Goodreads Rating: 3.38
Pages: 384
Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.
So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .
This was such a great book!!! I absolutely loved it! It was a very interesting concept: a girl disguised as a boy to escape a controlling father, who stows away on an airship that smuggles goods into the country. I wasn't sure if I liked how young Cat was, especially for a YA romance, but it didn't bother me too much.
The author is such a great writer as well :) Though some of the British lingo was a tad confusing, I managed to get the gist with the context. The author had such a great way of painting a picture of the story and building the characters up so you were attached to all of them, not just the main characters. I love when authors make me bond with the characters! It makes for so many different kinds of feels!! I want to go into detail but you will just have to read and see what I'm talking about for yourself ;) There were times I literally squealed from excitement, I gushed with the cuteness that was occurring, I reveled in horror and I cried (quite literally) with the characters at times.
Speaking of the characters, they were awesome :) I really loved how accepting and open the crew was to Cat and how very much a family they all are to each other. Cat and Fox are also way to adorable for words <3 I love their constant bickering! Even more, I like reading about slow growing romances. I was never one for the love (or even instant attraction) at first sight thing. It gets more apparent that they like each other as the book goes on but it's not in your face and starts off as a more brother-sister relationship (but not in an incest-y way... This isn't Game of Thrones people!). It is mentioned that they didn't know each other very long but it honestly felt like they had been around each other for ages. Very beautifully done. (On a side note... love how they both have animal names >.<)
Cat and Fox also got you to think of how there are different kinds of hardships in life (especially theirs). On one hand, Fox has it rough being an orphan and having to fight for survival. On the other hand, Cat is forced into an oppressive life that could lead her trapped for her whole life.... Be they rich or poor, everyone has the struggles and it was an interesting thing to think about.
The story line was right on par as well. There was one big surprise that I will absolutely not give away but it threw me for a loop. It was a big mystery as to why the government is collecting children for a war but wowza! I can tell you, you won't see it coming!
My only negative was I had a tough time imagining the setting... The character were flying in an airship so that makes me think of a futuristic "Treasure Planet"-like ships that sail through the skies (and the title adds to that as well). But sometimes the characters would talk about "the seas" and it would mic me up a little...
But that's just a small bump in this otherwise glorious story! I can say Lucy Saxon is probably one of my new favorite authors and I can't wait to see what else she comes out with! I can't wait to dive into the next book in this series as well and am very puzzled to see what is in store (the book didn't leave on any huge cliffhanger so I'm very curious as to what will befall our heroes next).
The Court's Decision:
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