The first book in a new series from 19-year-old author Lucy Saxon, Take Back the Skies offers readers an incredibly fast-paced mixture of fantasy and steampunk. It’s full of twists and turns that will shock even the most ardent fantasy fan.
Fourteen-year-old Cat Hunter has lived a privileged, sheltered life on Tellus, a world where children approaching adolescence are “collected” to fight in a far-off war. Cat’s father, Nathaniel, is a high-ranking government official, so, unlike the commoners, their family escapes all of the hardships that come with living in a war-torn country. Her life isn’t all champagne and caviar, however. Nathaniel is a cruel, sometimes abusive father, and has promised Cat’s hand in marriage to a boy she finds loathsome. To free herself from the oppressive environment, Cat disguises herself as a boy and becomes a stowaway on the skyship Stormdancer.
After she boards the ship, nothing prepares her for what she learns about her home country and her father. And then there’s Fox, a fiery redhead with a personality she loves to hate. Soon Cat must choose between saving her father and saving the world. Will her new skyship family embrace her and go along with her insane scheme, or will they leave her in the far-flung country of Siberene?
With action on every page, Take Back the Skies is great for fans of Scott Westerfeld and Cherie Priest. With five more books to come in the series, readers won’t have to wait long to read more about this fascinating world.
