Skylark (Skylark #1)

I've read a lot of just good and pretty meh books lately and let me tell you, Skylark was a breath of fresh air. This is the book I've been waiting for and silly me didn't pick it up until now.

Man, I just don't even know where to start because Skylark is just this explosion of awesomeness packed in between two covers. There's just enough action and suspense to keep me glued to the pages without being overwhelming. The little (and big) mysteries of the world and the story are subtly weaved in so it doesn't feel like the reader is constantly being bombarded with THIS IS A MYSTERY AND IT'S A MYSTERY SO I WON'T TELL YOU WHAT IT IS YET.
And oh my gosh, the twists. Yeah, I didn't see any of them coming. Well, there might be one, but I don't really think Spooner was hiding it from the reader, only Lark. It was so nice to actually not know what was going to happen which has been the case with most of my reads lately.

I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a lot to take in at first, but I got into the groove of the world after a bit and loved it. It's absolutely nothing like anything I've read before. I love the idea of magic being some kind of natural resource. And, as with any limited supply of anything, the government has complete control over it. So the magic isn't for personal use, instead, the city uses it to power itself. And we're talking everything from their artificial sun to little “pixies” which fly on their own and serve kind of as a police alarm (can that be a thing). I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I found the pockets of magic fascinating (read it and you'll know what I mean ;])

And boy, does Spooner have a way with characters. I fell in love with all of them. Well, besides a certain guy (no, I didn't even like him from the moment he was introduced) and the rest of the evil city people.
Lark was stubborn and scared and realistic. She had some serious trust issues so I wanted to shake her and be like “just trust them!” but I can't exactly fault her for it. I wouldn't trust anything or anyone after what she'd been through either.
Ohmygosh, Nix. I liked it (always thought of it as a her for some reason) from the moment it entered the story. I can't really say much about it since 1) it's kind of confusing and 2) it's a little spoilery.
Oh, Oren. Despite all the reasons he wasn't to be trusted I just kept thinking “Lark and Oren 4evah.” He's such a complex and wonderful character. Talk about a tortured soul (not in the usual way, though. Ponder that one!)

The Nutshell: Basically, I could go on and on about Skylark so you should just trust me on this one and go read it. I mean it has magic, complex characters, twists you'll never see coming (unless you're the master of figuring things out), and a world that you've probably never seen the likes of before.

Direct Hit

When I first got Skylark, I thought it would be one of those cheesy books where the world is contained to this one area, and the leaders are like 'killing them silently', and the protagonist has to escape otherwise they are next. Well, it was like that, but it wasn't cheesy, and I reckon it was extra awesome. When I got to the part where Lark was being 'Harvested', I knew that this book was different, as she didn't escape before the 'bad thing' happened. It was a brilliant book because it was similar to other books, but so so so different.

The thing that annoyed me a bit was that how Lark and everyone else see that 'The Harvest' was bad. It even sounded a bit suspicious, people are not meant to be harvested. The people had been brainwashed to think that the rulers of the city stealing your 'Resource' is a good thing, couldn't one person see what was clearly happening. Well, that little thing annoyed me.

I was so depressed when I found out all that stuff about Oren. It was so heartbreaking. He seemed like a normal person. I know there were clues throughout the entire story, like the dead animal, the moments of rage and confusion, but it still was a major surprise.

I really liked Lark, but sometimes she seemed a bit off to me. She was scared of the sky, that was strange. I know that she hadn't seen the sky before, but its amazing, not scary. And she didn't like getting dirty, and didn't even give meat a chance, even after tasting it and liking it. I loved all the other times though, she was a great heroine.

I enjoyed Skylark so much more than I expected, and cannot wait until the next one comes out. I will definitely be one of the first to buy it, then read it in a day. I loved this book soooo much.