A Sky Beyond the Storm series finale book review

 A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

2020

Young adult fantasy fiction

Spoiler alert in full effect

A Sky Beyond the Storm is the finale to the Ember in the Ashes series (and if you’ve been following me for a while, no, you didn’t miss my review of the third book. I’ll get into that.)

A Sky Beyond the Storm follows the main characters as they try to stop the Nightbringer from destroying their world. Whereas the first book gives you an in-depth look at life in the academy and the concerns of just one town, the third and fourth installments develop the depth of Tahir’s environment with rich worldbuilding. 

The reason I didn’t write a review for the third book is because my complaints about the last two books are very similar. Character-wise, I wish I connected more with the characters. Though I still stand my first two reviews, I do believe I would have thought differently about the series if I knew Laila or Elias don't develop much past the first book. They both felt more like exposition machines than human beings. 

Elias is the soul catcher in this book, passing souls into the afterlife. His storyline is incredibly unique, I’ve never read another character in YA that’s technically dead. But his character is so stiff that his chapters quickly became my least favourite.

Helene is my favorite by far because she is the only character who continually grew and learned to be better. Compared to Elias and Laia, she travels across the empire, meets all kinds of new people that challenge her worldview, and undergoes multiple losses. Of the three main characters, she’s the typical YA lead, which I find unfortunate because she stood out the most despite bringing less to the genre compared to Laia and Elias. 

At the same time that I love her character, her storyline infuriates me because she is done DIRTY. Her vow at the end of A Sky Beyond the Storm to make the empire her husband made no sense considering her previous growth. The point I lost interest in the series was the death of her love interest because all three of the main characters have proved that death is not necessarily final in the series, so the loss came across as a forced plot point. 

Even though I didn’t love some of the character arcs and plots, I do like the exploration of war and politics. The final books go more in-depth into the long-term effects of war, racism, prejudice, and power are all explored relatively well. 

Rating 2/5: I really wish I could give this series that started with one of my favourite books this year, a higher rating, but alas, I cannot. I typically give myself a couple weeks between first drafting my reviews on paper and typing them up. Upon reviewing the series, I've felt so little about the series that started out strong and once kept me glued to the page. I absolutely adored the first book of the series and I still stand by my reviews of the first two books. An Ember in the Ashes has a completely different vibe than the rest of the series, so even though each book ends with a cliffhanger, I’d recommend just reading the first two books and then coming to your own, happy conclusion about Helene, Laia and Elias. Because this book isn’t it.