science fiction Archives - The Pencil Princess Workshop

A screenshot of Broken Skies by Theresa Kay on a smoky forest background. On the cover: A young woman stands, her back to the viewer, surrounded by golden light. She appears to be looking down into a valley with a forest, and perhaps a city in the distance.

Theresa Kay’s Broken Skies is a young adult science fiction novel about Jax, a traumatized young woman, living in a post-apocalyptic world. Disease has decimated the human population, and aliens are colonizing Earth.

Then some of those aliens kidnap Jax’s brother, leaving one of their own behind, wounded. Jax makes a deal with the wounded alien. She’ll help him get back to his city if he gets her in, so she can rescue her brother.

What follows is a journey that’s as much about self-discovery as about surviving in a world become savage. There’s also a fair amount of romance.

I like Jax in this piece, and I think there’s lots of great conflict–both internal and external. The world-building is decent. Even better, the plot comes to a relatively satisfying conclusion for the first part of a series. I will probably eventually want to read more.

I’d recommend Broken Skies for people who like science fiction, especially dystopian. Interested in other science fiction recommendations? Check out my take on Beyond, The Left Hand of Darkness , or Cinder.

Beyond by M.C. Winkkle on a cell phone.

On the cover: A girl in silhouette stands atop hills in front of a colorful starry sky.

Beyond by M. C. Winkkle is a young adult science fiction book. It stars Stella, a young woman who is being held captive as an alien spy.

However, Stella’s no spy. She’s just an ordinary girl who has had trouble fitting in with the other kids. She has a close relationship with her mom, though. Her captors use that relationship to push Stella into cooperating with with them, and Stella soon manifests abilities she didn’t know she had. Maybe she’s not quite as ordinary as she thought she was.

This was a fun book that I enjoyed a great deal despite some disconcerting shifts in point of view. If you like alien invasion stories that have a fair bit of nuance, this book might be a good one for you to try.

Interested in other science fiction recommendations? Check out my take on The Left Hand of Darkness or Cinder.

Blessings and Happy Reading