About Amy Hello, I'm Amy, an aspiring motorsports writer and former blogger. If you dig deeper enough, you find some very old blog posts, as this started as a book blog, but that's really where I got my start in writing: book reviews, hot book topics and as well as the odd personal essay. After leaving university, I left the book blog behind, but continued writing and going in the world of social media, writing film reviews and promoting queer cinema, but after a tragic event in my personal life, I quickly discovered Motorsports. What started as a love for Formula 1, while finally watching the Formula 1 film, Rush, and discovering Formula 1 TikTok, this love soon expanded to everything Formula E, IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, as well as F1 Academy. I soon found the itch to write come back, with the fast-moving news of motorsport, to the drama, the competition, and the journey of drivers trying to find a race seat. I found that it was the people and storie...
*I am reviewing this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. *
Title: Golden Skies
Author: Juan Zapata
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Source: Digital Reads Blog Tour
Rating: 3/5 stars
Book Summary:
As a boy, Malik watched an army of religious zealots swarm his hometown, slaughtering his people and running his beloved grandfather through with a black sword. Nine years later, Malik still believes there's peace...somewhere. At least that's what he tells himself as his body is ripped apart by whips at a conversion camp. That's what his best friend whispers as he frantically creates new force technology and jetpacks to rescue Malik. Yet when war bursts through the skies and the sky troopers, assassins, and heroes fall, when the world comes crashing down, Malik Zzoha stands amidst the sands to lead a band of friends and revolutionaries to face his tyrannical, zealot father, determined to free the people he loves.
Book Review:
When I first heard about Golden Skies, I was interested in the premise as it was definitely unlike any sci-fi book that I had read before and this was something that translated on the page. Golden Skies is a unique and deeply fascinating sci-fi story that is worth the read.
Although there were many positives about the book there were also things that I didn't love. From the get-go, I felt kind of uncomfortable with the links with Islamic extremism that I saw in the book. Maybe this was not the point but I did see it in the story and I don't know it didn't sit right with me but I know the author had beta readers so it might have been for this reason. I also had problems with the writing at times a lot of the sentences were short which threw me off and I didn't love some of the language used but it did not affect the story that much.
I also did like the writing at times especially for a debut author, it was good sometimes and I do think that it was there for the characters who were flawed and would have used the language that was written. I also did like Malik as the main character and he was a complex character in his actions and he believed in all the actions that he took. The book also really doesn't have a focus on romance which I also really enjoyed and it didn't take away from the story at hand that didn't need and have time for romance.
The story is also captivating and is fast-paced. I wanted to continue reading as I had no idea where the story was going and this is quite unusual for me as I find a lot of plots to be predictable. I really also enjoyed the end, it ended neatly and didn't really need a sequel so if it is a stand-alone then that is great as you don't find many of them. If there is a sequel I would be more than happy to read it and find out where the story progresses.
Although there were many positives about the book there were also things that I didn't love. From the get-go, I felt kind of uncomfortable with the links with Islamic extremism that I saw in the book. Maybe this was not the point but I did see it in the story and I don't know it didn't sit right with me but I know the author had beta readers so it might have been for this reason. I also had problems with the writing at times a lot of the sentences were short which threw me off and I didn't love some of the language used but it did not affect the story that much.
I also did like the writing at times especially for a debut author, it was good sometimes and I do think that it was there for the characters who were flawed and would have used the language that was written. I also did like Malik as the main character and he was a complex character in his actions and he believed in all the actions that he took. The book also really doesn't have a focus on romance which I also really enjoyed and it didn't take away from the story at hand that didn't need and have time for romance.
The story is also captivating and is fast-paced. I wanted to continue reading as I had no idea where the story was going and this is quite unusual for me as I find a lot of plots to be predictable. I really also enjoyed the end, it ended neatly and didn't really need a sequel so if it is a stand-alone then that is great as you don't find many of them. If there is a sequel I would be more than happy to read it and find out where the story progresses.
The Verdict:
Golden Skies is a book that captures the mind and is a great first debut book with few flaws.
Have you read Golden Skies? If so, did you like it? Do you want to?
Comments