Every Grain of Sand

The Shivered Sky #1

by Matt Dinniman

Life was boot camp, death a one-way ticket to the war.

For so many of this world, the idea of an afterlife is a comforting one. You live, you die, and you are rewarded with an eternity of joy and peace. But for Indigo, life after death is a nightmare beyond comprehension. Naked, afraid, and with only snippets of memory, she comes into the afterlife to find that Heaven is in ruins, and the angels are gone, hunted to the brink of extinction. Terrible monsters roam free. Demons control the sky. The great city burns.

God is gone. 

Humans, the ones who are caught, are nothing more than livestock. A resistance exists, but it is weak, unorganized, and all but defeated. For the demons, they struggle to maintain order amongst themselves. 

Indigo and her human companions only have one choice. They must fight. 

Told from the point of view of humans, angels, and demons, this is an epic, sweeping tale told in three parts.  

"An Incredible, Gut-Wrenching Story of War" - Amazon Review 

This book is part one of three. Parts two and three are already available for preorder. This is a refresh, re-edit, and re-release of Matt Dinniman's original novel, The Shivered Sky. This author-preferred version of the story includes a glossary of terms, names, and creature types. 

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

166 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2020

About the author

Matt Dinniman is the best-selling writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the published author of dozens of short stories and a gaggle of books. In addition, his art publications—from greeting cards to stationery kits to calendars—can be found in boutique and stationery shops around the world. Also, he strongly feels like a pretentious twat when he writes about himself in third person.

Reviews

[AnnaReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Grain of Sand follows a group of 5 people who wake up in a strange place. Indigo is the first one to wake up, naked, scared and without memories. The next ones are Gramm, Dave, Rico and Hitomi. They find themselves in a desert. In Heaven. After they find some peculiar clothes and some even stranger devices which emit light they also find a suitcase. There is a hologram inside, of an angel, which tells them to go to Cibola, capital of Heaven. They start their journey through dark tunnels, huge forests and immense grasslands only to be thwarted at every step of the way. They meet with different kinds of demons, humans with hollow eyes and angels who hates humans. They must reach Cibola in order to save Heaven. There is a Prophecy that says 4 people will save Heaven.

This is the first book in The Shivered Sky series. How I love stories which are full of wonder and angels and demons and epic fights. The cover caught my attention, it’s the reason why I read the books description and felt swept off my feet immediately. I’ve read hundreds of books about angels and I so love how different they can be from book to book. So I was hoping for something new something I haven’t read before. And I got what I wanted. These angels are fierce, yes and they are magnificent with their huge wings. I’m not telling a secret if I say their chapters are my favourites.

Tamael and Yehppael are the military leaders, they are so alike but so different too. Tamael is tired of war, of death, she just wants to save her people. Yehppael is also tired of death but he belives in the Prophecy and he does everything in his power to help Indigo’s group.
Indigo is more than she seems. She is strong, determined, a true leader. I felt connected to her from the start and I’m really curious about her past (and I hope future books will reveal it).
The japanese girl, Hitomi is another mystery I’m curious about. She seems fragile, and small but her inner strength is amazing.
The demons are pure evil of course. But intriguing too.

I love the world Matt Dinniman dreamed up, so full of amazing places, imaginative technological devices and a huge, complex plot which kept me interested throughout the book.

This book has no ending, the story continues in the next installment. I will read it too. I recommend this book, it’s worth your time.

I received an advance copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story. This book was lacking in the humor found in Dungeon Crawler Carl (or to a lesser extent Dominion of Blades).

It was surprising to me that this one did not have a game setting like Matt Dinniman’s other works. It makes sense for it not to here. This one is more of straight fantasy.

[Charles Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is Christian Science Fantasy A Genre? If It's Not, This Book Bids Fair To Create The Genre.

Here's the premises of this book:
1) God is real.
2) Angels are real and possess some phenomenal technologies.
3) There are billions of worlds God created where humans live and die.
4) The Fall (i.e. Lucifer's Rebellion) occurred.
5) Some Angels cut off their wings and become "Fallen Angels" who can then live as humans, but are reviled as traitors by other Angels
6) Demons are real and there are thirteen races of them.
7) When some humans die, their souls are whisked away to "Heaven" where the Demons and Angels still battle with one another.
8) There is a Prophesy that four humans will arise with the power to end the Celestial War, bringing peace and equality to humans, Angels, and one presumes God thonself.

The story begins when five souls from our version of Earth arrive on a beacon platform bordering the Ether.

If this doesn't fit the description of Christian Science Fantasy, I don't know to what other genre it may be assigned.

This novel may appeal to fans of the wider Fantasy genre; it may also appeal to some Christians who can tolerate their mythology being rewritten -- though those are likely few in number.

[Connor Pelcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m one of Matt’s biggest fans. And because of that, I really wanted to love this book. I wanted it to capture me the same way Kaiju captured me and filled the void created by the latest DCC hiatus.

And there’s plenty to like. The story is abound with creativity, mystery, and the shifting POVs of some compelling characters.

However, the overall state of the writing is extraordinarily sloppy. Commas are misused more times that I can count - at least once per page, and often more frequently than even that. There are typos, grammar errors, formatting errors.

But it really is the prose that sinks this book. Sentence structure is repetitive, uncreative, uninspired.

This was written about 23 years ago, and I’d imagine it’s among his first published novels ever. I will continue with the series in hopes that the writing improves!

2.5/5

[Audion Audiobooks On Demand · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great new series by the author of Dominion of Blades

I'm a huge fan of Matt's GameLit series. Although this is straight up SFF,it does not disappoint!

An epic battle between angels and demons comprises most of the book, I'm really looking forward to Book 2. I want more of Moloch!

[Pablo García · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story is a struggle between a hallucinatory nightmare (more like a long long series of nightmares so a super long night-herd maybe?) and a dystopian-hell-like-movie that is already halfway done when you tune in...So, without a beginning or an end, this first book of of this Sci-Fi-hell-like-place really has no purpose. it's like a survival story without there really being a reason to survive. If the main characters all died (and went to this hell-like place) then what is the point of "surviving their death again??" The main characters when physically hurt do not feel pain, do not have hunger, but have thirst, some have scars on their backs (allusion to maybe having wings before?) Main characters defend themselves from "monsters" they meet on their way? But none of the characters (or the author) have a clear idea to where they are going?? Where they are? Why they are there? and where there is?? So, if you are into dream-like-nightmare-stories that are confusing, violent and nonsensical, this story might be for you?
I do not like this story. For a hell-like place, there is our current world, and to see it, all one needs to do is watch or read the news. This story in its first book is really short. Less than 200 pages, and each chapter is less than 10 pages long, so little to no character development, world development, with descriptions of the geopolitical, economic, social, religious, etc. systems in place in this hell-like-dystopian-place. No inside illustrations, no character summaries, there are a lot of "monster-like" beings but their descriptions are so badly done that they could be anything...
I do not recommend this book or this series.

[Reuben Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Dinniman’s storytelling remains as sharp, immersive, and relentless as ever, this installment lacks the trademark humor that made the Dungeon Crawler Carl series so unique and enjoyable…

The darker, more serious tone works for the plot and still delivers his signature intensity, but I couldn’t help missing the wit and absurdity that usually balances the violence and chaos… That absence alone cost the fifth star!

Still, it’s a gripping read, tightly written and full of the author’s knack for pulling readers into high-stakes, vividly imagined worlds.

[Tammy Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok

My biggest problem with this story is the incompetence of the engineers! I am an engineer, and I cannot imagine ANY engineer would ever design & build ANYTHING as badly as they do in this story.

Other than that, it was ok. I might read more, but not sure. This story is very disappointing compared with the author’s other stories.

[wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Grain of Sand

A completely different novel than any of Matt's others! I really enjoyed it! The building of the characters as they tried to figure out where they were, was perfectly done. It kept me reading. As with his other novels I could see it play out as a movie in my head! Can not wait fir the next book in this series!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden Gem

Most of the time a story from this many PoVs can be disjointed or not well paced. This is story does not have that problem. Great story!! Can’t wait to book meg the whole series!!

[Jimmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Messy

[Murphies_law · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned at 60%, after reading about human slaves pleasuring some demons pleasure nipples...

The story concept itself is not bad but turned out to be too young adult for my taste. Angels and demons fighting in heaven with high tech weapons and some reborn teenagers to save heaven...

[Stefan Pirzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

short and sweet, mal sehen wo die Reise hingeht