The Clouded Sky

3.5 Stars
While I enjoyed this sequel more than the first book, Earth & Sky, the writing was still a weakness for me. The characters gained some depth but it was still flat overall. This book also spanned a wider period of time which I appreciated. The entirety of Earth & Sky focused on basically a week.

I really did enjoy seeing life on Kemya or more specifically on the ship. There were so many new things that Megan Crewe added to the world. And we got to see even more of how much Kemya hates Earth and the Earthlings. I also appreciated how much more depth Skylar got in this book. She went from this very obsessed paranoid girl in the first book to someone willing to do whatever it takes to protect and save Earth. I appreciated her as a character much more in this book than the previous.

This book ended in a way that makes me really anxious to read the final book in the trilogy, but also extremely weary about what the final installment entails. I have a feeling that the third book may be incredibly drawn out to be a full length novel. While the ending was exciting and not what I was expecting, there were many other plot points that were incredibly predictable. I was able to guess pretty early on who the traitor was. I also found it incredibly convenient how easily Skylar learned the new language.

The only other complaint I have is the ridiculous inclusion of a love triangle. I do not think it was necessary at all. There are some books that this works for, but for the majority of them, it does not. For me the love triangle was not compelling at all.

Overall, this was a stronger installment than Earth & Sky, but I still had some issues with some of the plot choices and character development. I love the premise of this book and the overall story, but the writing falls flat for me. That being said when the final book in the trilogy does come out, I will probably read it to see what happens.