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Where the Rock Splits the Sky
Where Megan lives it's forever dusk: an endless indigo sky above a wounded land that's slowly dying. Ever since the 'visitors' came, the world has stopped turning. No one sleeps, everyone's afraid. But Megan wants to know what's coming. She'll stop at nothing to save those she loves. She'll ride across a forsaken wilderness to where the rock splits the sky to set the world spinning again - and discover what she's truly made of.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
11 people are currently reading
1134 people want to read
About the author
Philip Webb
2 books5 followersAt the age of 10 I wanted to be a) an astronaut, b) winner of Wimbledon, and c) an author. In that order. Turns out I hate long-haul flights and I'm rubbish at tennis. But fast-forward 35 years and I did become an author.
As a child I spent many happy days exploring a local rubbish dump, playing out all kinds of post-apocalyptic adventures with friends. This is how I came to write my first book, Six Days - a dystopian sci-fi tale set in a future London.
I've had lots of jobs: a (very bad) waiter, programmer, software designer, seller of beers on the beach, apple picker, postman, subtitler of TV programmes for the hard of hearing, user experience consultant, small business owner. And now a writer. Not exactly a clear career path, I know, but good for picking up material for stories.
Where The Rock Splits The Sky is my second book - a sci-fi Western. I like mixing up genres - it's a chance to break the rules and hopefully come up with something fresh.
My next book is a horror sci-fi historical romance comedy thriller about cookery and espionage... Not really.
If you like fast-paced, surreal action with a sci-fi twist and characters that get on and do stuff instead of moping about falling in love, then you've probably come to the right place.
As a child I spent many happy days exploring a local rubbish dump, playing out all kinds of post-apocalyptic adventures with friends. This is how I came to write my first book, Six Days - a dystopian sci-fi tale set in a future London.
I've had lots of jobs: a (very bad) waiter, programmer, software designer, seller of beers on the beach, apple picker, postman, subtitler of TV programmes for the hard of hearing, user experience consultant, small business owner. And now a writer. Not exactly a clear career path, I know, but good for picking up material for stories.
Where The Rock Splits The Sky is my second book - a sci-fi Western. I like mixing up genres - it's a chance to break the rules and hopefully come up with something fresh.
My next book is a horror sci-fi historical romance comedy thriller about cookery and espionage... Not really.
If you like fast-paced, surreal action with a sci-fi twist and characters that get on and do stuff instead of moping about falling in love, then you've probably come to the right place.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
April 13, 2024
Mr. Webb’s Where the Rock Splits the Sky is a stellar sci-fi, dystopian story beyond my wildest imagination. Perhaps because I could not fathom a unique paranormal situation which essentially creates chasms, both metaphorical and literal, all over the continental United States. Rather than banding together, people pretend to be in some sort of survival mode. In reality, society splintered and regressed to the ways of the “wild, wild west.”
Everyone can see that an invasion is underway, but only a select few know why. The Navaho people had prayed to the White Shell Woman believing her to be a goddess; Wife of the Moon, Mother of the Navajo people. They are honest and trusting people but the she is an unabashed liar, master manipulator and nothing resembling a goddess.
In the chaos, Megan’s father is missing. She knows, with an inexplicable certainty, that he is trapped in The Zone. She has yet to learn that she is the only person on the planet capable of freeing him and Megan may never be ready to understand why. Shoving doubt aside, she saddles her horse to head into The Zone.
In a rush, but feeling she owes her best bud and explanation, she makes a quick stop. Since Luis is easily as stubborn as she is, Megan isn’t really surprised when he insists on accompanying her. She’s just not sure how she feels about it. Their old, but seemingly uncertain, friendship may not be destined to survive the journey, even if they do find Megan’s father and miraculously make it out alive.
Once inside The Zone, they encounter Kelly. Determinedly cheerful, Kelly announces her intent to join the duo on their quest. Not a problem for Luis, he always believes there’s room for one more. Megan is not so quick to accept a new acquaintance.
Kelly is a large presence with plenty to say and not too much time for politeness. Her overwhelming attitude has Megan and Luis independently soul-searching and even reevaluating their relationship. The dynamic among the three solidified this sweetly-strange little story. I admit, I did not fully understand exactly what was happening or where the story was heading, but I was absolutely invested enough to be shocked, then tickled by a sneaky twist.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge thanks for the Advance Review Copy to add to my favorite classroom library.
Everyone can see that an invasion is underway, but only a select few know why. The Navaho people had prayed to the White Shell Woman believing her to be a goddess; Wife of the Moon, Mother of the Navajo people. They are honest and trusting people but the she is an unabashed liar, master manipulator and nothing resembling a goddess.
In the chaos, Megan’s father is missing. She knows, with an inexplicable certainty, that he is trapped in The Zone. She has yet to learn that she is the only person on the planet capable of freeing him and Megan may never be ready to understand why. Shoving doubt aside, she saddles her horse to head into The Zone.
In a rush, but feeling she owes her best bud and explanation, she makes a quick stop. Since Luis is easily as stubborn as she is, Megan isn’t really surprised when he insists on accompanying her. She’s just not sure how she feels about it. Their old, but seemingly uncertain, friendship may not be destined to survive the journey, even if they do find Megan’s father and miraculously make it out alive.
Once inside The Zone, they encounter Kelly. Determinedly cheerful, Kelly announces her intent to join the duo on their quest. Not a problem for Luis, he always believes there’s room for one more. Megan is not so quick to accept a new acquaintance.
Kelly is a large presence with plenty to say and not too much time for politeness. Her overwhelming attitude has Megan and Luis independently soul-searching and even reevaluating their relationship. The dynamic among the three solidified this sweetly-strange little story. I admit, I did not fully understand exactly what was happening or where the story was heading, but I was absolutely invested enough to be shocked, then tickled by a sneaky twist.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge thanks for the Advance Review Copy to add to my favorite classroom library.
February 15, 2018
Where the Rock Splits the Sky is the story of Megan, a girl who has lost both her father and mother and who lives on the edge of a strange, haunted area called "The Zone." In this part of the world, people are driven mad by unknown forces and the world doesn't follow the normal rules of physics.
The Earth itself has stopped spinning because it was invaded by an alien species that the surviving humans call "Visitors." One day, Megan is told that her father is still alive and that he is in the Zone.
She has no choice but to go find him. And the adventure begins.
This story was a surreal, heart-pounding adventure from start to finish.
I loved the dystopian aspect of it- the aliens are truly terrifying because the reader isn't sure what they can or can't do. It's not even clear from the start who is or isn't an alien.
The guessing game makes for some exciting tension. That same unknown quality is extended to the "Zone" itself so that the story at any moment could pass from normal to totally bonkers.
That uncertainty makes this a great read, in my mind.
I did have some complaints- I wanted more to happen during the final, climatic scene. It felt like after such a great build up that things ended too quickly and neatly. But I suppose one can't have it all.
Also, this book required a great deal of suspension of belief. I mean, for goodness sake, the world has stopped spinning. That's some fairly serious physics law breaking. And that is assumed from the start.
This novel reminded me of The Gunslinger in that both have western themes and some horror elements to it. This is definitely a more young adult version while Stephen King's novel was written for adults. It's also a lot shorter
With those caveats in mind, fans of that series may enjoy this one.
Also, anyone who likes to read young adult, dystopian books might enjoy Where the Rock Splits the Sky. It's an interesting addition to the genre.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.
The Earth itself has stopped spinning because it was invaded by an alien species that the surviving humans call "Visitors." One day, Megan is told that her father is still alive and that he is in the Zone.
She has no choice but to go find him. And the adventure begins.
This story was a surreal, heart-pounding adventure from start to finish.
I loved the dystopian aspect of it- the aliens are truly terrifying because the reader isn't sure what they can or can't do. It's not even clear from the start who is or isn't an alien.
The guessing game makes for some exciting tension. That same unknown quality is extended to the "Zone" itself so that the story at any moment could pass from normal to totally bonkers.
That uncertainty makes this a great read, in my mind.
I did have some complaints- I wanted more to happen during the final, climatic scene. It felt like after such a great build up that things ended too quickly and neatly. But I suppose one can't have it all.
Also, this book required a great deal of suspension of belief. I mean, for goodness sake, the world has stopped spinning. That's some fairly serious physics law breaking. And that is assumed from the start.
This novel reminded me of The Gunslinger in that both have western themes and some horror elements to it. This is definitely a more young adult version while Stephen King's novel was written for adults. It's also a lot shorter
With those caveats in mind, fans of that series may enjoy this one.
Also, anyone who likes to read young adult, dystopian books might enjoy Where the Rock Splits the Sky. It's an interesting addition to the genre.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.
January 6, 2014
I think the setting came before the characters or the plot for this novel. It's got some terrific locales and some great psychological thrills, but the main character was one-note and a supporting character much more enjoyable. The ending was too cliche, and I think the book would have been just as good with the "revelation" thrown in. It starts well and then at the half way point gets uninteresting. I think if the book had been longer, and with a different ending, it would have been more enjoyable.
January 20, 2015
Good things first. This book has a very intriguing premise, an interesting and well-thought out world for it to exist in, and uses its excuse to be a sci-fi western a la Firefly brilliantly. Unfortunately, it's dragged down by a few things that make it just an enjoyable if somewhat unsatisfying read.
The thing that this story lacks is a certain depth. I felt like we were so often told the way the characters felt, and pulled so quickly along the never-stop plot that we never get to really connect with the characters. The most emotional moments end up feeling rushed and somehow insincere, the characters reactions typical but detached.
The plot moves so fast that it never gives us a chance to really think about the problems the characters face either - instead there's a problem and then a solution, so quickly that whatever characters were introduced (like those at the mesa with the bats) are practically caricatures, never given even the remotest chance at seeming like real people.
Most crushingly, despite the world that seems to be at our fingertips, it seems wasted. There is so much that seems thought out about how the Zone works, and what life is like in this new twilight world that everybody lives in, but it seems like it barely scratches the surface. I never felt like I was really in the world, that the universe in the pages was something full or complete. It seemed detached, like the characters, the pieces of it we see only existing for the sake of the story, and not instead the story existing in a fully realized world.
It's a decent read. The rushed plot points and (for me) unsatisfactory ending probably won't bother younger readers as much. The characters are not three dimensional classics, but they aren't totally uninteresting. The world itself is a treat - something I would have liked to explore more, if I was given the chance to.
The thing that this story lacks is a certain depth. I felt like we were so often told the way the characters felt, and pulled so quickly along the never-stop plot that we never get to really connect with the characters. The most emotional moments end up feeling rushed and somehow insincere, the characters reactions typical but detached.
The plot moves so fast that it never gives us a chance to really think about the problems the characters face either - instead there's a problem and then a solution, so quickly that whatever characters were introduced (like those at the mesa with the bats) are practically caricatures, never given even the remotest chance at seeming like real people.
Most crushingly, despite the world that seems to be at our fingertips, it seems wasted. There is so much that seems thought out about how the Zone works, and what life is like in this new twilight world that everybody lives in, but it seems like it barely scratches the surface. I never felt like I was really in the world, that the universe in the pages was something full or complete. It seemed detached, like the characters, the pieces of it we see only existing for the sake of the story, and not instead the story existing in a fully realized world.
It's a decent read. The rushed plot points and (for me) unsatisfactory ending probably won't bother younger readers as much. The characters are not three dimensional classics, but they aren't totally uninteresting. The world itself is a treat - something I would have liked to explore more, if I was given the chance to.
October 26, 2014
What a waste of my money and time. This book was billed as a 'western meets dystopian' epic, on which it failed to deliver.
The mix of western and dystopian just didn't work for me, I really couldn't understand what was going on for the majority of this book.
The plot follows Megan, who's father has gone missing. An alien race has split the moon in half and stopped earth turning on it's axis. To find her father and unravel the mystery of the everlasting sunset, Megan must cross 'The Zone', a vast desert area that changes all the time.
And eventually, Megan will have to face the toughest fight of her life.... A showdown between her, her two friends Kelly and Luis, and an angry alien race.
I thought Megan, Luis and Kelly's characters were flat and unengaging and the story didn't captivate me as I thought it would.
I think this is going to be a trilogy, but I will not be buying the other books.
The mix of western and dystopian just didn't work for me, I really couldn't understand what was going on for the majority of this book.
The plot follows Megan, who's father has gone missing. An alien race has split the moon in half and stopped earth turning on it's axis. To find her father and unravel the mystery of the everlasting sunset, Megan must cross 'The Zone', a vast desert area that changes all the time.
And eventually, Megan will have to face the toughest fight of her life.... A showdown between her, her two friends Kelly and Luis, and an angry alien race.
I thought Megan, Luis and Kelly's characters were flat and unengaging and the story didn't captivate me as I thought it would.
I think this is going to be a trilogy, but I will not be buying the other books.
June 26, 2024
Interesting mix of dystopian, sci fi and western. Strange story but it goes well together.
July 2, 2019
Skimmed the last 80 pages. Meh.
May 19, 2014
Space Western? Sort of. The latest from Philip Webb, WHERE THE ROCK SPLITS THE SKY, takes place in a very foreign post-apocalyptic world here on Earth. In fact, the story starts in the beloved art community of Marfa, Texas. But it's not the Marfa we're famliar with. It looks a lot more like the old West. Technology doesn't work. And Megan has never known the world her father grew up with. What she knows is closer to Little House on the Prairie. Then again, she hasn't seen her father in quite a while, since he went into The Zone, on a mission that Megan doesn't yet understand. When an outlaw gang comes to town, guns blazing, Megan makes a run for it, taking along her longtime friend Luis and her horse, Cisco.
The Zone is a tricky place. Something about the Visitors' arrival -- an arrival which split the moon in half and stopped the earth from turning, putting Megan's wold in constant daylight -- has left this part of the American West with seemingly magical properties. It can cause hallucinations. It can stir up dust storms that aren't really dust storms. It can abduct an entire town and then return it, floating in the middle of nowhere, with only one resident to tell the tale. That resident being Kelly, a girl who has no memory of life since the Visitors' arrival.
With their posse increased by one, Megan, Luis, and Kelly are on their own mission, using the skills Megan's father taught her, to navigate the zone in order to find him. And, if her instincts are correct, she might be able to find something -- or someone -- else as well. She might be able to make the world right again. Whatever that means.
WHERE THE ROCK SPLITS THE SKY is a must-read for sci fi readers looking for something completely different, and for adventure seekers who love both westerns and tough chicks. This is the kind of story that sticks with you, where the setting is as much of a character as the people, and with some seriously fascinating mythology. I can't wait to see what's next from Philip Webb.
The Zone is a tricky place. Something about the Visitors' arrival -- an arrival which split the moon in half and stopped the earth from turning, putting Megan's wold in constant daylight -- has left this part of the American West with seemingly magical properties. It can cause hallucinations. It can stir up dust storms that aren't really dust storms. It can abduct an entire town and then return it, floating in the middle of nowhere, with only one resident to tell the tale. That resident being Kelly, a girl who has no memory of life since the Visitors' arrival.
With their posse increased by one, Megan, Luis, and Kelly are on their own mission, using the skills Megan's father taught her, to navigate the zone in order to find him. And, if her instincts are correct, she might be able to find something -- or someone -- else as well. She might be able to make the world right again. Whatever that means.
WHERE THE ROCK SPLITS THE SKY is a must-read for sci fi readers looking for something completely different, and for adventure seekers who love both westerns and tough chicks. This is the kind of story that sticks with you, where the setting is as much of a character as the people, and with some seriously fascinating mythology. I can't wait to see what's next from Philip Webb.
March 10, 2014
What the...what the hell even was that?? What an...interesting book. Post apocalyptic, western, horror, sci-fi, I think? Huh.
Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad read. It was certainly bizarre and imaginative. I think people who enjoy a good amount of wtfery will enjoy this book. I thought this was going to be a typical post-apocalyptic adventure story. You should know this is not that. The "Zone" is a supernatural area where all sorts of truly bizarre events can and will occur. Think whole towns floating in mid air, the sky raining fish, and aliens who can inhabit rotting corpses and walk them around. Creeeeeeeepy.
My complaints:
* It was a bit hard to follow at times. Everything that's going on is just so outside the realm of reality I felt like my brain was melting.
* I never really got a feel for the main character. She was bit bland to me. As such, I didn't really care what happened.
* I don't really care for Western type stories anyway. I wasn't really aware how much of a Western this feels like. It is very Western.
Points for originality, though. And wtfery.
Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad read. It was certainly bizarre and imaginative. I think people who enjoy a good amount of wtfery will enjoy this book. I thought this was going to be a typical post-apocalyptic adventure story. You should know this is not that. The "Zone" is a supernatural area where all sorts of truly bizarre events can and will occur. Think whole towns floating in mid air, the sky raining fish, and aliens who can inhabit rotting corpses and walk them around. Creeeeeeeepy.
My complaints:
* It was a bit hard to follow at times. Everything that's going on is just so outside the realm of reality I felt like my brain was melting.
* I never really got a feel for the main character. She was bit bland to me. As such, I didn't really care what happened.
* I don't really care for Western type stories anyway. I wasn't really aware how much of a Western this feels like. It is very Western.
Points for originality, though. And wtfery.
December 1, 2015
This book was so blah, I forced myself to read up to 92% on my kindle, then gave up. Don't even care how it ends.
January 4, 2026
Picked this book up at the public library book sale. Every now and then I select a YA book and often I have found some very talented writers. Many other readers have left outlines of the story so I will not do so again. What I wanted to write about is the author, Phillip Webb, who takes the reader on a journey through the Zone that presents unbelievable challenges to be overcome by the three principals, Megan, Luis and Kelly. Webb has shown us what a fertile imagination he has and the result is a real "page turner" of a tale. The one disappointment was the final encounter with the White Shell Woman where I felt the author missed the opportunity to let us know more about she was feeling. The loss she was experiencing was treated as an understanding by Megan, when the voice of the White Shell Woman could have given us more insight to the Visitors.
February 22, 2018
5 stars for the premise of this book and all the crazy, weird "wtf moments" that kept me reading to the end, but I didn't like the characters or the dialogue. The main character from whose viewpoint the book was told (in first person) had an odd way of speaking (she almost never used contractions), and it just didn't feel right for this book. Another character spoke with a Texan accent (yes, it was written that way), and the third was Mexican and only spoke broken English or Spanish, which was left untranslated too often (and I don't know a single word of Spanish). The combination of those things made it a difficult read and less exciting than it should have been. It's really too bad because this book could have been amazing, but it ended up more "meh".
March 20, 2014
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: A fascinating setting literally throws the characters every which way on their journey to get answers to what’s happened to the world and possibly how to save it. A refreshing read exploding with creativity and adventure.
Opening Sentence: Leaning against the doorpost of the smithy, I pretend it is a normal day.
The Review:
Anything can happen, and does, in Philip Webb’s Where the Rock Splits the Sky. We start with a typical old western town, complete with horses and a total lack of technology, only to find that we are actually in the future, where “something” has stopped the technology from working. The first couple chapters even involve the sheriff and his “last-stand situation” in the jail house, but then we learn that the major scuffles on earth aren’t with your typical outlaws, but actually with aliens. Given the unique premise of the book, it would seem harder to set up the book without a lot of verbage, but Webb delves right into the action and just keeps it coming. We actually do not learn a ton about the aliens or anything else until later. The author obviously intended it that way so I won’t give away any of that in this review.
Webb does a phenomenal job of building the setting and the characters. Although the setting is in a dystopian era, almost all the elements he uses are familiar. It is difficult not to think that this story would make an awesome movie, but honestly, since the author did his job in describing each adventure in detail, this adventure is much better as a book for those that enjoy reading. I think there is a lot more connection with the characters this way. Sometimes the detail gets a little wordy and confusing, but the book overall isn’t so long that it would be considered tedious by any means, just wordy in parts, more so at the end. Since Webb gets right down to business at the beginning of the book, there wasn’t quite enough to explain the ending, which was somewhat abrupt and disjointed. The reader is hit with quite a bit of information at once that is never adequately explained. The experience to get to that point is better this way, and the important loose ends are tied up, but it does seem to leave us a little confused. Another reason for this is that we are limited to Megan’s point-of-view rather than any sort of all-knowing narrator, and she learns a lot about herself along the journey, and even more at the end. The point of the book becomes more about her discovery of self than what has happened to the world as a whole, and so we end with the focus on her.
Megan is a driven, matter-of-fact character, and in order to complete her journey, she has to start putting more trust in her friends, Luis and Kelly. Luis is a sweet guy, soft-spoken and protective, but Megan’s relationship with him is confusing. This is one element in the novel that is vague and underutilized. Luis’s character could have been magnified from the convenient role that he plays, to a necessary role that he could have played. He starts out as someone Megan (and the audience) could really fall in love with, but his character doesn’t keep developing throughout the book. Kelly is sassy and lovable, she really is the perfect complement to Megan’s totally serious character. She gets into trouble with her shenanigans, but doesn’t think so hard that she can’t get them out of other shenanigans when necessary. One interesting twist of the western theme of this book is that the horses aren’t just necessary tools in the plot, but are actual characters themselves, with not only names, but personalities. As such, we develop a relationship with the horses and actually care about the role they play in the plot, which adds to the experience.
There were several things in this novel that were refreshing. The first was that the characters were believable. They didn’t fit into typical overused stereotypes. They all had flaws and made mistakes and had to rely on each other. They would be extremely difficult to label, but that made them more relatable. As a dystopian novel, the plot wasn’t stereotypical either. We start out thinking the aliens are stereotypical but by the end it would be difficult to put them in any alien category, and even at the end we are questioning the label of “alien” at all. The setting in this novel is perhaps the biggest fresh breath of dystopian air. Nothing about it is predictable, and yet, we can still understand it. It is simply spectacular and this book is a perfect read for those searching for something new and clean.
Notable Scene:
Wesley leads us toward a cauldron set upon a fire of dung bricks. A tiny crone picks up a net of black shapes and smacks it against the cave wall. It’s not until I get closer through the fumes and steam that I see the stunned bodies of bats in the netting–their pug faces like a hoard of miniature demons.
She stares at me through her cataracts and guts the bats one by one with a practiced swipe of her cleaver, then tosses the into the pot.
“Great,” mumbles Kelly. “Bat stew cooked on a bat-shit fire by an old bat.”
I nudge her in the ribs, because I feel sure that Kelly’s humor will not be appreciated in this place.
“Thanks all the same,” says Kelly, aiming an injured glare at me. “But I just ate at the last town.”
“Might as well get used to it, sugar,” snaps the crone. “Bats is all we got. Exceptin’ turnips. And they done shot with maggots this year.”
FTC Advisory: Chicken House/Scholastic provided me with a copy of Where the Rock Splits the Sky. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: A fascinating setting literally throws the characters every which way on their journey to get answers to what’s happened to the world and possibly how to save it. A refreshing read exploding with creativity and adventure.
Opening Sentence: Leaning against the doorpost of the smithy, I pretend it is a normal day.
The Review:
Anything can happen, and does, in Philip Webb’s Where the Rock Splits the Sky. We start with a typical old western town, complete with horses and a total lack of technology, only to find that we are actually in the future, where “something” has stopped the technology from working. The first couple chapters even involve the sheriff and his “last-stand situation” in the jail house, but then we learn that the major scuffles on earth aren’t with your typical outlaws, but actually with aliens. Given the unique premise of the book, it would seem harder to set up the book without a lot of verbage, but Webb delves right into the action and just keeps it coming. We actually do not learn a ton about the aliens or anything else until later. The author obviously intended it that way so I won’t give away any of that in this review.
Webb does a phenomenal job of building the setting and the characters. Although the setting is in a dystopian era, almost all the elements he uses are familiar. It is difficult not to think that this story would make an awesome movie, but honestly, since the author did his job in describing each adventure in detail, this adventure is much better as a book for those that enjoy reading. I think there is a lot more connection with the characters this way. Sometimes the detail gets a little wordy and confusing, but the book overall isn’t so long that it would be considered tedious by any means, just wordy in parts, more so at the end. Since Webb gets right down to business at the beginning of the book, there wasn’t quite enough to explain the ending, which was somewhat abrupt and disjointed. The reader is hit with quite a bit of information at once that is never adequately explained. The experience to get to that point is better this way, and the important loose ends are tied up, but it does seem to leave us a little confused. Another reason for this is that we are limited to Megan’s point-of-view rather than any sort of all-knowing narrator, and she learns a lot about herself along the journey, and even more at the end. The point of the book becomes more about her discovery of self than what has happened to the world as a whole, and so we end with the focus on her.
Megan is a driven, matter-of-fact character, and in order to complete her journey, she has to start putting more trust in her friends, Luis and Kelly. Luis is a sweet guy, soft-spoken and protective, but Megan’s relationship with him is confusing. This is one element in the novel that is vague and underutilized. Luis’s character could have been magnified from the convenient role that he plays, to a necessary role that he could have played. He starts out as someone Megan (and the audience) could really fall in love with, but his character doesn’t keep developing throughout the book. Kelly is sassy and lovable, she really is the perfect complement to Megan’s totally serious character. She gets into trouble with her shenanigans, but doesn’t think so hard that she can’t get them out of other shenanigans when necessary. One interesting twist of the western theme of this book is that the horses aren’t just necessary tools in the plot, but are actual characters themselves, with not only names, but personalities. As such, we develop a relationship with the horses and actually care about the role they play in the plot, which adds to the experience.
There were several things in this novel that were refreshing. The first was that the characters were believable. They didn’t fit into typical overused stereotypes. They all had flaws and made mistakes and had to rely on each other. They would be extremely difficult to label, but that made them more relatable. As a dystopian novel, the plot wasn’t stereotypical either. We start out thinking the aliens are stereotypical but by the end it would be difficult to put them in any alien category, and even at the end we are questioning the label of “alien” at all. The setting in this novel is perhaps the biggest fresh breath of dystopian air. Nothing about it is predictable, and yet, we can still understand it. It is simply spectacular and this book is a perfect read for those searching for something new and clean.
Notable Scene:
Wesley leads us toward a cauldron set upon a fire of dung bricks. A tiny crone picks up a net of black shapes and smacks it against the cave wall. It’s not until I get closer through the fumes and steam that I see the stunned bodies of bats in the netting–their pug faces like a hoard of miniature demons.
She stares at me through her cataracts and guts the bats one by one with a practiced swipe of her cleaver, then tosses the into the pot.
“Great,” mumbles Kelly. “Bat stew cooked on a bat-shit fire by an old bat.”
I nudge her in the ribs, because I feel sure that Kelly’s humor will not be appreciated in this place.
“Thanks all the same,” says Kelly, aiming an injured glare at me. “But I just ate at the last town.”
“Might as well get used to it, sugar,” snaps the crone. “Bats is all we got. Exceptin’ turnips. And they done shot with maggots this year.”
FTC Advisory: Chicken House/Scholastic provided me with a copy of Where the Rock Splits the Sky. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
November 10, 2019
I finally got around to reading this novel (it's been 5 years since I bought it) and I wasn't disappointed. It has a nice wild west feel to it with a dash of aliens and fantasy. At heart though, it's an adventure novel. Megan is trying to find her dad who's been missing for two years and he went missing in the mysterious Zone, an area that seems to have a mind of its own. The story is well paced and very suspenseful. When Megan isn't trying to get out of a hairy situation she has to guard herself against whatever the Zone might throw at her. I wasn't super keen on the ending because it didn't resolve some of the questions and key mysteries of the plot.
March 18, 2017
A pretty good premise, but for some reason it just didn’t click with me. The story of a girl searching for her father in a world changed by the alien “Visitors,” where the moon has been split and the sun stopped in the sky. The inhabitants of the west have reverted back to the old West, using horses for transportation, etc. I liked Megan Bridgwater and her friend Luis. The girl they pick up along the way in their journey, Kelly, was pretty annoying though, and some of the things she does just don’t make sense. I think the story got off track for me when they reached a town and Kelly went off on her own, playing poker and using one of their horses to bet with, and it just got weirder from there. The rest of the story was somewhat interesting, especially the concept of a “land river," and there was quite a bit of action, but although I know it was a fantasy, some of Megan’s inner monologues just sounded like nonsense to me. It all wraps up neatly at the end, maybe a little too conveniently, but even so, that was a plus for me.
November 13, 2020
the plot was really good and i enjoyed it, but i really wish it wasn’t so predictable. it had a good ending and all but it’s not like i didn’t see it coming from a mile away. i also wish there was more description of what was happening , cuz often i would find myself confused as to what is actually happening. regardless, still a good read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2022
Barely scraping by to three stars. A lot of the concepts and ideas in the book; the visitors, sand river, life in the zone and the zone itself are really interesting, and there are a few stand out scenes that were done well, but for the most part the story, characters and dialogue feel weak and stilted.
Want to read
March 7, 2025Available in my Kindle app from Netgalley
August 31, 2014
Where the Rock Splits the Sky by Philip Webb is one of the most unique and fun books I’ve read in 2014 (which is saying a lot given the other books reviewed here so far this year!). It combines a spooky alien apocalypse premise with the thrills and dangers of the Wild West and I just could not get enough. I can easily see Where the Rock Splits the Sky being turned into a movie given the amazing places the characters explore and I really just can’t recommend it enough to sci-fi fans who are looking for something fresh and yet reminiscent of a certain space cowboy show we all love ;-).
Note: I received Where the Rock Splits the Sky from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Where the Rock Splits the Sky by Philip Webb
Published by Chicken House on March 25th, 2014
Genres: Genre-bender, Post Apocalyptic, YA
Length: 272 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher
The moon has been split, and the Visitors have Earth in their alien grip. But the captive planet? That's not her problem. Megan just wants to track down her missing dad...
The world stopped turning long before Megan was born. Ever since the Visitors split the moon and stilled the Earth, permanent sunset is all anyone has known. But now, riding her trusty steed Cisco, joined by her posse, Kelly and Luis, Megan is on the run from her Texas hometown, journeying across the vast, dystopic American West to hunt down her father. To find him, she must face the Zone, a notorious landscape where the laws of nature do not apply. The desert can play deadly tricks on the mind, and the quest will push Megan past her limits. But to solve the mystery of not just her missing father but of the paralyzed planet itself, she must survive it--and an alien showdown.
Strengths:
The world in Where the Rock Splits the Sky is just amazing and hooked me all the way through. I was constantly excited about the next place that Megan and company would come across during their travels and just couldn’t get enough of the descriptions of each place. The premise gives you a great idea of the eerie nature of the setting: the Earth has literally stopped spinning and the Moon has been destroyed. The land is caught in a forever sunset and things are even weirder in the Zone, where the laws of physics don’t always apply.
For some reason, the Wild West and sci-fi just seem to go together so well, don’t they?? Where the Rock Splits the Sky is a different take on that combination than Firefly, but I loved it just as much. Running from outlaws and catching a stagecoach has a whole new meaning when some of the outlaws are corpses animated by aliens ya know?
The writing and description in Where the Rock Splits the Sky is just beautiful. I keep wanting to try to tell you all the amazing settings, but I just can’t do justice to them the way that Webb does, so you need to just read Where the Rock Splits the Sky to find out ;-). The title is an excellent example of the eerie description that Webb is able to capture though :D.
Where the Rock Splits the Sky is short so the plot is fast and never has a chance to lag. Just as Megan has figured out the secrets of one place in the Zone, another mystery or goal presents itself and the discoveries begin anew.
Weaknesses:
The characters in Where the Rock Splits the Sky aren’t really the main focus. Partially due to the short length of the book, I just didn’t get a solid feel for each of the three teens in our merry band and feel like they are more acquaintances than friends to me.
Despite my love of the descriptions, the dialogue in Where the Rock Splits the Sky feels a bit off at times. Megan speaks and thinks in slightly stilted sentences for some reason.
Luis is a native Spanish speaker and doesn’t have perfect English, so there is Spanish thrown in from time to time that isn’t always translated completely. This left me not 100% sure what Luis’ had been trying to express and I suspect some people will be itching for a translation.
Summary:
I very thoroughly enjoyed Where the Rock Splits the Sky, to the point where my boyfriend started poking fun at how often I tried to describe scenes to him because they were just so cool! I couldn’t do justice though of course, so that just made him laugh at me more ;-). If you are a fan of eerie landscapes and some completely original sci-fi places, you have got to read Where the Rock Splits the Sky. Gah, just go read it!
Note: I received Where the Rock Splits the Sky from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Where the Rock Splits the Sky by Philip Webb
Published by Chicken House on March 25th, 2014
Genres: Genre-bender, Post Apocalyptic, YA
Length: 272 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher
The moon has been split, and the Visitors have Earth in their alien grip. But the captive planet? That's not her problem. Megan just wants to track down her missing dad...
The world stopped turning long before Megan was born. Ever since the Visitors split the moon and stilled the Earth, permanent sunset is all anyone has known. But now, riding her trusty steed Cisco, joined by her posse, Kelly and Luis, Megan is on the run from her Texas hometown, journeying across the vast, dystopic American West to hunt down her father. To find him, she must face the Zone, a notorious landscape where the laws of nature do not apply. The desert can play deadly tricks on the mind, and the quest will push Megan past her limits. But to solve the mystery of not just her missing father but of the paralyzed planet itself, she must survive it--and an alien showdown.
Strengths:
The world in Where the Rock Splits the Sky is just amazing and hooked me all the way through. I was constantly excited about the next place that Megan and company would come across during their travels and just couldn’t get enough of the descriptions of each place. The premise gives you a great idea of the eerie nature of the setting: the Earth has literally stopped spinning and the Moon has been destroyed. The land is caught in a forever sunset and things are even weirder in the Zone, where the laws of physics don’t always apply.
For some reason, the Wild West and sci-fi just seem to go together so well, don’t they?? Where the Rock Splits the Sky is a different take on that combination than Firefly, but I loved it just as much. Running from outlaws and catching a stagecoach has a whole new meaning when some of the outlaws are corpses animated by aliens ya know?
The writing and description in Where the Rock Splits the Sky is just beautiful. I keep wanting to try to tell you all the amazing settings, but I just can’t do justice to them the way that Webb does, so you need to just read Where the Rock Splits the Sky to find out ;-). The title is an excellent example of the eerie description that Webb is able to capture though :D.
Where the Rock Splits the Sky is short so the plot is fast and never has a chance to lag. Just as Megan has figured out the secrets of one place in the Zone, another mystery or goal presents itself and the discoveries begin anew.
Weaknesses:
The characters in Where the Rock Splits the Sky aren’t really the main focus. Partially due to the short length of the book, I just didn’t get a solid feel for each of the three teens in our merry band and feel like they are more acquaintances than friends to me.
Despite my love of the descriptions, the dialogue in Where the Rock Splits the Sky feels a bit off at times. Megan speaks and thinks in slightly stilted sentences for some reason.
Luis is a native Spanish speaker and doesn’t have perfect English, so there is Spanish thrown in from time to time that isn’t always translated completely. This left me not 100% sure what Luis’ had been trying to express and I suspect some people will be itching for a translation.
Summary:
I very thoroughly enjoyed Where the Rock Splits the Sky, to the point where my boyfriend started poking fun at how often I tried to describe scenes to him because they were just so cool! I couldn’t do justice though of course, so that just made him laugh at me more ;-). If you are a fan of eerie landscapes and some completely original sci-fi places, you have got to read Where the Rock Splits the Sky. Gah, just go read it!
July 2, 2014
Review posted at Amaterasu Reads
The Earth is in perpetual sunset. It has also stopped spinning. The Moon has been split in half. Only thirteen states remain. All of these happened during the Visitation, and Visitors have come to the planet masquerading as humans. Megan was born in this kind of world, with a dead mother and a father (who might be Earth's hope for salvation) presumed dead, she lives in a place near the Zone, a place where time and space is distorted. But Megan believes her father isn't dead, and to find him, she has to travel to the Zone.
The whole book has this unusual vibe from the first page, so I had a hard time figuring out how to connect with Megan. She's got a stubborn streak, which works in her favor sometimes, plus she's also serious and quiet. Sometimes she has this single minded desire to get through the Zone which clouds her decisions. It takes her a while to trust people and at first, I didn't know how her relationship will work out with Luis and Kelly. Kelly, admittedly, annoyed me. I don't know how friendship eventually formed between the three of them, as Kelly makes bad decisions one after another in the story. For a potential love interest, I forget Luis half of the time as he's barely felt in the story. He had his own struggles and motivations, but they paled in comparison to Megan's.
Sci-fi books tend to introduce concepts and ideas that are new to the readers, often to liven up the story and the plot and ultimately make it more fascinating and interesting, and for Where the Rock Splits the Sky it's the existence of the Zone. But when not done right, it can create confusion than help move the story in an interesting place. For the most part, I had to re-read the concept behind the Visitors, taking over bodies, and being a tracker. They're aliens? Body snatchers? Also, the concept of setting up "perimeters" using your mind? Being pushed to do things and go a certain way by the Zone? How does that work? There are a lot of intangibles in this novel that needed stronger descriptions. What really is the Zone? What is it for? I can't form an idea on what it really is, and most of the story relies on this Zone's existence, so I had a hard time forming a concrete view of the world inside my head.
I do, however, like how this is fast paced from the very start. Megan was in a chase immediately when the story opened and that instantly makes the reader focus on the story. Guns blazing, shooting, running, and that gets the story going most of the time. One thing that I also liked was despite my struggle to build a solid world, there are fascinating and equally frightening places Philip Webb managed to insert into the story that gives the reader an idea on how Earth looked like when it stopped spinning. The people, the dire situations they are facing, and the kind of miserable, hopeless life they have been dealt with by the Visitation was narrated in good detail.
What gets weird for me, was the secret behind Megan's very existence, and the very reason why she was looking for her father. Yes, it was an unexpected twist in the story, but I couldn't fathom how the story came to that conclusion. Again, how?! I felt like it needed more explanation which wasn't really given and it didn't clear much of the questions that arose throughout the story.
Interesting concept for a book, but a bit lacking in execution. It's a bit disappointing for me as it fell short on the criteria that could've made this one heck of a read. I wish I could connect more with the characters. I wish they were more likable. I wish those places Megan, Kelly and Luis visited added more intrigue to the story instead of making it weirder and more confusing by each turn of the page. I wish there was more explanation on why it had to be Megan. Overall, this needed more of impact and more emotion.
Anyway, this book had its good points, and someone more into sci-fi might enjoy this better than I did, so if you ever get to read this book, let me know what your thoughts are!
The Earth is in perpetual sunset. It has also stopped spinning. The Moon has been split in half. Only thirteen states remain. All of these happened during the Visitation, and Visitors have come to the planet masquerading as humans. Megan was born in this kind of world, with a dead mother and a father (who might be Earth's hope for salvation) presumed dead, she lives in a place near the Zone, a place where time and space is distorted. But Megan believes her father isn't dead, and to find him, she has to travel to the Zone.
The whole book has this unusual vibe from the first page, so I had a hard time figuring out how to connect with Megan. She's got a stubborn streak, which works in her favor sometimes, plus she's also serious and quiet. Sometimes she has this single minded desire to get through the Zone which clouds her decisions. It takes her a while to trust people and at first, I didn't know how her relationship will work out with Luis and Kelly. Kelly, admittedly, annoyed me. I don't know how friendship eventually formed between the three of them, as Kelly makes bad decisions one after another in the story. For a potential love interest, I forget Luis half of the time as he's barely felt in the story. He had his own struggles and motivations, but they paled in comparison to Megan's.
Sci-fi books tend to introduce concepts and ideas that are new to the readers, often to liven up the story and the plot and ultimately make it more fascinating and interesting, and for Where the Rock Splits the Sky it's the existence of the Zone. But when not done right, it can create confusion than help move the story in an interesting place. For the most part, I had to re-read the concept behind the Visitors, taking over bodies, and being a tracker. They're aliens? Body snatchers? Also, the concept of setting up "perimeters" using your mind? Being pushed to do things and go a certain way by the Zone? How does that work? There are a lot of intangibles in this novel that needed stronger descriptions. What really is the Zone? What is it for? I can't form an idea on what it really is, and most of the story relies on this Zone's existence, so I had a hard time forming a concrete view of the world inside my head.
I do, however, like how this is fast paced from the very start. Megan was in a chase immediately when the story opened and that instantly makes the reader focus on the story. Guns blazing, shooting, running, and that gets the story going most of the time. One thing that I also liked was despite my struggle to build a solid world, there are fascinating and equally frightening places Philip Webb managed to insert into the story that gives the reader an idea on how Earth looked like when it stopped spinning. The people, the dire situations they are facing, and the kind of miserable, hopeless life they have been dealt with by the Visitation was narrated in good detail.
What gets weird for me, was the secret behind Megan's very existence, and the very reason why she was looking for her father. Yes, it was an unexpected twist in the story, but I couldn't fathom how the story came to that conclusion. Again, how?! I felt like it needed more explanation which wasn't really given and it didn't clear much of the questions that arose throughout the story.
Interesting concept for a book, but a bit lacking in execution. It's a bit disappointing for me as it fell short on the criteria that could've made this one heck of a read. I wish I could connect more with the characters. I wish they were more likable. I wish those places Megan, Kelly and Luis visited added more intrigue to the story instead of making it weirder and more confusing by each turn of the page. I wish there was more explanation on why it had to be Megan. Overall, this needed more of impact and more emotion.
Anyway, this book had its good points, and someone more into sci-fi might enjoy this better than I did, so if you ever get to read this book, let me know what your thoughts are!
May 22, 2014
This is a case of a book that doesn't know exactly what it wants to be. It's not quite science fiction, but not exactly fantasy either. It's old west, but not really. The audience seems to be Young Adult, but the book is better suited for middle grade. Basically an OK book with a bunch of flaws.
The first and major issue I had with this story was the fact that the earth stopped rotating. Not a gradual over several decades kind of stop, but a sudden and abrupt end to the planet's momentum. Anyone who knows a bit of rudimentary science has heard of this little thing called inertia. If the earth suddenly stopped spinning it would basically force everything on the surface to jolt sideways at over 1,000 miles an hour. Now I know some people will argue "aliens," which yes, is a major part of the story. However, my irritation with this comes from the fact that other than the Zone, no mention of alien technology is ever made. The Visors are even using human weapons. Because of this I found the alien's technology highly suspect. Not to mention their motivation for being there in the first place is never really explained. The species is supposedly powerful enough to halt the spin of the planet, teleport the planet AND the sun ridiculous unknown distances in space, but they can't conquer the planet until it's back in their home turf? What? Not to mention that the Zone has the same effect on the Visitors as the humans making its function as a deterrent against human incursion and a hiding spot for their Queen highly suspect.
The characterization in the novel was done on a surface level. You got the basic attitudes of the characters, but it was difficult to develop any sort of emotional attachment to them. This made it difficult for me to really care about their plight. The only reason the characters survived the Zone was because Megan was getting mental "messages" from her father, who was supposedly somewhere in the Zone. It's revealed that her dad is an ordinary guy who, as with other Trackers, learned to navigate the Zone. Nowhere in the book does it imply Tracking/surviving abilities in the Zone = mental, vision inducing communication. Because she received this much help from her father (not to mention the Sheriff and two other trackers along the way) the book falls into a middle grade trope - the adults may not be the driving force but they are benevolent and helpful to the protagonists - rather than Young Adult, where the adult figures are responsible for the problems, or out of the picture entirely.
The end of the book pulls a deus ex machina, which completely ruined Megan's character growth for me. Nine times out of ten when a book pulls a deus ex machina it ruins the book for me. This novel was no different.
The most interesting part of the story was descriptions of the weirdness inherent in the Zone. I found these sequences to be enjoyable, so long as I ignored the poor characterizations and plot holes. This could have been a much better novel if the world surrounding the Zone (the rest of the story) had been better crafted.
I would not recommend this book for Young Adult readers (particularly ones who are overly critical of their science fiction novels like I am), but the middle grade audience might find this book enjoyable, and somewhat different from other dystopian/science fiction/fantasy books. Again, the writing is solid if simple, I just found the book full of plot holes and the characters a tad too bland for my taste.
The first and major issue I had with this story was the fact that the earth stopped rotating. Not a gradual over several decades kind of stop, but a sudden and abrupt end to the planet's momentum. Anyone who knows a bit of rudimentary science has heard of this little thing called inertia. If the earth suddenly stopped spinning it would basically force everything on the surface to jolt sideways at over 1,000 miles an hour. Now I know some people will argue "aliens," which yes, is a major part of the story. However, my irritation with this comes from the fact that other than the Zone, no mention of alien technology is ever made. The Visors are even using human weapons. Because of this I found the alien's technology highly suspect. Not to mention their motivation for being there in the first place is never really explained. The species is supposedly powerful enough to halt the spin of the planet, teleport the planet AND the sun ridiculous unknown distances in space, but they can't conquer the planet until it's back in their home turf? What? Not to mention that the Zone has the same effect on the Visitors as the humans making its function as a deterrent against human incursion and a hiding spot for their Queen highly suspect.
The characterization in the novel was done on a surface level. You got the basic attitudes of the characters, but it was difficult to develop any sort of emotional attachment to them. This made it difficult for me to really care about their plight. The only reason the characters survived the Zone was because Megan was getting mental "messages" from her father, who was supposedly somewhere in the Zone. It's revealed that her dad is an ordinary guy who, as with other Trackers, learned to navigate the Zone. Nowhere in the book does it imply Tracking/surviving abilities in the Zone = mental, vision inducing communication. Because she received this much help from her father (not to mention the Sheriff and two other trackers along the way) the book falls into a middle grade trope - the adults may not be the driving force but they are benevolent and helpful to the protagonists - rather than Young Adult, where the adult figures are responsible for the problems, or out of the picture entirely.
The end of the book pulls a deus ex machina, which completely ruined Megan's character growth for me. Nine times out of ten when a book pulls a deus ex machina it ruins the book for me. This novel was no different.
The most interesting part of the story was descriptions of the weirdness inherent in the Zone. I found these sequences to be enjoyable, so long as I ignored the poor characterizations and plot holes. This could have been a much better novel if the world surrounding the Zone (the rest of the story) had been better crafted.
I would not recommend this book for Young Adult readers (particularly ones who are overly critical of their science fiction novels like I am), but the middle grade audience might find this book enjoyable, and somewhat different from other dystopian/science fiction/fantasy books. Again, the writing is solid if simple, I just found the book full of plot holes and the characters a tad too bland for my taste.
June 9, 2014
I received this as a free copy through Goodreads First Reads. :)
If I could give this 3.5 stars I would, but as I can't, I'm rounding it up to 4 because the description is fantastic (and also because of Nugget--loved that bit! :) ). The Zone absolutely sucked me in. It was enchanting, in a scary, deadly sort of way. And I loved the almost stream-of-consciousness bits, such as when Megan is confused and disoriented and the narration slips into a believable confusion as well. Not to mention the fact that the descriptions of the various elements of the setting are so good that my brain didn't go "Wait... But, but science...?" until after I had finished.
I seem to be in the minority here, but I liked Megan. I think she made a fine main character. I didn't mind Luis either, and I didn't find the Spanish words I didn't understand too disruptive. My real issue, character-wise, was Kelly. I wanted to like her. I really did. But she grated on me. Perhaps it's my perspective as an American who grew up in the South (although, granted, not the Southwest) reading a book by a British author set in the South, but the accent and the colloquialisms were piled on a bit thick. We get it, she's Texan. No need to hit us over the head with it again and again! I did identify with the fact that her grief made her angry instead of sad, which in itself was very believable, and I have to admit that she made me crack a smile a time or two, but I think a lighter touch would have been of benefit here. Also, though, the fact that sometimes she was just so savvy, like her performance in Brokeoff if I remember correctly, seemed a bit beyond her years and left me going "Just how old is she again? Is she a spunky, disillusioned teenage dropout or a jaded thirty-year-old?"
I won't say much about the ending as I don't really want to have to check that hide review because of spoilers box, but I liked the ending, and I didn't feel like it was too deus ex machina. I seem to have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing than most people as I tend to get really wrapped up in stories with vivid description and become more forgiving of plot twists the more I've been drawn into the narrative, but I think it was surprising and intriguing. I did find the last section of the book before the climax a bit rushed and confusing though, and I could have used a little more explanation, especially the bit where she realizes it all.
All in all, it was certainly an interesting experience, and it's one of the most unusual sci-fi books I've read! I'm pleased to have read it, and thank you very much for sharing it with me.
If I could give this 3.5 stars I would, but as I can't, I'm rounding it up to 4 because the description is fantastic (and also because of Nugget--loved that bit! :) ). The Zone absolutely sucked me in. It was enchanting, in a scary, deadly sort of way. And I loved the almost stream-of-consciousness bits, such as when Megan is confused and disoriented and the narration slips into a believable confusion as well. Not to mention the fact that the descriptions of the various elements of the setting are so good that my brain didn't go "Wait... But, but science...?" until after I had finished.
I seem to be in the minority here, but I liked Megan. I think she made a fine main character. I didn't mind Luis either, and I didn't find the Spanish words I didn't understand too disruptive. My real issue, character-wise, was Kelly. I wanted to like her. I really did. But she grated on me. Perhaps it's my perspective as an American who grew up in the South (although, granted, not the Southwest) reading a book by a British author set in the South, but the accent and the colloquialisms were piled on a bit thick. We get it, she's Texan. No need to hit us over the head with it again and again! I did identify with the fact that her grief made her angry instead of sad, which in itself was very believable, and I have to admit that she made me crack a smile a time or two, but I think a lighter touch would have been of benefit here. Also, though, the fact that sometimes she was just so savvy, like her performance in Brokeoff if I remember correctly, seemed a bit beyond her years and left me going "Just how old is she again? Is she a spunky, disillusioned teenage dropout or a jaded thirty-year-old?"
I won't say much about the ending as I don't really want to have to check that hide review because of spoilers box, but I liked the ending, and I didn't feel like it was too deus ex machina. I seem to have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing than most people as I tend to get really wrapped up in stories with vivid description and become more forgiving of plot twists the more I've been drawn into the narrative, but I think it was surprising and intriguing. I did find the last section of the book before the climax a bit rushed and confusing though, and I could have used a little more explanation, especially the bit where she realizes it all.
All in all, it was certainly an interesting experience, and it's one of the most unusual sci-fi books I've read! I'm pleased to have read it, and thank you very much for sharing it with me.
April 2, 2014
My copy was provided by Netgalley.
The Visitors touched down on Earth and the moon is destroyed. The Visitors are able to take a human body as their skin and the Visitors don't want to lose this planet. Some people might want to start a rebellion to get rid of these aliens, but it's hard to fight when your best friend could be an alien.
Megan doesn't care about starting a rebellion. She just wants to find her father who's been missing. He went into the Zone and he hasn't come out. Yet the Zone is a dangerous place where the laws of physics and nature don't play a role. Whole towns float in the air. No one can ever feel safe in the Zone.
Megan must find her dad before the Visitors kill her. A major secret is being kept from her and she must find it out before she's killed.
This book was definitely original. I liked the backstory and how the book was a western, a sci-fi, and a dystopian novel all rolled into one. It was intriguing and I couldn't get my hands off the book. It was intense; I just had to find out what happened next.
I liked how the book built up to the grand finale and I also liked how original it was. You never knew what was going to happen next. You'd expect one thing, but then the complete opposite would occur. It was a fun read with some interesting characters.
Megan was an okay character to me. She seemed a bit bland and cliché. All she cares about us finding her father, but what are her dreams, her hopes? I wanted to know more about her and her personality. I liked Kelly. She was a fun, humorous girl that was always chipper and hyper. Her humor balanced well with Megan and Luis's seriousness and it brought a certain lightness to the book. Without her, the book would have been too heavy and I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
What I didn't like was the ending. The whole book was leading up to this big standoff and when it happened, I thought to myself, "that's it?". It seemed too cliché and rushed to have actually happened. It was a bit predictable and not as exciting as I hoped.
The book was also a bit hard to follow at some points. This world Megan lives in is confusing and bizarre. Sometimes I didn't know what was happening and had to reread the passage to understand it more.
This book was entertaining and I couldn't put it down. I loved the originality of it, but I didn't like the ending.
The Visitors touched down on Earth and the moon is destroyed. The Visitors are able to take a human body as their skin and the Visitors don't want to lose this planet. Some people might want to start a rebellion to get rid of these aliens, but it's hard to fight when your best friend could be an alien.
Megan doesn't care about starting a rebellion. She just wants to find her father who's been missing. He went into the Zone and he hasn't come out. Yet the Zone is a dangerous place where the laws of physics and nature don't play a role. Whole towns float in the air. No one can ever feel safe in the Zone.
Megan must find her dad before the Visitors kill her. A major secret is being kept from her and she must find it out before she's killed.
This book was definitely original. I liked the backstory and how the book was a western, a sci-fi, and a dystopian novel all rolled into one. It was intriguing and I couldn't get my hands off the book. It was intense; I just had to find out what happened next.
I liked how the book built up to the grand finale and I also liked how original it was. You never knew what was going to happen next. You'd expect one thing, but then the complete opposite would occur. It was a fun read with some interesting characters.
Megan was an okay character to me. She seemed a bit bland and cliché. All she cares about us finding her father, but what are her dreams, her hopes? I wanted to know more about her and her personality. I liked Kelly. She was a fun, humorous girl that was always chipper and hyper. Her humor balanced well with Megan and Luis's seriousness and it brought a certain lightness to the book. Without her, the book would have been too heavy and I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
What I didn't like was the ending. The whole book was leading up to this big standoff and when it happened, I thought to myself, "that's it?". It seemed too cliché and rushed to have actually happened. It was a bit predictable and not as exciting as I hoped.
The book was also a bit hard to follow at some points. This world Megan lives in is confusing and bizarre. Sometimes I didn't know what was happening and had to reread the passage to understand it more.
This book was entertaining and I couldn't put it down. I loved the originality of it, but I didn't like the ending.
May 15, 2014
An eclectic fusion of genres blended seamlessly together for a truly unique YA novel!
10/10 OR 5 STARS!!
Set within a disturbingly magnetic, post-apocalyptic world of chilling danger this intriguing book is a welcome edition to the YA/ Children’s bookshelf. Western, Horror, Science fiction and Dystopia merge together in the most remarkable way to form the impressive backbone of this - - well rather extraordinarily outlandish novel! I did not know what I would encounter as I delved into this debut with trepidation {and confusion}, and so I was utterly shocked at what wonders were revealed to me on the page…
Similarly to Stephen King’s GUNSLINGER this supremely singular story is a character-driven tale with a Western theme. Fans of YA Dystopia will find this book a refreshingly captivating story of inspired vision and the most eccentric imaginative ideas. “Where the Rock splits the Sky” is as striking a story as the eye-catching cover, with the most breathtaking settings and exquisitely detailed, descriptive passages as to capture your interest immediately. The build-up to the most intense, dramatic climatic ending left me aghast and so saddened that the story had ended!
Having read other published books for children/ teens/ Young Adults by ‘Chicken House’ Publishers {such as INKHEART for instance and RECKLESS}, I was very excited upon encountering this new book. Philip Web is an accomplished writer who ‘gets’ his target readership and writes with such addictive flair and panache. This bold, vibrant tale took me on a fast-paced thrilling journey of depth that was very convincing and credible.
I am just so pleased to have been lucky to win a signed copy of this brilliant book {through a first-read giveaway on Goodreads}, as I just LOVED it and feel strongly that this story is a noteworthy read. Prepare to be dazzled and puzzled as you encounter the most unusual, idiosyncratic narrative.
10/10 OR 5 STARS!!
Set within a disturbingly magnetic, post-apocalyptic world of chilling danger this intriguing book is a welcome edition to the YA/ Children’s bookshelf. Western, Horror, Science fiction and Dystopia merge together in the most remarkable way to form the impressive backbone of this - - well rather extraordinarily outlandish novel! I did not know what I would encounter as I delved into this debut with trepidation {and confusion}, and so I was utterly shocked at what wonders were revealed to me on the page…
Similarly to Stephen King’s GUNSLINGER this supremely singular story is a character-driven tale with a Western theme. Fans of YA Dystopia will find this book a refreshingly captivating story of inspired vision and the most eccentric imaginative ideas. “Where the Rock splits the Sky” is as striking a story as the eye-catching cover, with the most breathtaking settings and exquisitely detailed, descriptive passages as to capture your interest immediately. The build-up to the most intense, dramatic climatic ending left me aghast and so saddened that the story had ended!
Having read other published books for children/ teens/ Young Adults by ‘Chicken House’ Publishers {such as INKHEART for instance and RECKLESS}, I was very excited upon encountering this new book. Philip Web is an accomplished writer who ‘gets’ his target readership and writes with such addictive flair and panache. This bold, vibrant tale took me on a fast-paced thrilling journey of depth that was very convincing and credible.
I am just so pleased to have been lucky to win a signed copy of this brilliant book {through a first-read giveaway on Goodreads}, as I just LOVED it and feel strongly that this story is a noteworthy read. Prepare to be dazzled and puzzled as you encounter the most unusual, idiosyncratic narrative.
December 15, 2015
Review originally published here: http://tinyurl.com/gn22jsb
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Years have passed since the Moon split, leaving the sun suspended in the sky. Night never comes and those humans left on Earth must struggle to survive. Let's not forget the Visitors--aliens who have come to take over Earth and use human bodies as hosts.
Fifteen year old Megan is determined to travel deep into the deadly and unpredictable 'Zone'--the area at the heart of the strange planetary disturbance--in order to search for her missing father. Not only does she solve the mystery behind her father's disappearance but also the unsolved questions of Earth's paralysis.
I just wasn't a fan of this book.
1) It is not something I'd pick up to read on my own. The premise doesn't do it for me.
2) If I hadn't been reading this for ROYAL, I never would have finished it.
Why?
1) The plot felt unfocused and jumbled. The better story here would be the events right after the Moon splits and the world falls into chaos. The world building and cohesive story based on a merging of plot and characters just wasn't there.
2) While some of the description was intriguing and the idea that Earth has reverted to the Wild West has potential, the characters remained flat. I had little interest in Megan or the rest of her 'posse'. Too much of the setting and dialogue felt stereotypical instead of blending modern world survivors with the reinvention of the Old West.
3) As villains, the Visitors lacked depth and and real sense of purpose. The one central "Big Bad" should have made an appears much sooner. There is a glimpse of the end game toward the end but by that point I'd lost interest.
Overall, I've certainly read better and worse. I'm not sure I see the general appeal to teen readers. If a teen does pick it up, I'd say this is for middle school age readers. This is not recommended for purchase.
Final rating: 2 out of 5 stars
#YAlit #dystopian #aliens #futuristic #bookreview
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Years have passed since the Moon split, leaving the sun suspended in the sky. Night never comes and those humans left on Earth must struggle to survive. Let's not forget the Visitors--aliens who have come to take over Earth and use human bodies as hosts.
Fifteen year old Megan is determined to travel deep into the deadly and unpredictable 'Zone'--the area at the heart of the strange planetary disturbance--in order to search for her missing father. Not only does she solve the mystery behind her father's disappearance but also the unsolved questions of Earth's paralysis.
I just wasn't a fan of this book.
1) It is not something I'd pick up to read on my own. The premise doesn't do it for me.
2) If I hadn't been reading this for ROYAL, I never would have finished it.
Why?
1) The plot felt unfocused and jumbled. The better story here would be the events right after the Moon splits and the world falls into chaos. The world building and cohesive story based on a merging of plot and characters just wasn't there.
2) While some of the description was intriguing and the idea that Earth has reverted to the Wild West has potential, the characters remained flat. I had little interest in Megan or the rest of her 'posse'. Too much of the setting and dialogue felt stereotypical instead of blending modern world survivors with the reinvention of the Old West.
3) As villains, the Visitors lacked depth and and real sense of purpose. The one central "Big Bad" should have made an appears much sooner. There is a glimpse of the end game toward the end but by that point I'd lost interest.
Overall, I've certainly read better and worse. I'm not sure I see the general appeal to teen readers. If a teen does pick it up, I'd say this is for middle school age readers. This is not recommended for purchase.
Final rating: 2 out of 5 stars
#YAlit #dystopian #aliens #futuristic #bookreview
March 9, 2014
Megan lives in a future where the world has stopped spinning, twenty years ago when the Visitors arrived. No one really knows much about what has happened but has had to adapt; half the world is in internal ice age and the other is sun-blasted, making only the edges habitable. This is a typical Western road-trip story, where Megan and friend Luis travel across the country to find her father and hopefully answers on the Visitors and what the dangerous Zone is.
Even though the Earth not spinning is a terrifying thought, Megan - born after it stopped - made a very logical argument about shadows being pinned still and knowing where you are in relation to the sun that made an unusual amount of sense. I really felt for Megan, stuck with this tough journey, looking for her father and not even sure he's still alive but she was pretty standoffish. Raised without parents, I'm not surprised she had trouble with emotional stuff but it made her unlikable at times. As for her traveling companion Luis, I really liked him; he was strong, knew what he was doing most of the time, stood up to Megan if he thought they were in danger.
The story was very fast-paced but with no real explanations, it was difficult to understand, I just sort of went with it. Until we come across a character much like ourselves: still thinking the Earth spins and some things were explained but not all. I'm very glad they came across Kelly, she gave the opportunity to have some weird occurrences explained as well as some much needed comic relief. It was all very intriguing, and definitely interesting enough for me to want to finish it, but not really my style. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I stuck with it and got the answers I wanted but it was sometimes difficult to read while I was trying to piece bits together.
Even though the Earth not spinning is a terrifying thought, Megan - born after it stopped - made a very logical argument about shadows being pinned still and knowing where you are in relation to the sun that made an unusual amount of sense. I really felt for Megan, stuck with this tough journey, looking for her father and not even sure he's still alive but she was pretty standoffish. Raised without parents, I'm not surprised she had trouble with emotional stuff but it made her unlikable at times. As for her traveling companion Luis, I really liked him; he was strong, knew what he was doing most of the time, stood up to Megan if he thought they were in danger.
The story was very fast-paced but with no real explanations, it was difficult to understand, I just sort of went with it. Until we come across a character much like ourselves: still thinking the Earth spins and some things were explained but not all. I'm very glad they came across Kelly, she gave the opportunity to have some weird occurrences explained as well as some much needed comic relief. It was all very intriguing, and definitely interesting enough for me to want to finish it, but not really my style. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I stuck with it and got the answers I wanted but it was sometimes difficult to read while I was trying to piece bits together.
March 9, 2014
Where The Rock Splits The Sky definitely has a unique and intriguing premise: there has been alien invasion which destroyed the moon and altered life on earth forever. Some areas are more affected than others. There is "the zone" where anything and everything can happen: no natural rules or laws apply. This "zone" is in the new-old west. Yes, this science fiction has a very western feel to it. Outlaws and sheriffs. Horses and Stagecoaches. Of course, modern technology does not work in the zone. The good news, and this novel desperately needs good news, is that the heroine discovers that ALIENS are just as vulnerable INSIDE the zone as un-invaded humans. She doesn't know why, she doesn't particularly care about the why.
Megan, Luis, and Kelly set off into the zone. Technically, Kelly is a friend they pick up in the zone after their official mission has started. But. Kelly is probably the most intriguing character in the novel. I'm not sure she's meant to be. All three join together, but, all three have their own personal agenda. Luis wants revenge, in other words, he wants to kill some aliens. Kelly is looking for answers. Twenty years of her life is missing. She wants to know if any of her family or friends have survived. And Megan, the heroine, wants to find her father. Megan is the leader of the three, she is the one most in-touch with the zone, most sensitive to its strangeness.
Where The Rock Splits the Sky is not my kind of book. I'm allergic to westerns even if there are aliens it seems. I was hoping the science-fiction would overcome that. It didn't quite work for me, but, it might work for you.
Megan, Luis, and Kelly set off into the zone. Technically, Kelly is a friend they pick up in the zone after their official mission has started. But. Kelly is probably the most intriguing character in the novel. I'm not sure she's meant to be. All three join together, but, all three have their own personal agenda. Luis wants revenge, in other words, he wants to kill some aliens. Kelly is looking for answers. Twenty years of her life is missing. She wants to know if any of her family or friends have survived. And Megan, the heroine, wants to find her father. Megan is the leader of the three, she is the one most in-touch with the zone, most sensitive to its strangeness.
Where The Rock Splits the Sky is not my kind of book. I'm allergic to westerns even if there are aliens it seems. I was hoping the science-fiction would overcome that. It didn't quite work for me, but, it might work for you.
February 9, 2017
Review by Sashya - Year 8
I could tell, immediately, what this book was going to be about. It is an action based story that brings three friends together to face the unpredictable zone.
The first few pages are quite hard to understand because it is sort of set in the middle of nowhere. However, as you read deeper into the story, it all comes together. Basically, this girl called Megan Bridgwater has lost both her mother and her father. She has never met her mother and therefore has no clue about her. On the other hand, she did know her father. He is a great tracker in the zone but one time he never returned. Many thought he had died. This great loss meant that Megan had to live with her horrible aunt.
The zone is a country which is always changing. Visitors, who are creatures that live disguised in the zone are very dangerous to humans. Megan’s aim is to go and look for her father in the zone, whether he is alive or dead.
Luis, a boy who grew up with Megan really wants to see the wanders within the zone and so he travels with her into the zone. While travelling through the zone, they encounter an abductee named Kelly. After they get to know each other, she joins them on their journey to find the mystery of Virgil Bridgwater.
The story then continues with the three of them facing the problems they encounter in the zone. On the whole, I found the book very slow-moving because it would be quite boring for a bit and then something sudden would happen. The pacing just felt a little off.
While I don’t think this book was really for me, I would recommend this to people who like science fiction and a bit of horror.
I could tell, immediately, what this book was going to be about. It is an action based story that brings three friends together to face the unpredictable zone.
The first few pages are quite hard to understand because it is sort of set in the middle of nowhere. However, as you read deeper into the story, it all comes together. Basically, this girl called Megan Bridgwater has lost both her mother and her father. She has never met her mother and therefore has no clue about her. On the other hand, she did know her father. He is a great tracker in the zone but one time he never returned. Many thought he had died. This great loss meant that Megan had to live with her horrible aunt.
The zone is a country which is always changing. Visitors, who are creatures that live disguised in the zone are very dangerous to humans. Megan’s aim is to go and look for her father in the zone, whether he is alive or dead.
Luis, a boy who grew up with Megan really wants to see the wanders within the zone and so he travels with her into the zone. While travelling through the zone, they encounter an abductee named Kelly. After they get to know each other, she joins them on their journey to find the mystery of Virgil Bridgwater.
The story then continues with the three of them facing the problems they encounter in the zone. On the whole, I found the book very slow-moving because it would be quite boring for a bit and then something sudden would happen. The pacing just felt a little off.
While I don’t think this book was really for me, I would recommend this to people who like science fiction and a bit of horror.
June 10, 2014
Grades 9-12[return][return]Webb’s Where the Rock Splits the Sky tackles themes explored in The Age of Miracles and The War of the Worlds – an alien invasion has destroyed the moon and caused the Earth to stop spinning on its axis. The aliens attempt to inhabit human bodies and infiltrate cities; one particular area, the Zone, seems to be a playground of experiments for the aliens, with cities flying up into the air and rivers of stone and sand. A trio of friends, led by Megan, forage into the Zone in an attempt to find Megan’s father, who presumably has answers to the invasion. Throughout the journey, the trio battle aliens-cum-humans, sleeping air sickness, and outlaws. The ending ties up rather too neatly, but those who are a fan of such will be pleased. Webb excels in descriptions of the highly imaginative now-alien environment; where the book struggles is with the thin character development. Even though our heroine is with us from page one, she remains an alien herself from the reader.
August 13, 2014
I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
Where the Rock Splits the Sky by Phillip Webb is a dystopian YA novel set in the Western United States. The Moon has split in two pieces, Earth is no longer spinning, and Aliens or Visitors have invaded posing as humans. The journey begins with Callie, our main character, who is determined to locate her missing father. With the help of two friends, Luis and Kelly, she must fight the elements in this new world and solve the mystery behind her father’s disappearance.
This was sooo entertaining! I loved the Cowboy-Western setting and dialog throughout the entire novel. The supporting Characters, Luis and Kelly, added the prefect amount of sarcasm and humor. The action and adventure started right from the beginning and had me hooked. I only wish it was a little longer. Everyone needs to read this!
Where the Rock Splits the Sky by Phillip Webb is a dystopian YA novel set in the Western United States. The Moon has split in two pieces, Earth is no longer spinning, and Aliens or Visitors have invaded posing as humans. The journey begins with Callie, our main character, who is determined to locate her missing father. With the help of two friends, Luis and Kelly, she must fight the elements in this new world and solve the mystery behind her father’s disappearance.
This was sooo entertaining! I loved the Cowboy-Western setting and dialog throughout the entire novel. The supporting Characters, Luis and Kelly, added the prefect amount of sarcasm and humor. The action and adventure started right from the beginning and had me hooked. I only wish it was a little longer. Everyone needs to read this!
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