Author: Meagan Spooner
Series: #1 - Skylark
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: August 1st, 2012
My Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Sixteen-year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky.
Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.
Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?
Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.
Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?
My Review:
Skylark wasn't really what I thought I was reading when I started. However it was one of those books that made me angry to a point. Truth is this book could have been better, could have expanded more; the originality was there. I love how the author almost made it, almost picked up what I thought would be there, but frankly just wasn't. The characters were a bit lacking, and while I don't completely understand what was going on with Lark, it was only slight.
The world is far different. The old style world was refreshing and I enjoyed it, however the city is encased in a magic barrier that keeps the evils out. Once someone leaves they can't come back in. The barrier is powered by the children. Everyone is born with this energy that at a mature age they are stripped to help power the barrier and given a place to work in the city, rite of passage. However, Lark is the exception and proves to change how the world works.
Lark is energetic and realistic. However sometimes her actions and feelings are a bit different from what I thought would be norm. She is a Renewable, a person who can regenerate their energy, but there is just something more to her being able to renew herself. Her ideal and dreams of being normal are quickly shattered when the realization of what the city does with Renewables leaves her with no choice but to run.
This is the part of the book that I found slightly boring. Yea the premise and the whole setup (wrapping) is original, but the general plot and theme is so straight forward it's borderline sleep inducing. I wanted something that added depth, but this just seemed to guide you to the inevitable. The outside world wasn't all that original, aside the other barriers that held time locked worlds to other places. There were parts of the book that I just feel in love with and at others I literally fell asleep with the book in my hands.
In the outside world there are these wild cannibal type humans who are almost like zombies. Oren finds her along the way and helps her, but there is more to him than meets the eye. Nix is another little creature, a flying steampunk sort of robot that tends to aid in Lark's personality more than anything. Nix is great for enlightenment and just getting a good joke/comical moment in. Neither of these characters really brought the life to the book that I was looking for.
I will say this, the book will hinge completely on your style of book. This book wasn't my entire pace or what I would normally be into, and I tried to look past that and give it a honest review aside my personal preference. It's a bit slower and tends to build more, but I just couldn't get into the style/pace of this. I would be a bit hesitant and look thoroughly through some of it before really diving headfirst into it.
The world is far different. The old style world was refreshing and I enjoyed it, however the city is encased in a magic barrier that keeps the evils out. Once someone leaves they can't come back in. The barrier is powered by the children. Everyone is born with this energy that at a mature age they are stripped to help power the barrier and given a place to work in the city, rite of passage. However, Lark is the exception and proves to change how the world works.
Lark is energetic and realistic. However sometimes her actions and feelings are a bit different from what I thought would be norm. She is a Renewable, a person who can regenerate their energy, but there is just something more to her being able to renew herself. Her ideal and dreams of being normal are quickly shattered when the realization of what the city does with Renewables leaves her with no choice but to run.
This is the part of the book that I found slightly boring. Yea the premise and the whole setup (wrapping) is original, but the general plot and theme is so straight forward it's borderline sleep inducing. I wanted something that added depth, but this just seemed to guide you to the inevitable. The outside world wasn't all that original, aside the other barriers that held time locked worlds to other places. There were parts of the book that I just feel in love with and at others I literally fell asleep with the book in my hands.
In the outside world there are these wild cannibal type humans who are almost like zombies. Oren finds her along the way and helps her, but there is more to him than meets the eye. Nix is another little creature, a flying steampunk sort of robot that tends to aid in Lark's personality more than anything. Nix is great for enlightenment and just getting a good joke/comical moment in. Neither of these characters really brought the life to the book that I was looking for.
I will say this, the book will hinge completely on your style of book. This book wasn't my entire pace or what I would normally be into, and I tried to look past that and give it a honest review aside my personal preference. It's a bit slower and tends to build more, but I just couldn't get into the style/pace of this. I would be a bit hesitant and look thoroughly through some of it before really diving headfirst into it.
