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The Sky Inside #1
The Sky Inside
Martin lives in a perfect world. Every year a new generation of genetically-engineered children is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring the residents of his town take down the snow they've stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning his family gathers around their television and votes, like everyone else, for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It's business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1. And it's all about to come crashing down. Because a stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin's sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where she has gone. The way Martin sees it, he has a choice. He can remain in the dubious safety of HM1, with danger that no one wants to talk about lurking just beneath the surface, or he can actually break out of the suburb, into the mysterious land outside, rumored to be nothing but blowing sand for miles upon miles. Acclaimed author Clare B. Dunkle has crafted a fresh and fast-paced science-fiction thriller, one that challenges her characters—and her readers—to look closer at the world they take for granted.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2008
29 people are currently reading
5664 people want to read
About the author
Clare B. Dunkle
14 books389 followersI was born Clare Buckalew in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in Denton, Texas, a city north of Dallas. I earned my B.A. in Russian with a minor in Latin from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from Indiana University with a master's degree in library science, I came back to San Antonio to work when my husband, Joe, joined the engineering staff at Kelly Air Force Base. I earned tenure as the monographs cataloger at Trinity University's Coates Library from 1990 to 1999; then I left the library to homeschool my two daughters, Valerie and Elena. My family moved to Germany in 2000, and we lived for seven years in the Rheinland Pfalz region, not far from the old Roman city of Trier. We returned to San Antonio in the summer of 2007, when my younger daughter Elena began college. In 2012, now grandparents, Joe and I moved back to Germany, where we are once again enjoying the bike trails, wine fests, and amazing travel opportunities. We hope to live here at least through 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 221 reviews
January 20, 2010
Things that are flawless about this book: the cover. And I don't mean that as a jab, the cover is just very awesome.
The story? eh. It had some neat ideas - actually, it had too many neat ideas jammed all together so that none of them were very successfully explored, at least to the lengths I would have liked. It was a jumble of partially developed plotlines, so much so that I kept expecting at least some of them to come up again. The book even opens with a foreshadowy-seeming game show scene that I spent essentially the whole time expecting to come back in a much larger way than it did, with a simple comment of explanation.
This should have been a) 300 pages longer, b) a series where not all of this elements were brought up right away, or c) edited effectively.
The story? eh. It had some neat ideas - actually, it had too many neat ideas jammed all together so that none of them were very successfully explored, at least to the lengths I would have liked. It was a jumble of partially developed plotlines, so much so that I kept expecting at least some of them to come up again. The book even opens with a foreshadowy-seeming game show scene that I spent essentially the whole time expecting to come back in a much larger way than it did, with a simple comment of explanation.
This should have been a) 300 pages longer, b) a series where not all of this elements were brought up right away, or c) edited effectively.
June 30, 2008
I can't believe I read this whole book. Okay, so I started skimming in the middle. But still.
This book sounded so promising: a boy grows up in these domes that have been built by the government to shield its population from the terribleness in the outside world. His younger sister is one of the Wonder Babies (no one has children the old fashioned way, they all order them and they are delivered by a machine called a stork) that are too smart for their own good and ask too many questions about the world. Well, the government can't have these kids thinking and asking the wrong questions, so they decide to round up and "recall" the Wonder Babies, and the boy decides he needs to venture outside the dome to discover the truth about where they've been taken and the world as a whole.
Sounds interesting, right? The problem is, the author did not carry off the plot well at all. So many supposedly pivotal moments, I couldn't even understand what was going on, she was so vague in the description. I even read certain passages multiple times, hoping to understand! The pacing was another problem - it starts off slow and nothing truly exciting ever really happens. Minor characters all sound the same, and I never really got emotionally invested in the plot.
For all this, however, there are some interesting things. For example, the boy gets a "dog" from his parents as a present (all animals are really robots) and the "dog" turns out to be a modified robot that can do all sorts of illegal things... but it's never explained how the dog happened to be modified or why it was given to him. I felt like the author thought, "This would be interesting; who cares how it happened?"
I kept reading because despite the problems, I liked the premise of the book and wanted to know how it ended (though I was really left hanging on a lot of it... like the dog question...). Unfortunately, the ending was just as much of a let down. Instead of having the boy "earn" the answers of what is going on, he's basically just told by someone else how it works. And by that point, I didn't care.
Definitely not a book I'd recommend to anyone; it was incredibly disappointing. I won't be picking up anything else by this author!
This book sounded so promising: a boy grows up in these domes that have been built by the government to shield its population from the terribleness in the outside world. His younger sister is one of the Wonder Babies (no one has children the old fashioned way, they all order them and they are delivered by a machine called a stork) that are too smart for their own good and ask too many questions about the world. Well, the government can't have these kids thinking and asking the wrong questions, so they decide to round up and "recall" the Wonder Babies, and the boy decides he needs to venture outside the dome to discover the truth about where they've been taken and the world as a whole.
Sounds interesting, right? The problem is, the author did not carry off the plot well at all. So many supposedly pivotal moments, I couldn't even understand what was going on, she was so vague in the description. I even read certain passages multiple times, hoping to understand! The pacing was another problem - it starts off slow and nothing truly exciting ever really happens. Minor characters all sound the same, and I never really got emotionally invested in the plot.
For all this, however, there are some interesting things. For example, the boy gets a "dog" from his parents as a present (all animals are really robots) and the "dog" turns out to be a modified robot that can do all sorts of illegal things... but it's never explained how the dog happened to be modified or why it was given to him. I felt like the author thought, "This would be interesting; who cares how it happened?"
I kept reading because despite the problems, I liked the premise of the book and wanted to know how it ended (though I was really left hanging on a lot of it... like the dog question...). Unfortunately, the ending was just as much of a let down. Instead of having the boy "earn" the answers of what is going on, he's basically just told by someone else how it works. And by that point, I didn't care.
Definitely not a book I'd recommend to anyone; it was incredibly disappointing. I won't be picking up anything else by this author!
December 4, 2013
Martin lives in HM1, a seemingly perfect world. But when a stranger comes to town to take away the latest shipment of children, the new Wonder Babies, Martin wonders why no one is asking any questions and why no one call tell him where they've taken his little sister, Cassie, a Wonder Baby. So he sets out to find the answers for himself.
When I first read the inside cover of this book I was really intrigued and couldn't wait to start it. The first 40 pages were really good, they reminded me of The City of Ember (Jeane DuPrau) and The Giver (Lois Lowry), two of my favorite books. As the plot progressed though, I found my attention wavering and slowly it lost a little bit of its likeness to the aforementioned books. I liked the concept of the story and found myself interested and wanting to know what would happen next. I thought this was a pretty cool science fiction story for juvenile readers. I was tingling with excitement as I read the first couple of pages, but some of the luster fell off when I got to the middle and neared the end. Still, it was a good book and I am looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...
When I first read the inside cover of this book I was really intrigued and couldn't wait to start it. The first 40 pages were really good, they reminded me of The City of Ember (Jeane DuPrau) and The Giver (Lois Lowry), two of my favorite books. As the plot progressed though, I found my attention wavering and slowly it lost a little bit of its likeness to the aforementioned books. I liked the concept of the story and found myself interested and wanting to know what would happen next. I thought this was a pretty cool science fiction story for juvenile readers. I was tingling with excitement as I read the first couple of pages, but some of the luster fell off when I got to the middle and neared the end. Still, it was a good book and I am looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...
November 25, 2010
The Sky Inside reminded me a little bit of the Giver, but with more technology and not as much finesse. The majority of the story takes place in a city built under a large metal dome and all the mysteries that come with such a location.
I felt that there was a bit too much time spent on half hearted attempts at world-building (that didn't quite do it for me) and not enough time spent actually answering the questions about the world. There is a big spiel at the end explaining the world, but I would have liked to see more of that worked into the plot somehow. It ended up feeling like a recap for the kid main character who wasn't exactly getting it.
I also wonder why this is considered young adult. I guess because of the age of the main character, who is a teen, but it just felt like it should have been geared toward a younger audience. Anything this teenager did in the book could have, in context, been pulled off by a ten year old. To me, it just seemed like something I might have read around that age.
The reason I say this is because there was no romantic storyline, which is extremely prominent in most young adult, and there wasn't really violence, gore, or other intense scenes that are usually aimed at the teen market. There was no suspense to speak of either.
Overall, I'd give an A for concept. But a D for the execution of it. Great premise, just not very exciting or enthralling.
I felt that there was a bit too much time spent on half hearted attempts at world-building (that didn't quite do it for me) and not enough time spent actually answering the questions about the world. There is a big spiel at the end explaining the world, but I would have liked to see more of that worked into the plot somehow. It ended up feeling like a recap for the kid main character who wasn't exactly getting it.
I also wonder why this is considered young adult. I guess because of the age of the main character, who is a teen, but it just felt like it should have been geared toward a younger audience. Anything this teenager did in the book could have, in context, been pulled off by a ten year old. To me, it just seemed like something I might have read around that age.
The reason I say this is because there was no romantic storyline, which is extremely prominent in most young adult, and there wasn't really violence, gore, or other intense scenes that are usually aimed at the teen market. There was no suspense to speak of either.
Overall, I'd give an A for concept. But a D for the execution of it. Great premise, just not very exciting or enthralling.
July 26, 2018
I was actually impressed with this one book , at the begginning it felt more of likea juvenile book but as I kept listening to it the themes changed and it became more complex. I liked the world that the author created and the compexity behind it . At some points it gelt more like it was a cautonary tale about technology but it turned out to be a good book towards the end. looking forward to reading the sequel .
September 22, 2008
i'm only giving this two stars because it has some interesting plot points. really, it was more like a one-star book. this book takes on way more than it can handle in the number of pages it contains. it's supposedly a futuristic "what-if" sort of tale, but it goes in so many different directions that i just found it irritating. so these people live in a big (literal) bubble and apparently, most of them do not work and are paid to stay home and buy things, thereby contributing to the economy by consuming. (interesting point... could be a book by itself!) no one gives birth anymore, children are created/designed/engineered and sent to you after you fill out a ton of paperwork (also interesting). there are no living pets in the dome, except for one boy who has captured a rat that somehow infiltrated the bubble--the rest of the pets are computers that can change their appearance to be whatever you want them to be. (interesting) there are all sorts of interesting questions--what exists outside the bubble? what happened to the rest of humanity? who is this "president" dude that comes on the television each morning and presents the whole population with a topic to vote (instantly with remote controls) on and do they actually count the votes? but because all of these interesting points are crammed into this short book, along with a pied-piper storyline (which i found very disconcerting--fairytales in futuristic novel?!) and flat dialogue (the characters say "duh!" a lot)....i thought the book had a lot of unfulfilled potential.
July 11, 2016
I'm clearly in the vast minority here, but wow, this was actually painful for me to read. I thought the dialogue was terrible, the characters flat and uninteresting, and all the actions and interactions felt forced and unrealistic. I couldn't connect to any of it. It's been compared to The Other Side of the Island, and yes, I felt the exact same way about that one--it's another of those stories for kids and young adults where the language feels really oversimplified and dumbed down, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I couldn't finish it.
March 7, 2018
Wow, okay.
I didn’t like The Hunger Games, and couldn’t get into Divergent. I am not a fan of all the popular dystopias, but dystopia is my favorite genre. I was desperately looking for a truly good dystopia when I stumbled upon The Sky Inside. And wow, did it fulfill my expectations!
What did I like about it? I loved Martin’s dystopian world, and all the details associated with it. While the characters were somewhat one-dimensional, they were developed to a point where you did care about what happened to Cassie and the other characters. For me, it is the details that make a dystopia, and this book was rich in descriptions and details for every last thing. I really enjoyed the way this novel portrayed kids hating having to watch television, and there were several laugh-out-loud moments for me. The bots and “toys” were a picture of dystopia and written well. The mystery behind it all had me turning page after page, wondering what exactly would happen next. I won’t spill any more details for all of you who plan to read it, but let me say I found it amazing.
On the downside, I found the plot somewhat hard to keep track of. The author’s ideas were very complex, and she seemed to have trouble describing and putting to paper (or so it seemed), and I found myself, on few occasions, rereading page after page to find out what exactly Martin is doing, and why. It did not affect the whole scheme of things, but it was annoying to having to keep rereading things. The plot proved to be somewhat predictable as well.
As for Martin as a character, I felt he did not truly feel enough; Also, the ending was not at all what I was wanting, or expecting. It was waaaaaaay too simple and easy.
Yet, the explanations were well-written and easy to understand.
On the other hand, I did like the ending in the sense that it was open for a sequel without being a cliffhanger or leaving too many things unanswered. While enough is resolved so we are content, enough is left open to be resolved in the sequel, so even though the ending is abrupt, we are satisifed. (Well, despite that sudden need to read the sequel.)
I will note there were several, maybe-too-close similarities to the Giver—escaping into the true world + climate in particular. However, that was really the only thing that stuck out to me as “Giver!”, and it was easy to overlook; overall, I enjoyed it.
To summarize, even though there were things I disliked, the good things outweighed the bad things by far. Very intriguing, suspenseful, and just overall an amazing book. If you are a dystopian-loving person like me, but you won’t take just any old dystopia (example, you don’t like Hunger Games), then this is for you. Clean, good topic, and no physical violence, I’d recommend this for all ages. FIVE STARS!!!!
P.S. I’ve seen other people compare it to The Other Side of the Island (Allegra Goodman) and I will say, after reading the reviews, the similiarities are DEFINITELY there. However, I completely overlooked it during the read and it didn’t even enter my mind. I am a HUGE fan of Island, and this didn’t even strike me as copying. Just reassuring all you Island fans out there :)
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I didn’t like The Hunger Games, and couldn’t get into Divergent. I am not a fan of all the popular dystopias, but dystopia is my favorite genre. I was desperately looking for a truly good dystopia when I stumbled upon The Sky Inside. And wow, did it fulfill my expectations!
What did I like about it? I loved Martin’s dystopian world, and all the details associated with it. While the characters were somewhat one-dimensional, they were developed to a point where you did care about what happened to Cassie and the other characters. For me, it is the details that make a dystopia, and this book was rich in descriptions and details for every last thing. I really enjoyed the way this novel portrayed kids hating having to watch television, and there were several laugh-out-loud moments for me. The bots and “toys” were a picture of dystopia and written well. The mystery behind it all had me turning page after page, wondering what exactly would happen next. I won’t spill any more details for all of you who plan to read it, but let me say I found it amazing.
On the downside, I found the plot somewhat hard to keep track of. The author’s ideas were very complex, and she seemed to have trouble describing and putting to paper (or so it seemed), and I found myself, on few occasions, rereading page after page to find out what exactly Martin is doing, and why. It did not affect the whole scheme of things, but it was annoying to having to keep rereading things. The plot proved to be somewhat predictable as well.
As for Martin as a character, I felt he did not truly feel enough; Also, the ending was not at all what I was wanting, or expecting. It was waaaaaaay too simple and easy.
Yet, the explanations were well-written and easy to understand.
On the other hand, I did like the ending in the sense that it was open for a sequel without being a cliffhanger or leaving too many things unanswered. While enough is resolved so we are content, enough is left open to be resolved in the sequel, so even though the ending is abrupt, we are satisifed. (Well, despite that sudden need to read the sequel.)
I will note there were several, maybe-too-close similarities to the Giver—escaping into the true world + climate in particular. However, that was really the only thing that stuck out to me as “Giver!”, and it was easy to overlook; overall, I enjoyed it.
To summarize, even though there were things I disliked, the good things outweighed the bad things by far. Very intriguing, suspenseful, and just overall an amazing book. If you are a dystopian-loving person like me, but you won’t take just any old dystopia (example, you don’t like Hunger Games), then this is for you. Clean, good topic, and no physical violence, I’d recommend this for all ages. FIVE STARS!!!!
P.S. I’ve seen other people compare it to The Other Side of the Island (Allegra Goodman) and I will say, after reading the reviews, the similiarities are DEFINITELY there. However, I completely overlooked it during the read and it didn’t even enter my mind. I am a HUGE fan of Island, and this didn’t even strike me as copying. Just reassuring all you Island fans out there :)
Like my reviews? Follow my blog:
http://jcbuchanan.com
August 22, 2024
My husband read this book when he was in 8th grade going into 9th, and he told me about it. He recommended Fight Club to me before this, and it took me over a year to read that.
He told me about this book under the guise that it was a mixture of Hunger Games and Maze Runner, and I started reading it on an hour long drive that we took to go to our State Fair...(this was on a Monday after 5 pm) Fast forward to August 21st and I have finished it. I will say that it ended rather abruptly, and I feel like the story was unfinished, but I enjoyed reading this book.
I enjoyed Martin as a character, and watching his relationship with Chip change as he realized Chip was his companion through anything. I also loved how far he went to make sure his little sister was okay. I cried when Cassie got taken away on the packet, along with all the other Wonder Babies.
Overall, this was an easygoing read, I chuckled a few times, and I was on the edge of my seat a few other times. I want to read the second book in the series and hopefully eventually I will be able to do that.
He told me about this book under the guise that it was a mixture of Hunger Games and Maze Runner, and I started reading it on an hour long drive that we took to go to our State Fair...(this was on a Monday after 5 pm) Fast forward to August 21st and I have finished it. I will say that it ended rather abruptly, and I feel like the story was unfinished, but I enjoyed reading this book.
I enjoyed Martin as a character, and watching his relationship with Chip change as he realized Chip was his companion through anything. I also loved how far he went to make sure his little sister was okay. I cried when Cassie got taken away on the packet, along with all the other Wonder Babies.
Overall, this was an easygoing read, I chuckled a few times, and I was on the edge of my seat a few other times. I want to read the second book in the series and hopefully eventually I will be able to do that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2011
Didn't particularly care for the narrator and for a short YA book this seemed to take forever for me to finish. I've read The Giver which has similar themes but a literary, fairytale quality to it, and The Feed which takes the futuristic bubble suburb idea to the extreme. This story falls somewhere between the two in terms of the dystopic nature of the future society but wasn't as well written or clever as either of those. Lots of good ideas but I just felt it failed to deliver really - too many plot holes or convenient but unexplained answers (like the fact the main character only manages to do what he does because of his robot dog - a modified super clever dog that is technically illegal for him to have in the first place - but how it came to be modified or into his possession is just left as a huge blank). IDK, might be Ok for a "young" YA reader I guess.
January 10, 2009
This book reminds me of why I enjoy Star Trek. (I know, Scott, I've just sunk lower in your eyes.) As someone who likes to ponder the future, I appreciate the central message of Star Trek, which is that mankind is essentially good -- and the best is yet to come. Sadly, you don't get that kind of optimism in most sci fi. This book is another one of those futuristic distopia nightmare stories. I only finished it because I felt compelled to find out what happens to the characters, but then the ending was so dissatisfying I was upset I bothered. If you're going to write a book in this tired genre, you better include some insightful social commentary or at least give us something that feels even slightly fresh. This book does neither.
February 10, 2017
Often when I read books with a child as a main character, I feel that the child acts distinctly unchildlike. This is a book where the kid acts well, like a kid. He makes poor decisions, leaps to conclusions and had me saying "No, don't do that!" I found the character pretty believable, if frustrating at times.
I had a bit of trouble with the worldbuilding. I found it a bit of a stretch to accept that so many people were willing to pretty much sit around and do nothing. Perhaps it was seeing it through a child's, and you weren't seeing the dissidents that surely would have existed.
I would have liked an explanation for the arrival of superdog though.
I found it a pretty enjoyable read, and would recommend it to hardcore fans of YA dystopian tales.
I had a bit of trouble with the worldbuilding. I found it a bit of a stretch to accept that so many people were willing to pretty much sit around and do nothing. Perhaps it was seeing it through a child's, and you weren't seeing the dissidents that surely would have existed.
I would have liked an explanation for the arrival of superdog though.
I found it a pretty enjoyable read, and would recommend it to hardcore fans of YA dystopian tales.
October 16, 2011
[edit, 10/2011] Just re-read this for possible inclusion in the Tome O'Dystopia. I'm having trouble coming up with anything to say about it, because there's just not much to this. The sequel, IIRC, gets more into the world setting and what the political structure is like, but I don't have the investment to reread that one, too. This is just a boring book about a kid and his magical dog-bot.
***
There's a lot of convenience here, plot elements that just fall into place as necessary--and disappear as neatly, too. It starts slow and keeps going, plodding along without creating any investment in the plot for the reader. Not a bad book, but definitely not great, either. [7/2008]
***
There's a lot of convenience here, plot elements that just fall into place as necessary--and disappear as neatly, too. It starts slow and keeps going, plodding along without creating any investment in the plot for the reader. Not a bad book, but definitely not great, either. [7/2008]
February 26, 2016
The story felt disjointed. Martin would all of a sudden be in a new location and I couldn't figure out how he gotten there or why. He also said and did things that a young child would, not a teenager. The constantly transforming dog was too incredible to be believable. Needless to say, I didn't finish the book.
December 26, 2014
This book destroyed me. It was a pretty bad book in my opinion. There was no character development and it seemed like a book for small children (junior) and not a book for young adults. It had a very overused plot so I did not enjoy it. It was quite a pain to read.
May 2, 2008
Pretty good but so much was left unexplained. The strength was in the characters - I did keep reading to find out what happened to them. The morphing robotic dog was a nice touch.
December 29, 2017
Dunkle, Clare The Sky Inside, 229 p. Atheneum (Simon), 2008.
Martin's world is perfect. Okay, maybe his genius little sister is annoying, but he still loves her. Life in his climate protected dome is safe and normal and pretty much without challenges. Then the day comes when the government sends someone to take away all of the children of his sister's generation, because of a defect in their genetic programming, promising to replace them if the parents want. The children go with the man, but then the government comes and no one is sure who they sent the children with. Now Martin has no problem deciding that he must go after his sister. I may mean leaving the dome. It may mean going against the governement and risking death, but Martin is determined. What is outside the dome? He won't know until he goes.
This is not my best review, because my 16 year old son took the book from me after I read it and I haven't seen it since. I insisted that I write Clare Dunkle and tell her that there had better be a sequel (there will be - thanks Clare). He adores it, just as I did. You may know Clare for her Hollow Kingdom Trilogy (if not - buy them now); she is just as good in science fiction! I could spend paragraphs in the various themes and depths of this expertly crafted writing, but I want you to discover it for yourself.
MS, HS - ESSENTIAL
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008/...
Martin's world is perfect. Okay, maybe his genius little sister is annoying, but he still loves her. Life in his climate protected dome is safe and normal and pretty much without challenges. Then the day comes when the government sends someone to take away all of the children of his sister's generation, because of a defect in their genetic programming, promising to replace them if the parents want. The children go with the man, but then the government comes and no one is sure who they sent the children with. Now Martin has no problem deciding that he must go after his sister. I may mean leaving the dome. It may mean going against the governement and risking death, but Martin is determined. What is outside the dome? He won't know until he goes.
This is not my best review, because my 16 year old son took the book from me after I read it and I haven't seen it since. I insisted that I write Clare Dunkle and tell her that there had better be a sequel (there will be - thanks Clare). He adores it, just as I did. You may know Clare for her Hollow Kingdom Trilogy (if not - buy them now); she is just as good in science fiction! I could spend paragraphs in the various themes and depths of this expertly crafted writing, but I want you to discover it for yourself.
MS, HS - ESSENTIAL
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008/...
December 10, 2019
I got major The Giver type of vibes while reading this and I honestly can't complain because I love the The Giver. Dystopian novels continue to be a major fixture in my literature reading tastes. The older I get, the more it blows me away at the youthfulness of the main characters in young adult literature.
Martin is 13 and everything in his seemingly perfect world changes when he gets an AllDog for his birthday because it's not like any other AllDog, it's much more than that. That comes in handy when his sister Cassie is taken from their dome along with all the other genetically modified Wonder kids. Things are not right and nothing is as it seems. It's all up to Martin to get his sister back and figure out what's going on.
I really loved the twists and turns in the story and how certain characteristics in Martin were explained and shown throughout the story. It raised a lot of ethical questions on science involving genetics and in what ways genetically modifying human beings could lead to catastrophe.
Martin is 13 and everything in his seemingly perfect world changes when he gets an AllDog for his birthday because it's not like any other AllDog, it's much more than that. That comes in handy when his sister Cassie is taken from their dome along with all the other genetically modified Wonder kids. Things are not right and nothing is as it seems. It's all up to Martin to get his sister back and figure out what's going on.
I really loved the twists and turns in the story and how certain characteristics in Martin were explained and shown throughout the story. It raised a lot of ethical questions on science involving genetics and in what ways genetically modifying human beings could lead to catastrophe.
October 5, 2023
Why, oh why, didn't I DNF this book? Set in the future, humans live in domes controlled by the evil government. What does the government make all adults do? Not work, watch TV, and buy things. Really. The whole goal of the evil government (which may or may not have been made of robots) was to make adults do nothing but watch TV and buy stuff. Why? Because them buying things kept the economy working. Where in the world is the logic in that?
The main character (a teenage boy who comes off more like a 7-8 year old kid) somehow (SOMEHOW!) got a magic robot dog. No real animal pets exist, all pets are robot animals, but he SOMEHOW got one that was hacked and reprogramed to be a superhero-level creature. SOMEHOW. Never in the book is it explained how the dog got hacked and reprogrammed (which is highly illegal) and how in the world it ended up just randomly in the main character's hands.
The Goodreads reviews of this book are more entertaining than the book itself. So negative! GR reviews generally lean towards positive and nice, so this book was really damned by them.
The main character (a teenage boy who comes off more like a 7-8 year old kid) somehow (SOMEHOW!) got a magic robot dog. No real animal pets exist, all pets are robot animals, but he SOMEHOW got one that was hacked and reprogramed to be a superhero-level creature. SOMEHOW. Never in the book is it explained how the dog got hacked and reprogrammed (which is highly illegal) and how in the world it ended up just randomly in the main character's hands.
The Goodreads reviews of this book are more entertaining than the book itself. So negative! GR reviews generally lean towards positive and nice, so this book was really damned by them.
May 16, 2020
Like everyone else, the cover totally caught my eye! Absolutely perfect. The story itself might not be either, but I really enjoyed it. I was hooked once the technology of this book universe became promising. So, basically, when Martin gets Chip. I like that this isn’t a romantic story. It is about love, but one between siblings. There are some elements of the plot that I think could’ve used some work. Primarily, for example, how easily Martin escapes from the domes. He’s a teenager and somehow outsmarts all adults and he’s not even a WonderBaby. And the ending seemed abrupt, though I do see there’s a sequel so maybe that can help redeem that. Even still, I recommend it. And the audiobook voice actor does a great job. A soothing, yet creative, voice that captures the tone of the story with narration vs. dialogue. Looking forward to the sequel!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2017
I got this book's title from a best-of-young-adult-science-fiction-dystopian list. I bought it from a friends of the library sale.
It's difficult to classify this book as post-apocalyptic because the apocalypse isn't obvious. Why else would everyone live in a dome?
There are flashes of brilliance with new ideas. There are also times when the author depends on then-a-miracle-happens style of writing. The writing was uneven but I really ended up liking the Wonder Babies. I felt sympathy for the mom and understood the fears of the father.
I'm going to put this one on my shelves but I need to read book #2 to figure out how I'm going to recommend it.
It's difficult to classify this book as post-apocalyptic because the apocalypse isn't obvious. Why else would everyone live in a dome?
There are flashes of brilliance with new ideas. There are also times when the author depends on then-a-miracle-happens style of writing. The writing was uneven but I really ended up liking the Wonder Babies. I felt sympathy for the mom and understood the fears of the father.
I'm going to put this one on my shelves but I need to read book #2 to figure out how I'm going to recommend it.
June 15, 2017
I enjoyed this book's consumerist commentary. It touched on some interesting ideas that gifted kids could probably relate too, like society not accepting the Wonder Babies. However, I would not recommend using it in the classroom unless you're ready to discuss where babies come from. Also, had some far fetched details that were never explained. Overall, great concept but just an average execution.
October 8, 2018
The Sky Inside has a very rich plot leading up to the climax. The story line is very good and descriptive to get a feeling of the setting and where they are and how the government plays a role in the book. It is a Science Fiction book. The Author's writing style is very descriptive of the setting and characters. The difficulty/reading level is probably around 9th - 10th grade. I enjoyed the characters, how the plot was setup, and how you knew every detail. The only thing I dislike about the novel is how it kind of ends a little abrupt. This would appeal to anyone who like a science fiction, and mystery book.
October 30, 2018
Although I do like reading dystopian tales, this one disappointed me. I realize it is probably intended for children (maybe around fifth or sixth grade), but even knowing that I couldn't get into it. The writing what too formulaic and the characters flat. There was just too much telling and not enough showing for me. I will not be reading the next book in this series, sadly.
April 6, 2020
The plot of this book had tons of potential, but unfortunately, it felt very poorly written. There was very little character development and nothing was really explained (and not in a good, 'keep you thinking' way either). Instead, much of it just felt lazy...as if the author was looking for a easy way for XYZ to happen but couldn't be bothered to explain or make sense of the action.
July 16, 2020
This was interesting. I grabbed it during one of my random grab bags of available now audiobooks in a genre. It skews a bit young due to the narrator while not completely ignoring some heavier themes. I'm curious to know more behind the various elements that caused the events in this book that weren't fully answered, and I hope the second book helps.
July 3, 2021
I liked the concept of this book but a little disappointed that it lightly explained why the world is the way it is. I would love to know why the main character is the way he is and how he came to be. I’d love to know why his parents are the way they are. It had me in a world I would love to know more about.
January 6, 2018
Although this wasn't really in my age range it was a good read and an interesting dystopian world
February 21, 2020
probably aimed at middle grade but the plot and writing was good enough to entertain me and string me along to the conclusion
April 26, 2021
3.5 stars
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