Book review: The Other Side of the Sky (The Other Side of the Sky #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meag

Book review: The Other Side of the Sky (The Other Side of the Sky #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan SpoonerA gripping, inventive adventure story which reads like a love letter to fantasy and sci-fi. Prince North lives in the sky, in a gleaming city held aloft by intricate engines. Nimh lives on the Surface below, a living goddess in the eyes of her people. When North crashes to the Surface and discovers a world of magic, both his and Nimh’s worldviews are rocked. Nimh’s very existence defies everything that North thought he knew, and vice versa.As a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd, I knew as soon as I saw the cover and heard “sci-fi protagonist meets high fantasy protagonist” that this book had the potential to be something special. Then I saw that it was written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, and it immediately became one of my most anticipated new releases. The Other Side of the Sky is written from the dual perspectives of North and Nimh, and it’s honestly so much fun reading about Nimh’s high fantasy world from North’s technologically-advanced perspective, and vice versa. You can just tell, from reading this book, that Kaufman and Spooner had a blast writing it.North and Nimh come from completely different worlds and hold contradictory ideologies. Like the genres they represent, they shouldn’t work together - but they do. As they travel together, North and Nimh attempt to understand the other’s worldview, which makes for a beautifully meta introspective on how fantasy and science fiction are just two sides of the same coin (or, pardon the pun, just the other side of the same sky). Kaufman and Spooner use North and Nimh to explore ideas of faith and science, magic and technology, which could have become a contentious debate, but since we see things from both North and Nimh’s perspectives, the narrative doesn’t try to claim that one viewpoint is superior.For some reason I had it in my head that this was a standalone novel, which made for some incredibly tense reading when I reached the final few chapters and realised that it was heading for a massive cliffhanger. Because of that, I felt unsatisfied with the ending, but I fully realise that I’ve only got myself to blame! Other than that, this was a near-perfect novel, and I’m now anxiously anticipating the sequel.Many thanks to HarperTeen for providing a copy of The Other Side of the Sky. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.Publisher: HarperTeenRating:  4 stars | ★★★★✰Review cross-posted to Goodreads -- source link

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