Review: Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

Goodreads Summary: Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.
Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.
When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Goodreads / The Book Depository

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy, romance
Pages: 416
Publisher: Simon Pulse
How I Got It: Library

First Line: "I'm lucky to be alive."

Favorite Quote: "They can take their betrothal and shove it. I want you."

Review: 

The most appealing thing about this book when I first saw it (besides the pretty cover) was the concept. What with all the different paranormal creatures in YA novels lately, the idea of air elementals, or sylphs, was definitely intriguing. The definition of a sylph: 

1. a slender, graceful woman or girl.
2.in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.

Obviously, it's the second one that applies here, but I had no idea what the heck it was prior to reading Let The Sky Fall, so it's a nice little lesson. I was pretty excited to start this, and overall I still think it was pretty original, but at the same time I felt it also lacks somewhat in executing the lovely summary. I think this is one of those reviews that will work best if broken down into separate parts. 

What I Liked: 

- Originality.

- The fact that I could easily tell who was narrating without having to go back and check the name at the beginning of the chapter. Having two characters with different voices is essential when writing dual perspectives, and I thought Messenger did this very well. 

- The humor. Well, this doesn't really fit into Audra's chapters, but the ones in Vane's POV had little jokes sprinkled in throughout, and I really loved his lightheartedness in spite of everything he was going through. 

- I appreciated how the reader only gets certain information as the book goes along; hinting at something (i.e., Audra's secret concerning Vane's parents) kept my attention. 

- The romance towards the end. I felt like Vane and Audra really had a good connection and could see why they would care for each other with the history that they shared, and the ending of LtSF pulled on my heartstrings a bit. 

What I Didn't Like: 

- The romance in the beginning. I know that contradicts what I just said, but this book could definitely be counted as insta-love. I know that Vane was haunted by glimpses and dreams of Audra, but at the same time no real life boy would hold back because of some weird phantom girl lurking around. But like I said, I thought this was somewhat redeemed in the end since they did have a lot of meaningful exchanges with each other, even if it was only over the course of maybe a week. 

- The pacing was a little annoying sometimes. Most of the novel is made up Audra training Vane for the big Stormer attack, and though I was curious about everything, there were times when my attention wandered, especially towards the beginning. I had to force myself to pick it back up and seriously considered a DNF. But once I got to page 200 or so, it got better. 

- The whole story is set up around the anticipation of the Stormers arriving and doing Bad Things. But when they actually got there, they felt pretty flat as characters. Maybe it was because neither of them was around for very long? They weren't bad villains, but when I compare them to others, they feel painfully bland. The other bad guy in the book, the one you aren't supposed to suspect, was much better at being the terror of the story. (view spoiler)

- I'm sorry, but if Vane really was as important as everyone made him out to be, the Gales would have sent more people to protect him. I understand that they were needed elsewhere, but if Vane is supposedly top priority to them, they would have been of more help. It just didn't make much sense. 

I know it sounds from my list of dislikes that I didn't much care for Let The Sky Fall, but despite its faults, it was interesting and I'll definitely pick up the sequel. 

3 stars

Books in this series: 

1. Let The Sky Fall 

2. Untitled