Skyward Inn Hardcover – March 16, 2021

by Aliya Whiteley  (Author)

Thank you the Author, publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC. I am choosing to leave an honest and fair review.

***This book will release on March 16, 2021.

Skyward Inn is a bright, dark, intricate, vast, complex and beautiful. The text itself is carefully worded to feel like a disjointed but wonderous story told by Jem and her son Fosse.

With a recent apocalyptic event looms in the background as Jem winds the story into the reader's mind like the yarn on a spinning wheel. But even with that woven in beauty, the book suffers from a lack of a true plot. There is a vague plot with hat tips to Daphne Du Maurier's Gothic mystery, Jamaica Inn, with referenced Skyward Inn. This more of an experience book than a tear through because the plot won't let you stop. Which, in this case, is not a bad thing. Themes of what makes society, what influences that, separation due to Quarantines because of a mystery plague. Clearly, 2020, the year that should not be named, had a great deal to do with the atmosphere that haunts Skyward Inn. In fact, I would wager a dollar or two that the book was aimed in one direction and then Covid-19 in its glorious destructive spread came a long and rerouted the story to examine what together means and what separation means.

Jem begins the story with her soft, pastel memories of Qita, a planet humans found and intended to mine and settle. But things went a bit pear-shape and they ended up sharing the planet with the Qitan.

Character development doesn't really happen. The humans seem to be cut into definite groups, all good and all bad. Even Fosse doesn't really evolve, even with years under his belt.

Some of the word paintings – because there is no other phrase does these passages – are horrifying and strikingly sumptuous. Things that sit just out of our skill set to understand.

The only drawbacks for this novel are that there is very little plot and the characters don't stand out as individual. This a book about idea not a real page turner filled with action

The ideas that are presented are broad and many. Some of it seems to reflect the experience of cultures that have with colonization. Some is about what it means to be a part of something while maintaining self. Some of it about how 'dieseases' can change us.

Beautiful writing, at this high level, makes reading worth it.

4 stars out of 5


https://www.amazon.com/Skyward-Inn-Aliya-Whiteley-ebook/dp/B08QNHJR63

A mix of dystopia and alien first contact there were themes of consciousness, identity, self-doubt, loss mixed into what firstly appeared to be a light-hearted scifi novel but became something more… it felt experimental in places with the speculative literary themes mixed into the genre tropes and I liked it. It worked really well.

This wasn’t a quick page turner for me. I found myself picking it up and putting it down, but it was still one I found myself going back to.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys great writing and novels that explore the emotional human spectrum and psychological mindset.

4/5

Thank you Netgalley/Rebellion/Aliya Whiteley

Although this book appears to be a work of science fiction, combining as it does a dystopian future with a first contact story, the reality is that it is a curiously dreamlike tale of human self doubt, loss. and bewilderment. The world has suffered some kind of disaster and is divided into two factions. One is a technologically advanced state which has made contact with a strange new planet , and the other consists of communites where technology has collapsed. No explanation is given for this state of affaires and it is only a backdrop for the history of eventswhich are divided between the rural pub, the Skyward Inn, run by the main character, Jem and her alien companion, and her son's journey of discovery on the second planet. To begin with the Inn is an island of sanity and welcome in the rural community, but Jem's life unravels as it becomes complicated, and her son, Fosse, confused. and erratic. When Fosse joins the army and journeys to the new planet the story becomes increasingly surreal. This novel is both off beat in a science fiction way, and disturbing as the story of a woman coming to terms with extraordinary events. One thing is for sure, it is a work of unusual originality.

I liked the sound of this book and was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, I struggled to get in to it and didn't really warm to any of the characters.

There was a lot I enjoyed about Skyward Inn, but ultimately this was a bit too surreal and philosophical for me. I'm left with a lot of questions after finishing this book, so I will probably be thinking about it over the next few weeks. Perhaps I will change my opinion of it too.

This was a fascinating read. A touch of whimsical and beautifully written. Like nothing I've ever read before but I am glad I did. A delve into humanity and alien absurdity as they comingle and develop meaningful relationships along the way. A slow burn.

Thank you netgalley for this arc

Review also available on shortskirtsandsarcasm.com

> Earth was far from perfect, and Qita was far from perfect. Nobody was perfect, not from the beginning. There wasn't a place in the universe that was unchangeably perfect.

The premise of *Skyward Inn* is that Earth invaded and conquered another planet, Qita, in the recent past. Jem and Isley decide to open a pub together, Skyward Inn, to attempt to create an oasis away from the havoc the interplanetary war has wreaked. As the story unfolds, the character and the reader begin to question the way the war really unfolded.

Previously, I have read Aliyah Whiteley's *The Beauty* and was what you might call "weirded out" by it. "Thoroughly disturbed" is another phrase that comes to mind. Whiteley's newest, *Skyward Inn*, is another probing insight into what makes us human. The first half of *Skyward In*n was not all I hoped it would be. I had a hard time following and did not really enjoy it. The second half, however, blew me away.

I especially enjoy Whiteley's focus on language, something with which she has previously played in her novella *Peace, Pipe*. The Qitan use a music-based language. A Qitan character and a human character trade thoughts on language, and the exchange is both funny and esoteric. As their conversation continues, they essentially meditate on what makes humans humans. What we all think makes us human might not be the whole story.

> Where do babies come from?... Somebody told me that was the most difficult question you can ask a human. Is that true? I heard you squeeze them out of yourselves and cut them free...I think that's the worst thing I ever heard about humans.

This title is published on 16 March 2021. I originally was going to give it three stars out of five because of how much I did not enjoy the beginning, but I have thought about it non-stop since I finished it, so I am upgrading it to four stars. The second half – the final quarter, in particular – was so well-written and so thought-provoking that I had to amend my rating.

Not really my thing. I got sucked in by the pretty cover. I’m still not even sure what planet the Skyward was on? The story was interesting enough, but when you’re creating another world, you need to develop it. I was confused for a lot of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Skyward Inn is a story that’s brimming with potential, and it is a technically good story with one exception—though that came down to personal taste in the end. There were a number of aspects that were notable about the story, which I thought deserved praise.

Skyward Inn is the type of speculative fiction that has those big science fiction concepts woven into a story that explores the human element as well as colonialism—though it uses a fictional alien race as the vehicle to do this. At times, it reminded me of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, because much of the story was about the characters. The line on the book cover, “This is a place we can be alone, together,” is often repeated throughout the book. Whiteley does do a good job hammering this point home, and the overall execution of it was good.

Another notable aspect of Skyward Inn was the speculative elements, which ties in to the ending of the book. The twist was fantastic, and my overall impression of the story was on the higher end because of it. The imagery it invoked was eerie and surreal at some points.

Where I ran into a problem was with one particular character's perspective. Fosse, the son of one of the main characters, ended up having a role that was integral. However, while the later instances in his POV were fine, his introduction wasn’t my thing, and some of his internal monologue got to be unsettling. At one point I considered skipping over his sections, but I didn’t end up doing that because as I mentioned his side of the story was integral. It just wasn’t my favorite part.

Skyward Inn was good, and I would consider reading more books by Whiteley.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Solaris) via Netgalley for this review, thank you!

Honestly it's a relief to have a quick flick through some other reviews to see that other people have struggled to rate and absorb this book. It was NOT what I was expecting at all, which doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, but I can honestly say I have never read anything like it which makes reviewing it a challenge. I thought I was going to read a bit of a space opera romp set in an inn on some far away planet where humans thought they were in control but were actually being manipulated into thinking so. And in a way part of that assumption that is true, but but's also absolutely not what happens here.

So what did I read? We are at some point in the future and humanity has discovered a wormhole that takes them to another planet. Not everyone is happy with this high tech future and so some live in the Protectorate, a rural, broadly trading economy in the South West of England. Here Jem runs the titular inn with her partner. Trade is good because they serve Jarrowbrew, a drink common to Qita, the planet at the other end of the wormhole, a planet Earth has visited and occupied with a colonial mindset. Jem, unusually for an inhabitant of the Protectorate, has spent time on Qita. It's where she met Isley, who is one of the few Qitans on earth and especially in the Protectorate where the alien race are regarded with suspicion and hostility.

I can't really say any more because part of what makes this book so special is its absolute unpredictability. What I can say is it's thoughtful, unusual and beautifully written and definitely worth reading.

A dash of alien absurdity (think the Lonely Planet cartoons), a splash of post-apocalyptic Earth, and a pinch of how we define what it means to be human.

I felt like it was a little light on the sci-fi and a little heavy on relationship development compared to my expectations (the summary I feel did a poor job on setting the scene for potential readers), and the timeline got a little funky and I wanted a little more clarity on what was happening at the end.

Skyward Inn // by Aliya Whiteley

I have been somewhat dreading writing this review because days after finishing this book, I am still not entirely sure what to think about it. It seems that every time I go back to contemplating it, I figure out something new. I usually do not read other people's reviews of a book either until mine is written so that their opinions cannot influence mine but I even broke that self-imposed rule this time. And again, every time I read one, I find out something new about this book that I didn't realize before. So it obviously isn't a story that is just not that great. It is a story that has multiple hidden layers that are slowly peeled back the more you think about it. I am not used to reading books like that so it has been an interesting experience for me. I've never been a fan of star ratings but I am forced to choose one but please do not pay too much attention to that because I just did not know which to go with.

At its very surface, this is the story of a mother and son, first contact with an alien species, the relationship between humans and that species, and a disease that forces much of Earth to go into quarantine. Peel it back a little though and you will see in more detail the struggle of fitting in for several people and how that affects their lives differently. Rather than seeing a weird inter-species emotional relationship, you'll understand the reason for the physical distance between the characters. And what about the peaceful meeting of two species that surprised everyone? It took me until the very end of the book to understand this things just weren't what they seemed.

I am used to much more detail in the SFF books that I read so at first I was pretty underwhelmed by this book. Nonetheless, the weirdness and relative short length compelled me to read it relatively quickly, which then allowed plenty of time for me to sit there stunned. Whiteley impressed me with the way she incorporated community, belonging, individuality, colonialism, othering, fear, adventurism, and so much more into this short book with language that makes you feel as if you are reading a philosophical book. I don't have much experience with experimental sci-fi but if that is what this book is, then I at least know that I want more of it because I love a book that makes me think about it longer after I finish it.

But despite this uniqueness and thought-provoking writing, I was also surprised that an author that for the most part seemed to be so intentional with their writing would spend time on scenes that just to me felt unnecessary. We know that sex is on many teenagers' minds but the detail of masturbation just felt very out of place to me personally. Is this just another one of those things that I'll learn to understand later on? Maybe during a reread even? I don't know. But it did throw me off and kept me at a distance emotionally for a long time because I wasn't sure anymore if this was the kind of book I really wanted to be reading at that time. It just felt like it was there more for the shock factor than character development or anything else.

Also, despite reading the synopsis beforehand, I wasn't 100% of the location at the start either. Was there another planet aside from Quita and Earth where the inn was located? Were there more species than Quitans and humans that we needed to know about? Is the appearance of Quitans much different to that of humans and could that affect relationships between the species? As I said above, I am used to much more detail in my usual books and while I can see how the lack of it can be very thought-provoking, which for the most part has been very well done in this book, I still think that adding a little bit more detail in certain areas would have helped me get more invested in the story overall.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5✨
In the world of Skyward Inn, earth has discovered the peaceful planet of Qita which it eagerly colonises for its resources with a very peaceful and amicable reception from the existing inhabitants. In this version of reality, a small area of the UK around Devon has isolated itself from the modern and technologically advanced world for a simpler life. We experience this world from the perspective of Jem and her son Fosse who are both living separately in this Protectorate and wrestling with very similar issues unbeknown to the other. As we progress through the story we come to know more about the Qitan people and the darker side of their peaceful assimilation often with the aid of Qitan brew served at the Skyward Inn.
 
This is a beautifully written speculative fiction and fully held my attention - such that I devoured it in less than 24hrs. Overall I think it was my yearning for understanding that sent me racing through this book rather than an amazing plot - as whilst the concept was great, I think the ultimate twist and overall explanation of what was happening with the Qitans could have been a bit tighter. There was also a massive shift in pace at the end where we move from slowly meandering through the experiences of our cast to rapid-fire coming to the climax with minimal detail. I just would have liked a bit more (as I always do!)
 
What Skyward Inn might lack in tightness of plot, it more than makes up for in exploration of themes. This is a beautiful musing over ideas of belonging, selfhood and individuality within the context of colonisation and freedom. It also raises the complexities of difference and how we understand it - is an emphasis on the difference between people just as harmful as becoming blind to difference?
 
I also would have liked a bit more development of the romantic relationship between Jem and Isley (her Qitan partner) in the Inn scenes before we get moving with the plot but this is a great book nonetheless and has done nothing to quell my current addiction with eerie speculative fiction!

This is good, but won't appeal to those seeking high action. It has a literary feel and is well written. It's certainly strange at times, and a little uneven in places. I enjoyed many of the ideas and situations as well. Recommended to those seeking an odd tale bordering on Fantasy.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Hmm. How do I rate this? The vibe is very VanderMeer’s Annihilation meets Avatar. There’s the sense of unknowing, unanswered questions, and being a fly on the wall. I tend to love that style, but this is a book I can see a lot of people not liking and I can understand that. There’s something both comforting and unnerving about writing styles like this. It’s soft and slow, confusing in a way I can appreciate. I think it’s difficult to do well because you have to balance everything just right. The characters/stories/worlds must be both anonymous and intimate with the reader, which sounds like a contradiction, and I think this story is made up of contradictions. Alone together. You always want to know more than you are told, see more than you are shown. Some stories can work with these limits, and I think this is one of them.

It’s definitely weird, but not until the halfway point. I was getting antsy for about 50% of the book, craving some otherness, something to make me uncomfortable or unsettled. That doesn’t really happen until the last 20% of so, but it does get a little weird before then.

I guessed the end at 61% (according to Kindle), so it wasn’t exactly unpredictable or a twist, but it still hit me hard when it was confirmed. Gave me the tightening in my chest feeling that I like when reading cosmic horror/new weird. I wish I could go into more detail, but I refuse to spoil anything. (I never write about the plots of books in my reviews. You can just read the summary yourself provided by the publishers if you want to know more about that.)

I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly "likable" (and I don't think they're supposed to be), but I still liked reading about them. I ended up really enjoying Fosse’s storyline. At first I didn’t see the point of switching perspectives when we saw his from third person, but it grew on me. It’s like I understand him but also don’t understand him at all. That contradictions thing again. I like that feeling, and I want to know him better. Does he have intrusive thoughts? Imp of the perverse? Does he have dissociative disorder? Where does his moral compass point? What does he really want? So many questions. I liked being in his head because it made me uncomfortable.

I think it’s pretty impressive how the author manages to include small moments of heart and humor in the book, despite it being a generally serious story. They’re few, but when you hit them it helps to break up the story. There are also some wonderfully lyrical moments, simply beautiful words and scenes that take you into the worlds.

Overall, how do I feel? I feel conflicted. There's a sense of connectedness to the story/worlds/characters that I find myself having trouble separating from. I finished this book very quickly, considering I don’t like reading books digitally and usually have to stop more often to rest my eyes. I think I loved it? There’s just that other part of me that’s confused with that feeling, because I can’t pinpoint why I enjoyed it. It's left me feeling very strange and unsure. I guess I’ll just say that if you enjoy VanderMeer’s style and can let yourself get swept into a (generally) slow, soft narrative with a few weird additions to the scenic route, you might like this. I know I’ll be buying myself a physical copy when it comes out, so maybe I really do love it.

Thank you to Rebellion for this ARC! I had been dying to read it ever since I saw the blurb a month ago comparing it to VanderMeer.

This is an interesting and original science fiction novel. I say original but there are definite shades of Ursula Leguin in the aliens and their relationships with humans. I can't say I fully understood what was going on, and to be honest, a few days after finishing it I had forgotten the plot altogether and could not name one character. So, low score from me but I may attempt to re-read it at some point.

When a gateway opens in space to a planet called Qita, the local inhabitants’ peaceful acquiescence of human occupation averts a war. But are their intentions really peaceful? And what happens when avaricious expansionism is faced with a force even more powerful and inexorable.

Back on earth, the Skyward Inn, run by Jem and Isley, is a gathering place within the cloistered community of the Western Protectorate, where the locals come to drink Qitan brew and share stories. But a strange sickness has begun to afflict the humans of the Protectorate, and when a stranger arrives at Skyward Inn, the harmony of Jem and Isley’s partnership is broken.

Highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s 'Southern Reach' trilogy, this is a surreal and thought-provoking exploration of colonialism, assimilation and identity, that is simultaneously horrifying and comforting. 'Skyward Inn' is a brilliantly unnerving blend of sinister and sincere and it will be haunting my thoughts for a while!

Skyward Inn was certainly unique. I took a few days after I finished reading this book to collect my thoughts and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel. On the one hand, Aliya Whiteley succeeded at creating an engaging novel that captivates the reader. I was thoroughly invested in the story and I didn't want to put the book down, however, I'm not sure if that's a credit to the actual writing or simply an indication of how confused I was and much I wanted answers. I was a bit irked by the alternating points-of-view (Jem's was first person, yet Fosse's was third person) and I thought that some unnecessary elements were added simply to unsettle the reader, when the surrealist nature of the book would have been sufficiently unsettling on it's own. I really could have done without Fosse's masturbatory scenes at the farm and the rather distasteful revelation about "brew" and bodily fluids. There was also a sudden and unexplained timeline shift toward the end of the book that didn't feel all that effective as a plot device.

Initially, the book seemed to be a commentary about colonialism and the exploitation of indigenous peoples, their land and their resources. When the "Kissing Gates" appear on Earth, humans immediately seize the opportunity to mount a military incursion on the planet of Qita. They then take advantage of the Qitan's peaceful nature in order to appropriate the planet's resources and bring them back to Earth. Ultimately, it is revealed that the Qitan's aren't quite as docile as they appear, and that maybe it isn't the humans who are the colonizers. So perhaps the story is actually a critique of human arrogance. Either way, it was a stunning twist that I very much was not expecting. The author also makes a powerful statement about the nature of assimilation and how little choice people are often given in the matter.

Most of the story is set in the Western Protectorate, which seceded from the UK and rejected all modern technology following the appearance of the Kissing Gates. I thought that the Western Protectorate beautifully encapsulated the concept of hiraeth, a Welsh word with no true English equivalent that can be translated as a "longing for a home that no longer exists or never was". Many characters in the book have an idealized, nostalgic view of the Protectorate that they try to cling to even if change is inevitable. I think that in our rapidly changing world, where technology seems to take precedence, the desire for simpler times will resonate with a lot of readers.

At then end of the day, I do think that Skyward Inn is a worthwhile read. Stylistically, it's quite different from other books on the market and the content will challenge the reader's perceptions and leave them thinking long after they finish reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris Books for providing this ARC.

For me, this is a book less about plot and character, but more about theme. Whiteley's writing takes a philosophical stance on some traditional questions in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and the book as a whole is hugely atmospheric.
It certainly left me a bit dazed, a bit overwhelmed with the surrealistic style of it, but it was definitely a worthwhile read.

I'm really undecided about how I feel about Skyward Inn. The book is quiet and contemplative, but also has some side doses of tension and body horror.
The characters were all well developed, but the world-building felt intentially vague and confusing. There are some brilliant and intriguing ideas in here but I was left, perhaps purposefully, with more questions - and I personally find it hard to get satisfaction from this type of narrative.
It was thought provoking, but the murky nature of the storytelling means I'm not sure how long I will keep returning to these thoughts. Only time will tell if this is a book which sticks with me.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.