DNF, cool premise but I don't think the author pulled it off well.

Absolutely devoured the first half of this book, up to the point where Kirit entered the Spire, but once the plot turned more to political intrigue it dragged a bit. I wish the author had included more worldbuilding details -- where the heck are those bone spires growing *from*, and what's down there under the clouds? Wherever the characters are, they apparently have enough atmosphere for flight and oxygen, anyway.

Fascinating world

It took me a little bit to figure out how everything works - but then I was hooked.

There's something ethereal about Fran's writing, and yet the characters themselves seem thrown sharply into relief by this. Closer almost to weird fiction than fantasy, this is a great opening to a series I'm really looking forwards to the rest of...

Full Review - http://ericmikols.com/2015/10/07/updraft-a-review/

So here we have Updraft by Fran Wilde, a fantasy book that goes full fantastic but loses me in the process. The story follows Kirit, who is rebellious and just wants to fly. See, this world is far in the sky and people travel with mechanical wings and live in spires made of bones. There’s trade routes, sky monsters, flight test and religious sects that are also the government.

This book is not my cup of tea.

I like fantasy books. I do. Maybe not as much as science fiction, but that’s not the genre’s fault. It took me a long time to realize there were fantasy books out there that I would like and I really owe that to Patrick Rothfuss, Neil Gaiman and Brandon Sanderson. But their books all feel relatable, they all feel like a humanity I know, even if it is in a world I don’t recognize. Sanderson rights about whole worlds he creates, but the people and their desires are very Earth-bound.

But Updraft doesn’t do that, or at least not for me. This book has a world, civilizations and people I can’t relate to, no matter how much I tried. The world is bizarre and there are terms and phrases the characters use that make sense to them, but the reader is thrown into all of this without a helping hand. By the end of the book, I still didn’t have a full understanding of what was going on.

Alien. That’s what the book felt like. The characters felt alien and even though they’re humanoid, they don’t feel like it. And you know what? That’s okay and there are readers out there who will find this whole book fascinating but it didn’t click with me. If the universe you’re creating is so different from mine, I need a point of entry or a viewpoint I can understand.

If you like your fantasy as far out as it can get, I’m sure you’ll love Updraft because it’s not a badly written book and there are plenty of things to like. For others, this is a risky read.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this. Then I realized I was reading YA which made a lot more of the world make sense. There’s still a lot that doesn’t and I would say there is less flying and more gliding that happens in the book. I want to see the world better than I did with what was described.

However, Kirit is the Chosen One. Nat is the old friend. Ezarit is her mother and may or may not find her daughter worthy. There’s Sidra and Sellis to act as rivals and Rumul to be the archenemy. It’s an interesting world but the plot is pretty predictable. I didn’t rate higher because I could t picture how the Gyre worked or even the flying. So it goes.

I had so much hope for this book. Even till the last page. I was told this would be a whole new world type of fantasy and it was. But... I wasn't impressed.

I've seen a lot of people praising the worldbuilding in this and I have to wonder if we were reading the same book. The setting was interesting, I won't dispute that. It just wasn't carried out very well. Which was my biggest problem. I never thought I'd say this but this book needed a lot more discriptions in it. Even at the end of the book I still had no idea what their wings looked like. If we go by the cover then that doesn't really make much sense for the kind of maneuvers they were pulling off in the book. And even the flying itself is confusing. It is implied at various points that you can tell what kind of winds are present, how strong they are and even what direction they are headed. It is even mentioned at some point that flying at night is dangerous because you can't see the winds. So they can... see wind?

Another thing is the City itself. It made no sense and the author didn't even try to explain anything. It was like we're just supposed to know how the towers work and look like. And how does everyone survive? They have apples and farms but it's never explained how they even have anything to grow these plants on. And the only homes/tiers explained makes it seem like a tier is small enough to support only one family but how is there even space for farms? And they even have honey. How? There is a mention of rainwater but how exactly do they still get rain if the clouds are below them?

Even though we spend a good deal of time in the spire I still have no idea how everything works and looks like. The more information is given the more confused I get. It's the highest tower but somehow people can see both the council people at the top and the wingbeaters at the bottom. But they still can't see what's below the wingbeaters? And coming to the wingbeaters, do they just stand around all day flapping giant wings to make enough wind for the entire spire??

I have so many questions. The worldbuilding needs so much work.

Moving away from that, let's come to the story. I was expecting some nasty and dark secrets but what I got was... fine I guess. The secret of Nat's father was very underwhelming. The secrets of the Singers were so underwhelming that I was wondering why they were secrets at all.

Finally, I had a problem with our main character Kirit. I don't even know what to say about her. Her character was, I don't know, just all over the place. How she got the attention of the Singers in the first place was just stupid. Why the hell was she outside during migrations? It says she wanted to get a last look at her mother? but she doesn't come off as being that sentimental of a person in the rest of the book. In the beginning she has these big dreams of becoming a trader but out of nowhere she changes her mind and is suddenly all about protecting the city and it's secrets. She has a shouting power but at no point does it get any important use. And where it does get its use doesn't even make sense. What was she even trying to do? Kill everyone?
Kirit is apparently a very special person. Normal people take years, since childhood, before they become real singers but she does it in just months. It took Sellis a year to move around blindfolded but it only takes her a day or so (unless I'm mistaken). It's taken generations for people to get even a few people to stand up to the singers but it takes Kirit the duration of one fight for everyone to realise the oppression of the singers. Everyone who tried before was just blinded by tradition.

Honestly I think Kirit is an idiot or not thought out very well. She makes the most stupid decisions that make absolutely no sense but that the plot demands it. Like staying out during a sky mouth migration. Like flying illegally to the spire for no obvious reason except anger.

I really wanted this to be amazing. The completely original setting was so promising. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.

A very well written fantasy story with excellent world building, this debut novel is also a multi-layered tale about class and society. Wilde manages to do what many may have thought is the impossible, and tells this tale without the use of a love triangle.

In fact, the characters in this book all manage to interact with each other without any romantic involvement at all! *gasp*

I know it doesn't seem possible, but I assure you, it is true.

Interesting and entertaining concept. I enjoyed the world-building, though the ending was so sudden, it left me wanting more. Delightfully weird!

DNF - PG 201

Why?

Because I just don't have the energy to force my way through a story I'm not enjoying for the few moments I do like. Kirit is a self-centered brat, the world building makes no logical sense and is plain stupid. I find it hard to believe any society like this would/could survive. I gave it more of a chance than I ever expected to, but I've finally had enough. (Not to mention that it's a bit dystopian, which is certainly not my genre.)