Addie Thorley is the author of An Affair of Poisons and Night Spinner. She spent her childhood playing soccer, riding horses, and scribbling stories. After graduating from the University of Utah with a degree in journalism, she decided "hard news" didn't contain enough magic and kissing, so she flung herself into the land of fiction and never looked back. When she's not writing, she can be found gallivanting in the woods and eating cookies. She currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and wolf dog. You can find her online at www.addiethorley.com or on Twitter and Instagram @addiethorley. You can find more of my reviews of Addie's works here.
Enebish has been deceived by everyone she once considered a friend. On the run across the tundra, her only allies are her best friend Serik and a band of ill-tempered shepherds. Her only hope of bringing peace to Ashkar is to unite the people of the Protected Territories and make a stand against the tyrannical Sky King and the hostile nation of Zemya. But that's easier said than done. As supplies dwindle, the shepherds become far more desperate for food than freedom. Meanwhile, Zemyan forces have stormed the Ashkarian capital. Imperial Army Commander Ghoa throws all of her power into a last-ditch effort to save her king, only to be abandoned by her fellow warriors. Held captive in a prison forged of magic and tortured by the zealous sorcerer Kartok, Ghoa learns his true ambitions lie far beyond the warring countries—he wants vengeance on the gods themselves. The war between Ashkar and Zemya began centuries ago as a feud among the gods. Now it's up to the two most hated people on the continent—the monstrous outcast, Enebish, and the notorious war criminal, Ghoa—to heal that spiritual divide before Kartok brings the skies crashing down on all of them.
Enebish, after being betrayed and deceived too many times to count, by people she counted on, is unwilling to hand out her trust so easily at the opening of Sky Breaker. While Enebish is trying to stay focused on the bigger picture of saving her kingdom, she is being pulled in so many different directions without fully trusting anyone to help her figure out the best way forward. All of these moments where Enebish is being told to trust others is a wonderful way to introduce Enebish's less-trusting character after the actions of Night Spinner. As Enebish makes tough decisions to lead the shepherds, she encounters Orbai, her eagle who turned against her. There is a comment that felt a little strange regarding Orbai—when Enebish sees her, she comments that "she's made whole" by being in the presence of her eagle again. I felt that this was a little strange, since we hadn't seen a lot of scenes with Enebish and her bird, in either books, and the loss of Orbai hadn't been commented on thus far. However, I was willing to put that aside for a bigger question I had for Enebish and her motivations. I wondered why she was fighting so hard—she's not doing it for her family (dead), or for the shepherds (who clearly she doesn't like), and she's not doing it for the army (since they're rogue rebels). So, I couldn't figure out what Enebish's motivations were to put herself through so much trouble to build up this force. I think maybe this could have been resolved by tying the two books closer together at the ending, and also reiterating her motivations throughout her lowest points. I wondered if her faith was a big motivation, and as we see later, it definitely is. I loved how Enebish's faith was depicted, because we often don't see a lot of faithful heroines in fantasy novels, or just in young adult novels in general. Near the end, there were a lot of revelations Enebish arrives at after being devout, which leads to such a resolved and satisfying ending.
A small note on the romance between Serik and Enebish. It was hinted at at the end of Night Spinner that they would be getting romantically involved, and it was clear that Serik had feelings for Enebish. Yet, it wasn't until in the middle of Sky Breaker where Enebish acted on any of her feelings. I personally felt like this romance was a little underdeveloped, only because so much of the story was focused on the faith aspects and its character building regarding the world and the personal decisions made by is characters in either saving or destroying it. I understand the desire or potentially the need for the development of a romance, however I just don't think this storyline got the development or focus as the rest of the story.
When I noticed that Sky Breaker was going to be told in alternative point of view chapters with both Ghoa and Enebish, I was a little skeptical. Because we hadn't seen a lot of Ghoa in Night Spinner—despite her obvious presence in Enebish's consciousness—I wondered how including her perspective would benefit what I saw as mostly Enebish's story. Now, I can see that Sky Breaker was as much Ghoa's journey as Enebish's, especially by the way the story resolved. Tracking her development from beginning to end was especially crazy, since we start at such a low point for Ghoa: she's being abandoned by the Kalima warriors she fought so hard to lead. That entire scene was written so well, my grief for Ghoa was real despite my not totally loving her character just yet. Once she enters the Zemyan prison and Ghoa starts reliving old memories, I found that it was interesting to see how she viewed specific events pre- and during Night Spinner—especially what she called "Enebish's betrayal" at trying to get the Commander of the Kalima position. After her experience in Zemya, her allegiance changes quickly, for reasons we find out later that I guessed pretty quickly early on. The unfortunate thing about the alternating point of views is that readers are privileged to information that characters don't have, which is how I was able to guess at the reason Ghoa's allegiance shift. Regardless, I think Ghoa would have come to a lot of the same conclusions on her own accompanying the Zemyan heir, and I truly enjoyed tracking the development of her character.
Faith and religion are often taboo subjects, both in everyday conversation and in young adult books. But Thorley does not shy away from including conversations of faith and belief in her duology, which I was excited to see develop further in this sequel. I loved how the Lady of the Sky and Father Guzan were brought very deeply into the sequel, to where each character was left to reconcile with their different beliefs. Some of my favorite moments were closer to the end, where Enebish and Ghoa are grappling with the types of things they're seeing, and interacting with. Watching them grapple with their earthly concerns and their deep religious beliefs was a fun dynamic to contrast between the two women. The ending was totally satisfying regarding this religious aspect, and I personally enjoy the decision about the Kalima powers. I think that makes a powerful statement about the power of humanity and faith. I think that is the biggest message that I will taking away from this duology, so I truly thank Thorley for including such necessary conversations about faith and belief and humanity in her duology.
Readers are not provided a short re-introduction paragraph back to Enebish's story and world, which might make it difficult for readers to dive back into the world if they don't reread the first book before picking this one up. I highly suggest a reread of the first one if you've read it already before diving into this one! Just so that you remember the betrayals and the way Thorley built up Enebish's faith. Both of these are important foundational understandings for Enebish's character and the belief system of the world. I'm not sure if this was just something I experienced, but I also felt like I could get lost in the world. I love visualizing the fantasy worlds I enter, which is why I love maps in fantasy book so much. Not having a map for Night Spinner or Sky Breaker didn't completely hinder my understanding of the story, but I feel like it would have helped fill in some of my gaps of understanding the worlds of Ashkar, Zemya, and the Protected Territories.
(*Spoilers in this paragraph!!*) Okay, but can we talk about that ending? I was not ready for all the character deaths, especially Temujin's, Ivander's, and Ghoa's! Especially since they were all in quick succession, I was actually shocked. I understood the reasoning behind all of them, yet I still mourned all three characters. Temujin represented this hope for Enebish, and was essentially her inciting incident of her entire movement once she uncovered who he really was. Ivander was the one who began to show Ghoa just how much bigger the world was, and I really wanted Ghoa to fully understand that for herself. And, of course, we tracked the development of Ghoa throughout the book, and I was happy yet sad to see it end in such a devastating way.
Thorley ends Sky Breaker with a wonderful grouping of parallels. Enebish becomes a trainer, to honor the dead before her, even though she refused to train Ziva at the beginning. Serik is now a force to reckon with in the elite army, after being told for so long that he didn't deserve to be on the front lines. And Ghoa, who had for so longer murdered and deceived to get to the top, sacrifices herself for a greater power at the end so that those she loves can fix the world she helped destroy. Thorley is a good storyteller, and masterful with endings, so I'm excited to see what Thorley will do next!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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