I received a beautiful finished copy of this book from Bloomsbury and I was so excited to read and review it for you!
Title: Imprison the Sky
Author: A. C. Gaughen
Genre: Fantasy
Age Classification: YA
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: 22nd January. 2019
Australian RRP: $24.99
Blurb:
Stolen from her family as a child, Aspasia has clawed her way up the ranks of Cyrus’s black market empire to captain her own trading vessel–and she risks it all every time she uses her powerful magic to free as many women, children, and Elementae from slavery as she can.
But Cyrus is close to uncovering her secrets–not only that Aspasia is an air Elementa with the ability to sail her ship through the sky, but that she is also searching for her lost family. And if Aspasia can’t find her younger siblings before Cyrus does, she will never be able to break free.
Armed with her loyal crew full of Elementae and a new recruit who controls an intriguing power, Aspasia finds herself in the center of a brewing war that spans every inch of the ocean, and her power alone may not be enough to save her friends, family, and freedom.
Thoughts:
I actually really really enjoyed this. I only picked up reign the Earth because it was recommended to me, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t find it as exhilarating or enjoyable as Imprison the Sky. While this story follows on from Reign the Earth, it focuses on different characters an their trials. In my opinion, this is a great way to move a story along – you can still get updates on our previous characters, without knowing everything they’re doing. So while we met Aspasia and Kairos in the previous book, we did not have nearly as much interaction with them as we did in Imprison the Sky. And while the first book focuses on Shalia, we still get to check in with her in this one. And actually, it may have been Kairos’ addition that made me enjoy this one even more.
I also love the sky pirates theme. Pirates are my buzz, so any book with pirates I’m going to love. I LOVE that Aspasia is the captain – give me girl captains all day – and I love her crew. The way they interact like their own little family is beautiful and is just proving that we really do make our own family. Their loyalty to each other and the amount of times someone said the words ‘but we’re family’ – my poor little heart was so full. But also – yes, I said sky pirates. SKY PIRATES! Aspasia’s air element makes then sky pirates and this aspect of the story is something I absolutely love and makes Aspasia even more bada**.
After Reign the Earth I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue the series. I really liked it, but was I ready to commit to another series? Let me tell you that I am so glad I got this copy because now I will recommend this series to everyone. I fell in love with the characters and can not wait to find out what happens to them all. Gaughen captures characters so well and just makes you feel for them, and with them. There is such a talent in Gaughen’s writing that I need to get myself more of her work!
This book gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars from me. You can grab a copy here, and make sure you get Book 1 as well!
Have you ever read a series that you’re glad you stuck with? This one and The Lunar Chronicles are two for me. I wasn’t always positive if I wanted to keep going but then there was a moment of ‘This is amazing and I am never going back!’.
Happy readings, loves.
-B x
Bec's Bookish Reads 