Let the Sky Fall - Hardcover

Messenger, Shannon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 144245041X ISBN 13: 9781442450417

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2013

Synopsis

A boy learns he has a magical heritage from a beautiful—and deadly—sylph in this first book in the Sky Fall paranormal romance trilogy from Shannon Messenger, the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also Vane’s guardian and has sworn an oath to protect him at all costs—even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And as the storm bears down on them, she starts to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

About this title

About the Author

Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she learned—among other things—that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She studied art, screenwriting, and television production but realized her real passion was writing for kids and teens. She’s the internationally, New York Times, and USA TODAY bestselling author of the award-winning middle grade series Keeper of the Lost Cities, as well as the Sky Fall young adult series. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many languages. She lives in Southern California with her family and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at ShannonMessenger.com and @SW_Messenger on Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Reviews

Gr 8 Up-Vane, 17, is haunted by the memory of a beautiful dark-haired girl who appeared during the tornado that killed his parents 10 years earlier. He doesn't realize he's not human until Audra appears and tells him of their shared heritage as Windwalkers, or sylphs, air elementals who can command the wind. Her father died protecting Vane from enemies called Stormers, and she blames herself for calling their attention to his family. She has taken up her father's duties and been specially selected by the Gale Force as Vane's protector. With danger imminent from Stormer warlord Raiden, she has to train Vane to harness his powers as the last of the Westerlies and master the languages of all four winds. And she must also fight her forbidden attraction to Vane, who is betrothed to the sylph princess. Told in the alternating voices of Vane and Audra and set in California's Coachella Valley, this is an interesting reversal of the usual magical girl who doesn't know she's special paranormal trope, and sylphs are a nice change from vampires, werewolves, and fairies. The story is a little slow at first, possibly because of the world-building in the beginning, and only really picks up when the pair battle the Stormers near the end. This first of a series ends with a cliff-hanger. Recommend it to Twilight fans.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When Vane Weston was seven years old, a category-five tornado killed his parents but inexplicably spared his life. Ten years later, he lives in California’s blistering hot Coachella Valley with his foster parents, normal teen angst, and childhood memories of a dark-haired girl. In Messenger’s refreshingly clean paranormal debut, the alternating voices of Vane and Audra, the dark-haired girl, narrate the rising action. Audra is a sylph, an air elemental, and she finally reappears in Vane’s life with astounding news: the world is in danger, Vane is the only one who can save it, and he is not human at all—he is also a sylph. With barely a week to master skills most sylphs need a lifetime to grasp (if he is to successfully fight off his unknown enemies), Vane responds to Audra’s hardened guardian ways with a mixture of rebellion against and attraction to the girl who secretly has been watching over him since the tornado. While the romance may be predictable, unusual paranormal entities and strong writing should interest genre readers in search of a fresh new series. Grades 7-12. --Julie Trevelyan

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Let the Sky Fall CHAPTER 1
VANE

I’m lucky to be alive.

At least, that’s what everybody keeps telling me.

The reporter from the local newspaper even had the nerve to call it a miracle. I was “Vane Weston: The Miracle Child.” Like the police finding me unconscious in a pile of rubble was part of some grand universal plan.

“Family Survives Tornado”—now, that would’ve been a miracle. But trust me, there’s nothing “miraculous” about being orphaned at seven years old.

It’s not that I’m not grateful to be alive. I am. I get that I shouldn’t have survived. But that’s the worst part about being “The Miracle Child.”

The question.

The same inescapable question, plaguing me for the last ten years of my life.

How?

How could I get sucked in by a category-five tornado—nature’s equivalent of a giant blender—get carried over four miles before the massive funnel spit me back out, and only have a few cuts and bruises to show for it? How was that possible, when my parents’ bodies were found almost unrecognizable?

The police don’t know.

Scientists don’t know.

So they all turn to me for the answer.

But I have no freaking idea.

I can’t remember it. That day. My past. Anything.

Well, I can’t remember anything useful.

I remember fear.

I remember wind.

And then . . . a giant, blank space. Like all my memories were knocked out of my head when I hit the ground.

Except one.

One isolated memory—and I’m not even sure if it is a memory, or if it’s some strange hallucination my traumatized brain cooked up.

A face, watching me through the chaos of the storm.

A girl. Dark hair. Darker eyes. A single tear streaks down her cheek. Then a chilly breeze whisks her away.

She’s haunted my dreams ever since.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 144245041X
• ISBN 13: 9781442450417
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416