Audio Review: Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle

Posted January 10, 2025 by Lillian in Reviews / 3 Comments

I received this book via Audible, the publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Audio. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Audio Review: Stranger Skies by Pascale LacelleStranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle
Narrator: Toni Frutin, Gary Furlong, David Lee Huynh, Shakira Shute
Series: The Drowned Gods Trilogy #2
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Audio on 2024-11-05
Age Range: 14+
Length: 606 pages
Length: 18 hours and 27 minutes
Listening Speed: 2x
Reviewing ARC, Audiobook from Audible, the publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Audio
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2024 Audiobook Challenge, 2024 COYER Unwind

Ninth House meets The Hazel Wood in this riveting sequel to the New York Times bestselling dark academia fantasy Curious Tides, following Emory, Baz, Romie, and Kai on their desperate quests through space and time!

Opening locked doors has a price—even for those who hold a key.

After going through the door that called to them both in dreams, Emory and Romie find themselves in the Wychwood: the same verdant world written of in Song of the Drowned Gods, albeit a twisted, rotting version of it. A sinister force has awoken with their arrival, intent on destruction as it spills across realms, and now Emory and Romie must stop it before it reaches their own shores.

Meanwhile, Baz and Kai are desperate to follow their friends through the door to other worlds, but a mishap pulls them back in time instead—where they come face to face with Cornus Clover himself, famed author of Song of the Drowned Gods. Stuck together in the past, they must navigate a very different Aldryn as they unravel the school’s darkest secrets.

Across time and worlds, Emory, Romie, Baz, and Kai find their fates eerily interwoven with the heroes from Clover’s book. But when stories can’t be trusted, friendships are put to the test, and deadly enemies are not always as they seem, they must decide who gets to be a hero—and who is desperate enough to see themselves become a villain.

This review is going to be hard to write. Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle is the second book in The Drowned Gods Trilogy and sees our main characters separated by time and realms. If you haven’t read Curious Tides, there will be spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk. Emory has found Romie alive in the dream scape, the world between worlds. Together they start following the song only Romie can hear to the center of the universe. Baz and Kai were chasing down Emory, but through a twist of fate find themselves 200 years in the past facing Baz’s idle, the author of Song of the Drowned Gods, Cornus Clover. In a race against time, Baz and Kai need to find Romie and Emory before the Tides tear their world and others apart.

Emory really came into her powers towards the end of book one. She’d become more comfortable wielding them. However, Kieran’s betrayal really shook her. Emory is doubtful of her abilities, and it doesn’t help that Romie seems scared of them as well. Emory struggles to find her path as she and Romie travel deeper to the heart of the worlds. The more Emory tries to control her power, the less she is able to. Romie’s treatment of Emory is unfair and biased by own experiences, experiences that have separated them. Everything Emory did was to get Romie back, and Romie seems resentful of it.

Baz and Kai are in the past, at their college, and right in the middle of history. Cornus Clover hasn’t written his famous novel yet, the one that sent them on this adventure in the first place. Kai is rightfully distrustful of Clover from the start. Like Emory, Clover is a Tidecaller, but he hides his Eclipse-born status. Baz is too enamored with Clover to see the truth. He wants to be a part of this story but doesn’t realize what it will cost him.

This book unfolds in two different times and follows two different plots that all come together in the end. At times, this really slowed the story down. I loved both parts, but I struggled staying engaged. Baz and Kai’s was more interesting to me as it revolved around the origin story, the legend that Emory and Romie were currently living. I think another thing that hindered my enjoyment was that I disliked Romie almost straight from the start. Emory and Baz both mourned her in book one and did so much to get her back only for her to distrust and treat Emory terribly. That was hard for me to understand and forgive, even if Emory was quick to.

Overall, Stranger Skies was just okay for me. It suffered a bit from second-book syndrome, being a bridge to the end. A lot happens in this story, but the plot was stagnant and dragged out. Despite that, I look forward to the conclusion of The Drowned Gods Trilogy. I cannot wait to see how the author ties all these loose threads and mythos together. If you are a fan of dark academia and fantasy, I highly recommend it.

Audiobook Note: I opted to listen to the audiobook as I followed along in my hardcopy. There are four narrators, one for each of our main characters as the chapters are told from their perspectives. Each one brings something different to the story. I enjoyed them all. If you are a fan of audiobooks, I highly recommend this one.

About Pascale Lacelle

Author Pascale Lacelle

Pascale Lacelle (pronounced pass-kal lah-cell) is a French-Canadian writer from Ottawa, Ontario. A longtime devourer of books, she started writing her own at the age of 13 and quickly became enthralled by the magic of words. After earning her bachelor’s degree in French Literature, she realized the English language is where her literary heart lies (but please don’t tell any of her French professors that).

When not lost in stories, she’s most likely daydreaming about food and travel, playing with her dog Roscoe, or trying to curate the perfect playlist for every mood.

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3 responses to “Audio Review: Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle

    • It was good. I really enjoyed book one more than this one. It suffered a bit from second book syndrome, but I’m still looking forward to the conclusion. You’d really like the audiobooks. The narrators are great!

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