*Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

As per usual Kaufman and Spooner have crafted a unique and interesting world in which to stage their clash of cultures. The mix of fantasy and science fiction tropes was done skilfully, with the reader learning things about each of the two worlds organically as the characters teach each other about their respective worlds.
Nimh and North were delightful characters, though I wouldn't say they were particularly groundbreaking or different from other fantasy/sci-fi YA leads. They were relatable, sympathetic, and kept my interest throughout the adventure.
The audiobook was fantastic, with separate narrators for Nimh's POV and for North's POV. Both voice actors were great at the voices they used for all the characters. I had no trouble keeping track of who was who through the alternating chapters.

Firstly, Thank you to NetGallery, the authors and Bolinda Audio for providing me with the audiobook of The Other Side of the Sky in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 stars

The Other Side of the Sky is a captivating YA story that seamlessly blends fantasy and science fiction. The alternating perspectives between Nimhara and North provide a rich tapestry of two distinct worlds: one filled with magic and prophecy, the other with advanced technology and intrigue. However, I found myself drawn more to Alciel's enchanting realm than North's domain.

The audiobook narration brings each character and scene to life with precision and emotion, making for a truly immersive listening experience. The plot twists keep listeners engaged until the end, leaving us eager for the next installment. Whether you're a fan of fantasy, science fiction, or compelling storytelling, this audiobook is a must-listen.

⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

The Other Side of the Sky was a fun, fast-paced story with all of the things that I love! Magic, sci-fi and star-crossed lovers.
The writing is really greeat with so many plot twists to keep you guessing!
I really enjoyed the narration!

“I don’t know if I believe in her gods or her destiny I don’t know if I believe in any of this. But I believe in her.”

The ending has me excited to read the next book in the series!

“It's not magic," I say. "It's science. Science means that you can explain it, that you know how each part of it works. Magic is - I mean, it's science you haven't figured how to explain yet."
"I can explain my magic," Nimh replies. "And you just said you could not explain your engines.”

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you NetGalley for this #gifted copy.

The Other Side of the Sky is the first book in a YA duology. The book is sort of a combination between fantasy and science fiction. But this first book is much more heavily fantasy.

The book alternates between the female and male POV. The female 1st person POV is Nimhara/Nimh (she is around 18). The male 1st person POV is North.

Nimh is a goddess from a world that uses magic. North is a prince of a technological city above the clouds.

Nimh's world is very complex and very fantasy based (with goddesses and prophecies). North's world was incredible and featured bloodmothers, heartmothers and kings. I found North's world so much easier to follow.

My main issue is that I loved one world so much more than the other. And the world that I loved was the one barely featured.

I wish more than anything that the main focus of the book was Alciel (the land on the other side of the sky). I honestly adored this world and am very hopeful that we will get to see more of it in the next book.

The book ends with a very strong cliffhanger ending. There is a bit of romance in this book. But not very much in my opinion. I was actually a bit confused by the romance. Due to circumstances Nimh and North were not really able to be together. But I'm not sure if I am supposed to feel like they are soulmates. Because to me there was not enough of a connection to even think of them as a couple.

The ending of The Other Side of the Sky was incredible (5 stars). And I think that it sets up the next book to be very good. I absolutely loved the last chapter. And I wish that this part had been the main story.

It's so refreshing to listen to a book that is not riddled with all the popular tropes. There's nothing wrong with popular tropes, it's just getting old after a while.
This world is different, rich, and bears this great duality of magic and technology. The protagonists actually take part in the story and don't just dance around some attraction for each other. And the ending is perfect to make you yarn for more.

The audiobook is perfectly narrated and gives the right vibes.

The audio wouldn't download to the netgalley app. I couldn't review it in time for archiving unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this audiobook! The narrators did a great job. They were easy to listen to! The story was very interesting and unique with the more modern world colliding with a more archaic fantasy world. I really like the characters they were well written. The story was full of twists, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Thank you Bolinda Audio and Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook - The Other Side Of The Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Having previously enjoyed the work of Amie Kaufman, I was eager to dive into her collaboration with Meagan Spooner and the audio version of this book, narrated by Caitlin Davies and Jonathan McClain seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Targeted at mid YA readers, the book features Nimhara (15 years old,) who is a deity in her land and Prince North, 2nd in line to the throne in the ‘Cloudlands, high above the lands of Nimhara’s home.

Nimhara (Nimh) has lived a life untouched by human hand since she was chosen as deity, her sole close companion, a brindle cat. She awaits the revealing of her power and destiny but, it has been ten years and still no sign. There is disruption, concern and a threat of revolt from the people as magical mist-storms plague her lands with greater frequency and intensity. And the Grey-cloaks reject her as a divine being and threaten her rule. Until, one day she has a vision that a pilgrimage will bring her to the Light-bringer - the being who will cure and make her world new.

Prince North has live a life in anticipation of eventually ascending to the throne of the sky-kingdom of Alicel (the Cloudlands,) and has trained and prepared for it, including researching the challenge of the loss of altitude that the kingdom appears to be suffering from. After a challenging meeting, he tries to prove the value he can add to solving this challenge as a keen glider pilot but, disaster happens and his glider malfunctions and he crashes into the lands below.

Thus begins an adventure, bringing together two distinct individuals from different lands, each unaware of the other. A meeting of science and
magic, of history lost and hidden, of religion, politics and so much more, including a brindle (I’m assuming tabby,) cat that will nip your ankles if you don’t do as you’re told.

This was a fun adventure with lots of crossed wires, the meeting of distinct cultures that have originated from the same ancestors. There are a few plot twists, that weren’t unguessable but, that were used well and added layers and interest to the plot. A great young to mid YA adventure that left me eager to read the next instalment.

I loved this book! I haven’t read anything by Meghan Spooner before but I loved the Illuminae and Aurora Rising series that Amie Kauffman has written with Jay Kristoff! I love that we see both perspectives of North and Nimh and keep alternating between the two! They both have led very different lives, but their fates are intertwined by their ancestors. If you love fantasy novels then this is for you! I can’t wait for the sequel! FYI there is a cliff hangar!

The narrators were brilliant and perfect for the story! 🫶

Thank you to the publishers for a review copy of the audiobook via NetGalley! 🙌

I picked this book because the story seemed interesting, but I didn’t have any other interest on it. I’ve listened the audio version and I think it made it even better.

I enjoyed the two main characters, Nimth and North, stories. How the contrast of science vs magic is presented in the story, is beautiful. The world building is complex, yet intriguing and entertaining. It doesn’t feel the story drags on just for the sake of doing it, and it isn’t complicated to understand.

I enjoyed that although the two characters are so different (up and down, tech vs magic, future vs past), they still try to be mindful with each other and to do their upmost to understand each other’s thoughts and beliefs.

A beautiful YA book. I had a great time with this audiobook, adoring the world of above and below, the setting of this fantasy works really well, the author does a great job of connecting the two world by lore and history without info dumping or making the reader feel lost in what could be an over complicated world.
The two main character grow and develop well together in a relationship that feels realistic, a sweet build up of trust and events that lead to a deeper understanding of one another albeit over a short time.
The narration is a cast of two, male and female narrators and they work well together.
Norths narrations is spot on for his character and conveyed really well, I continuously looked forward to his POV. Nimh’s character is a little more exaggerated for me but performed well enough to be engaging and enjoyable.
This is a series il defiantly continue. If you’re looking for a YA with a great plot, beautiful world building and a great sense of religious and magical lore without being overwhelming this is definitely the book for you!

An intriguing concept, with two worlds formed after a long ago separation - one world in the sky, ruled by a monarchy and demonstrating great advances in science, a second world on land and led by the Divine One, where magic and faith are rife. It was interesting to see how the two worlds viewed the divide and also how neither had any awareness of the existence of the other. It’s definitely a steep learning curve for both Nimh and North when they meet and we learn a lot about their ways of living, their beliefs and knowledge, culture and practices. It was a very high stakes plot but I didn’t feel that, overall, very much happened. Perhaps due to the amount of journeying the characters undertook, and the amount of time needed for world building across two worlds. It was definitely a bonus that Caitlin Davis was voicing Nimh, as she’s one of my favourite narrators, and I did enjoy how dynamic Johnathan McClain’ narrating was in the fast paced scenes.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an audiobook ARC of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook! The dual authors, narrators, and main character POVs really emphasised the divide between the land and the sky. Because of all these factors, it was so easy to empathise with both Nimh and North's points of view. The narrators did such a good job of encapsulating both main characters' personalities.

The story itself was a perfect mix of sci-fi and fantasy. It felt very futuristic but with many of the features of a classical fantasy story. I found the imagery very reminiscent of Horizon Zero Dawn with the post-apocalyptic setting with a magical(?) twist.

The cliffhanger ending has me hooked, and I'm excited to read the next book in the series!

This book was fantastic, it had me engrossed from the beginning. When North plumbers from the sky of the cloud lands he finds Nim a divine one who believes he has arrived to fulfil a prophecy. The story is a web of treachery, magic and science. Be warned it ends on a cliffhanger making you desperate for the next book.

Thank You for the review copy.

I really enjoyed reading The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman, and Meagan Spooner. Now that the book is finished, I really want to keep reading the next part too. I want to know what happens to Nimh and North.

This is fantasy fiction, my guilty pleasure and one I would definitely recommend.

It has fantasy, magic, adventure and sparks too!

You should definitely read it, at least once.

I’m a big fan of both of these authors: Meagan spooner hooked me with her books Hunted and Sherwood and Amie Kaufman has done many books I’ve loved. From Illuminae to the Aurora Cycle. So a book written by both of these epic writers?! It was a no brainier. I was SO excited to read this one.

And it delivered! It did take me a little while to slip into it but the more I listened, the more hooked I became until I was completely and utterly hanging off every word. It gently and steadily developed through the story and I found I was getting more and more enamoured.

The audiobook was fab and narrated great by two different actors, one for Nimh and one for North. They were both great characters to follow with two distinctly different narratives and perspectives. One from the sky lands and one from the ground, they couldn’t be more different and navigating the world with them both was great.

I loved their interactions with each other, especially early on as it was great reading the clash of both of their cultures and how they’re lives were just so totally different from each other. It’s setting itself up to be a fab series and I look forward to seeing where it’ll go!

The Other Side Of The Sky is the first book in the series of the same name by Australian author, Amie Kaufman and American author, Meagan Spooner. The audio version is narrated by Caitlin Davies and Jonathan McClain. Fifteen-year-old Nimhara has had a vision. Since she was five years old, she has been the forty-second vessel of the Divine, the sole descendant of the gods in the land, heavily guarded, and never touched, except by her bindle cat.

Her people have been troubled, waiting ten years for the aspect that has not manifested in her: there is the danger of the mist-storms, there is dissent, and there is denial of her divinity; the Graycloaks want to remove her power; the Cult of the Deathless want to kill her. But now, she is sure her pilgrimage to Intisuyu will lead her to the Lightbringer: the prophecy will be fulfilled, her world will be renewed.

Young prince North, in line for the throne, is an enthusiastic glider pilot, and he feels certain he can discover the answer to the loss of altitude affecting the sky-cities of Alciel, even if many of the council deny it is a problem. To prove his point, he slips from the meeting to fly his glider to the palace; he hasn’t counted on mechanical failure, though, and is soon plunging Below, from where none have returned and he will likely meet an awful fate.

Nimh alone witnesses his crash-landing in the forest-sea; their initial encounter is wary, and neither reveals quite who, or what, they are. But, since she has saved his life, and she looks to be his only chance to repair the glider, North accompanies Nimh and the cat back to camp. If what they find there is shocking, it’s only a prelude to what is in store on their cautious return to the city’s temple.

What a marvellous adventure! Kaufman and Spooner craft their story so well, with subtle world-building, interesting characters, riveting action and an enticing cliff-hanger ending, that it is easy for the reader to immerse themselves therein. And who would expect a cat that occasionally (helpfully) bites an ankle to become a favourite?

Their protagonists spend time talking at crossed purposes and it is interesting to watch as two cultures with common ancestors, separated by centuries, meet: Nimh puts her faith in magic, North relies on science. Fans can only hope that the second instalment won’t be too long in coming. It may be billed as young adult, but that doesn’t mean that older fantasy fans won’t be equally enthralled.

This engrossing, teenage reader and up, audio book is an action packed fantasy. Magic or science, destiny or chance our two main characters have very different points of view on this. But as peril comes knocking both Nimh and North are going to need each other more than either can imagine. This is the first in this exciting series. Thank you to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine.

I inhaled this title. I’ve literally just put it down. The premise of two worlds colliding was fascinating. I really enjoyed the different dynamics from our main protagonist’s
The book got off to a flying start and I was hooked I did find myself getting a bit distracted and losing interest at certain points. But don’t let that put you off, as this wouldn’t generally be my go to genre. I was looking for something a bit different and it definitely delivered that. I’d say it’s an ideal YA fantasy. The split audio was really well done. I rated a 4 purely because whilst I enjoyed this first in the series, I can’t see myself actively looking for the next.



Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.