Title: Broken Skies
Author: Theresa Kay
Publication Date: January 13, 2015
Publisher: Skyscape
Pages: 372
Add to Goodreads
In seventeen-year-old Jax Mitchell’s world, humans are nearly extinct and alien settlers have arrived.
Until recently, the E’rikon have remained segregated in their city and ignored the few humans who have tried to engage them… but now they have taken Jax’s brother. To rescue him, she forms an uneasy alliance with a teenage E’rikon left stranded in the woods. She agrees to guide him to the city if he sneaks her past the human-proof barrier. Too bad it’s not that simple.
Jax, who cannot stand to be touched, finds that she’s drawn to the alien boy with bright green hair and jewel-like scales down his back. And he’s equally affected by her, the courageous redhead with haunted eyes. But she doesn’t know the alien’s true motives and he has no idea that she is much more than she seems.
In this world where alien and human are at odds, the connection forming between the two has consequences. What started off as a rescue mission sets a chain of events in motion which threatens not only the remaining humans and the growing alien society, but Earth itself.
I haven’t read many books about aliens. I found the Lux series disappointing and have generally steered clear from anything remotely similar. But I was offered an audiobook copy of this dystopian romance and couldn’t turn it down. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Broken Skies.
Jax Mitchell has had it rough. Her brother, Jace, is the only person she has left and the only one who can help her keep it together. When he’s suddenly taken by the E’rikon, she knows she must do whatever she can to get him back. Her means to get there are questionable, but she doesn’t really have any other choice but to trust Lir, who should be her enemy.
The characters in Broken Skies were well developed and surprising at times. Lir was a complex and interesting romantic partner for Jax. Even if their romance did seem slightly rushed, it worked within the story and I found myself rooting for them despite the odds against them. The other, more unexpected romance in the book seemed totally natural in comparison. I really wish we had learned more about Jace and his love interest, but maybe that is being saved for the next book.
The world of Broken Skies is one that is profoundly interesting and I really hope I get to hear more about it at some point. I am a sucker for a good post-apocalyptic world and this one did not disappoint. I wish there had been more description of the alien city, but what was there was really exciting, as were the things revealed about the relationship between the aliens and humans.
Alien and human wars are definitely not entirely original, but there were several unique concepts in this book that I enjoyed learning about. For example, the issue of the alien children on earth was one that I look forward to discovering a solution to in later chapters of the Broken Skies series. There were some things that I was a little confused about, though, and maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention. I’m still not quite sure why Jax is able to use her alien powers without assistance while the others are not. I don’t understand exactly how the dream communications work either, but maybe that will be further explained later.
While I was left with a lot of questions at the end of Broken Skies, there was enough of a wrap-up to the story that I wasn’t left totally hanging. I didn’t particularly enjoy the way Jax and Lir left things, but I know it’s not the end of them and I definitely look forward to reading the next book in the series to find out what happens next.
Andrea Emmes was a decent narrator, but certainly not my favorite. The voices provided for some of the characters were a little ridiculous. For example, I seriously had to look to make sure she wasn’t Moaning Myrtle when Lir’s little sister came on the scene, and the voice used for Jax made him sound like a whiney girl. The accents used for the E’rikon were really weird and I wasn’t sure why she chose to make them sound British, especially when they commented on their British relatives having the best slang… I didn’t hate her voice acting, but I certainly wouldn’t seek out her other work.
