I just think middle grade me would read this and just move on. Nothing wrong but also nothing that really grabbed me. 

I think this book broke me. I can’t remember ever crying so much through a book, having such anxiety, and being so grateful to read it. 

Release: 1/31/23

Publisher: Saga Press

Rating: 3 stars 

Invariably when I request books for the year I end up with one book I did not realize was a series. Village in the Sky is the ninth book in the Alex Benedict series. That is quite a bit in to start, but as I was about 25% into the book before I thought to do more research, I just kept reading. After all the first 100 pages was really a lot of summarizing and covered so much back story I didn’t feel like I was really missing out. 

This book is written in first person past tense. It is a very interesting perspective to read from. It made me feel like I was reading one of those old detective stories. However, even with that choice there could have been more descriptions and involvement in the narration. The first third of the book was a story the narrator was only relaying second hand. Even when they became more connected to the plot it still felt distant. I wasn’t connected to any of the characters. Although, maybe that connection was built in previous books.

There are several things that happen in this books. They honestly do not seem to tie together at all and I left the book feeling very unsatisfied. For a sci-fi thriller everything also seemed to tie together too easily. The book also lacked any kid of diversity and really had the feel of a 50s male dominated society. 

So while I have no regrets for picking up A Village in the Sky I don’t feel like I will go back to read the rest of the series or move forward with any other new releases.