Review: A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

I don't really know how to review this book. It is the fourth book in a series; if you are somehow here without having read the other four, I shall direct you to An Ember in the Ashes. All you need to know if you haven't read all the books in this series is that I really had an excellent time reading this series.

I am going to start with Helene because over the course of this series; I have had the biggest shift with her. I read book one five years ago, and all I really remembered about Helene was that she was blonde and that I hated her. When I reread the book, I remembered more about her, and I found her to be completely unforgivable with her complicity in upholding oppression. I read book two, and Helene became a point of view character. I was quite surprised that I found her chapters so interesting. I could see how terrible her position was, and I still thought she was irredeemable, but I wanted her to make the right choice; I was constantly searching for the answer for how Helene would turn it around with something grand and lifesaving (I really thought she was going to save Elias, I was very incorrect). Then book three rolls around; Helene was probably my favorite point of view to read from, though I still had heavy Helene suspicion. Now, after reading this book, I am just floored that Sabaa Tahir wrote such a flawed and incredible character. She is truly my favorite literary example of someone upholding imperialism and oppression, confronting their thought process over and over until they become a part of the dismantling of the system they held up. But I also just really liked her character. Of the ten times I cried in the book, probably half of them (maybe more) were during Helene's point of view. I so wanted the book to end differently for Helene, but I also think the ending perfectly fit the story. Well, I only wanted one thing to be different. I laughed in delight at one part of her ending. It is a story about war and loss and clawing your way to a better world; you cannot have that kind of story if you don't rip apart some good things.

This seems like a great time to transition to another thing I really loved about this book. That you can't have a war story without the pain and violence of conflict, but that does not mean that the book lacked hope. People survive conflict, and they fight to be able to live after. Tahir wonderfully captures that hope on the page; she even gives us a scene where Laia and Elias discuss how they will be able to face happiness after the terrible things they have seen and done. I just truly loved that ending, it was such a satisfying conclusion, and it felt so earned and in keeping with the story, we were told.

I will say that the only thing that almost, like for a span of three-ish pages, had me rate this book 4 stars was that I don't really tend to like narratives where the villain (or a major character) is a force and not a concrete entity. Of course, the villain isn't really actually disembodied. But there are three characters who sort of fit this bill, and I don't always love that. But I did really like what Tahir did with that plotline. Especially with the story, Laia tells at the end of the book. Of you know me well, you know I love stories that are circles, and this book ends in two ways that complete a circle.

I was obsessed with Harper. I loved all the Helens loves baby Emperor stuff. I low key saw the big character twist coming but did not guess the exact path that would be taken, but I love that character.

I really liked the conclusion to Laia and Elias's story. I was incorrectly spoiled that Laia was going to have an inconclusive end, so I am very happy that her ending was both concrete and as happy as the end of a war book can be. I liked that the book ends with them being able to establish roots. It might have leaned a tad Harry Potter epilogue, but I think establishing that those we just saw suffer for four books are going to be happy and stable is a good choice, and I did like getting to cheesy grin after so much crying.

I am very excited to reread this series at some point in the future. I have been searching for a series that I can add to my rereading rotation, and I really hope that Ember becomes one of those series that I just want to read over and over. I would like to get to the point where I know this story forward and backward. I think I enjoyed the story that much. I cannot wait to see how this pans out.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and the StoryGraph! I feel like there is so much more I could say about this book or this series. But I am tired and also unsure exactly what else to write that isn't how much I loved it over and over.