Young Adult fiction has come of age recently as a genre but it isn't just for young and teen readers as we learned when Harry Potter was published with an adult version of the cover.
Sky Song by Sharon Shant is a beautifully written novel – the first in a trilogy – which encompasses broad themes of right and wrong, as well as the more personal choices the characters have to make. This is a fantasy novel firmly rooted in reality.
Jacob Lightfoot is different; at 15 he is the class geek with a photographic memory and eyes which change colour, saved from loneliness by the friendship of the lovely Ellen and Luca, the guy everyone wanted to be seen with. Adopted into a loving family, Jacob couldn't explain the things he saw in his mind and keeps this knowledge to himself. Then one night he is woken by a stranger's voice and what the man tells him changes everything, for ever...
Sharon Shant has created a parallel, alien world which she interweaves seamlessly into Jacob's human existence. Jacob is Ioh, the successor to the Watcher, and he has powers that will tear his life apart and take him to the brink of death.
Sky Song is a real page-turner. The reader is torn, just as Jacob/Ioh is, by the huge decisions he has to make and is uplifted by the love and friendship that ultimately help him.
Sharon Shant depicts the life of teenagers on the cusp of adulthood brilliantly and has created characters that are engaging, inspiring and sometimes irritating – you want to shout at them not to do something! – and I am looking forward to meeting them again in the next two books in the trilogy.
I am delighted to have been introduced to the writing of this exciting novelist and recommend Sky Song to anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking, gripping read.
PWT rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Sky Song (The Sky Song trilogy)