Name: Let the sky fall
Rating: 3.277777777777778 (36 reviews)
ISBN: 9781442450417

Shannon Messenger

Ten years after surviving the tornado that killed his parents, Vane Weston, now seventeen, has no memory of that fateful day but dreams of a beautiful girl who, he now learns, is not only real, she is his guardian sylph, who harnesses the power of the wind.

Let the sky fall

Jamieson

Something people might know about me is that I love Avatar: The last Airbender. Like that show is honestly my life and remains one of the best I've ever seen no matter how old I get. I picked this book up because of the cover, but then some reviews mentioned things like this is the book version of Avatar! 

and I was sold. 
completely. 
like I had to read this book 
I'll read anything if it's like Avatar

I see 100% why people think this is like Avatar. But it's no where near as good as Avatar is. 

 Here's the plot: 
 LONG AGO, THE FOUR (WIND) NATIONS LIVED TOGETHER IN HARMONY. THEN, EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN RAIDEN ATTACKED. ONLY THE AVATAR (VANE WESTON) MASTER OF ALL FOUR ELEMENTS COULD STOP HIM. BUT WHEN THE WORLD NEEDED HIM MOST, HE VANISHED. 

10 YEARS PAST AND AUDRA DISCOVERED THE LAST WESTERLY, AN ORPHANED BOY NAMED VANE. AND ALTHOUGH HIS AIRBENDING SKILLS ARE GREAT, HE HAS ALOT TO LEARN BEFORE HE'S READY TO SAVE ANYBODY.

BUT AUDRA BELIEVES VANE CAN SAVE THE WORLD. 
 
 it's honestly, legitimately, Avatar. 
Serious now though. 

 
   Let the Sky Fall is about a race of people known as "sylphs". They are also called WindWalkers sometimes as well. WindWalkers are separated into four main groups - each WindWalker is an ancestral member of one of the groups, which means they understand the 'language' of that group better than all the other. The four types are Northerlies, Southerlies, Easterlies and Westerlies (haha, wind types? gettit????) Anyway - each wind type has different properties and it's people fit those characteristics. Like, Northerlies are strong, but difficult to manage winds and there people are usually hot headed and impulsive. 

 A little while ago, all the wind groups were seperated. However they realised they could teach eachother the "language" of their wind to someone who didn't speak it, and that would make them more powerful. Unfortunately, one guy, Raiden, got a little too excited by this. He became determined to learn all four languages of the wind. He only needs to learn Westerly, but there's no one left to teach him. 

Vane Weston is the protaganist of this book, and he's the last Westerly. (GET IT ! RAIDEN IS THE FIRE NATION, VANE WESTON IS THE LAST WESTERLY) He's been protected his whole life by a girl named Audra, another Sylph. Audra needs to help Vane unlock his powers, otherwise she (and all the sylphs) will be wiped out in the war that rages on.



WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS: 
The plot. The plot was really cool. The world building was cool. I've not read any book about air people/sylphs/windwalkers and so this felt really new and refreshing, even though it was paranormal which is a genre which has been done over and over. 

The world and the order of WindWalkers was really well constructed. Their powers and roles within the world were well explained and the way they call/control/use the wind was so well explained. It was really interesting and well developed. 

The external plot, including the war with Raiden and the destruction of Westerly culture was enough to keep the story exciting and the plot moved relatively well. There were some good action sequences including WIND FIGHTS which I really enjoyed. 



WHAT WAS DISAPPOINTING ABOUT THIS: 

The characters. the characters were killing me. They were so dull and ANNOYING. 
Vane was just such a whiny kid? He spent the whole time complaining about how Audra didn't want to kiss him back and how he wished she'd wear her hair out more and generally lusting over her (even going on to say how much he loves her) EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE KNOWN EACHOTHER FOR FIVE DAYS!!!!!

I found alot of the things he said about Audra (lustful/sexual) to be creepy and uncomfortable. The relationship was one of the worst cases of insta-love and it was impossible for me not to keep screaming at them FIVE DAYS !!!!!!!!!!! THE BOOK IS SET OVER FIVE DAYS !!!!!!!! AND THEY'RE "IN LOVE" EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NEVER MET UNTIL !! 5 !! DAYS !! AGO !!


but anyway. I'm calm. 

Audra was the more interesting character to me but she did give off the faintest whiff of Mary Sue. I wouldn't call her a complete Mary Sue, but she had some traits. She was constantly going on and on about how stuff was her fault even though it clearly wasn't. She also spent a good portion of the book thinking about how she loves Vane (did I mention she only met him 5 days ago?) and how she's willing to die for him if he lives. 

Despite this, I found her toughness and bravery quite appealing. I liked her character - she was incredibly selfless and loyal to what she believed in and she held her own against the antagonists of the book. (view spoiler)[I was a bit miffed that despite being the (obviously) better fighter than Vane she ended up out of commission in the final battle and he had to save her.  (hide spoiler)] 

I felt her character was just okay though. Character wise there was nothing deep or intricate going on. There development felt like it was just enough to get by and that was really disappointing to me. I wanted to see much more from these characters and I got very little. 

The romance was unforgivable. Like I'm sorry but I hate insta-love so much. It's unrealistic and it's silly and it's just uncomfortable to see play out. I have nothing positive to say about it I was SO ANNOYED at how they were all "ily soo much we're meant 4 eachother" after like 2 days of knowing eachother GROSS. 

The whole thing would have been so much better if it weren't for the awful insta-love and the mediocre. character development. The plot was so interesting and the concepts behind the action but it all had to be ruined by the characters. 

My only other complaint is that one of the characters motivations made no sense. I don't want to spoil but it doesn't make sense why they did what they did and I feel it was just a twist thrown in for the sake of having one - it didn't feel well thought out at all. 

I'm not sure when I'll get to the next one. I'd like to but I've heard that there's more romance and less plot in book 2 and that terrifies me.

Pamela Alvarado

I loved the idea of people being able to harness the power of the wind. And the premise and cover look good (what can I say? I'm a cover whore), but I must say, I was disappointed.

Oh no, don't worry, it was good enough, but I really expected more.

One of the things that bugged me the most was the fact that there isn't much explanation as to how syplhs survive without food or water, except for a vague: "Our bodies are different from human's." I hope in the next book I can find these answers...

Ella Dewars

Let's start with the cover (because the cover is beautiful). It gives you the idea that this book will be like all of those angel paranormal-y books that I despise so much - do not trust that. This book is pretty dang awesome, and reminds me of the Caster Chronicles, which is one of my favorite series. I've actually never really read any books about elementals/air people (although I have watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra - does that count?), and this was a wonderful introduction to that category of books.


  The Good:

1. Audra. I loved her voice and her storyline, and overall I just loved her (although she did piss me off a few times). She was unique, and she was dedicated to being part of the Gale Force. Hello, kick-ass female character! She kept Vane in his place, and her guilt was written really well, so that you kinda had an idea of what she was guilty about, but didn't actually know until about halfway through.
2. The general premise of the book was really interesting. (I can't really have much elaboration there without spoilers, but the air elemental/war-ish thing was very interesting, at least to me.)
3. Vane is a pretty authentic teenage boy. (This is also a bad thing, because... Vane is an authentic teenage boy.) He actually reminded me a lot of a family friend of ours that I don't particularly like, due to certain things like a general lack of respect for girls, but he also had a softer side, and the parts where that came out were really nice.


  The Bad:

1. Vane is an authentic teenage boy. He was rather sleazy (and talked a lot about Audra's clothes getting skimpier - ugh). However, this is how approximately 85% of the teenage boys that I know are like, so I can understand why he was so nasty sometimes.
2. There were a few moments where the cliche's and the cheesiness were a bit much, but I have a hard time labeling that as bad, because I feel like there are times when it's either hard to avoid or slightly necessary.

(I actually don't really have a whole lot of bad things to say about this book... I'm sure I'll think of some later, but as of right now... nothing.)

Spoiler-y Bits!
(view spoiler)[Okay, so I so called that Audra's mom was in cahoots with Raiden. So called it. (Cahoots is also a really awesome word.) And the end fight, where Vane killed the guy to save Audra... wow. Just wow. The cheese at the end (after the fight) was a bit much, though. Just saying. (hide spoiler)]

Basically... this book was pretty freaking awesome, and I highly recommend it.

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this epic series opener from the author of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series. Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is. Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life. When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And as the storm bears down on them, she starts to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Let the sky fall

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