Mr. Wendig is a bad, bad man! Sigh. All my GR friends know by now that I abhor a cliffhanger ending, but as much as I hate to say it, this one works. And, boy does this book take 'middle book syndrome' and kick its ass!

I want to go stand over Chucky W. until he gets the next one published, but in the meantime, I highly recommend you get both books in this trilogy. I can't for the life of me figure out why they're so cheap--trust me, you'll get more than your $ worth. ( )

YA SF has its ups and downs, that's for sure, but the better ones of the bunch always seem to rise to the top. This happens to be one. And I'm surprised, honestly, because whenever I think of Wendig, I think of the brutal pottymouth I've grown to love in his Black novels. :) YA? Wendig?

But yes, I really enjoyed the first in the trilogy. Especially the worldbuilding. The second steps it up a notch by taking us right into the clouds as well as the seedier elements down below, on the run or setting the stage for a revolution.

The point is, we've got sky gods and earth gods. And this kind of thing can be done very, very well, or very, very badly. Good news, folks! Wendig pulled is pulling it off by focusing entirely on the peeps. :)

I honestly appreciated getting the girl's perspectives in this one. Everything got rounded out a lot more from the first.

But I will also say this: I REALLY feel like these three novels might have been brilliant as one single tale. Huge, yes. Especially for a YA. But damn that would have been epic. :) ( )

Book twooo! I continue to be way too excited to read this trilogy. I’ve waited so long… *sniff*

But particularly after where book one left off, I was particularly interested in what was going to happen next. (Note: spoilers for book one below the cut, because it is literally impossible to talk about book two without giving away pieces of book one.)


Leaving off on the fact that Gwennie was going up to the flotilla after winning the lottery was SUCH a cliffhanger. I mean, aside from the entire Obligation Day disaster. So not only do we have the added complication of Boyland and Wanda, now Gwennie is off in the sky to boot.

However, now that we have a character in the sky (that isn’t Cael’s sister) this means that we finally get to see the Empyrean from their own vantage point. (Kinda.) That over all else I think is my favorite part of this book in particular. We’ve established the way the Heartlanders see the Empyrean, but we don’t get a chance to see them from their own perspective. Particularly with the introduction of Balastair, we start to see the other side of the story. (I adore Balastair. And Erasmus. Sigh.) Winning the Lottery isn’t everything Gwennie was hoping–but she finds very early on that there’s a familiar face on this flotilla, and maybe–just maybe–they’ll be able to help.

Meanwhile on the ground, Cael is determined to find his way to Gwennie–and Boyland is determined to not make his path easy. Hobos, raiders, the Sleeping Dogs…and all the while Cael has his own problem brewing. One he has no idea how to solve…or if there is a way to do such.

This is the perfect example of what a second portion of a trilogy should be. It expands into more conflict, questioning who the real enemy is, and sets up the ultimate conflicts–the ones we aren’t sure can be solved. As much as I love to believe that regardless of anything, the protagonists will come out fine in the end…I’m not sure what exactly “fine” looks like in this world. I’m not positive that everyone’s going to make it out of this.

And I LOVE it.

There are so few books that really make me question whether or not it’s all going to end the way we want it to. I want Cael and Gwennie to have a happy ending. I want Wanda to find happiness somewhere (else). I want good things for Balastair. I want so many things…and I’m not sure any of them can happen. Any time I can be that in the dark about the ending of a book, I’m pleased.

Besides, the end of this book is an AMAZING cliff-hanger. Talk about not knowing how things are going to turn out.

I’ll keep this one short because NO SPOILERS. Phew.

Rating: **** (Recommended) ( )

3.5/5 stars. "That's life in the Heartland," they say. And they say it when life is hard and terrible and there's nothing they can do about it but go on. Welcome to a dystopian world where Heartlanders live on the ground and tend the genetically modified corn, while the Empyreans who live in floating cities high above them make all the rules and reap all the benefits. Welcome to a world where even growing tomatoes can get you arrested or killed and where the corn can't be eaten and is out for your blood.

Something I particularly liked about these books was the language. It's very... in-your-face. Nobody vomits, instead people puke. They endure piss-storms. It's a plain language, that makes a great deal of sense for a group of people who have been denied any education and who spend their lives surrounded by hardship. They don't make anything fancy; they deal with life as it is.

In "Blightborn" we find Gwennie living on a floating city, mucking out stables and being dragged off to a party as if she's an exhibit. Her mother's working as a maid, her father in engineering, and her brother will be given to a family looking to adopt. The Lottery is not at all what the Heartlanders believe it is. Meanwhile Cael and his crew Lane and Rigo are trying to get onto a floating city in order to find his sister, Merelda, and bring her home. But they get caught by raiders, Gwennie gets involved with rebels on the floating city, and their paths bring them all crashing together. (Provided by publisher.)
( )

5/5 stars
You can find all my reviews here
*Disclaimer: I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Are you looking for a book that will crush your soul into a million pieces, not just once, but multiple times throughout the pages? If you answered yes then this is definitely the book for you. I’m not even kind of joking. At one point I actually set my kindle down with tears in my eyes and quietly asked “Why Chuck, why are you doing this to me?!” to my empty room.

That being said this IS the second book in the series so I’ve decided not to talk about what happens throughout the book. My review for the first book in the series, Under the Empyrean Sky, is located here Just know if you do read Under the Empyrean Sky and like it that this one is better than its predecessor. Seriously I liked the first book a ton, I told everyone who came within a five mile radius of me that it was great and that I needed to get my hands on the second book immediately. And now I’m DYING inside not having any one to talk about this series with. Please, for the love of Jeezum Crow (you’d understand if you read it :() read the book so I can talk about it with somebody.

Again there were minor flaws throughout that I noticed but very, very few and as it is an uncorrected proof it’s safe to assume those miniscule issues would be corrected if you purchased the kindle copy. I can see why someone may have issues with this book but for me everything worked. The relationships, amazing, the jumpiness that comes with multiple POV, super well done, and the dialogue, I loved it to bits. This trilogy was one I started on a whim because of an interesting cover featuring a floating city above a cornfield and has become dear to my heart. Now to find a copy of the final book in the series, The Harvest. ( )