{"id":82365,"date":"2015-11-27T01:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T01:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=82365"},"modified":"2015-11-26T14:50:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T14:50:28","slug":"skyborn-by-david-dalglish-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/skyborn-by-david-dalglish-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Skyborn by David Dalglish book review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We\u2019ll be honest; we were a little hesitant about another foray into a magical world, another story of magical teens and their lives, loves and losses. But <em><strong>Skyborn<\/strong><\/em> is something quite different. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Magic is presented in this post-global catastrophe world as something more akin to science, supported with faith. There are relatively few people left in this world; they live on floating islands controlled by a central government, and combat between the regions has strict rules to ensure that there are as few deaths as possible while maintaining their territories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><em><strong>Skyborn<\/strong><\/em> follows a pair of twins and their entry into an Academy for flying soldiers\/peacekeepers, known as Seraphim, who battle in the air and can work to master the power to use ice, fire, stone, or lightning. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Breanna is an aggressively ambitious perfectionist, while Kale is understandably more reluctant; both attitudes stem from the fact that their parents died in battle. It\u2019s a somewhat simplistic approach to story-telling, but offers the range that would be missing were the novel to focus on one twin over the other. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">There\u2019s a cinematic feel to the novel; sweeping landscapes, aerial battles and showy tech all contribute to a very well-realised world, and one that springs to life. There are some wonderful analogies to be found in the construction of the society as well; <em><strong>Skyborn<\/strong><\/em> not only grabs you with its story, but invites the reader to examine their own views on authority and what a governing body should morally be capable of.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">However, one of our few criticisms is that the relationships between the characters don\u2019t feel genuine, and derive more from plot-driven convenience. It\u2019s a minor, if recurrent, quibble, particularly with love interests.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But <em><strong>Skyborn<\/strong><\/em> fully accomplishes that elusive fantasy fiction goal: creating a believable world, while maintaining a variety of fantastical elements. It\u2019s one of those rare, well-blended tales, where you\u2019re so expertly introduced to more and more of the world that you find yourself picturing it with ease.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We review Book 1 of the Seraphim trilogy, Skyborn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":82366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1624,8],"tags":[4887,4886],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/91sKzNkpNtL.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}