SkyWhisperers by Natasja Hellenthal

4 Stars

Publisher: Beyond Books Press

Date of publication: January 29th, 2016

Genre: Fantasy, LGBTIA, Romance, Young Adult

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis:

With the disappearing of the winds, the magic held by the once-mighty, immortal Sky Whisperers was shattered. Their influence over the natural world lost. Now only the small powers are left to Xenthia and her people, helping to sustain life–what little remains. For the world of Lorian is hot, dry and dying.                

Unaware of her involvement in this, crippled and one-eyed Nemsa, leads a small, miserable life in a mountain village, close to where she was found as a baby, twenty-five years before. When one day she meets the alluring Xenthia it becomes clear that her path lies far above and beyond all she is familiar with.      

But what is expected of her? How can she trust what she has been told? And how can Nemsa even hope to stand up against the supremacy of a powerful, vengeful, and ambitious Sun Whisperer? Will the love and courage in her heart be enough?

Magic is at work, a fatal sickness is spreading among mortals and immortals alike, the sun is brutally beating down, and the fate of all hangs in the balance. And if Nemsa is to fulfill her destiny and save the world, she must find her way through it all . . .

Follow Nemsa and Xenthia in this Epic, Dystopian, YA Interracial Lesbian Fantasy tale of courage, true love, redemption, and hope.

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My review:

SkyWhisperers starts 25 years past a catastrophic event that shakes the land of Lorian. The wind is gone, and when the wind disappeared, the land just stopped producing. There were barely any crops because of the relentless sun beating down. Animals started dying off, and the ones that did survive came out at night. Same with the birds. The rain was uncommon, and fires were rampant. In more recent years, a terrible sickness started cutting through the remaining human population. It was hell on earth.

Nemsa is a crippled outcast in her village. She is shunned because the villagers hold her accountable for the winds stopping. The day after they stopped, she was found lying on a path by her adoptive mother. She was treated horribly by those villagers when she was younger, but she got over it, and it made her into the woman I met in this book.

Nemsa is wandering some old ruins by her town when she meets Xenthia, a Sky Whisperer. There was almost an instant attraction between Nemsa and Xenthia (who Nemsa calls Blue), but neither is willing to act on it. If a Sky Whisperer becomes emotionally attached to a mortal, they lose their immortality and powers, and that is something that Xenthia does NOT want to do. So their attraction is held too long, stares at each other and longing.

Nemsa goes with Xenthia to the Upper Sky Dome (where the Sky Whisperers live) after finding out who her parents are. Her father was a Sky Whisperer and her mother a mortal. He lost his powers because he fell in love with her mother. Unfortunately, she didn’t return his love, and that enraged him. So he visited her and raped her….which caused her to get pregnant with Nemsa. Then, which was the kicker here, he found out when she was in labor, got very angry when she refused to be with him, lashed out with the powers he had left, killed her and severely injured Nemsa in the process (hence her blind eye and bad leg). Xenthia wanted her to go to Upper Sky to see if A) she could be a Sky Whisperer and B) to go and vanquish her father….who had imprisoned the 4 Guardians of the World and in turn, stopped the winds.

I loved the transformation that Nesma went through in this book. She went from a scared, disabled girl to a woman who had to be strong enough to defeat a madman and save the world. It was terrific, and I loved it!!

I didn’t care for Xenthia for the first half of the book. She was leading Nesma, but at the same time, she wasn’t. It is hard to explain, and you need to read the book to understand what I am trying to explain. The sex scenes, when it finally did happen, were tastefully written. Nothing explicit. More of just the feelings between these two women as they finally realize they are in love with each other.

On that note, I also liked that the author made same-sex relationships the norm in Upper Sky Dome. Nesma was amazed when she found that out. The reason why the Guardians are the only ones who can procreate, and they fostered same-sex in their children. Not saying that there were heterosexual relationships, there were, but same-sex relationships were preferred.

This story is in 1st person perspective from both Xenthia and Nesma’s perspective. This is the one time that I will say that I liked it. Usually, jumping from character to character in a book drives me nuts, but it worked here.

The rest of the story was fantastic, but I am not going to go into it. There is a twist almost at the end of the book that I did see coming, but when it was revealed, it still took my breath away.

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I would give SkyWhisperers an Older Teen rating. There is sex. There is mild language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I would reread SkyWhisperers. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**