High above the sea, floats the pristine city of the Heliana. Home to winged-lion shapeshifters—the Leonodai—and protected from the world of humans by an elite group of warriors, the Heliana has only known peace. After years of brutal training, seventeen-year-old Rowan is ready to prove her loyalty to the city and her people to become one of the Leonodai warriors. But before Rowan can take the oath, a deadly disease strikes the city’s children. Soon the warriors—including two of Rowan’s closest friends—are sent on a dangerous mission to find a fabled panacea deep within enemy lands.
Plot
This book starts out fast-paced and stays that way through the end of the novel. It was a great weekend read, as I quickly felt pulled into the book and interested in how the story would unfold. There were some interesting twists that I did not expect. I did wish for a few quieter, low-tension moments, but appreciated how quick and engaging a read this was.
Characters
The story is broken in three points of view: Rowan, the young warrior to be who wants to prove herself, Shirene, her older sister in the king’s council, and Callen, Rowan’s childhood best friend with a crush. Splitting the protagonists for such a fast-paced book didn’t work well for me. While all of the characters were enjoyable, I didn't feel especially close to or invested in any of them. It also didn't feel necessary to split the point of view, as it resulted in a lot of repetition of important plot points. The story likely would have been just as enjoyable if only told from Rowan’s perspective.
Setting
This story features an interesting magic system and a unique race of creatures, winged lion shapeshifters. The human-magic relationships were a unique feature of the story, especially as the characters explore outside their magical world and into the human one. It was difficult to feel settled into the world early on, due to the switching of point of view and the quick pace of the action. About 15% of the way through, I felt confident in understanding who exactly a winged lion would look like and what role they played in this world.
My Recommendation
The Endless Skies is a standalone epic fantasy novel by Shannon Price. This book features a fantastic, fast-paced plot that will grab and hold your attention. The magic and race created in the novel were exciting and unique. The book does rotate point-of-view characters, which felt like an unnecessary feature as I was reading through. I definitely recommend this to fans of fantasy novels. This is the perfect vacation or long weekend read.
