We Own the Sky
Author: Sara Crawford
Genre: YA, Fantasy, paranormal, magic, mythology
Publication Date: August 15th 2017
What could you create if you fell in love with a Muse? 16-year-old musician, Sylvia Baker, has always been different. She's the only one who can see the "flickering people." When she sees a gorgeous flickering man named Vincent, she learns that they are Muses. With his help, she finds herself creating exquisite songs that she loves almost as much as songs by her favorite bands--Radiohead, M83, and The Black Keys--and she is falling in love in a way she never knew was possible. While trying to maintain her newfound friendships and her band, she falls deeper into the world of the Muses. When the original Greek Muses wake to find a world in which the internet has given everyone the tools to be an artist, a battle between traditional and new methods of creation ensues. As Sylvia discovers how she is connected to the world of the Muses, she learns that this war may put her music, her love, her very life at stake.
MY REVIEW
I received a free copy for an honest review.
First impressions are very important when introducing anything new to an audience, and this book definitely gave me a very, very positive first impression. We Own the Sky captured me first with the likable narration from our protagonist, Sylvia, and the first few chapters of the book gave me signs of a very promising story.
Unfortunately, after the period of a very good "first impression", it kind of went downhill from there...
This book was very easy for me critique as a reviewer, because this was not one of those books that I know I did not enjoy as much as I would've liked, but at the same time was having trouble explaining why I didn't like it and expressing what the problem was.
I didn't really enjoy the book because several factors caused this book to not hold my attention as a reader as well as it should've. The story was...kind of weak, and I'm not really sure what I feel about the idea of muses. It gets confusing for me because the book (at least for me) was not clear to identify what different between gods and muses. You've got the muses basically acting as god, but then they're kind of not...and then there are the Olympians such as Zeus etc, and...the logic just kind of didn't add up. And I'm a walking Greek/Roman Mythology Encyclopedia by the way. I know my mythologies, so I know what I'm talking about.
But the greater issue was the poorly written (I'm sorry, I'm really just being honest) character relationship developments, portrayal, as well as the interactions in general. The characters have literally the exact same tone, basically identical attitudes, as well as similar interactions. The muses also did not sound like muses. I'm not saying they need to talk in Shakespearian, but logically, I really don't think they would or should be sounding so much like 16-year-olds. Vincent sounded more like a creepy-gothy-teenage-stalker-guy than a muse, and the muses themselves sounded more like Bianca. Which I also have a problem with, because her relationship arc with Sylvia was way to fast. Friends don't make up like that, especially when they didn't talk for years during one friend's tough times. Like, that just doesn't happen.
Also, just a side note, this book has a pretty severe case of instant-love, and I still don't understand why authors just cannot understand how much of a taboo instant love is for readers. Nobody likes it. Nobody.
I really don't want to be too tough on this book. I enjoyed it! Just...not as much as I would've liked. But I truly hope that if the author reads this to not be discouraged and continue writing. You have so much potential!
My Rating:
ABOUT THE Author
Sara Crawford is an author, a playwright, and a musician. Ever since she was five years old, she has lived for art in one form or another. This manifested itself as writing plays at age eight and convincing (forcing) the neighborhood kids to perform them on her driveway, auditioning for Atlanta Ballet's The Nutcracker three years in a row before finally landing a small role as a toy soldier, starting an all-girl band in high school, writing and producing her own plays and short films, and most recently, writing a book about a girl who falls in love with her Muse (WE OWN THE SKY). Sara has been an actress, a singer, a playwright, a songwriter, a guitarist, a keyboard player, a poet, a screenwriter, and an author of both fiction and non-fiction. She graduated in 2008 from Kennesaw State University with a B.A. in English and in 2012 from the University of New Orleans with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (emphasis in Playwriting). Currently, in addition to working as a freelance writer and internet marketer, she is also a creative writing professor in the graduate program at Southern New Hampshire University, teaching online classes. She also loves to talk about books, music, and writing on her YouTube channel. For more information visit http://saracrawford.net or https://www.youtube.com/user/saracraw....
