Stranger Skies

Such a delicious second installment to Curious Tides! Stranger Skies delivers with even more intriguing, eccentric, imperfect characters and more delightful unraveling of mysteries.

The Characters

- Baz really comes into his own in Book 2 after coming to terms with some shocking realizations about his past and making peace with his Dad. With Emory off-screen, he gets his own main character energy this book. He finds himself at exclusive parties, is embarrassed to realize he’s starting to garner attention (kind of), and competes in the school’s infamous Bicentennial tournament. His surprise at his own rebelliousness, wonder at his power as he delves deeper into timeweaving, deepening relationship with Kai, plus his quirky traits like his meticulous coffee brewing make for THE BEST introvert hero arc.

- Emory finds herself back in a dynamic she’s grown out of when she’s reunited with Ro. It’s complicated but also satisfying to see our girl stand on her own. Her Tidecaller powers have some interesting interactions with the ley lines in new worlds and she enlists The Shadow to help her navigate them.

- If you loved Kai’s counterbalance to Baz in the first book- sarcastic, dark, witty, nonchalant, and impetuous, you’ll love him even more once you start to see some of his inner darkness and vulnerability in Stranger Skies.

- The side characters are also great… Nisha and Virgil are now team Eclipse, we meet Aspen in the Wychwood, and Vera is as badass as ever and along for the intergalactic ride. Emory’s mom makes an appearance and we’re thrown into the wild world of enigmatic Cornelius Clover in his glory days.

The Magic System

- The magic system evolves in such a satisfying way in book two. We enter the realm of the dreamworld or the ‘in-between’ space, the Wychwood where witches scry, and the Wastes where dragons are being tortured. Kai and Baz start to unravel unexpected truths about everyone’s favorite childhood novel and author. The Shadow makes his debut… suffice it to say, Emory is intrigued, we are intrigued and everyone is confused, but more than a little enthralled.

Plot

- The most delightful part of this series is the unexpected twists and turns in the plots. Heroes and villains are constantly turned on their head, childhood stories are not what they seemed, and history and myths are all up for questioning, more than ever in this second installment. Mysteries planted in the first book continue to connect and evolve and the constantly shifting debate of who has the moral high ground (the heroes, the gods, the Tides, the Shadow) continues.

The romances continue to keep us guessing but we finally get some satisfying match ups in Stranger Skies!

- Even though it mostly happens off-page, one of the best plot developments in this book is Jae starting to recruit and train a cohort of Collapsed Eclipse including a questionable murderous reanimator who brings people back from the dead. Hoping we get to see more of this in Book 3.

Anxiously awaiting the final installment! This is definitely one of the best series I’ve read this year.