ARC Review: Searching for Sky

Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor
Published by Bloomsbury
Format Reviewed: Paperback
Publication Date: 1st July 2014
Genre: YA Adventure/Mystery
Pages: 300
Reviewed by: Eugenia
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
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River means everything to Sky. They have lived alone together on Island for as long as they can remember. The two of them hunt for food, wash in Falls and curl up together in Shelter. Their life is simple and safe. Until River sees a boat . . . Across Ocean is California, a place where nothing makes sense to Sky. She is separated from River and taken to live with a grandmother she doesn't know. 

Lost and heartbroken, Sky searches for him so they can return to Island, only to find out that their paradise wasn’t as perfect as she thought, and everything she’s ever known and loved may have been a lie. A gripping and beautifully told story of love and survival in a hostile world – ours. 

Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I haven't read a book so unique in its concept and delivery, or utterly picturesque in its entirety like Searching for Sky in a long while. Jillian Cantor's nuanced story of two characters on the Island and their prospective journeys once they are forced to face the outside world in all its hostility and abstruseness is completely captivating, and pulls you in like the waves of the ocean she so skilfully describes. Sky and River's bond is tested in unfamiliar world, where harrowing events from their pasts come to the surface and eventually begin to change everything which they had ever known. It is a book which is so difficult to place into one singular category or genre, because its voice is such a different one which stands out and makes it a piece that stays with you after the last page.

Sky, her mother, River and Helmut all knew Island as their home for so long, and life was simple. Fire Pit, Shelter, Falls...it was enough to live with and it was safe. However, once River spots a boat that comes to rescue them from their current existence, life takes on a whole new position. Back in California, Sky has no idea of what the contrived modern world is all about. Left to search for River to try and convince him to take them back to Island, she learns some disturbing pieces of information along the way which have the potential to shatter her illusions of her perceived paradise. Full of mystery and exploration of intense relationships, Sky's journey of self discovery and awareness of the world around her is fascinating.

That's all I want, just to hear the whisper of the ocean, to feel the water against my toes, dancing there, a memory of what once was. There is still so much I don't know, I don't understand. But what I do know is this: the ocean heals and it soothes. The water is home.

From learning about what life was at 'Island' and then moving across 'Ocean' to the present, I felt like I was experiencing exactly what the characters were. From the very beginning, this book strikes you as something completely unique. Through the flashbacks that we get to see later on, we begin to really understand the smaller intricacies of Sky and River's life and the consequences of the actions from their parents. I found this novel so hard to put down because I was constantly wondering what could unfold next and where these big revelations would come to light. At some points I was surprised by some of the twists and turns which appeared, and by the end, although there was definitely reason for sadness, everything felt complete. Everything in the writing was beautifully expressed, and through weaving in aspects of Sky's past at the island into her own thoughts and experiences at her grandmother's house I felt that I really got to know her as a character.

What was most interesting was seeing how Sky adjusted to this strange society of ours after living in the wilderness for so long. Seeing normal things like cars as she does (Car Caves), grills (Fire Pit) and others made her an interesting person to read about. She still has feelings like any other human being, but her confusion and unbridled innocence is clear. Everything from her complex relationship with her grandmother, to her irrevocable bond with River and budding friendship with neighbour Ben felt realistic and well developed. Learning about her past and some of the atrocities which had occurred at the hands of the people she thought she once knew makes the story suspenseful and intriguing. A vault of dark truths awaited her, and when the unthinkable happened, I felt the pain with her as she came to terms with reality.

CONCLUSION

Searching for Sky is beautifully written and encapsulated everything which I hoped it would be. Filled with some unexpected exposés and a quirky narrative voice, if you want something which will blow anything average out of the water, then this one is for you.