The Cerulean by Amy Ewing

I diagnose this book with a bad case of "Trynabe"; it shows chronic symptoms if trying to be so many things, but it never succeeds. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't like it.

The setting for the City Above the Sky is neat enough, as well as the all-female culture. This was intriguing, but remained surface-level. Main character Sera is loved and finding her place in this society, when she is chosen to sever the connection between her heavenly city and the planet below.

Sera definitely does not volunteer as tribute, but she finds her heroism soon enough.

This is an attempt at YA fantasy , but it gets distracted with a heavy handed theme of young people finding their sexual preference (it's been widely hated on for gaybaiting). Also, there's some racism thrown in there. All of these have the makings of a good coming-of-age novel, but this book is so superficial that it doesn't ever get to the emotional meat that will make it sink in. No wonder the library made it available so quickly.

I really enjoyed the audiobook performance by Kim Mae Guest. Her voices were perfect for every character, and I look forward to hearing more from her.

Sigh. I don't think I will be reading the second part of this duology (is this a trend now? Duologies?).

Song: "Bad Magic" by Weyes Blood. Because it's a bad book with magic in it. And also because this song is as difficult to get through as the book.

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