Legend speaks of a prophesied figure who will unlock something of immense power. Known only as the Skylight Fallout, this special person remains a mystery…at least until the Century Eclipse.
Four long years have passed since Jet Stroud’s days as a student at Skylight University. Now he finds himself in the middle of a war between two mythical clans of an ancient race named the Heliographi. As the newest member, Jet now has enhanced powers and is sworn to defend the Skylight System.
But Jet struggles to master his new abilities. Along with his regular duties he must also keep a watchful eye on his old friends. But when he discovers a bounty has been placed on him, he questions if he can protect his friends. Will they suffer because of his inability?
As the Century Eclipse approaches, Jet suspects something sinister and he must take up his oath to defend Skylight. Stars collide when he faces off against his old classmates and he’s forced to decide the fate of those he loves.
Who is the Skylight Fallout and what secret will this person reveal? One thing is certain. The second phase of the Prism Effect will be set into motion, and Jet cannot change destiny…or can he?
-Goodreads
Book Information
- Title: The Skylight Fallout
- Series: Skylight #2
- Author: J. Wint
- Page Count: 420
- Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult
- Rating: 4.0/5.0
- Date Read: August 28th, 2024
Opening Thoughts
The Skylight Fallout by J. Wint was my second series I’ve continued reading from the first books entered in the SPSFC-3 competition. Even though this one didn’t make it quite to the end and win, I still had more enjoyment from it than I though I would. To me this is one of the greatest things to take away from judging or simply reading books from competitions, that added exposure. I’ve been a reading judge for three competitions now and I’ve found some new favorite authors in each of them that I’ve continued to keep up with.
The reason I didn’t think I’d enjoy book one The Prism Effect was the setting predominately around a school or institution. These aren’t typically my cup of tea if you will. I personally seem to drift further away from younger characters the older I get. Though book two still has that connection it seemed like a better mix on scenes at the school and away. I’m hoping this pattern continues with book three which is already on my radar. I’m hoping to possibly squeeze it in by end of the year here in 2024 still.
Pacing
The pacing of The Skylight Fallout worked well for me. Even though I did visually read book one, I opted for the audiobook narrated by Simon Relph who did a really good job bringing this story to life. This was a risky change up going from a visually read book that I enjoyed to an audiobook whom I’m not familiar with the narrator. It worked out this time around. I’m working on a new way to rate my audiobook experiences but I will say that Simon shined in one of my musts with audiobooks, he did a good job in making sure the character voices stand out from one another. This allowed me to keep up with the story and which character(s) are in the scene and dialog. This is almost always easier for me with visual reads. Not all narrators provide this distinction.
World Building
The world building continues to be great! I can’t get enough of all the different species that Joe comes up with when building these stories. Not only do we have my favorite space bears from many books ago, we now have space cats to go along with them. Each species or race has their own unique cultures and view points as well. Seeing them come together in the stories (often on Wistful) and seeing their reactions is both hilarious and anxiety inducing at times when things don’t exactly go smoothly. We continue to see more of Rohan and this world’s history unfold before our eyes and in some cases come back to bite a character or two.
Character Development
The character development was once again solid. Some of our returning characters seemed a bit stagnant as far as growth goes but they were still interesting characters. On the flip side we seen some new sides to characters in book two and I’m all for it! Cutter may have been one of my favorite characters carried over, but Cord shot up to the top of the list for me in book two. There is some nice complexity to many of the characters in this series.
Roundup & Recommendation
I’m not sure if this series is completed as a trilogy or if the author plans on adding to the story. As it sits currently though, you can bet I’ll be reading book 3 soon. The Skylight series has provided some enjoyable entertainment for me through the first two books.
If you like your science fiction to have a bit of a scooby doo mystery feel to it where the stakes are much higher, this series might be right up your alley. There are some good relationships to be found with several characters as they try and uncover more and more mysteries. If you enjoy the school backdrop you will find that here as well. If you are like me and don’t really enjoy those settings, don’t quite write this one off before giving it a try. It does have a bit of a Young Adult feeling to me simply because the characters are all so young. That might just be a personal opinion though.
Scoring
World Building 4/5
Pacing 4/5
Character Development 4/5
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