“Shattered Skies” by Alice Henderson Review

Shattered Skies

The Skyfire Saga #3

Author:  Alice Henderson

Published:  2019

Disclaimer: This was a complimentary copy from the publisher

After reading the first two installments of Alice Henderson’s Skyfire Saga, the final book in the series delivered on everything I’d hope it would in not entirely predictable ways. Picking up shortly after the events of Shattered Lands, Shattered Skies ups the action throughout the book to include helicopter scenes, ocean battles and even a submarine sequence. I ended up preferring the first and third books of this series, both of which seemed to be a race against the clock more than the second book which had a bit more normal pacing.

H124 and her friends continue to attempt to save the planet from approaching asteroids but by this point in the series things aren’t going well. The original plan was to assemble a vehicle to deliver a nuclear payload Armageddon style but that goes off the rails before too long here and not in any way I expected. My main criticisms of this series prior to this book were that none of the main characters were dying despite the continual deadly scenarios they found themselves in and I wasn’t sure why H124 (a relatively blank slate of a character) was the one who had to continue being involved in every aspect of this important mission.

By the end of this final installment, H124’s pretty much a badass who uses the rover technology to deadly effect. The question shifts from why is she the one carrying out these missions to how’d she get to be so deadly, which is a much more fun thing to gloss over. The deaths of supporting characters finally occur as well in a few thrilling moments that up the violence beyond what I’d have expected in this series. The last 70 pages of this book were a great climax to the entire storyline with the action going all the way to the final paragraph.

Overall I’d rank the series:
1. Shattered Skies
2. Shattered Roads
3. Shattered Lands

This would be a tough book to pick up and really get a lot out of without reading the first two in the series. The payoffs for moments featuring Olivia and Willoughby in particular would suffer without the foundation laid in the earlier books. I didn’t mind the obvious message from the author about how our current world policies are possibly creating this future, but I could see how it could feel a bit heavy handed or even political for others. If you boil that basic message down to take care of the planet, it’s the only one we have I don’t see how that’s really debatable.