I can honestly say I have no idea what I just read, this has been like no other book that has crossed my path. I felt like I was reading someone's Delirium Tremens and also a great book about a harsh social criticism. I was trying to explain my husband this book and was only able to say: it is a book that will make you see the human nature at is rawness.

The protagonist are crude and in someways sort of monotone, but that actually work wonders with the book, since they are truly so different in nature and therefore you, the reader, are exposed to very distinctive character traits , and with them being just so purely one thing, at least from my opinion, it doesn't allows you to fully connect or reject one or the other.

An interesting part of this book was the environment, in both worlds, it was lacking of so much, but even like that it evoque deep somewhat positive feelings from their inhabitants,

I do recommend this book at the end, although if you had ask me this in the middle I would have said no way!, but it is a book that is meant to leave you thinking, and afterwards you can try to understand what was behind the author's intentions or even the character's decisions, but for me also made me think about human nature and emotions.

My rating is 3,5 of 5, and it is based on the weirdness of the book and how it prevented me from reading other books hehe.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Solaris Books for the eBook.

Skyward Inn is set in England's rural southwest, roughly(Devon). Now called the Protectorate, which has annexed itself from the coalition of world powers. Jem, a veteran of the interplanetary war with the Qitans, runs the Skyward Inn, alongside Isley, both of them from different sides of the war between the humans and Qitans.

Most of the story is set in this western Protectorate, the Skyward Inn is the Protectorates community hub, much like the majority of pubs were in the ’70s and ’80s. One day another Qitan named Won shows up and the situation for both Jem and Isley changes.

Many characters in Skyward have an idealised, nostalgic view of the Protectorate. A bit like having a nostalgic view of the 1980’s – a time and place that no longer exits, except in our own minds and through cultural references. Skyward is very much a character-driven story with lots of metaphorical thinking, which for me made the characters more realised and thus more relatable. However, this means we get lots of seemly irrelevant detail. This slow pace with lots of deep thinking and conversation and very little action, won’t be for everyone.

The prose is often evocative and contrasts against the starkness of the alien world of Qita and the familiarity of The Protectorate (once known as Devon). Stylistically this is a very different book from anything I’ve previously read. The world-building is almost as sparse as the synopsis and you have to work hard to put plot points together. There is a surrealist nature to the story, which is where the comparison comes in. I can definitely see influences from Jeff VanderMeer.

The themes about colonialism and the exploitation of land, resources and indigenous people, will readily resonate with many people. It won’t be everyone’s favourite read especially as the plot and pace can be languorous.

Thanks o NetGalley and Solaris for a free ebook. All opinions expressed are my own.

Aliya Whitely has served up a delicious dose of weird cosmic ooze in this novel. It is a an alluringly bizarre experience- a book of paradoxes: intimate yet detached in its characterisation, nostalgic and familiar yet unnervingly alien in its landscapes. For fans of Jeff VanderMeer or even that old stinking racist Lovecraft, this book may well appeal, but for those of you not tempted by a bit of sci-fi strangeness, you may want to give this a hard pass.

It all starts off relatively normal though: Jem and Isley run a quaint pub in the bucolic West Country, selling their finest 'brew' to their close-knit village community. Jem is estranged from her son, Fosse, who lives with his Uncle Dom, a respected leader in the village. Life is darts matches, village meetings and drinking brew late into the evening. However, when an unexpected guest turns up from Isley’s past, and when three outsiders arrive to occupy a local farm, things start to pivot slowly, inexorably towards an unsettling conclusion.

Oh but did I also mention that Isley is an alien? And that the West Country is actually the “Western Protectorate”, a (Brexit-inspired?) area that has broken away from the technologically-advanced UK? Yes, we are in a speculative future here: there has been a peacefully-resolved conflict between Earth and the Qitans, a planet that humans, in all their humanness, decided to peacefully colonise. Peacefully. Jem’s husband is a Qitan who has settled down on Earth to join his wife in selling the mysterious ‘brew’.

First of all, I loved reading sci-fi set in the south of England, a place I have spent many fond years of my life. It’s so refreshing to read genre pieces like this set outside of the ubiquitous US. I also really enjoyed the gentle, disquieting prose and the grand ideas it conceals. This is a novel about many things- both the small (familial sacrifice, loneliness, togetherness and community) and the large (the forces of colonisation, globalisation and isolationism). Like all good science-fiction, the weirdness serves to offer some provocative navel-gazing about the human condition and our fundamental need to come together as social animals, despite our other increasingly divergent and incompatible needs and identities. I don’t always do too well with ambiguous abstraction and surreality, and I didn’t love this book: but I did like it, and I imagine its imagery will haunt for some time yet.

Thanks to Rebellion and NetGalley for my ARC copy of this book.

This book was suspense, sci-fi and dystopian all mixed into one thrilling book. I loved the cover. This book had all the elements of these genres that fit seamlessly for this book. Dystopian England, a rare disease, secret/lies and so much more. I am also glad it was not predictable and better than I thought it was going to be. Another different kind of suspense book but one a reader will not forget. Creepy AF and believable. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, ALya Whiteley and Rebellion Solaris for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 3/16/21

5 stars - unique and compelling

Well, where to start? As other reviewers have noted, this novel is not easy to describe.

The story revolves around Jem and her estranged son Fosse, who both live in the Western Protectorate, a separate society on Earth that has decided to live without technology, just like people did in the olden days. But the rest of Earth is a highly developed society that has discovered a gate to another planet, Qita, and its inhabitants, the Qitans, who never put up a fight when humans came. One of the Qitans, Isley, came to Earth and is running the local Inn with Jem, selling the popular Qitan brew. And while they love each other it is also clear that some cultural gaps cannot ever be crossed.

For the longest time I was not sure at all where the story was actually going, but I really did not mind whatsoever. I was too invested in the characters, their need for beloning, their pain, their hopes, their frustrations. The prose is beautiful, gentle and caring, yet eerie. You always feel like maybe you are missing something that lies JUST beyond your reach. I enjoyed this kind of storytelling a great lot and I had a hard time putting this down, but it most probably won't be for everyone.

I found the conclusion to the story quite satisfying in that it refused to be simple. It touches on many complex, intertwined issues and it would not do to wrap it up all nice and neat.

For me this will surely be a highlight this year and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of literary sci-fi who like to read outside of the box.

One of the strangest and most intriguing books I think I have ever read, Skyward Inn was a fantastic read. I was so compelled to read on, find out more, see more of these wonderful characters. There were parts that I sometimes had to read them twice for the information to register and there were points where I was slightly confused, but my god this book is so beautifully written. So evocative. I would highly recommend and cannot wait to see what Aliya writes next!

What a ride this book was! For the first quarter, I was a bit confused and not entirely engaged, but then it absolutely grabbed me. By the end I was left with questions about loneliness, choices, the nature of humanity, and the meaning of life that will stay with me for a long time. This is the first book by Aliya Whitely I've ever read, and it won't be the last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Solaris (Rebellion) for providing an ARC!

Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley is a really trippy science fiction novel about the aftermath of a war on another planet, called Qita. The Inn serves as a gathering place for residents: a place where they can imbibe and connect with others; that is, until a new face disturbs the peace. It is correct to compare it to the work of Vandermeer as i drew so many paralells from his books and the way he writes sci-fi.

Skyward Inn follows Jem and her son, in a near-future Earth, where humanity has made contact with alien life. Jem's community has reacted to the changing world by shutting itself off from most of humanity, forgoing advancement and integration with the larger universe in favour of clinging desperately to the nostalgic version of life they've long embraced.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Skyward Inn. Its slow-paced story that gently revealed itself may seem underwhelming at first, but the direction of of the plot took the narrative to a surprising and satisfying place. This book is not for everyone, though. If you are looking for a book that does not fit into any tropes or boxes and are willing to keep an open mind, I recommend it.

This book is strange in a good way. I’m not sure if I can rate it because I don’t want to read it again but I also really enjoyed it. I have so many questions!


I love the way the assumptions humans make about Qitans are turned around in the book. Disturbing but lovely.

This is brimming with ideas, but overall, I unfortunately found that these ideas were let down by the execution of the novel.

It's quite busy, with many characters and elements to the story, and there was little in this that drew me to it or engaged me. The writing, characters, plot, and structural choices all seemed to be there to serve the author's ideas, rather than create a coherent and cohesive story. I am fully prepared to concede that this novel just went straight over my head, but in general I was left bewildered by this.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>In some ways this is a very centrally science fiction story. It is about humans and aliens learning to live with each other, and the central question of the book seems to be: can there be a middle ground between their ways of relating? This book is middle-term future--much of how humanity is living now has been revised, though not wholly rejected, and alien influence is not the only or even the main reason.</p>
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<p>But in other ways the tone, the voice of this book are not at all typical of the genre. There is an intimacy of voice that I have been dearly wanting in science fiction novels, a focus on the relationships Jem and her son Fosse have with each other but also with the rest of their world. Worlds. That tight focus shares a lot with some literary novels and with some of my favorite SF of the past. Whiteley shares a science fiction more with Marta Randall than with Isaac Asimov, and this book is all the better for it.</p>
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<p>I don't want to give away the details of the cultural and biological differences at stake here, because watching them unfold gently and naturally is part of the great fun of the book. It's a lovely meditation on how humans relate, though, and I'm so glad to see something like this coming out at a time when being thoughtful of our own humanity is incredibly important. (And really...when isn't it.)</p>
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3.5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com today.


Skyward Inn is a locals bar run by Jem, a local Protectorate born, and Isley, a Qitan. Jem met Isley when she was enlisted and stationed on Qita to spread a message of peace. When Jem’s time served had ended, Isley returned home with her to the Protectorate. The Protectorate is technology free. Living by the “old rules.” The Protectorate locals learn to accept Isley as one of their own.

Some time later, an infection is taking over the Protectorate in all regions. Quarantines and no-cross borders are set up to contain the infection, but it just keeps spreading. Jem’s region appears to be infection free. Until strangers appear on an isolated and abandoned farm that Jem’s son Fosse often visits. Fosse is told that these strangers can perform “magic.” Fosse is prevented from seeing the “magic” until it’s far too late.

A fascinating concept and novel. I don’t know whether to classify as dystopian or fantasy or a little of both. Whiteley does a fine job of creating this Qitan world and immersing us in it through Jem’s memories. While I enjoyed the book, at times I felt a bit lost and confused by what was happening. Not sure if this was intended or not. Regardless, it is very well written and a good read.

“Alone is not a place I can go to, but the place that’s left behind after everyone else has gone.”

“What did I just read?” -me after finishing this book. 😂

So, I had mixed feelings on this book.

I found it hard to get into—the beginning was confusing and I didn’t know what was happening. After a while (maybe 1/4 into the book), that got better and then I started to enjoy the book more. Also, the last 1/4 or so was way more engaging.

It was very well written and creative. But also the way it was written made me feel a bit disconnected from the story at times. But, by the end, this piece had improved some as well.

It was intriguing and confusing and weird. This is a novel I will likely think about a lot because it was so weird and engaging while also having large sections I didn’t love? Wording my thoughts on such an odd and unique book is HARD. But it was engaging because I always had so many questions about what was going to happen and it felt unpredictable. I’d say as long as the writing style is a good fit for you, you’ll love it. Specifically, the way I’ve seen it phrased in other reviews, is this book may be for you if you are a fan of literary sci-fi, books full of surrealism, and books using philosophical writing.

I had a lot of difficulty rating this book. I wanted to be aware that I really didn’t like the first 1/4, but it got better, and the last 1/4 was so weird and interesting. I ended up deciding to go 3/5 overall, though I had initially debated a lower rating, because maybe parts of it weren’t for me, but others may LOVE this. Also, I feel like I am going to be thinking about this book for a long time and after finishing it I had this immediate “wtf” response that I think the author needed a lot of skill to create. Have I mentioned this book is weird? 😂

The book starts in the Protectorate, a stretch of land that has seceded from England to form an area that lives without technology. But they will trade jam and other goods for necessities like a water feed and medical care. It's like a future Vermont - the name "Protectorate" brings a special cachet to their products. The Skyward Inn of the title is a bar run by local Jem and the alien Isley she met when she escaped her home to explore the alien world Qita.

I'd give the first 60% of this book two or three stars, but the last 40% four or five stars. At the beginning of the book I thought the writing flowed nicely, but there was so much of it - the plot moved slowly along, but whenever action came along that made the story a little exciting, the story was slowed down again with lots of prose from the perspective of either of the two main characters.

Then at around the 60% point, the book changed into something totally different. The first 60% I read in fits and starts, but the last 40% I read almost in one sitting. That final part of the book was mind blowing almost to a Hugo or Nebula award winning level, but the book is hampered by the slow early pages. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't taken so much time off while reading this book, but I wish the writer and editors had met me half way and tightened up the early part of the book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Solaris for the ARC.

Thank you netgalley and Solaris for the Arc
DNF'd this book @26 percent. The book is written very beautifully but I had a hard time getting used to the writing style and I was not liking the characters. It was unfortunately not for me. Not only this, I was a little confused. Maybe I'll give it a try in the future. But for now, this book is not doing it for me.
Although not for me, this book will appeal to a lot of literary sci-fi readers.

This book started off in a very intriguing way. You as the reader are thrown into this strange world of the inn owners and their customers. You are aware right from the start that there is more to every conversation you hear, but you just need to be patient and wait to find out more. The characters carry with them scars form their past, their experiences and their prejudices and hatrereds. This was depicted really well here.
What I did not like was the writing style overall. There was a lot of jumping around and strangeness. And this might sound strange, but the same thing that attracted me initially - the vagueness and the "I'm not going to deliver answers on a platter for you" approach of the author - is what made it 3 stars for me in the end. I was left with an overall sense of confusion.
Perhaps on a future re-read...

A few weeks ago I read, enjoyed, and reviewed Aliya Whiteley’s ‘The Secret Life of Fungi’, so when I was caught in the throes of a late-night @netgalley binge, spotted this striking cover and recognised the name (and after a quick Google, confirmed that they were the same person and that Aliya is a fairly prolific author of Sci-Fi and speculative fiction), I was really intrigued.

The synopsis is sparse and, having now finished it, I’m similarly stumped on how to describe this book. It’s the kind of story that leaves you feeling strangely sluggish and foggy-headed when you turn the final (in this case, electronic) page. My head is still whirring with the utter strangeness and unsettling nature of this book, still unpacking the various layers of meaning and turning over the various, complex character relationships that I think really made this unusual story so compelling.

I loved the evocative prose, the stark contrasts between the utterly alien world of Qita, and the familiarity of The Protectorate (once known as Devon) back on Earth. The world-building is almost as sparse as the synopsis, leaving plenty of gaping holes for the reader to fill with imagination and speculation, and what is explained is unraveled at a sleepy, tantalising pace. This is very much a character-driven narrative and it was the interactions between those characters that really captured my imagination, particularly the strange nature of the relationship between Jem and Isley, proprietors of the Skyward Inn.

It seems to be receiving mixed feedback so far which doesn’t surprise me in the least. This won’t be for everyone, it’s languidly paced and when it does really hit its stride, distinctly strange and unsettling but I really enjoyed it. It’s certainly not often that I feel this level of urgency to scribble down my thoughts before they lose their sharpness.

Described as ‘Jamaica Inn by way of Vandermeer, Le Guin, Carter and Michel Faber’, I’d like to speak to the validity of the comparisons but I haven’t read any of them!

Huge thanks to @netgalley and @rebellionpublishing for my early copy. Out on the 18th March.

The book started out a bit slow, but gradually got my attention. It kept my attention by painting a vivid picture of a future time and the people inhabiting it. As the story unfolds, a number of details mentioned earlier suddenly begin to make sense. I enjoyed reading the book and recommend it to science fiction fans.

The gist: Skyward Inn is a beautiful, unsettling, dreamlike book. It’s a fusion of ideas surrounding love, family, coexistence and colonisation. It’s modern science fiction that sits well with the traditional classics of the genre.
It’s a quiet book, a sense of unease and uncertainty bringing tension to the slow reveal of the past and the potential future. Whiteley gradually builds a picture of what’s happening in a future Devon and the wider planet(s), slowly filling in the gaps and the changes so the picture builds for you as much as it does for the characters.
And although it’s quiet, it also has scenes prepared to horrify and disturb. There’s violence and body horror, and a sense of danger that may or may not be manifested. And, ultimately, the question of whether in fact some of these things are horrific at all. Whitely uses alien contact and coexistence to place humanity under a magnifying glass and see what it does.
Whiteley’s writing is thoughtful with every word placed carefully, and Skyward Inn is a joy to fall in to.
Favourite line: Alone is not a place I can go to, but the place that’s left behind after everyone else has gone.
Read if: You want beautiful, thoughtful science fiction.
Read with: Your favourite brew.
Get it: Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
ARC gratefully received from Rebellion, Solaris, and Netgalley

Review to be posted on release date at www.thedustlounge.com

In the aftermath of an interplanetary war that appears to have been resolved peacefully, Jem, a human woman, and Isley, a Qitan from the planet attacked by humankind, run the Skyward Inn, a social hub for the local community. Serving the mysterious and renowned "brew" provided by Isley, the Skyward is situated in the Protectorate - actually a part of Devon which appears to have broken away from the UK to form a kind of cooperative paradise, with many of the trappings we might imagine of that setting, including boring meetings and people going without certain things.

Despite the bucolic setting, it's clear from the outset that not all is well. Isley the Qitan knows to stay out of people's way, and Jem is also shunned apart when she isn't playing the friendly barmaid role at the Skyward.

Meanwhile, Fosse, Jem's son, is kicking against the constraints of the Protectorate - and when he discovers a family squatting in an empty farm, they offer him the potential for escape.

But what is the strange spell that comes over Jem when she drinks Isley's brew? Why has a Qitan known to Isley appeared in the Skyward's cellar, and what is their relationship? Rumours of a new plague spreading outside the Protectorate only heighten the sense of paranoia and growing horror - especially when unsettling things start happening at home, too.

This is a short, compelling novel with evocative, absorbing prose. Whiteley slowly builds the growing sense of a world that is not what we believe - see for example her description of Fosse's panic attack early on: "...panic had set in and the wheezing started soon after, just like it used to when he had been small and scared all the time, with his mother gone away. It was not just the land that hated him then - the air itself had turned against him."

The novel raises questions about colonialism, personal autonomy, connection and violence, without necessarily posing definite answers (my favourite kind of questions) - although the ending sounds out a vital note of hope.

Thank you to Rebellion Publishing for allowing me to read an advance copy of Skyward Inn. This is the first longer piece of fiction I've read by Aliya Whiteley, and I will be seeking out more of her work now. It's also the first time since I was a child that I finished a story and turned immediately back to the beginning - finding it even more absorbing and interesting the second time through. I really, really recommend it if you like strong, evocative prose and thoughtful writing alongside compelling characters and fascinating world-building.