelids to shield their eyes from the sun while those Below are extremely pale.

I enjoyed Below quite a bit although the world-building did put a strain on my willing suspension of disbelief eg. wouldn’t both above and below be much much colder and more desolate, above because of the altitude and below because of lack of direct sunlight. And, for that matter, how could Above grow much in the way of crops (or do the washing) without rain or Below with very little sun. But perhaps all of this will be explained in future books.

But putting aside these objections (okay, nitpicking), as I said, I did enjoy the story. The first volume is more an introduction to the worlds and the characters and there is not a lot of action. As such, it seems mainly a setup for the later books as the two main characters sort of wander across the countryside, both seeking a way to return to their homes. There is, however a mystery to keep the audience’s attention: Elia had been given a carved wooden box by another woman before she fell off the edge of Above and told to ‘protect the box at any cost’...well, to be honest, this felt like a McGuffin but it certainly kept the plotline moving. The characters and this mystery keep the story interesting and make up for the rather slow pace and the questions about the world-building and made me want to read the next in the series.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (plus d'informations)