Review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

Title: Ten Thousand Skies Above You
Author: Claudia Gray
Release Date: November 2015
Retail Price: $19.99
Overall Rating: 8/10
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance

Ten Thousand Skies Above You is the second book in Claudia Gray’s Firebird series. You may have heard of the first novel, A Thousand Skies Above You, which was a major best-seller last year for Young-Adult fiction. It’s beautiful title and eye-catching cover was what gripped the eyes of teenagers and adults as they walked past the bookstore- but does it really live up to its covers and titles? After feeling skeptical to pick up the novel as I didn’t wanted to get my hopes crushed, I decided to pick up the first novel and after days of non-stop reading I finished the series in no time and The Firebird series was one smashing series. It has a unique storyline, world and characters but I do not want to give away too much. The second book, Ten Thousand Skies Above You, definitely did not disappoint as a sequel to the first book. If you love fantasy, you are going to love Ten Thousand Skies Above You.

Ten Thousand Skies Above You takes the world of The Firebird series to a whole new dimension (Haha! see what I did there 🙂 ). After the first dimension-jumping adventure, Marguerite, Theo and Paul have changed and as they struggle to return to their daily lives, a new problem arises. Paul’s soul has been splintered into many little pieces with each piece in many different dimensions, Marguerite, who is desperate to save her boy friend, jumps head first into the adventure and along with Theo, they both search in many different dimensions to salvage Paul’s fading soul. All three characters both discover things that nobody in any universe new before.

If you haven’t already picked up this series you are seriously missing out on a novel that sucks the readers into a twisting and turning adventure, that will make you forget about all other thoughts. Ten Thousand Skies Above You, is the second novel in The Firebird Series, and it is definitely a novel that won’t disappoint fantasy and sci-fi lovers.

*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TEN THOUSAND SKIES ABOVE YOU*

Ten Thousand Skies Above You reigned supreme over the first novel, I actually liked this novel more. The first novel, had a lot of world and character development and explanation, whereas the second novel just jumped straight into the action and the development of the story was much more subtle. What I really enjoy about this novel is how extraordinary the world is, Claudia Gray has taken the cliche “time-travel” and has made it into a woven story that has intricate parts of fantasy and sci-fi intertwined together. The time-travelling in this novel, is quite different to your typical “time-travelling” and as the story continues the reader has questions buzzing in their head, which slowly get answered as the story progresses. Each dimension has its perks and I loved anticipating for what the next dimension will turn out to be, my personal favorite, is the Russian royalty dimension.

Marguerite’s personality and actions seem very relatable. Her actions did not frustrate or anger me, which was a huge plus. Marguerite goes against all the traditional views on females and as the main heroine of the story, I really respected her as a reader. I loved her empathetic and affectionate personality as she really cared for herself in The Russian Dimension and I loved how headstrong she was. Theo, is my favourite out of the two main males and his sarcastic, smart and slightly rebellious nature, made him my favourite. I can’t believe Marguerite didn’t chose him because I would have definitely chosen him. I was so glad that the second book, focussed more on his personality and character, rather than Paul’s.

Paul’s true character, did not play a major role as in the last book, he mainly showed up in the last quarter of the novel. However, I loved reading about his other personalities, in other dimensions. Paul’s character is missing a few gaps, he is a very shallow character and I really hope that in the third novel, this will change. Paul’s character was your typical introvert nerd, which really disappointed me and it seems like we never really get a chance to see Paul’s thoughts.

The plotline was one of my favourite things about this novel, similar to the reasons for why I admired the world building, this plot was really different. How often do you read a young-adult novel about a girl who loses the ones close to her in multiple dimensions? It was enthralling, I couldn’t stop reading. I have been patiently waiting for a book where the plot would hook me for days and I am so glad that this book had that. The plot in the novel was definitely more exciting in this novel, than in the first novel as we were much more familiar with the characters and world.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this novel and I have the release date of the next novel in my calendar. I can’t wait to read more about Marguerite and what happens to her family in the next book. What did you think of the book? Comment below!

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