What is it about domes that I find SO appealing? Seriously, you guys, set a book in a dome and maybe have some people escape, and I am SO there, and I say that with the caveat that I was not entirely in love with The Simpsons Movie which also takes place in a dome, so I guess that love only applies to books. When I first heard of debut author Meagan Spooner’s Skylark, I KNEW I had to check it, then a few of my close friends loved it and wanted to discuss, so that pretty much cemented my OMG I NEED TO READ THIS NOW THERE IS A DOME AND SURVIVALLLLL feeling.
Lark Ainsley, heroine of Skylark has never ever left the dome that she lives in. Yo, she’s never actually, like seen the sky. Weird, right? Well, there was pretty much this big huge war that kind of left the climate outside of the dome really messed up, so the people all stay in the dome. Children in the dome have this magic that is harvested to power the dome. Lark has not yet been harvested and so she thinks something is wrong with her, until the day she is harvested. She expects it to be done and over with, like everyone else, yet she keeps going back to the machine. YOU SEE, Lark is DIFFERENT. Word. So anyways, fast forward a little bit, and Lark escapes from the dome and is on the run in the wilderness following this Pixie and the sounds of birds. Along the way she meets this guy, Oren, who YOU GUYS PITTER PATTER MY HEART GOES BOOM. And there are these cannibalistic zombie humans. AND OMG BIG REVELATIONS, and for my own personal taste, Skylark was the fricken deal, friends. I really dug it.
The world that Meagan Spooner builds in Skylark feels very unique. Yes there is a dome and it’s dystopic. BUT there is also magic, so yay fantasy element. And y’all the fantasy element doesn’t just feel through in. It feels natural to the storyline and I love that. There’s nothing worse to me than trying to force a trope into a book, because if it doesn’t seem natural to the story, it doesn’t work. When Lark leaves the dome, she finds that it’s not the air that is the dangerous thing, but the humans outside the dome. Y’all, those cannibal human things are freakin’ scary. Anyways, the world outside the dome is not what Lark expects. It’s wild. There aren’t really a whole lot of animals immediately. All she has to guide her is a river, bird song, and the pixie named Nix. Everything considered, she does pretty well surviving on her own. But, Oren’s appearance just enhances the book (y’all, think onions and hidden depths and layers ahhhhhh).
Lark’s not a bad heroine by a long shot. She starts off fairly vulnerable, but her kick-ass colors eventually show through and I was like GET IT GIRL YOU GO GLEN COCO. What I liked about her is that at first she’s kind of ignorant and trusting in her world and her society. Her only ambition is to be a historian. Then, when she gets a little taste of reality, instead of whining or being like WAH WAH WAH I CANNOT HANDLE THIS WAH WAH SAVE ME WAH, she bucks the heck up and gets out of dodge. She takes risks. Yet, rather than becoming completely hard, she retains her heart. She stays human. She emotionally bonds with others, rather than walls herself off and always looks for the best in people, even when it might be to her detriment. Y’all, I was definitely a fan of Lark, weaknesses and all.
Meagan Spooner delves into issues of humanity. Skylark asks the question what does it mean to be human. Lark is reluctant to kill the cannibal-zombie people because what if they could be reverted to their earlier humanity. Are there still shreds of human within them? We also have the people in power who do some awful things, are they more human than certain others? Then we have a big huge truth bomb dropped right on us that throws this theme into stark light in the very best possible way and left me as a reader conflicted. I do not envy Lark her position. All I can say is that she must decide whether a certain character is truly human or not, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary. I love this, friends, when books go all DEEP THOUGHTS on me.
If you are weirdly into dome books like me, Skylark is going to be up your alley. Meagan Spooner is an author to watch out for as proven with her well written, thoughtful and engaging debut. Lark is a captivating heroine as she has a bit of an intellectual and personal awakening. Her journey is one worth taking, filled with peril and enemies AND TRUTH BOMBS. Straight up, I am on pins and needles and cannot wait to have my questions answered hopefully in a sequel.
Disclosure: Received for review via Netgalley
Other reviews of Skylark by Meagan Spooner:
Anna Reads – “Was it in shock? Anger? Swoonage? I won’t tell you!”
The Book Smugglers – “From a pure worldbuilding perspective, I appreciated this blend of familiar with new, of whirring machine cogs and the ebb and flow of magic.”
Kimba The Caffeinated Reader – “a tale that kept me reading through the night.”
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My face was stuck on :-O while reading this book!
SAME HERE. Every little twist I was like WHAAAAA?!
Woohoo! Sounds fun! Adding this to my to-read list! Love many-layered stories 😉
Heidi, Skylark is really fun, but also a bit scary sometimes and VERY GOOD.
I’d never even heard of this one, but it sounds really good. I’ll check it out! Thanks for the review! 😀
Liesel, I love that part of reviewing, bringing new books to the attention of others!
Oh, I’ve been wanting to read this. BTW, whenever I read your reviews it feels like you’re sitting there explaining it, wild hands and expressions while we’re drinking martinis (I imagine all my book conversing should be done over alcohol) and I think “I love book chatting with April.” 🙂
Candice, I am so glad my reviews come across like that, that’s what I aim for, so it feels really good to hear that. 🙂
Okay, I wanted to read this book before this review. But now I NEED to read this book. You have me all excited to read this. Amazing review April! 😀
Courtney, YAYYYY I love getting people excited over books. I hope you have a total blast reading Skylark. 🙂
STOP MAKING ME WANT TO READ MORE BOOKS
except…don’t stop