SKYFARER
(The
Drifting Lands #1) by
Joseph Brassey

An
apprentice sorceress is dragged into a vicious quest across an
endless sky in this Star Wars-inspired space fantasy

The
Axiom Diamond is a mythical relic, with the power to show its bearer
any truth they desire. Men have sought for it across many continents
for centuries, but in vain. When trainee sorceress Aimee de Laurent’s
first ever portal-casting goes awry, she and her mentor are thrown
into the race to find the gem, on the skyship Elysium.
Opposing them are the infamous magic-wielding knights of the Eternal
Order and their ruthless commander, Lord Azrael, who will destroy
everything in their path…

---

This could have been the perfect novel with heavy Reylo vibes but unfortunately….it was not. Usually I only recommend stuff I really like so this post ist a bit different. It’s just that it had so much potential but realized none of it. I’m just bemoaning what could have been…

I
remember that somebody recommended Skyfarer here on tumblr on a post
about books with a Reylo vibe. It definitely has some really strong
Star Wars vibes and arguably also a heroine/villain interaction that resembles the Reylo dynamic but unfortunately without
any of the nuance and layered characterization the real on-screen
Reylo has. For me it left an impression of TFA fan fiction
for an exclusive audience of twelve year old boys.

Ok,
lets check the similarities:

• genre:
  science fantasy (some cool world building here, no planets but
  drifting lands like a universe full of flat earths, navigation
  between these lands requires sorcery)

• some
  McGuffin needs to be chased

• lots
  of fight scenes and battles (skipped most of them, enjoy them in
  movies, in books not so much)

• First
  Eternal Order (evil)

• some
  kind of Snoke who messes with the head of his protege and right
  hand:

• Lord
  Azrael, Not His Real Name (= off brand Kylo Ren, complete with mask
  and good hair)

• really
  buff Hux (actually more chemistry between him and Lord Azrael than
  the real Kylux, the impending hate sex was practically oozing off
  the pages)

• a
  Phasma (really cool looking female warrior, absolutely useless
  plotwise)

• legacy
  sword

• a
  lukelike (ha!) character who is awesome and cool and loves mentoring
  his student and is probably everything the TLJ haters wish for (…)

• rich,
  blonde Rey

• force
  bond mind link between the heroine and the villain

The
plot was…ok I guess (mostly chasing and fighting).

The
characterization was abysmal. Almost all the characters were
cardboard cutouts. Only Lord Azrael/the villain has something resembling actual 
characterization and back-story going on. It’s still a far cry from the complexity
of Kylo Ren.

The
most disappointing character is Aimee. If I’d have to describe her
I wouldn’t be able to come up with more than blonde, pretty and
overconfident (she’s acing all the sorcery stuff). Her backstory is
being rich and overconfident, also her blonde hair features a lot in
her past. Her character arc takes her from being a pretty
overconfident blonde to fucking up one time (but not really as it
later turns out) which leaves her less overconfident for a short
period of time until she regains her overconfidence. Oh, and she has
compassion for the very redeemable villain because they do some kind
of force bonding. Aimee is presented as a main character yet
characterized like a trophy girlfriend. Now compare that to actual
Rey… (This book was written by a man in case you couldn’t tell
by now.)

I
know it’s a bit unfair to compare this book to actual Reylo in
actual Star Wars but that was the sole reason I picked it up and the
similarities were so blatant as I continued reading I really couldn’t
help myself. It certainly made me appreciate characterization in Star
Wars even more.