Skyward: Sometime Love is the Best Resistance

Skyward, by Susan White, is a young adult novel that tells a story of a dystopian future in a world where the line between the haves and have-nots is very clearly defined. The novel’s protagonist, Emery, is a 14-year-old girl who has lived most of her life in the Establishing Compound. She is considered a Less Than and has been taught that her life is about serving the compound and not experiencing any pleasure. After a dining test meant to assess her willpower in resisting a delicious, lavish meal with the Elites, Emery’s life changed forever. Having successfully resisted a meal she normally would not be allowed to eat, Emery was assigned to a temporary job working with the Old Ones. She was tasked with getting them dressed and fed throughout the day without engaging in conversation or pleasantries. It is at the Old Ones’ Compound that Emery meets Augustus, an Old One who intentionally continues to engage in pleasant conversation as a way to resist the rigid rules in place. Emery and Augustus form a bond over their belief that there was more to life beyond the walls of their compound. They manage to escape and build a life for themselves outside the compound’s walls and slowly work to free everyone else as well.

While the concept of this story is an interesting one with a potential for a powerful message, it was lacking in its delivery. The story was told in the third person, mostly following Emery’s journey from the Establishing Compound to life outside its walls. However, the perspective sometimes changed to the point of view of someone still in the compound for one paragraph of a chapter and then back to Emery’s view. As a reader, it was jarring to shift perspective so suddenly with no chapter break or indication that the timeline in the story had changed. The tone throughout the entire novel was also very dry and emotionless. The characters were not very fleshed out and differentiated from each other, except for the one-dimensional aggressive leaders portrayed as heartless and mean. Augustus was one character written with more personality than the rest of the characters and showed a slight sense of humor. Emery, along with her two friends, Sadie and Dixon, were all depicted as lacking any complexity in their personalities. The majority of the dialogue between characters was dry and clunky - very unlike how teenagers normally speak to each other. It was understandable that Emery and her friends had traumatic and joyless experiences in their time at the compound; however, there was no sense of playfulness or joy even after they had found freedom. The tone was consistently serious, formal, and to the point. The dialogue and language used did not feel natural and certainly did not feel relatable for its intended audience.

The world-building throughout the story could have been stronger as well. The story began with readers immediately in the middle of a ritual which was interesting and dropped them right into the scene. As readers got to know Emery’s world, however, it became unclear how it came to be. Emery and her friends grew up inside the sheltered compound and were not aware of the names of common items like certain foods or animals. This seemed to imply that this type of world had been in place for a long time. However, when Emery began to care for the Old Ones, they recounted stories of their younger lives outside the wall and were all familiar with common names Emery did not know. Once they escaped to freedom, readers learned that the rest of the world is carrying on as it did before the compound was created. This raised questions in me as a reader about why and how this was continuing to exist when life outside is familiar to what we know now. It seemed unrealistic that this strict authoritarian compound would exist just a few minutes from a more liberated reality. The reason for its existence didn’t seem strong enough to support its impact in this story. Emery and her friends realized that the compound existed to provide free labour for companies making millions from its workers, but a simple protest, local news article, and petition seemed to bring it crumbling down. The majority of the story detailed Emery and Augustus’s life outside the compound, with various characters continually recounting their traumatic experiences inside that world. The Establishing Compound was consistently described as harsh, and its inhabitants were always under strict surveillance. Despite this, Emery and Augustus, as well as several other characters who escaped the compound, had no trouble sneaking off the property to freedom.

The characters, themselves, all seemed very one-dimensional and righteous. There were very wholesome, good-hearted characters who always seem to do the right thing contrasted with very power-hungry, cruel characters. This made the characters seem unbelievable and unrelatable as they did not grow or develop throughout the story.

While this novel’s premise would appeal to readers of dystopian fiction, it fell short in delivering a satisfying story of justice prevailing over oppression. Had the characters and their relationships to each other been better developed, the language fresher and younger, this would be a more rewarding story. The beauty of dystopian novels is having characters taste freedom only to have it threatened and then overcome with rich, vibrant storytelling. Skyward fell flat and was ultimately anticlimactic.