A review in which my book-does-not-meet-expectations streak unfortunately continues…
While wasting time online at work one day, I found a list of recommended funny novels and then a list of funny novels written by women. I can’t remember which list this novel was on, but let’s just say the list maker and I apparently do not have the same sense of humor.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed The Sky Is Yours, I just did not find it funny, like, at all.
Duncan Ripple is a YouTube/reality tv-like creator who is both spoiled and pretty dumb. He comes from a wealthy family in a once-great city that is currently slowly being decimated by two dragons. Anyone with any sense is high-tailing it out of town. Duncan and his family seem to believe that their wealth will save them. His arranged marriage to Baroness Swan Dahlberg is set to take place despite the city burning down at the whims of the dragons. Swanny is a very sheltered 18 year old who has grown up believing her life and marriage will be like a romantic fairy tale.
While out for a ride in his new biplane (or a similar sort of flying contraption-Smith describes technology that exists in the real world, but gives it a different name. Here, the flying vehicle is called a HowFly), Duncan crashes on a landfill island and meets Abby. Abby is also naive to the ways of the world because she grew up on the landfill with only one other human who has been dead for some time.
Duncan decides Abby is his girlfriend and that they must return to the city. This naturally puts a wrench in the works for Swanny who was under the impression that she would be marrying a young man with integrity.
This story is a satire about a crappy society that is destroying itself, the wise characters that no one wants to listen to, and the idiots we end up depending on. There’s massive amounts of misogyny on Duncan’s part that I think were meant to be funny but they just made me hate his character. I think that was probably intentional on the author’s part. I also did not like Swanny. There were times when she seemed very intelligent and capable despite her upbringing, but then she ends up a drug addict who basically prostitutes herself to her dealer.
The ending was also a let down. Everything works out great for Duncan and Swanny (and maybe Abby. I couldn’t really tell.) but Duncan’s redemption felt undeserved to me. Even though I didn’t much care for Swanny, she definitely deserved better than Duncan Ripple.
This was a weird story with sci-fi/fantasy elements that, in my opinion, went no where. If you’re into dragons, be warned: the two in this story barely feature at all.
Despite all that negativity, the story was mostly enjoyable. I was entertained even though I wished some plot points had been further explored (or ignored in some cases). The Sky Is Yours is a coming of age novel with a lot of kooky principles that should have aligned with my love of sci-fi/fantasy but I found I didn’t really care if Duncan successfully came of age.