When’s the next book coming out? You can’t just end it like this! That was my first reaction when finishing Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, a story about three people living on the planet Laterre based on Les Miserables. It was an amazing book and I have to read the next one. I was fortunate enough to get a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sky Without Stars follows three characters with vastly different lives: Chatine, the girl who disguises herself as a boy and steals whatever she can to survive; Marcellus, a high ranking military officer who always feels like he has to prove something to his grandfather; and Alouette, who has been living in a library for most of her life. Their lives begin to intersect on the eve of what looks like a revolution.
As the book unfolds, we discover the truth about what’s really going on in this country. Each of our main characters has their eyes opened to what is going on, and they will have to make decisions to either be selfish, or act for the greater good of society, which might not be in their best interests. Unfortunately, the problems don’t get resolved in this book, so we have to wait for the next one. Is the next book out yet?
My favorite characters in this book are Marcellus and Chatine. I like Alouette as well, but I’m more attached to the other two. All three of them have facets that I like, but I hope I get to see Marcellus and Chatine together in the next book. We’ll see. There really isn’t a love triangle in Sky Without Stars, but I do expect to see one in the next book.
One of the things in this book that I thought was pretty cool was the French influence of it. A lot of the words were french-ified, which didn’t make it difficult to read, but gave it a different vibe. There are some French words smattered among the text; even though I speak some French, I didn’t understand every word at its first use, but that’s okay. Sky Without Stars makes it clear what the terms mean when it uses them. The royal family is a lot like King Louie and Marie Antoinette, and there is even a contraption that is similar to a guillotine. Of course, there’s also the threat of revolution in the air.
I highly recommend this book! The only think I don’t like, I think, is that I have to wait to read the next one. The book doesn’t come out until March 26th, but you can pre-order it today.