Friday 21 November 2014

Review: Night Sky - Suzanne & Melanie Brockmann

Sixteen-year-old Skylar Reid is thrown into a strange world when she discovers that she has unique telekinetic and telepathic powers. After Sasha, the child she babysits, is kidnapped and believed to be murdered, Sky and her best friend Calvin are approached by Dana, a mysterious girl who has super-abilities similar to Sky’s. With the help of Dana and her sidekick Milo, the four teens embark on a quest to discover who killed Sasha, and to bring the killers to justice.

With Dana as Skylar’s surly and life-toughened mentor, Sky attempts to harness her powers to aid them in their quest. Complicating an already complex relationship with the older girl, Skystarts to fall for the dangerously handsome and enigmatic Milo – and begins to suspect that the attraction is mutual. But then Sky realizes that Sasha might still be alive, and the unlikely foursome’s mission becomes one of search and rescue, pitting the heroic teens against a very deadly enemy.

Night Sky Series:
(This is set in the same world as Suzanne Brockmann's Fighting Destiny series)
Dangerous Destiny (Novella)
Night Sky

Fighting Destiny Series:
Shane's Last Stand (Novella)
Born to Darkness

Visit Suzanne Brockmann's website for more information

Review:
After really enjoying the prequel novella, Dangerous Destiny, I was really excited to get started on Night Sky and learn more about the Greater-Thans and their psychic abilities. Unfortunately for some reason I really struggled with this one and it seemed to take a long time for the story to really get going. This is a long book (almost 500 pages!) and it really didn't have enough substance to justify the length. I think if it had been really trimmed back to make a faster and more streamlined read I would have found it much more enjoyable. Having said that this is the beginning of a series so there is a lot of world building to do and characters to introduce and things really picked up speed in the second half so I have hopes that future books will be more fast paced.

Skylar has no idea that she is a Greater-Than (someone with psychic abilities) so she is confused when things start happening near her that have no rational explanation. That is the least of her worries when a young girl that she babysits for goes missing though, Sky is desperate to find out what happened to Sasha but she has no idea where to start looking. Whey Sky meets Dana, another Greater-Than, she is suddenly thrown into a whole new world, a world where people can have superpowers, where she is able to move things with her mind and where she can even smell evil. Dana and Milo offer to help Sky search for answers, they believe that Sasha has been murdered by a group who use Greater-Than blood to create a drug called Destiny. They're already investigating the disappearance of other children and they want Sky and her best friend Calvin's help.

I did enjoy learning about all the different kinds of abilities that the Greater-Thans can have, they all have different strengths but skills can vary from fast movement, telekinesis, precognition, mind control, telepathy and so much more. Sky is only just beginning to discover what she is capable of but I'm already a little concerned that she's turning into a too perfect heroine. It seems like she is able to do pretty much everything, more than any other Greater-Than that Dana has ever come across before, and I think I would have liked her character more if she'd had a few more flaws. Overall I'd say the characters are okay, I felt that Sky's attraction to Milo built up far too quickly but just as I was going to start calling insta-love they started to have more interaction and develop a friendship. I love the fact that Sky is so close to her best friend Calvin, they were the two characters we'd been introduced to in the prequel and it was good to see that their friendship has grown even stronger since then.

Dana was a little harder to like, she's quite snarky and harsh but once you get to know her she has a soft side and when you learn about her past you start to understand why she has that prickly, defensive layer to protect herself. There was one particular scene where they're all in a club and Dana uses her abilities on Calvin that made me feel really uncomfortable though. I know she didn't mean it in a bad way but I couldn't help comparing her actions to a kind of mental rape. There was absolutely no sex involved but she was forcing him to do things against his will and I was cringing throughout the entire scene. I just felt that whole section was pretty pointless and quite insulting, there was no reason that Calvin couldn't have gone into the club in his wheelchair - surely people in wheelchairs are allowed to go clubbing too? - and although I know it was meant to come across as a humorous and light hearted scene it completely missed the mark for me.

Overall I'd have to say Night Sky was an okay story, it wasn't horrible but it didn't wow me like I expected it to. I do think the series has potential but I'm not sure if I'm invested enough in the characters to want to carry on reading. The great news is that it doesn't end with a major cliffhanger, the main mystery is resolved by the end of the book and although a new plot thread is introduced you aren't left feeling like you've only read half a story. I may give the next book a try to see if the issues are ironed out but I doubt it'll be a book that I end up desperate to get my hands on.

Source: Received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Hardback / Kindle:

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