A Sky Beyond the Storm
by Sabaa Tahir
The long-imprisoned jinn are finally free, bringing death and destruction to every village and city they encounter. But for the Nightbringer, this is only the beginning. Laia of Serra, along with the Blood Shrike, are now determined to prevent the coming apocalypse and stop the Nightbringer before he kills even more people. Yet something doesnāt feel right, though theyāve yet to figure out why. Meanwhile, Elias has lost himself, only thinking of himself as the Soul Catcher and doing his duty to pass along the spirits he comes across. But the turmoil of the world has managed to penetrate into the isolated woods he now calls home. As less and less spirits make it to the Waiting Place, he will have to remember who he once was and join his friends to stop the end of the world.
Thatās it? Thatās the end?Ā
I want to make it clear that Iām okay with where the plot ends up going. Iām fine with what happens and, overall, Iām okay with where all the characters end up when things are said and done. My issues are mostly structural, I guess. And thatās because most of what happens here feels like filler. This book somehow comes off like itās suffering from second book syndrome even though itās the final entry in this story. And for a series that Iāve been following for six years, thatās...not great.
Thereās really a whole lot of nothing going on in this story. Or, thereās things happening, but not with the characters around to see them. Elias spends most of his time acting as Soul Catcher and pretending heās not Elias, a decision I absolutely despised, and a choice that drags the whole book down. A good portion of his chapters feel like wasted time and pages. Heleneās chapters are about the same. Sheās with her army, planning for most of the book instead of doing something. And while Laia is definitely the most dynamic of the three main characters, her chapters are also kind of boring. She spends most of her time traveling from place to place, yet it never really feels like sheās doing much of anything. Unless sheās getting hit with a heavy dose of dumb bitch syndrome to get her where the plot needs her to be. If youāve read this book you know the exact moment Iām talking about.
A serious problem I have is with the way the author decided to write this book, especially when it comes to things like time and pacing. The events that occur in this story happen over several months, but it doesnāt ever feel that way because the author just has the characters casually mention how long itās been in a single sentence. Laia will say that it took her two weeks to travel somewhere, or Elias will have a quick thought that two months have passed. This gives the book such a disjointed and rushed feeling to me. Thereās A LOT going on in the world, but since Iām not experiencing this time passing along with the characters, all these events seem instantaneous and really do a number on the pacing of the story.
Kerisā defeat is, predictably, underwhelming. I saw this problem coming from a mile away, and I even remember mentioning it in one of my past reviews for this series. The author built her up too much and made her too powerful and perfect to ever, ever create a situation where taking her down would feel satisfying. And a character shows up (again) at the very end of the story even though everyone thought this character was dead. And...how many times is this ploy going to be used? Because this is the second time, with the same character.
Like I said before, this is not the worst finale book Iāve read, but itās definitely not the best either.