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Skybound
What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?
Half the world would become trapped in endless night, the other half in relentless day. Global communications would be crippled. The oceans would migrate to the Earth’s magnetic poles, and global tremors would threaten the stability of the entire planet. In other words, things would be bad. Very bad.
That’s what happens in SKYBOUND. And the clock is ticking.
The world is in chaos. Theories about the impossible phenomenon run the gamut from broken physics to little green men to the dawning of the end times. But everyone agrees on one thing:
The massive metallic object that suddenly appeared in the sky is to blame.
In his debut novel, Lou Iovino weaves a modern-day fable that traces the path of two small-town siblings who find themselves thrust into events that will reshape humanity, and grappling with the question that has plagued mankind for eons.
What’s up there?
Half the world would become trapped in endless night, the other half in relentless day. Global communications would be crippled. The oceans would migrate to the Earth’s magnetic poles, and global tremors would threaten the stability of the entire planet. In other words, things would be bad. Very bad.
That’s what happens in SKYBOUND. And the clock is ticking.
The world is in chaos. Theories about the impossible phenomenon run the gamut from broken physics to little green men to the dawning of the end times. But everyone agrees on one thing:
The massive metallic object that suddenly appeared in the sky is to blame.
In his debut novel, Lou Iovino weaves a modern-day fable that traces the path of two small-town siblings who find themselves thrust into events that will reshape humanity, and grappling with the question that has plagued mankind for eons.
What’s up there?
- GenresScience Fiction
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 2, 2021
117 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Lou Iovino
55 books11 followersLou Iovino was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He splits his time between working in advertising, writing, and teaching. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.
For more information, visit www.louiovino.com.
For more information, visit www.louiovino.com.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 7, 2021
Read for 2021 SPSFC
Overall Thoughts
I had high hopes for this story when I started, but a couple things dragged it down over the course of the book. The concept is that the Earth stops spinning one day (and everyone somehow doesn’t fly off) because a mysterious artifact has appeared in the sky, and various people and agencies try to find out what’s going on. Sounds really cool so far. There are some really tense scenes to start, and the book is fairly well written and easy to read. There’s a great setup in the first few chapters, however the artifact is never described, and I feel like the story goes off into the weeds on a couple points, taking away from what I wanted to learn about. In addition, the ending is…a letdown. I’m going to try not to completely spoil this one as I dig into it deeper, but I may need to in part to make some points I want to make. (EDIT: I’ve spoiled it, but the spoilers are at the end.)
Plot. Setting, and Character
I had a hard time separating the three when talking about this, so you get all of them together.
So the Earth stops spinning. Now what? At first I thought, when various scientist characters were describing that how the obvious effects (people flying off) didn’t happen that everything was going to be fine, but that quickly turns out not to be the case. Even with the most drastic effects not happening, there are still horrible catastrophes that occur, such as water drifting toward the poles, and animals going wild because there’s no magnetosphere. It’s quite interesting, but then the story starts following character interactions more, and not really going into depth about the scientific mysteries that have been set up. Add to that, no one ever gives a description of the thing in the sky. It’s referenced, but I guess no one actually looked at it, or set up a telescope? I don’t know how big it is, or how close to Earth, or even what shape it is.
The book follows several characters around the globe, including the family of a priest, and astronauts in orbit. Once past the initial shock of the Earth not spinning, more terrible things become obvious, like how one side of the world will forever be trapped in darkness, and the other forever burned by light. The seas start to migrate to the poles, and flocks of birds go astray. Massive seismic tremors rock the Earth. We also get the people aspect, with some declaring this to be divine judgement, and others simply resorting to lawless behavior. At the same time, one of the astronauts is trying to get a flash drive with data taken the moment object appeared to Cheyenne mountain, where US government systems can decode it.
But then there’s also a strange tangent with a fundamentalist preacher character who suddenly decides God is judging the world and he’s the chosen one to spread the message. I’m not arguing this wouldn’t happen (I mean, see the last few years for example), but there was a lot of focus put on this character, when I didn’t really care about him and wanted more description of the events. He starts leading a bunch of people who decide to ignore any scientific evidence and declare the physical object above them an emissary from the almighty to destroy them. My obvious question is “why go to all this trouble?” It’s a very elaborate setup and honestly, my money was on aliens instead. The whole religious thread seemed almost a throwaway, and I’m not sure why it was a central theme. The premise is set up as a way to elaborate on this incredible event, but those leads aren’t really followed. I wanted to find out more about the people trapped in permanent darkness, or how there was a mega-continent forming near the equator because all the water was heading to the poles. But it wasn’t ever explored.
Still, the story is pretty tense…up to a point. At the very end of the story, things start to unravel, and I feel like we never get a very satisfying ending.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: A very cool disaster story setup about an object stopping the Earth’s spin, but falters at the end with an unsatisfying conclusion. 4/10.
OKAY. I’M GONNA SPOIL THIS ONE. I have to describe exactly how great my frustration was with the end of this story. So if you want, highlight the text below to see, spoilers included. If not, why not read it yourself? The setup is really pretty cool.
.
.
.
.
.
Still here? Alright. Buckle up.
So the flash drive has important data on it about the artifact (which still doesn’t have a description), right? At the end, the priest’s crowd all falls in a pit, so they end up not mattering, despite about 30% of the book being focused on them. There’s a big combined effort to just shoot nukes at the thing in the sky, you know, like the plot of every apocalyptic movie ever, which never works. But the plucky astronaut and her crew get to Cheyenne mountain with the precious flash drive with only thirty minutes to spare! So of course she has the vital evidence that will show the real way to get rid of it, right? She’s going to prove how the nukes won’t work, and here’s the real deal with the artifact, whether it’s aliens, or angels, or the dinosaurs coming back, or whatever, and then we have a revelatory exposition that explains everything…
Wrong.
Turns out there’s nothing on the drive. Then the combined governments shoot nukes at the object, and, still holding out hope, I was thinking the dust would clear and show that it was still there, right?
No, the nukes get rid of it. It’s gone. End of the book. The Earth starts spinning again. And I guess the astronaut’s journey across the world means nothing? And we never get a description of the artifact at all. It was…something…that appeared…somehow…above our planet and then…I guess…the nukes just destroyed it? Except there were some left flying around? So maybe the thing left of its own accord? We’ll never know, because the book ends, without accounting for the billions dead or dying, or any attempt to find out what happened. But I’m not bitter.
Overall Thoughts
I had high hopes for this story when I started, but a couple things dragged it down over the course of the book. The concept is that the Earth stops spinning one day (and everyone somehow doesn’t fly off) because a mysterious artifact has appeared in the sky, and various people and agencies try to find out what’s going on. Sounds really cool so far. There are some really tense scenes to start, and the book is fairly well written and easy to read. There’s a great setup in the first few chapters, however the artifact is never described, and I feel like the story goes off into the weeds on a couple points, taking away from what I wanted to learn about. In addition, the ending is…a letdown. I’m going to try not to completely spoil this one as I dig into it deeper, but I may need to in part to make some points I want to make. (EDIT: I’ve spoiled it, but the spoilers are at the end.)
Plot. Setting, and Character
I had a hard time separating the three when talking about this, so you get all of them together.
So the Earth stops spinning. Now what? At first I thought, when various scientist characters were describing that how the obvious effects (people flying off) didn’t happen that everything was going to be fine, but that quickly turns out not to be the case. Even with the most drastic effects not happening, there are still horrible catastrophes that occur, such as water drifting toward the poles, and animals going wild because there’s no magnetosphere. It’s quite interesting, but then the story starts following character interactions more, and not really going into depth about the scientific mysteries that have been set up. Add to that, no one ever gives a description of the thing in the sky. It’s referenced, but I guess no one actually looked at it, or set up a telescope? I don’t know how big it is, or how close to Earth, or even what shape it is.
The book follows several characters around the globe, including the family of a priest, and astronauts in orbit. Once past the initial shock of the Earth not spinning, more terrible things become obvious, like how one side of the world will forever be trapped in darkness, and the other forever burned by light. The seas start to migrate to the poles, and flocks of birds go astray. Massive seismic tremors rock the Earth. We also get the people aspect, with some declaring this to be divine judgement, and others simply resorting to lawless behavior. At the same time, one of the astronauts is trying to get a flash drive with data taken the moment object appeared to Cheyenne mountain, where US government systems can decode it.
But then there’s also a strange tangent with a fundamentalist preacher character who suddenly decides God is judging the world and he’s the chosen one to spread the message. I’m not arguing this wouldn’t happen (I mean, see the last few years for example), but there was a lot of focus put on this character, when I didn’t really care about him and wanted more description of the events. He starts leading a bunch of people who decide to ignore any scientific evidence and declare the physical object above them an emissary from the almighty to destroy them. My obvious question is “why go to all this trouble?” It’s a very elaborate setup and honestly, my money was on aliens instead. The whole religious thread seemed almost a throwaway, and I’m not sure why it was a central theme. The premise is set up as a way to elaborate on this incredible event, but those leads aren’t really followed. I wanted to find out more about the people trapped in permanent darkness, or how there was a mega-continent forming near the equator because all the water was heading to the poles. But it wasn’t ever explored.
Still, the story is pretty tense…up to a point. At the very end of the story, things start to unravel, and I feel like we never get a very satisfying ending.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: A very cool disaster story setup about an object stopping the Earth’s spin, but falters at the end with an unsatisfying conclusion. 4/10.
OKAY. I’M GONNA SPOIL THIS ONE. I have to describe exactly how great my frustration was with the end of this story. So if you want, highlight the text below to see, spoilers included. If not, why not read it yourself? The setup is really pretty cool.
.
.
.
.
.
Still here? Alright. Buckle up.
So the flash drive has important data on it about the artifact (which still doesn’t have a description), right? At the end, the priest’s crowd all falls in a pit, so they end up not mattering, despite about 30% of the book being focused on them. There’s a big combined effort to just shoot nukes at the thing in the sky, you know, like the plot of every apocalyptic movie ever, which never works. But the plucky astronaut and her crew get to Cheyenne mountain with the precious flash drive with only thirty minutes to spare! So of course she has the vital evidence that will show the real way to get rid of it, right? She’s going to prove how the nukes won’t work, and here’s the real deal with the artifact, whether it’s aliens, or angels, or the dinosaurs coming back, or whatever, and then we have a revelatory exposition that explains everything…
Wrong.
Turns out there’s nothing on the drive. Then the combined governments shoot nukes at the object, and, still holding out hope, I was thinking the dust would clear and show that it was still there, right?
No, the nukes get rid of it. It’s gone. End of the book. The Earth starts spinning again. And I guess the astronaut’s journey across the world means nothing? And we never get a description of the artifact at all. It was…something…that appeared…somehow…above our planet and then…I guess…the nukes just destroyed it? Except there were some left flying around? So maybe the thing left of its own accord? We’ll never know, because the book ends, without accounting for the billions dead or dying, or any attempt to find out what happened. But I’m not bitter.
July 17, 2021
OMG! Please tell me there is a second book in this series! This writer is fantastic, you will not be disappointed. The characters are fully developed and believable, the action well paced and the science easy to follow and spot on. You will cheer and cry as the pace quickens to a climax. Two rules everyone in this book would do well to remember: what goes up must come down and a body in motion wants to stay in motion - that energy goes somewhere!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
August 25, 2021
What is the message?
This was an interesting story told by the pointer view of one family. No well and her brother Michael we’re on opposite sides and a terrible thing occurred. The earth stop spinning and there was a big object in the sky. Nobody knew if it was a message from God. It was an interesting story but the ending kind a let me down a little bit. I would recommend this book for all science fiction readers.
This was an interesting story told by the pointer view of one family. No well and her brother Michael we’re on opposite sides and a terrible thing occurred. The earth stop spinning and there was a big object in the sky. Nobody knew if it was a message from God. It was an interesting story but the ending kind a let me down a little bit. I would recommend this book for all science fiction readers.
August 7, 2021
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Skybound is an apocalyptic Sci-FI novel exploring the events following the appearance of a mysterious object appearing above the Earth and apparently causing a complete breakdown of the laws of physics. This event, as one might expect, throws the entire planet into chaos as people speculate the nature of the object.
Overall, I found Skybound an entertaining story with a lot of strengths and a few weaknesses. I liked the characters and their development; they are people I grew to care about and what happened to them. I liked the story for the most part.
What I call weaknesses are just some personal, nit-picky stuff that I will not dwell on because the story is worth a read.
Life in Franklin, Colorado, goes along as usual. Two lifelong friends, Father Michael Williams and Deputy Jimmy Bell, have coffee and pie at the Crispy Biscuit Diner when Father Williams finishes confession.
At nearby Peterson Air Force Base, a class of students from the high school is taking a tour guided by Noel Williams. Her job is to track and adjust the orbits of communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
In low earth orbit, the International Space Station under the command of Yanez Prescott continues research in its labs.
Life goes on normally until a peculiar, giant object suddenly appears above the Earth and the planet stops spinning on its access. Chaos breaks forth as Father Mike's church collapses, the diner burns catches fire, Noel sees the satellites she is in charge of drifting out their orbits, and so does the ISS.
The result is a fight for survival and to understand what has happened.
The major strength of Skybound is its characters. There are no superhumans among them. They are all people who are believable and can care about. Most of them do their best to cope with the situation, while some have a few problems. Of all the principal characters, my favorite was more in a supporting role as opposed to being a major character.
Aster Meekins (aster is the Greek word for star) is one of the students on the tour of Noel's lab at Peterson AFB. At first, she is quiet and unassuming. She is a science nerd and not one of the popular kids in school. Mostly self-taught, she becomes important in the story as an assistant to Noel as events unfold. She is smart and knows her stuff, but Aster also offers a lighter side to the story because of her teenage wisdom. I felt bad for her because she would have had a brilliant future as a scientist.
Another favorite character was Astronaut Yanez Prescott. She is not only the commander of the ISS, but she is also a military pilot, and a tough character when she needs to be. Her survival story is both heart wrenching and heroic at the same time. Following her from the station carrying what she thinks will be vital information on the object to the conclusion of her segment is compelling.
My favorite point of plot in Skybound revolves around the relationship between Aster and Noel. They have to work together to keep the flow of information going in an old radio station. During that time, they develop a close friendship. There isn't a lot of humor in the story, but what there is happens mostly between those two.
I enjoyed this mostly character driven story. There was some questionable science in a few places, but then again, it seemed the object that appeared in the sky may have messed with physics and changed things significantly. My major reservation with Skybound was with the ending of the story. I will not spoil it, but I have to say it left me a bit unsatisfied and bewildered.
Other than that, I recommend it for the reasons I mentioned before. Fine, well-developed characters, good dialog, and interesting situations and puzzles to solve.
As I read, I couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt a lot like another book I’d read by Niven & Pournelle a while back.
It is a very good first novel.
Skybound is an apocalyptic Sci-FI novel exploring the events following the appearance of a mysterious object appearing above the Earth and apparently causing a complete breakdown of the laws of physics. This event, as one might expect, throws the entire planet into chaos as people speculate the nature of the object.
Overall, I found Skybound an entertaining story with a lot of strengths and a few weaknesses. I liked the characters and their development; they are people I grew to care about and what happened to them. I liked the story for the most part.
What I call weaknesses are just some personal, nit-picky stuff that I will not dwell on because the story is worth a read.
Life in Franklin, Colorado, goes along as usual. Two lifelong friends, Father Michael Williams and Deputy Jimmy Bell, have coffee and pie at the Crispy Biscuit Diner when Father Williams finishes confession.
At nearby Peterson Air Force Base, a class of students from the high school is taking a tour guided by Noel Williams. Her job is to track and adjust the orbits of communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
In low earth orbit, the International Space Station under the command of Yanez Prescott continues research in its labs.
Life goes on normally until a peculiar, giant object suddenly appears above the Earth and the planet stops spinning on its access. Chaos breaks forth as Father Mike's church collapses, the diner burns catches fire, Noel sees the satellites she is in charge of drifting out their orbits, and so does the ISS.
The result is a fight for survival and to understand what has happened.
The major strength of Skybound is its characters. There are no superhumans among them. They are all people who are believable and can care about. Most of them do their best to cope with the situation, while some have a few problems. Of all the principal characters, my favorite was more in a supporting role as opposed to being a major character.
Aster Meekins (aster is the Greek word for star) is one of the students on the tour of Noel's lab at Peterson AFB. At first, she is quiet and unassuming. She is a science nerd and not one of the popular kids in school. Mostly self-taught, she becomes important in the story as an assistant to Noel as events unfold. She is smart and knows her stuff, but Aster also offers a lighter side to the story because of her teenage wisdom. I felt bad for her because she would have had a brilliant future as a scientist.
Another favorite character was Astronaut Yanez Prescott. She is not only the commander of the ISS, but she is also a military pilot, and a tough character when she needs to be. Her survival story is both heart wrenching and heroic at the same time. Following her from the station carrying what she thinks will be vital information on the object to the conclusion of her segment is compelling.
My favorite point of plot in Skybound revolves around the relationship between Aster and Noel. They have to work together to keep the flow of information going in an old radio station. During that time, they develop a close friendship. There isn't a lot of humor in the story, but what there is happens mostly between those two.
I enjoyed this mostly character driven story. There was some questionable science in a few places, but then again, it seemed the object that appeared in the sky may have messed with physics and changed things significantly. My major reservation with Skybound was with the ending of the story. I will not spoil it, but I have to say it left me a bit unsatisfied and bewildered.
Other than that, I recommend it for the reasons I mentioned before. Fine, well-developed characters, good dialog, and interesting situations and puzzles to solve.
As I read, I couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt a lot like another book I’d read by Niven & Pournelle a while back.
It is a very good first novel.
August 15, 2021
4 stars - What would YOU do?
How would you react if suddenly Earth stopped rotating and a mysterious object showed up in the sky? How would you deal with something that is beyond our capability of understanding?
This well-crafted story follows several individuals as they and the rest of Earth are thrown into such a situation. We have Noel, who is working as a satellite communications officer, her brother Michael, who is a young priest trying to fill the large shoes of his predecessor and Yanez, one of the astronauts on the ISS, who is forced to leave the station rather suddenly. Their subplots intertwine as they all struggle to make sense of what is happening around them while having to deal with the social turmoil and massive natural desasters that follow this event. Just imagine that the part of Earth that is facing Earth is getting hotter and hotter, while the other half is cooling down and all of the water starts moving towards the poles and causes flooding and massive tectonic stress.
The story stays very close to the characters and the events through their eyes, which I thought was well done. People's behaviour felt natural and plausible and I could relate to many of the struggles, doubts and also purely practical issues everyone was experiencing after their world has been turned upside down. Questions of faith are being explored (is it a message from God?), as well as the implications for a society that suddenly loses the ability to communicate around the globe - just imagine a world without GPS and internet. There is also plenty of action to move events forward.
It was a bit of a letdown that we do not find out much about the mysterious object, which was not terribly satisfying. But then again, how do you come up with a good, plausible story for something that so utterly defies everything we know about physics? However, I would very much be interested in a sequel to the story, maybe even with some insights into the nature of the mysterious objects.
If you are happy to live with a mystery unsolved and prefer your sci-fi on the human side, this one's for you - heartily recommended!
I have received a digital review copy via BookSirens and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you!
How would you react if suddenly Earth stopped rotating and a mysterious object showed up in the sky? How would you deal with something that is beyond our capability of understanding?
This well-crafted story follows several individuals as they and the rest of Earth are thrown into such a situation. We have Noel, who is working as a satellite communications officer, her brother Michael, who is a young priest trying to fill the large shoes of his predecessor and Yanez, one of the astronauts on the ISS, who is forced to leave the station rather suddenly. Their subplots intertwine as they all struggle to make sense of what is happening around them while having to deal with the social turmoil and massive natural desasters that follow this event. Just imagine that the part of Earth that is facing Earth is getting hotter and hotter, while the other half is cooling down and all of the water starts moving towards the poles and causes flooding and massive tectonic stress.
The story stays very close to the characters and the events through their eyes, which I thought was well done. People's behaviour felt natural and plausible and I could relate to many of the struggles, doubts and also purely practical issues everyone was experiencing after their world has been turned upside down. Questions of faith are being explored (is it a message from God?), as well as the implications for a society that suddenly loses the ability to communicate around the globe - just imagine a world without GPS and internet. There is also plenty of action to move events forward.
It was a bit of a letdown that we do not find out much about the mysterious object, which was not terribly satisfying. But then again, how do you come up with a good, plausible story for something that so utterly defies everything we know about physics? However, I would very much be interested in a sequel to the story, maybe even with some insights into the nature of the mysterious objects.
If you are happy to live with a mystery unsolved and prefer your sci-fi on the human side, this one's for you - heartily recommended!
I have received a digital review copy via BookSirens and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you!
January 22, 2023
Good SciFi When Science Involved; BORING When Mixed with Religion
This is an interesting — if not downright preposterous story — from an apparently highly religious Author. I can see how belief in a God could factor in to this storyline, but in truth — The Author blended far too much of religion into the science and societal aspects.
I’m willing to suspend disbelief at the conditions imposed on Earth by this tale — but, scientifically, I personally just can’t imagine the scenario laid out — NOR do I believe the conditions described by The Author are what will ever happen. But, hey, it’s The Author’s book.
On the other hand, I believe the last pages of the book were a cop-out by The Author, and he should have figured out a much, much better way to write the ending.
Overall, the science-related sides of this tale were fun and interesting — but the heavy religious indoctrinations took away from an otherwise good book. This COULD have reached a 4- or 5-star rating and been much more interesting and enjoyable.
This is an interesting — if not downright preposterous story — from an apparently highly religious Author. I can see how belief in a God could factor in to this storyline, but in truth — The Author blended far too much of religion into the science and societal aspects.
I’m willing to suspend disbelief at the conditions imposed on Earth by this tale — but, scientifically, I personally just can’t imagine the scenario laid out — NOR do I believe the conditions described by The Author are what will ever happen. But, hey, it’s The Author’s book.
On the other hand, I believe the last pages of the book were a cop-out by The Author, and he should have figured out a much, much better way to write the ending.
Overall, the science-related sides of this tale were fun and interesting — but the heavy religious indoctrinations took away from an otherwise good book. This COULD have reached a 4- or 5-star rating and been much more interesting and enjoyable.
October 12, 2021
(SPOILER) OK, I liked the book. I think though that it could have been filled out a little more. And the question about where the object came from and what its purpose might have been didn’t really bother me too much. (Hopefully there’s a sequel!) But what REALLY bothered me were the nukes they fired at it. It appeared from the text that they fell back to earth (oops). So, if every single nuke, in the arsenals of both the US and Russia, fell back to earth, and detonated, wouldn’t that cause more than just some climate upheaval and radiation that was getting better after five years?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2023
The Day the Earth Stood Still …
Outstanding book. The premise is original, the characters are about as flawed as mere mortals can be, and (just like lots of things) there’s an end but “happy” is subjective. I really enjoyed this book because I was burned out on the trend of writing 10 or 15 book length installments. But, if a sequel does come out I will buy it.
If I would give it 3 or less stars I don’t review it. The authors of those books did something I can’t do. And, someone liked it so there is nothing to lose by not raining on anyones parade.
Very well done.
Outstanding book. The premise is original, the characters are about as flawed as mere mortals can be, and (just like lots of things) there’s an end but “happy” is subjective. I really enjoyed this book because I was burned out on the trend of writing 10 or 15 book length installments. But, if a sequel does come out I will buy it.
If I would give it 3 or less stars I don’t review it. The authors of those books did something I can’t do. And, someone liked it so there is nothing to lose by not raining on anyones parade.
Very well done.
April 9, 2024
An apocalyptic adventure that never quite works //
The vast majority of apocalyptic SF requires a major suspension of disbelief, which I’m usually willing to do. But Skybound has a pretty major issue that I couldn’t quite get past. If the Earth stopped rotating, I think the effects would be much, much worse than what happens in this novel. But the characters are mostly worth following—I especially liked the team of the scientist, Noel, and her teen acolyte, Aster—and there’s enough action and excitement to make it an entertaining read.
The vast majority of apocalyptic SF requires a major suspension of disbelief, which I’m usually willing to do. But Skybound has a pretty major issue that I couldn’t quite get past. If the Earth stopped rotating, I think the effects would be much, much worse than what happens in this novel. But the characters are mostly worth following—I especially liked the team of the scientist, Noel, and her teen acolyte, Aster—and there’s enough action and excitement to make it an entertaining read.
October 23, 2021
this is one awesome read. Just when I figure it is going to become "formula"...
A real departure from the far. too popular post apocalypse stuff being turned out by the one dead forest after another... this is PRE apocolypse... Believable and completely developed characters, refreshing. I look forward to more from this author.
A real departure from the far. too popular post apocalypse stuff being turned out by the one dead forest after another... this is PRE apocolypse... Believable and completely developed characters, refreshing. I look forward to more from this author.
December 13, 2021
I had the pleasure of reading this book in a single weekend. Several seemingly separate yet interconnecting storylines that were smartly written and interwoven. A slow burn to start with lots of character development before a thrilling sprint to the finish the last third of the book. Apparently this authors first novel. I would certainly entertain a follow up after enjoying this book.
April 10, 2023
Unique
This book is unique in combining a local and global approach to a planetary catastrophe. So much is speculation, but much is what I believe most of us would like to believe could happen in this type of scenario. I appreciated the astronaut view points throughout the story.
This book is unique in combining a local and global approach to a planetary catastrophe. So much is speculation, but much is what I believe most of us would like to believe could happen in this type of scenario. I appreciated the astronaut view points throughout the story.
September 21, 2021
The laws of physics are known to most people in the world. Once broken, chaos ensues, or does it? I was surprised to find out that all is not as it seems and our world has mother nature giving us a hand!
October 31, 2021
Gripping Tale
A object in space wreaks havoc on earth. The world's population reacts as some work toward a science based answer and others react with religious fervor. Will humanity survive?
A object in space wreaks havoc on earth. The world's population reacts as some work toward a science based answer and others react with religious fervor. Will humanity survive?
November 19, 2023
Not SciFi
Genre - religion
Audience - general
Absent - science & fiction
This was a fast read, which did not require attention to details. Faith is the central theme, which would be relevant in a time of crisis.
Genre - religion
Audience - general
Absent - science & fiction
This was a fast read, which did not require attention to details. Faith is the central theme, which would be relevant in a time of crisis.
August 5, 2021
Awesome read!
It was fast paced, exciting and mature. I seem to prefer stories that shift between points of view and this novel has it in spades!
It was fast paced, exciting and mature. I seem to prefer stories that shift between points of view and this novel has it in spades!
September 2, 2021
I was enjoying this book until close to the ending when there were no answers. Frustrating. I guess it's more about the what happened than the why.
August 14, 2022
Good read
I enjoyed the book I just wish it had more resolution which, I suppose, is the point. Draw your own conclusions.
I enjoyed the book I just wish it had more resolution which, I suppose, is the point. Draw your own conclusions.
October 19, 2022
A mediocre SF story.
Liked some of the characters and the action.
The end was abrupt, simplistic and not very satisfying.
Liked some of the characters and the action.
The end was abrupt, simplistic and not very satisfying.
April 18, 2023
meh
Plot <?> weak and not enough exploration of same. A fast unsatisfying read for me. Maybe it’s my expectation we’re too hyped and high.
Plot <?> weak and not enough exploration of same. A fast unsatisfying read for me. Maybe it’s my expectation we’re too hyped and high.
November 29, 2021
Excellent story. I didn't like the ending but 99% of the book was fantastic. The story ended too quickly. Enjoyable read all through.
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