Sky Song

Rix Universe, Book 2

By: Lydia Hope

Narrated by: Marnye Young

After a dismal upbringing on decaying, alien-infested Earth, Emmaline "Cricket" Beatty now lives a charmed life on humanity's new and improved home planet Meeus.

The constant vulnerability of the before has given way to the ironclad security of the present. Everything is pretty, organized, predictable. There are no flaws in this new world.

When the hospital where Cricket works hosts an intergalactic symposium, she is called upon to translate for the alien guests. She is intrigued to see that a secretive Rix nation has sent a delegate. Lyle is far from a cold-hearted, humorless killing machine like the Rix Cricket has heard about.

When Lyle gets stranded on Meeus, Cricket shelters him, violating Meeus' anti-alien laws. She's drawn to this vulnerable male by a combination of compassion, curiosity, and her own loneliness. They develop a friendship that teeters on the verge of becoming something more, except Lyle's persistent questions about the hospital and medical research conducted there make her increasingly suspicious.

Before too long, a string of seemingly unrelated events happening around Cricket begins to pierce the cocoon of idyllic perfection she built for herself on Meeus. Nothing is what it seems, least of all her new friend Lyle who is using her to search for answers. His quest makes her doubt her own sanity as it puts her in mortal danger, and he is the only one who can keep her safe.

©2023 Lydia Hope (P)2023 Podium Audio

Just Okay

It was.... fine. If you've never read her other books, you'll probably like it. It's a cute alien romantasy with reasonably likeable characters.

However, if you have read her other books, you'll probably be disappointed. I went into Sky Song expecting the same quality I found in Homebound (and Planet Zero) but it just doesn't compare. The story is predictable, the insta-love ruins the arc, and the world building is flat. It reads exactly like every other cookie cutter romantasy, surface level, mildly entertaining, and nothing I'll remember in a month from now.

In Homebound, the prequel / chronicle to Sky Song, there was a palpable dystopian vibe that really pulled you down into her world. From the first paragraph, you could feel the desperation of existing in a system that leaves it's citizens in abject poverty. The fmc's backstory was fully developed so you could understand the turmoil she faced as her interactions with the mmc began to shift. The story between them, the gradual build towards trust, the chemistry, and the evolving dynamic was beautifully constructed. Overall, it was clear that the world, the characters, and the story were intricately designed. There was love and great effort put into that book.

Sky Song loses all of that.

The set up in Homebound of this perfect world for the elite that Cricket escapes to left me with high hopes for an epic, dystopian fantasy where the formerly sick little girl from Earth reigns fire down on the upper class (with a side of slow-burn angst with a Rix who falls for her merciless vengeance).

Instead, we get a basic romantasy fmc who tries to be quirky but is actually just gullible and impulsive. She has this weird hero worship for the doctor who cured her, she frequently does dumb things that make you burn with second hand embarrassment, and she completely accepts the "system" despite her childhood on Earth. As if that weren't bad enough, there is NO tension between the fmc and mmc at all. It was an immediate sure thing. You're telling me that, after growing up taught to hate aliens in a world of poverty where you can't trust anyone, she just jumped right in? Unbelievable. I just couldn't make myself like her.

The mmc is a rough childhood, dark past, dangerous-but-I'd-never-hurt-YOU, classic mmc. He starts off with golden retriever energy (which I thought might work in contrast to the super dark mmc in the first book) but then his personality just gets muddled as the story flops back and forth. He completely loses the warm cinna-vibes and tries to get mysterious but it doesn't work. Also, you can't just hide an empty story line with long, unexplained absences.

Speaking of empty story lines, the plot of this book was superficial. Coming from Homebound, this was the worst offense. That book was a woven tapestry of backstory, world building, and character arcs that told a complete, fluid story. In this book, there are so many "scenes" that read like random side quests to take up space. Issues are introduced and immediately resolved like the author went back later and tried to add dimension. The events in the book also feel scattered, like there is no underlying meaning to them but to increase the page count. It felt like 20% substance, 80% filler. By the end, instead of holding my breath, awake at two AM, watching all the pieces come together in the fallout, I nearly dnf'd with three hours to go because I seriously couldn't care less what happened to any of them.

Also, I can't get past the French accent. It ruined the mmc in Homebound too but the story was so good I looked past it. Please stop. Hard core scary aliens are not French. A Rix who kills a dozen people without empathy should not make me think of croissants and tiny mustaches.

Anyway, if this author writes another book, I'll read it.... warily, but it looks like she may be turning into another build-a-book author with that fill in the blank romantasy formula. I hope I'm wrong. I hope Sky Song was an outlier and her next book will be as well crafted as Homebound and Planet Zero. But, if you do more Rix, please stop giving them human names and French accents. Lyle? Seriously?

sky song

wish she would write more of these her books are unusual in a very good way not a doll moment and a true love story very good action with interesting characters if you're looking for an something that's not the same old same this is it well worth a credit but read the first one before this one as this is in a way part two and it is all so great.

interesting

I enjoyed the story, however if you are looking for an escape this is not it. The story ends happy-ish and not fully happy. The reader did an excellent job

Lydia Hope is such a breath of fresh air!

Her stories, characters, and ability to make you feel so much are the best of the best, and everything she writes puts you into the story and makes you feel like you've just discovered reading all over again! I highly recommend anything she creates, especially her stories from the Rix Universe.

Disappointing after the intriguing Book 1

The first book Homebound had a dystopian and gritty feel. The connection between the 2 main protagonist made sense and the chemistry felt right. The character arc of "Simon" was interesting and fun to read. Sky Song sounded terribly artificial and there was no believable background to why the main female character "Emma/Cricket" falls for a perfect stranger who is a "chubby"alien with a pretty face BUT of the same race of the first book 's male lead who almost killed her mother...
This made Emma/Cricket come across as an airhead and her male counterpart didn't come across as real either... he falls in love with her for no particular reason other than it's necessary in this plot.
All of this is a true shame because there was a lot of potential in regard of the plot.
A very disappointing read after Homebound and Zero. Please Ms Hope should there be a Book 3 bring us more of the grit and the surprises of your two previous books because you are a talented writer!!