He Who Lifts the Skies

I finally took a break from review books (including an extremely annoying six-book series my mother wanted me to review so she could buy them off me) to delve into a book that's been tantalizing me from my bookstand for weeks - He Who Lifts the Skies by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. Sometimes when you wait to read a book it seems a serious letdown when it doesn't meet your overwhelming expectations. But my reaction to this book can be reduced to three words: I wasn't disappointed.

Kacy brings the ancient world to life in a way I've never seen paralleled. The characters are as real as your next-door-neighbors, yet the entire book (and the prequel, The Heavens Before) is permeated with a sense of wonder at things of which you've only read the bare facts in the Bible. Men living past nine hundred. Generations piling together as parents see their great-great-great-grandchildren. A city and a tower built in defiance of the Most High. Genetic differences appearing and lifetimes shortening. And that's only the setting!

Imagine being taken from your family and someone you are just starting to love by a man who stands for all you despise. Imagine that your brother and sister will do anything to help you submit to this mighty hunter who claims to protect the world from the righteous anger of the Most High and who kills, enslaves, or banishes for the slightest infraction. Imagine if your very touch brought death.

I'm sure to have more to write on this wonderful book, but it's late. And I'm sorry for the delays in posting - two surprise birthday parties (held here - one with 30 guests and one with 70) and Thanksgiving (including making 15 pies in two days) has kept me busy. And my work on Winter is going very slow.