Fair warning, guys. Look at the title of this post. It’s not a joke. Click through here and there be spoilers.
So at the end of Let the Sky Fall, you find out that the big bad is the Mother all along.
They could have had this really strong narrative about how parents aren’t perfect, and how some people are too selfish to be parents, but instead we made the mom evil.
On top of that, she monologues.
And on top of that? It completely unravels the plot of Let the Sky Fall, punching plot holes into it that can’t be ignored.
Like:
1) If she wanted to kill the Westerlys to hurt Raiden, why did she leave Vane alive after the Stormers attacked?
2) Why didn’t she kill him before he had a guardian and while he was all there and squishy?
3) It can’t be because she doesn’t want to kill kids because she is A-okay with letting her daughter be killed.
4) If she hates Vane and his family so much, AND she hates her daughter, why did she come to help them at all? (That explanation that she was trying to bring out Vane’s full potential is weaks as hell).
5) Conversely, if her new goal was to hurt Raiden and/or protect the reign of the Gale Force, why on Earth would she throw that away to hurt her daughter?
This book is a bit of a mess and a hodge podge of references that I don’t know are purposeful or not.
Raiden – God of Thunder in Japanese Mythology. Also a character in Mortal Kombat.
Sylphs = Air benders basically with Vane having the potential of the Avatar although everyone technically could have that potential.
We have major problems here.
Major, major problems with the first one being the chosen one narrative. The chosen one narrative is /boring/. Not even Star Wars could make it work and Star Wars gets a free pass in almost everything.
Hell, Harry Potter only made it work because it deconstructed the chosen one.
As soon as you add in a chosen one narrative, all tension is sucked out of Let the Sky Fall. I know how this is going to go. He will struggle to master his powers, but in the end he’ll somehow manage just in time to save the girl and the world. That is how the chosen one narratives go.
The second one is the twist. Oh my god, the twist. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but when the mom showed up and then just started monologuing? What the hell is even going on here. Seriously.
It was like a Scooby Doo reveal. Oh, it was that adult who briefly appeared in the story and seemed like they might have had ulterior motives.
But we didn’t really have the connection to the mom as an evil person. It would have been much more effective if the problem with the mom was how weak and selfish she was, rather than the reveal that she was the one who killed everyone in the beginning.
The third one is the characters. Audra has a lot of potential as a character. In the beginning, she’s basically living the life of a warrior monk and that is badass.
But then there’s Vane, who I think we’re supposed to cheer for. But he’s gross and totally focused in on his crotch area. I will never understand why books and movies have people be more interested in their genitalia than saving the world/saving their families/saving their own lives… etc.
At one point, he legit storms out and disappears to go on a date with someone else because he’s hurt that Audra won’t kiss him. Uhm, Vane? There are people coming, supernatural beings that are going to murder everyone in your town. Maybe we should stop being such a teenage douche unless you want to lose a second set of parents (too soon?).
Although he at least won’t kiss a girl while she’s unconscious. Hurrah for consent? I’m not giving him any points for that though. It should be pretty basic.
So I can’t. It’s well-written enough, but the characters and the plot just didn’t grab me. If the twist had been something different and if Vane had been less of a creep.
Also, also, for my petty grip of this entire post? I hate the Canadian jokes.
I hate, hate, hate the Canadian jokes and how Hannah is written because it is basically how an American would write this.
Hockey? Check.
Nice? Check.
Aboot? Check.
Eh? Check.
All we needed were some moose and maple syrup jokes, but god, it was annoying. She could have just been a nice girl from Canada. She could have said eh once or twice. Did we need to hit all the things? My god.
It is the most annoying thing and so obnoxious if you’re a Canadian and have to go through this ritual of all these things every time you talk to an American.
GTFO.
