The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli is a beautifully written fantasy adventure and the final book in the Iskari series. It follows Safire, a soldier loyal to the King, and Eris, a daring pirate known as the Death Dancer. Their paths cross as they embark on a shared mission that takes them across magical landscapes filled with dragons, gods, and secrets.

The story is packed with intrigue, emotional depth, and a touch of romance, making it a satisfying conclusion to the series. Ciccarelli’s world-building is vivid and imaginative, and the characters are layered and compelling.

Epic amazing brilliant, This book kept me completely engrossed from the very 1st page.
I love the character depth and how you slowly watched them grow throughout the story.
Absolutely cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

This series is filled with incredible heroines. This book was wonderful and filled with all the magic I seek in my fantasy reads. Just wonderful.

I love this series & this book is no exception! Brilliant world and character building & an exceptional story that grabs you in its hooks from the first page!.

DNF the first in the series, so will not be reading The Sky Weaver.

Many thanks for allowing me access to read this book.

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group for a copy via Netgalley in exchange for my opinion.

I absolutely loved the first book and had so much hope for the second and third book. But they both did not live up to my expectations.

What I liked most about the third book was the backgound story about the Skyweaver. I have been looking forward for these passages throughout the whole book. If the book had only been about the background story I guess I would have really enjoyed it.

But the main story was rather dull and because of the background story it was totally predictable. Another problem for me was that I could not warm up to the love story. When the first character mentioned that she had feelings for the other one and thought the other one would return them I was totally dumbstruck, because it seemed way to early to mention something like that. I would have considered this to be interest. But love? No.

If a fourth book will be published I hope the main story will finally revolve around Asha and focus more on dragons again <3

I haven't read the first two in the series. The writing and plot is really easy to get into and follow. Nothing too complicated and difficult to grasp. The reveals were also pretty well executed throughout, though some of them were easy to guess. Overall it was a good book.

This is a great fantasy adventure book..... it is a magical wonder, with a wonderful array of characters to get to know.

The author has done a brilliant job of creating this world for us to get lost in and I did nt put this down. Would recommend.

I had been on the blog tours for the first two books and whilst the same didn't happen with The Sky Weaver, I was still really interested in finishing the series. It did take me a couple of years but it was well worth the wait for a fast-paced and engaging read.

I had picked up the story before and for reasons, I ended up putting it down in favour of other books. I think this was ultimately a good decision as I was really in the mood for it when I read the rest of it. This obviously paid off as it increased my enjoyment.

One of the elements that I loved was the pirate part as I was really in the mood for this type of story. Also, I did like the cast and crew that was introduced. It also gave the story a chance to grow the relationship between the two main characters and the sapphic elements which are vital later.

The two main characters of Safire and Eris are well developed and I loved seeing their relationship developthroughoutf the book. They both have their own interesting relationships and it was nice and intriguing to see this evolve throughout. This was also a great way to expand the existing universe and to increase world-building.

One of the best parts of the story was the end as it was great to see all the different aspects come together. I could not have predicted what happened and I actually really liked how it ended.

This is a credit to her writing as I did found it exciting and I just wanted to know what happened.

I don't really want to spoil anything but the ending was also quite surprising and I didn't think that what happened was going to happen. I was speeding through the last ten per cent which is a credit to her writing and the tension that was happening. I did appreciate it and seeing other fantasy books do the same will be a change.

I am actually quite sad that the story is over so I will definitely be picking up the next book that Kristen Ciccarelli releases!

The Verdict:

The Sky Weaver is a great ending to the series that had me racing to find out what happened next.

The Sky Weaver brings back Safire as a link to the previous books, and includes what happens to the other leads of both The Last Namsara and The Caged Queen. I thought this was a good tie-in to the overall series, but similar to when reading The Caged Queen I felt like I’d forgotten a lot of the previous books. This meant I had little hints and reminders throughout, and I don’t think it affected my enjoyment at all.

I would say that The Sky Weaver can stand as a stand-alone book, but the little hints of the previous books and characters are a bit like easter eggs. You don’t need to know what Roa has done, or even what Safire has done to understand her in this book.

Our new character Eris is possibly the most intriguing character of the series. She has a power that is entwined with a lot of history and magic in this world. I was so interested in finding out her backstory and why she is the way she is, and The Sky Weaver doesn’t disapoint in this area. Eris is also a pirate, so it fits in with my need for more pirate books in 2020.

Safire is a dragon rider, fighter, and I think general (although I always mix up levels of command!). She’s a strong character and has a lot of depth to her emotions and how she reacts to the world around her. Both her interactions with Eris and the characters we already know like Dax and Roa built her character into a lead from what we knew of her in the first book.

On top of our two POVs, we get a beautifully told story told to us about the Gods and folklore of this land. It has that lovely fairytale-like feeling in these chapters, but there’s also so much information to use to put together the bigger picture. Trying to guess how it fit with the main storyline was so much fun, and I enjoyed both the POV chapters and this story.

The backstory plotline was beautifully written, but also a mystery to uncover as you kept reading. At points the story could be predictable, however I enjoyed the ending and the link between past and future was a clear anchor point of the book (and not just forced in!)

Positives of The Sky Weaver
Standalone book (but within a series!)
Good main characters (as good as the previous books)
Even more fantasy elements
Negatives of The Sky Weaver
Feels very different to the other two books, which may upset some people (but I loved it!)

I would have loved to have read the two previous books beforehand to fully benefit
from this.
Talking just about this book i thought the pacing was pretty much spot on and my interest was kept really well.

Loved the characters which they must follow from previous books. I think this was a great book and seemed to finish off really well. This trilogy must be a fantastic read and i like i said would have loved to have read the other two books.

Very much recommend this book, loved the writing style, loved the whole plot. This really was extremely good. Obviously read the previous two books first but this is great to end a trilogy

I read the first book in this series The Last Namsara and enjoyed it a lot. When I saw this one on Netgalley, I picked it up, relying on the fact that Goodreads claimed you didn't need to have read the second book to understand this one. And you don't! I didn't know anything about Roa, but it didn't really matter.

This book is about Eris, a thief with a magic spindle who can walk through mist to end up halfway around the world, and Safire, King Dax's commandant who is hunting her. I noted in my review of the first book that I liked Safire, but that she seemed important at the start of the novel and completely dropped out by the end. Well, the joke's on me, because now she's got her own book and she's great. Eris and Safire are both tough characters with difficult pasts, but who have an extraordinary capacity to love, who are gentle and soft and rough. They are great on their own and they are great together.

The Sky Weaver keeps a lot of what I loved about the first book: the fantasy world, the blending of reality with myths and legends, the sense of wonder and of storytelling. But it also manages to tell its own story. I loved that.

Compassionate and compelling, this was the first book I've read in the Iskari series, and it worked so well as an introduction for me. A standalone read brimming action, dragons, pirates and legends... it makes me want to dive into the other two books in this series. Loved it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed this book, the writing was interesting and I loved the characters. Definitely recommend these books they are a great. 4 stars

'At the end of one world, there always lies another.'

I heard this book could be read as a standalone so I did, but I really think I would've benefited from reading the other 2 first, so I went and bought them and will do a reread of this when I've finished!

Eris aka Death Dancer (fabulous name!) was my fave character ever! I really connected with her and her journey with Safire to find Asha and that is what I look for in a book everyday of the week.

This was like an adventure for my eyes, great world building, dab characters and the writing is just superb.

Now to books 1 and 2!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Even though this is a companion novel and set in the same world as the other two books it can be read as a standalone. As the story is separate and things and characters from past books are explained and introduced well enough that you don’t have to have read the other books.

So I really struggled reading this book so much. I got about halfway through and I wanted to DNF it because it felt like nothing was happening and I had to push myself to finish it. I think that if I hadn’t gotten an ARC copy of this book through NetGalley I probably wouldn’t have finished it. I just lost interest in the story and the characters when it felt like they were just going around in circles and like the story was moving at a snails pace.

I did put it down once or twice and take a break from reading it. It was a little like a roller coast; it’d be going slow then fast then suddenly it be slow again. I think that the past two books written in this world had much better pacing in comparison.

The characters were fine. I didn’t feel that attached to them. In the past two books I found Safire to be interesting and a good side character but I felt that in this book she just wasn’t big enough to be a main character. I sympathised with her for what had happened to her in the past and her struggle with being the commandant. But for a lot of this book I found her to be just a bit too self-righteous. Once I got past halfway I found that I liked her more as she began to really see things from Eris perspective.

Eris I did find more interesting and I was so intrigued by how she was a wanted criminal with a the ability to travel the world with just a spindle. Eris I found really moved the story forwards and was the heart of this story. I loved learning more about her past, who she is and was, and just what she was running from.

Out of the two main characters I definietly liked Eris more. I thought she was the more interesting of the two. But I do think that Safire had more character growth and grew on me more as the story went on.

In each of the three books in this series there are smaller stories or past events in between chapters. And in this one it was the story of the Sky Weaver and how she came to be the Sky Weaver. It was really interesting to see how that story influenced and shed light onto parts of the story. Like the place that Eris goes to to travel from one place to the next, and also how it’s limited to only places that Eris has created a door to. Which I found very interesting.

Also I really liked the parts about the girl that fell in love with a god, a part of the Sky Weaver myth, and I would have loved more of it. I actually at times found it more interesting than the main story!

This is a companion novel to The Last Namara so it is a separate story but I would recommend reading both The Last Namsara and The Caged Queen before reading The Sky Weaver.

I liked seeing characters from the past novels and would’ve liked to see more of some of them. I also liked that parts from past books were still parts of this one. Like Asha and Torwin trying to protect the dragons and stories that were outlawed before the start of the first book. And the blight that was a driving force in the second book.

Also, in this book there was more about the dragons! And there was also pirates!

There wasn’t that much about them in the second book, The Caged Queen, so I was happy to see more of them again.

While reading this book I was really in the mood to read a book about some pirates so I was definitely happy to see some pirates and to get to now about some of the characters. And how they played into the story and Eris’s life/backstory.

I liked seeing another country too and what god they worshipped. I really interesting to see a country that contrasted with the one that the rest of the series has been mainly set in. It has different laws and religion; although the Sky Weaver does appear as one of the gods in the scrublands.

I liked reading the romance between Eris and Safire, especially as one’s a thief and the other is the commandant (leader of the palace/city guards). I do like reading romances between characters that are from very different worlds/walks of life. It’s always really interesting to see that sort of dynamic. So, it was really fun to read an F/F dynamic and romance like this in fantasy (where they’re the main characters and couple).

Both Eris and Safire grew a lot and had a lot of character development as they learnt how to see things from the others perspective. While also trying to protect and help the other. I especially liked seeing Safire’s conflict about her growing feels for Eris and her position as commandant as she came into situations that changed or conflicted with her views on the law and how it is upheld.

I felt like the beginning and end of this book were both really strong but the middle was a bit meh. I really got bored about halfway through this book and would’ve liked it if this book had moved a bit faster really.

I thought that this book was good. I do think that it’s a shame that this is the last companion novel in The Last Namsara world, because I have really loved reading these books and I’m going to miss reading about these characters. I think that out of the three books this was my least favourite.

Eris is a pirate who can move between worlds. Safire is a soldier who serves her king. These two young women have nothing in common, however, find themselves working together for a common goal.

This book was great for having two very strong female leads, as well as other strong female characters. An exciting fantasy adventure which has gods and myths, dragons and sea beasts, pirates and royalty, love and hate, in fact, everything a fantasy adventure needs.

I haven’t read previous novels and so am unaware of any back stories, and whilst this works as a stand alone novel, I think I would have benefited from reading the previous two books. However, even without prior knowledge, it was clear that both Eris and Safire are strong but troubled characters, who have had to fight to survive. Their love story was a lovely element, not overpowering the adventure but allowing a peek into the vulnerabilities of both women. The writing of Ciccarelli made this love story a beautiful thread of the novel, rather than a bawdy or seedy and unnecessary element.

I loved the imagination of the author and will seek out the first two novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for allowing me to read an eARC of this book!

I definitely enjoyed this book more than the last and was more intrigued by the characters of Eris and Safire! I think they were both very intriguing but wasn't really caught up in what appeared to be an insta-love for them; it isn't as extreme as other ones i've read but I never really got where their relationship developed. But it never felt forced, if that makes sense?

I am sad that we got so little of Asha again; I get these are meant to be about the different people but it felt very lacking because the characters from the previous books were virtually non-existant. I thought they would have come together in this book but instead they seemed to splinter apart even more.

This was a really easy reader, I managed to read it in a couple of hours and the writing is easy and easy to follow. I love the interlude chapters in-between and the myth and legends that weave into the story. I think that really made it for me but I really missed the presence of dragons; yes they were present but I felt we didn't get much from them.

You do not know the rage that flew threw me when I read the title page "six weeks later". I honestly nearly just put the book down, I absolutely hate hate when books do this as a plot trope especially when it's done just after a big reveal and we miss the whole fallout. It really felt like it was done just to skip writing the scene. It just really irritated me.

Overall I enjoyed this series but it isn't particularly memorable or gripping for me. No one i'll be re-reading I don't think.

Out 28th May for you to consider!

Even I didn't read the other books in this series I think this can be read as a standalone as I had no big issues with the plot or the characters.
I liked this book because the plot is engrossing and entertaining, the characters are well thought, the world building is interesting.
I think I will read the other book in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.