The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy #1)

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4.3 (2)

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Author(s)

Nick James

Publisher

Flux

Genre(s)

Science Fiction

Age Range

12+

Release Date

September 08, 2011

ISBN

978-0738723419

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A devastated Earth's last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers—political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth's stratosphere—and the corrupt Surface government.

Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable—and dangerous—abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess.

Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn't know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

One Heck of a Book

March 28, 2012

Overall rating

4.7

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Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars was a book I had heard about briefly before BEA. I picked up a copy, thinking it looked pretty cool. Then I found out James Dashner had blurbed it, so that definitely put it on my radar. What I happened to find was one of those super rare gems of a book that are absolutely brilliant. Oh my golly, this book is absolutely, freaking fantabulous and I loved it so so much.

This book was super well written – one of the best written books I’ve read in months. Then it was told in alternating chapters between the two main characters for the majority of the book, which was super cool.

The premise of The Pearl Wars was really unique. I loved that it was unlike anything I had ever read, and then still every time I would think something was set in stone it was time for some new cool plot curve. The Pearl Wars kept my attention for the entire book – I literally sat for 3 hours and didn’t put it down until I finished. I didn’t want to.

The one thing I wish I had known was just a little more background about Madame and the government. She knew so much and sent Cassius on this mission, I just constantly wanted to know more and the waiting drove me nuts! I still would love to know more, and I hope that more of those answers are revealed in book 2.

The characters were really quite marvelous. I absolutely loved Avery. I thought she was super spunky and had so much confidence. I wasn’t Jesse’s biggest fan at first, but he was a character that really grew on me as the book went on. That really went for Cassius as well.

This book really didn’t have any romance, which was super lovely. I take that back, I guess it did, a little. But it was a super underlying plot element and really didn’t like take over the plot. It was so refreshing. There really need to be more books like this.

I cannot wait for the next book – this book was nicely tied up, but now there are so many questions I have and I am so giddy to find out where the story will go. It has been quite awhile since I’ve read a super fabulous science fiction-y read.

The Pearl Wars was a marvelous debut. It was super brilliant and comes with a super snazzy looking cover. With its original premise and fantastic cast of characters, The Pearl Wars will be a book you will not want to miss.

Erica Top 50 Reviewer 192 reviews

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User reviews

2 reviews

Overall rating

4.3

Plot

4.5(2)

Characters

4.0(2)

Writing Style

4.5(2)

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Looking Up to the Sky

October 11, 2012 (Updated: December 04, 2013)

Overall rating

5.0

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Do you ever have moments where you think, “What is it that’s really gonna take us humans out?” I sure do, and maybe that makes me a paranoid freak, but so far the list includes: outrageously contagious diseases, meteoroids, asteroids, comets (I realize those are all the same, but you gotta include them all), nuclear war, Tyra Banks, earthquakes, super hurricanes, and global warming. Thanks to Nick James’s "Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars" that list now includes rebel factions of Americans living in the sky.

"Skyship Academy" centers on a future America where Americans are now split between biodome city living ground dwellers and sky loving citizens who live in massive cities in the clouds. Now it’s the latter there who could do some serious damage. Imagine if your worst enemy was just constantly floating above you. You could never reach them, and if they ever wanted to do some serious damage, all they would have to do is let go of whatever massive death weapon they had waiting in the wings. Then blamo, you’re dead.

It’s thanks to James’s splendid writing that I know have a new paranoia to add to my list of potential world threats. Pair that with a couple of characters who have mysterious powers plus unknown origins and whamo, you’ve got the perfect combination for a great sci-fi book. The only worry I have now is that I’m constantly looking skyward for that nasty villain in the perfect position to enact world annihilation.

Good Points

A great new spin on dystopian America.

Jason Gallaher Top 50 Reviewer 106 reviews

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Pearl Wars (A Room with Books review)

August 26, 2012

Overall rating

3.7

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Skyship Academy didn’t really do it for me until the very end. The ending did redeem it for me, though and make me excited for book two.

I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters I didn’t really dislike anyone (though I wasn’t a fan of Cassius), but I didn’t really care for anyone all that much either. Fisher was okay, but to be quite honest, he was kind of a whiner sometimes. At least towards the end he started to be willing to fight for himself a little more.

I actually did really like the world. It was interesting to see a dystopian world where there was such a dividing line between two sides. There’s usually just one unified government or system but here we have Skyshippers and surface dwellers (of which there are two kinds: Chosen city dwellers and Fringe dwellers).

Skyship Academy was a lot of military-type fighting and war talk so if you like that, then you’ll probably enjoy it, but I wasn’t such a fan. However things got a little more…strange…in the end and I rather liked it. In fact, now that things are in the open in the storyline, I’m rather looking forward to the sequel.

The Nutshell: Though I didn’t enjoy a lot of Skyship Academy, I did like the ending which paved the way for me to get excited about book two. If military-ish fighting and war talk are your thing, then you’ll probably enjoy Skyship Academy. If you’re a fan of interesting dystopian worlds, give this one try.

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