School of Combat

Skyborne #1

by Taylor Night

From fantasy author Taylor Night comes the debut novel in a thrilling new epic fantasy series, SKYBORNE, ideal for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black, and Rebecca Yarros.

When 19-year-old Elyra Mistwood receives her recruitment letter, she is forced from her village and thrust into Skyborne, a dangerous academy that turns citizens into soldiers in the war against a rival kingdom. As she is trained in deadly magical disciplines and fights for her survival, she experiences an unexpected romantic pull to both the charismatic noble Caspian and the stoic, mysterious Kael.

The SKYBORNE series pulls us into a thrilling new fantasy world teeming with danger and opportunity, where fate leads our heroine to love and enchantment and tests her will to survive. An epic adventure marked by surprising developments and intense anticipation, SKYBORNE is fresh and imaginative and is sure to appeal to young adult readers as well as seasoned fans of fantasy.

Future books in the series will soon be available!

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks, Romance, Amazon, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

169 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 14, 2024

Reviews

[Brittany]

DNF @40 % The cover totally got me with this one. It’s gorgeous- sadly that’s all I can say that I liked about it. Everything moved way too fast, the world building was non existent- and the characters were bland and no personality whatsoever. There was also an overuse of fancy words for things and descriptions. It was all over the place and the only reason I really wanted to push through was because I used a hoopla credit .. 😅 but if I’m not enjoying it- no point in forcing myself. Maybe it’ll work for someone else unfortunately, this book was not for me.

[Amanda Sola · Rating 1 out of 5]

*sigh* Here we go.

For starters, this book feels like an outline for a book rather than the finished product. There are a few good moments where the author really does have an ability to write - mostly when she's describing the scenery. Outside of that, this book lacks depth on every level.

We have Elyra who is a poor nobody from a small village and she suddenly gets a letter to a beast riding school that is apparently dangerous (think, Fourth Wing but with less explanation or rules). How was she selected to go to the school? We'll never know. We get a hint that her true lineage is the reason, but I assume that's left as a mystery for later installments. The other students all seem like they had at least some sort of training for this school and pick on her for no reason other than her being poor (think Hunger Games and Elyra is from district 12 and everyone else is from the districts that train and volunteer).

Capsian, the prince I guess, takes one look at her and bam, instalove. I'm not exactly sure on the regal hierarchy though because his mom is a Lady but she also teaches at this school but they call him a prince. We never actually get any explanation on the overarching kingdom or the royal line - except that we're at war.

There is a love triangle when Kael comes in who is brooding and mysterious (think of Caspian and Kael as Dorian and Chaol in Throne of Glass). They have tension and in the end, well I don't want to spoil but literally think about Throne of Glass and how book one ended with the love triangle and you got this one.

Everything about this book from the pacing to the characters was shallow. Given how much the author tried to put into this book, it needed to be several hundred more pages to actually describe it all and give the readers character depth and world building. Without it, everything was rushed, most glaringly, the romance.

[Caitlin Shilling · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 52% "Ideal for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros"? Yeah nah I wouldn't agree. It's definitely aimed at a much younger audience and I couldn't connect to any of the characters given how fast-paced it was. Felt like there wasn't enough world building or general descriptions of anything going on. Caspian literally looked Elyra's way ONCE and suddenly they have a 'connection' and it's 'obvious' he likes her?

[Eagle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have things to say about this book.

I will start with the good things, because there were a few, and I really do think the ideas behind this had great potential.

First up, I like the female friendship shown in this book. Our main character Elyra, as soon as she arrives at Skyborne, feels quite out of place, being such a "country mouse" amidst a school full of nobles and elites. So it's nice that she is allowed to form friends pretty quick with some of the other girls in her classes. A lot of the time, the friendship feels like it's telling more than showing (much like many other areas in this book, which we shall also get into), and it had a similar overdoing-it vibe to something akin to Barbie in the Three Musketeers, but I don't read many YA books nowadays that feature solid friendships between girls, so even if it had some flaws, it was nice to see it.

Secondly, I really love the whole concept behind the Skyracers. They're like magical horses that start off as regular horses, and evolve into Super Magical horses as the bond with their chosen rider strengthens. I'm talking they gain unique powers, and fancy colours, and wings (!!!!!), and all the cool stuff that I'd like to see with Super Magical Horses. It is such a cool concept, and It had so much potential to be something awesome, which is why I'm so disappointed with this book!! It was filled with such great ideas, but they all fell short, and it read more like an initial-concept draft rather than a fully developed world and storyline, and it saddens me to the core!

So of course, I have to rant about it all. I'm going to put the rest of this in a spoiler tag, just in case, because I will not be censoring out any revealing or spoilery material in my rant.



First of all the writing: It wasn't bad, really. It had some great descriptions and the flow of sentences was never jarring or awkward. There were a few minor typos and over-repeated descriptions/terms (focus, easy boy), as well as some inconsistencies (did the MC come from Greenreach or Greenwood? Both were used), but I can forgive that. What I can't so easily forgive was how none of those nice descriptions were used to really flesh out the world and characters!!

It says it was meant for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Hollie Black, and Rebecca Yarros, but even though I've barely read anything by any of those authors, I can guarantee you that is straight-up false advertisement. This never gets dark enough to be like anything by those authors, and it's certainly not in the same league plot or writing wise. I like the clean, fun for readers of all ages style of this book, but I really wish it had pushed that angle more than the 'thrilling fantasy world' nonsense we've been fed.


World building wise.... I know absolutely nothing outside of the super magical horses, and some battle between this kingdom and the other one. I forget both kingdoms' names. What does the Skyborne academy and any of its classes look like? I don't know. Why are the kingdoms at war? I don't know. Do the Skyracers only exist at the school, or are there wild ones too? What happened to the older years' Skyracers that had already sprouted their wings? They were never mentioned. Even Elyras friends' Skyracers were hardly mentioned. Also Does everyone have magic, or only a select few? Elyra didn't seem surprised that she could do magic, so maybe it's just a learned skill? Why do all of her classmates know everything about everyone and the school itself despite being first years who only just arrived to the academy? I DON'T KNOW.

Maybe I missed it somewhere at the beginning, but what does the main character even look like???? I don't know. All I know is that she's from a nondescript country village, everyone and their mother calls her country mouse repeatedly for the first third of the book, and she's supposedly 19, which I only know from the blurb. Does she, or any of the other characters ever act 19??? Not that I saw. I got through most of this book imagining they were all 14-16 until a later chapter when they start drinking champagne. I mean we have a bunch of 19 year old women (fully grown, and legal adults!!!) daring each other to climb over the wall of a place called the FORBIDDEN GROUNDS (I mean really? that's the best this magical school could come up with?) just because??? For no reason at all? Not even to prove themselves against the girls who bully Elyra?? Why?? No one even notices and it's only brought up once throughout the rest of the novel. No consequences for this immature level of stupidity, it's just there. Another thing that defies the supposed age of the characters in this book, is use of the word 'boy' to describe the young men that must be here? I mean one time it says that some 2nd year boy comes shyly up to her table to give Elyra a gift (we never know his name or ever see him again) and then runs shyly back to his table again. This is a 20 year old man exhibiting the shy school-boy behavior of a middle-grade child. I'm half convinced that this started off as a story about 12 year olds, but then they were aged up to make the romance more believable.

SPEAKING OF THE ROMANCE, OH MY GOODNESS.

Look... I don't normally have a problem with love triangles. They're not my favourite trope, but they can be done well on occasion. This is not one of those occasions... I mean the fact that the love triangle is mentioned right up front in the blurb should have been a red flag off the bat.

I like both Caspian and Kael as separate characters and as separate love interests. What I don't like is that Elyra is literally attracted to them both. That would be fine if she stuck to her guns and dedicated herself to one guy and one guy only. But no. She meets Caspian first. I think he's a prince. Or at least a Lord's son. Either way, he's the future ruler of this land (the name of which I have forgotten, and I'm half convinced it was never mentioned) He's nice to her, and good looking to boot, so I can't blame her for falling for him. I think he's in one of the older years, but at the same time he could be a teacher, because he acts like a mentor in one of the classes (which is conveniently taught by Caspian's mother), and I don't see him doing any other work around the grounds. But then he's declaring his affection for Elyra after seeing her doing well in her classes (which is mostly due to her friends' help, I don't know what the actual professors are there for), and they go into this sort of almost secret relationship that they're keeping hidden from Caspian's mother because they're from two very different classes.

But while this is going on (and before it even happens), Elyra also meets Kael, who is this "mysterious" boy in her class who acts really emotionless and distant, so of course she's immediately interested by him, as well. After she gets caught with Caspian (not even doing anything romantic, they were literally just training) and his mother goes off at them both for it, she's partnered up with Kael in one of her other classes, and out of the blue, he confesses that he's attracted to her, too, for God knows what reason, but he's jealous of her and Caspian, and is upset that they're looking at each other the way that they're looking at each other, even though Kael has literally only given Elyra cold indifferent looks?? How was she supposed to know? She doesn't owe you anything!!

Again, I do like both of these characters, or at least I like what they could have been if the author had pushed it a little further and developed them a little more. But alas... we are left with a really infuriating love triangle, where the hot rich mysterious guys (with little to no defining traits outside of the ones mentioned in the blurb) are in love with the main character for some undisclosed reason, and I suspect she's about to pull them both along for the next four books because she has no apparent sense of loyalty or dedication, she's just willing to fall for whatever guy says nice things in the moment, and teaches her cool magic tricks to help her pass the trials.

The trials in in question... I don't have much to say about them. They were there. The characters did things. They fought monsters, they climbed cliffs.

Alright, maybe I do have something to say about the trials, because one time, they had to charge at each other on the backs of the Skyracers, like a combination between jousting and a game of chicken, and for some reason Elyra was pitted against a 3rd year boy (who's Skyracer didn't appear to have its wings despite the fact that they have to do that whole leap of faith wing-sprouting challenge at the end of their 1st year), and she won by just... leaping over the opponent? Which had never been done by anyone ever before?? No one in the history of the Skyborne academy had ever thought to just... not collide with their opponent in the charge???? And this Charge challenge was supposed to make this other trial she did where she battled someone with magic and passed out from the exertion look like a piece of cake? She won in three seconds!!! And only because the other guy just... fell off his horse out of surprise!!!! It was so stupid!!!! I'm so confused!!!! These people are supposed to be the warriors that defend their kingdom from the evil kingdom, but at this rate, with this level of training, they're not going to stand a chance!!!!

Don't even ask me what the plot was. I think it was just... go to the Academy, learn magic, bond with a Super Magic Horse, and don't let the bullies get you down. Oh, and love triangle.




Anyway, like I said, this book had the potential to be something amazing, but it suffers from a severe case of the-right-idea-with-the-wrong-execution. I really think if the author had taken more time to really flesh out the world and the characters and the Magical Horses and the plot itself, it could have been a super enaging and fascinating read, but instead it just... fell flat. I'm giving it 3 stars (which seems generous, considering my remarks) for the following reasons:

1. Good ideas, I really want to encourage this author to keep persisting and developing these promising concepts.

2. Writing wasn't too bad. Descriptions were pretty, and it had some emotional meaning to it.

3. Super Magical Horses.


I can't see myself continuing the series, as it is, but if the author were to develop it all much further, I would definitely change my mind!

[Courtney Mattern · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply not great.

[Kelsey Houle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this one, and feel like I maybe would have appreciated it more if I read it physically. Really poor world building and I had a hard time keeping up with all the different characters.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Swiss cheese

This has potential. The backdrop and plot points are all on target. But the execution is severely lacking. Time and place change with no lead into the change. Relationship suddenly are without the evidence of them being built. We’re told over and over how important the friends are but rarely shown. And the romance is so dry it would crumble in a stiff breeze. She immediately fall for the Prince because he’s a prince and cute. Shallow much? They spend one evening training which is entirely focused on training. No heart to heart, sharing of personal experience, nothing to suggest bonding or getting to know each other. But, boom, they’re in love. At the same time, she’s forced into spending time with the ‘mysterious’ boy whom she feels drawn to and curious about. But never questions those feelings. It all so surface level and cliche. I almost put it down at least a dozen times.

[Dee]

DNF
I did not like this book.
The writing was horrible and this is nothing like Yarros, Maas or any other writers it was trying so hard and it just failed.

“Flames dance like wicked sprites along the old wooden beams, which groan threateningly above me. My heart pounds in my chest, each beat echoing the roar of the blaze, but it's not just the fire that terrifies me—it's the helpless screams piercing through the cacophony.”

This was the first page and it just carried on and on…

“Her eyes hold a sorrow that mirrors my own, a knowing that this goodbye is the first of many. I see it now, the thread of our lives slowly untangling, and my heart aches with a preemptive nostalgia.”


The problem with this writing is whilst it sounds pretty it fails to actually make you feel anything. I didn’t like or feel anything for the FMC and within meeting one of the MMC I’m supposed to believe she has feelings for him? And everyone takes one look at her and hates her and calls her “country mouse”. It was just clunky and awful writing. Definitely not for any fans of Maas or Yarros. This is for those who haven’t read the other authors.

[Erika Knickerbocker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook with my husband and it was a synthesized voice caroline. I'm assuming this is an ai thing as it was monotone. If you speed it up to 2-2.5x speed then it isn't as noticeable. But the first few times we listened at regular speed put me to sleep and we had to keep starting over. The story lacked transitions from one part of the story to another. It was very abrupt. I'm not a fan of love triangles in general but this one was especially bad. The whole book felt like a watered-down knock off of fourth wing imo just with way less world building and gratuitous death. As far as the story goes, she is a "country mouse" with unknown father/lineage (I'm wondering if she ends up related to Caspian as it mentioned how their eyes were the same.) Who comes to the school and gets bullied but makes a couple good friends while going through some trials and ends up a beast whisperer with a celestial being. The relationship building is lacking as well. She falls in love with the prince without any real interactions with him beyond surface level and one training session focused on training. There wasn't anything deep or even really getting to know you things and there wasn't even spice to say it was just lust. It came off very dry and forced. They were not engaging. Not even the female friendships she makes. They seemed to come out of nowhere and then suddenly besties for life.

[Nikolett Ungor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, because the cover was love at first sight but I had to be so disappointed.

I think with a proper deep editing and a revision about who the audience actually is this book has potential.

What made it absolutely impossible to read was the pace. We got so many words, no information and just overall felt like we are running through the timeline without context and emotions.

The writing style definitely needs to be corrected. I am all for literary tools like allegories, simlies, comparisons and more, but there was a really heavy overuse of them in the book that made the style comical and hard to digest.

I think the audience is a younger generation, definitely a YA book so the word use and the story should be adjusted for that.

Again, the idea was there, but just that. I hope one day this book will be reedited and republished, I would absolutely give it a second chance.

I am dropping the series.

[El · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnfed at 38%. I can't really stand the "country mouse" and all of her poems while she's thinking. I'm not really sure what's going on as we keep jumping from one trial to another without any idea of what the trial is or why they need it. The random bullies and the mc being a pick me while being bullied is a lot. I really tried to read it and couldn't.

[Michelle Makepeace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacking a bit in character development, but the premise of the story is good enough. I'd be interested to see if the author's writing style develops in subsequent books in the series.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has high and lows. I thought it had alot of potential but didn’t get there, also felt the author could have built more on the charters…I was sometimes confused on what was happening.. also a very novice book, nothing like TOG or Iron Flame…

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA magical academy tale, with romantic tension and a fight for survival. This is the first book in the series

[Danni_reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had ZERO depth. I had to force myself to finish it. There was no connection to the characters, no emotional tug or anything to get you want to keep reading. It was so dry. The story idea was good, but the execution needed more work. There was no real description of people or of the sceneries, and the characters had no personality. Definitely won't waste time reading anything else in this series. This book was not it for me!

[Michelle Haubert · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars: As others have noted, while the story itself has a lot of potential, the book is largely devoid of some necessary world building and character development. There also seem to be jumps in the timeline that are difficult to overlook. With that said, having finished the book in its entirety, I am curious to know what is next for Elyra and Shadowfire such that I am contemplating picking up the next book in the series.

[Andrea Hand · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was so much potential for this... but the scenes jumped, details were left untold, and the narrator was monotone.

A preteen might like this, but I won't be continuing with these.

[Natelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elyra Mistwood expects to live in her forest community forever, learning herbs and healing from her mother. Then a letter comes for her from Skyborne Academy. Now she finds herself a student of magic and the object of too much attention. Will she survive the trials meant to prepare her to defend her kingdom? Will she succumb to the more subtle trials of other students?

I’m not entirely sure if the voice of this story rubbed me the wrong way or if it was some aspects of the content that didn’t jive with me, but I didn’t enjoy this offering as much as I expected to. I loved that she found a group of girls who supported and helped each other. But she also seemed to fall head over heels in love with two guys. And, of course, they instantly fell for her, too. Then there was her self-declared rival whom none of the educators felt needed any reprimands no matter what she did. Not sure I’ll continue this series.

[Susan Baggott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listening to School of Combat, book 1 of the Skyborne Series, is like riding a rollercoaster. It started slow with a clacking uphill climb building tension. Then it dips into small drops and hills to build up speed. Once it hits the long arching curve, it never slows down. It plunges and shoots back up to the very last screeching stop before it peacefully rolls back to the start, ready to begin again with book 2, Sentinel Court. Fortunately all five in the series are available now.

Older teens/new adults learn to use magical skills inherent in their blood. The stronger the bond with their creature, the stronger the creature's magical ability to assist and transform. Torn between two strong males, and with a solid band of female friends, Elyra struggles to succeed. Provided she survives.

[Kristin E. Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

This is a very ya, coming of age, magical academy story. There is mystery about the main character's heritage. The academy is open to specifically selected kids who are trained viciously to fight some unknown war. The whole world in this story is never described making it difficult to understand. The writing style is like a movie on fast forward with no breaks. The reader is tossed ahead in time without a new chapter heading to guide them. I didn't mind the brevity of the tale but the writing was jarring. As she traverses through trials required by the school, it becomes apparent she may have magic not shared by all students. She has two romance interests which spurs mean girl drama. Very g rated and childlike.

[Amelia Seaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s no depth to the book. No details about what she really looked like, the school, the time frame. Really anything about it. Just quick surface stuff, that should be a little bit more described. Having trouble really getting into it but wish there was more info. More imagination really lol. Hard to see that this is compared to SJM and Rebecca Yarros books because that’s some descrippptionnnn and world building there. Also, her pining between two dudes is like ugh, cmon girl. Stop acting like you love one when you’re clearly swooning over another too. Just hoping for more depth next time around aye!

[Chelsie Reid · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not creative. There is several storylines that start and it just doesn’t have a conclusion or a solution. The characters are so shallow and not having any depth to their storyline. This book feels forced and I just skipped to the ending to see if it even got better it didn’t.
First off, how can one class take all day. Second, the main male character sees the female main character and instant love like that was unbelievable. And the inner thoughts just sounds so childish and not as if it’s someone who is 19 years old. The story has good bones, but it just needs to be flushed out more.

[vs · Rating 1 out of 5]

i should've DNF'ed this book. For starters, the book had very base-level explanations about everything that I could not tell you a single thing about the kingdoms and the academy, or even any of the main characters (there are so many characters that it was next to impossible trying to remember their role in the plot). the book was lacking in world building and plot development - idk if it was the writing but none of the situations that were high stakes felt very high-stakes, or it was just stated to the readers rather than shown and was over with in a chapter or two. overall, it just felt like a really shitty bootleg version of Fourth Wing.

[Elizabeth Navis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited about the concept. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. Why does it feel like Elyra was the only one when needed the classes? It seemed like all the other students were already experts and did more teaching then her teachers. She even ended up only receiving support during the climb test, when it was her friend who was nervous about that! Elyra seemed to only succeed because of her friends instructions. I wanted to love it, but it just do it for me. I'm not invested in the characters, and don't believe the story line. I mean how did she fall in love with someone she barely spent time with!?

[Leigh]

Let me start by saying that I think this is geared toward younger readers.

Elyria receives a letter telling her she must go to the Skyborne Academy; her mother tells her she’s been keeping secrets about Elyria’s past. The academy is a mix of Harry Potter and Fourth Wing - Magic and battle, new friends, lots of enemies.

It moves quickly throughout the year? Semester? I wish there was more to let us know the passing of time. Similarly, I felt the friendships and potential love interests were all shallow and underdeveloped. There was a lot of repetitive writing in here.

[Ken Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

I want sure what to expect, but this book was fascinating! The main story is of a girl who comes from a village background who is unexpectedly called to train as one of the elite defenders of her country. There are numerous trials to be faced while training, many of them deadly. There are friends and enemies made, and two different potential loves, one of them forbidden. I enjoyed reading this book and found myself caught up in the story. Be advised, though, this is a continuing series, so while it's not exactly a cliffhanger, it doesn't actually end, either.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up because it was a Hoopla Bonus Read this month. Honestly, I felt confused the entire time. It's messy and characters are thrown at you left and right without well-paced introductions. It was almost like it needed to be twice as long so that you could actually get to know the characters. I still couldn't tell you who the main characters' friends are or why she is "pulled" to two different men. I almost DNFed it but then turned it on 2x speed to finish. Would not recommend and I won't be reading the rest of the series.

[Yoly · Rating 2 out of 5]

"School of Combat" tells a too familiar story set in an academy for young fighters, similar to "Harry Potter" and "Fourth Wing," but aimed at a younger audience. Unfortunately, there’s not much character development, and the world-building isn’t convincing, making it hard to feel engaged. The characters, like the hero and his quirky sidekick, are clichéd and lack depth. While some action scenes are exciting, they are often interrupted by slow and predictable dialogue. Overall, the book might appeal to younger readers, but it didn’t work for me, just a “meh” experience.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure about this series - pretty predictable storyline which was fine but it was really difficult to follow the timeline. It jumped around without any indication that time had passed so it got confusing quickly. Also I get focusing on the main character but did her same age friends go through the same tests? Was she the only character there? Geez. And the two guys interested in her was so bizarre- no males showed interest in her friends but she gets two just by existing? As I said very predictable but poorly executed.

[Rhane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grabs hold of your imagination and sets it to flying

An interesting cast of characters navigate the well trod ways of the elite magical military academy. Social classes meet and mingle as a nation looks for its best and brightest to throw into conflict. Friendships that come through the fires, soul deep connections, and the teenage angst of first crushes. Has you looking forward to the next volumes.