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Empress of a Thousand Skies Rhoda Belleza Books

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Empress of a Thousand Skies Rhoda Belleza Books

There are some books with loads of potential that never seem to find their footing and then there are the ones that you wholeheartedly believe in despite their shortcomings. For me, Rhoda Bellaza’s Empress of a Thousand Skies falls into the latter category. Little spoiler here to open this review, please skip the rest of the paragraph if you do not wish to see. I want to start off by saying that the synopsis is very misleading when it comes to how the two lead characters converge. Their individual arcs do not directly intersect, but their stories do. I want to put that out there because I spent a large majority of my time while reading, wondering when these characters would actually meet and was really disappointed to see that they never did. With that being said, I do need to read a sequel soon because I’d love to see these characters in the same room together.

There are so many layers to Bellaza’s universe and this is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this debut so much. Interplanetary politics plays a large part. From Rhee’s home planet Kalu to Wraeta, a planet destroyed during the Great War and Aly’s birthplace, this world is populated by a variety of individuals who have all be impacted by this war. The peace treaty currently in place was Rhee’s father’s greatest accomplishment, but it has not erased the bad blood between the planets. The war itself created a population of refugees who continuously face discrimination. Technology plays a really interesting role in this world. Most people have what are called cubes installed that make it easy to access information as well as store important memories. Seeing how the characters relied so heavily on this form of technology and how disconcerting it was for them to power down reminded me of how often we rely on our phones for information and how eager we are to take a picture or video of an important event, not realizing that this can sometimes hinder the experience.

At the beginning of the story, Rhee is determined to avenge her family. I liked Rhee for the most part, but there were times when I was puzzled by her decision making. She’d been training for years, but when it came to her plan for revenge, she hadn’t thought much further than getting close enough to the person she believes is responsible in order to stab them in the heart. I mostly chalk up this lack of preparation to her youth and inexperience. She is the kind of character who is motivated more by emotion than reason. I believe Rhee had a lot more influence than she realized and wondered why she didn’t just come out of hiding, take the throne, and then enact her revenge. I loved Aly’s character, flaws and all. As a Wraetan refugee from a once-hostile planet, Aly carries around a lot of weight on his shoulders. He is judged more harshly and seen as untrustworthy by a lot of people. He struggles with living in a world that can be unfriendly and unfair, wanting to prove to everyone that he is worth more their prejudice views would dictate. Like Rhee, he has lost his entire family and is still searching for his place in the world.

Empress of a Thousand Skies has plenty of elements that are relevant to our current political climate, is multi-layered when it comes to its world-building, and introduces two very different and engaging characters that I’m dying to learn more about. It isn’t often that I say this, but I wish this novel had been longer, so I could get a chance to spend more time with both Rhee and Aly.


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Empress of a Thousand Skies Rhoda Belleza Books Reviews

This was awesome!!! It took a little while to get going but once it did, it was full of twists, turns, betrayal, and interesting galactic politics. The world building is pretty astounding; it's a lot to take in vocabulary wise but I could picture everything and it was all very diverse and interesting, from customs and religion to species and technology. I can definitely see the Lunar Chronicles parallels for a few reasons; it also reminded me of Stitching Snow a little, and a bit of Star Wars. It didn't hurt that I was definitely picturing John Boyega as Aly haha. I did find the synopsis a bit misleading but not exactly detrimental to the story and had some trouble keeping character names straight at first. There also isn't much romance but that's not a bad thing in this case. The story moves at breakneck speed and is very much about life or death survival. I'm glad the author didn't shoehorn in a relationship; the small amounts there are feel appropriate to the situation. That being said, I'm sad the sequel is so far away since this is a new release- I need to know what happens next!
It's been an entire year since I've read this book, and I still can't get over how much I hated it....

It just wasn't done well at all. The travel time between the plants didn't make any sense. And I felt like it often jumped scenes and that there were sentences missing. Because one minute everything is fine and the next thing you know disaster. But how??? It could have been done a lot better and I was very disappointed in it.
This is a good sci fi book if you are under the age of 16 or still believe in Santa Claus. It is pedestrian for an adult that lives on sci fi and history books.When I was young, I would have enjoyed this if for no other reason that kings in the future, especially kings that rule multiple planets (ergo, emperors), was both cool and reasonable. The book will not go to waste, my niece is a precocious 11, she'll love it..
I selected this book randomly from a YA rec list and I was not disappointed.

Empress of a Thousand Skies focuses on Rhee, the heir to the Kalusian dynasty, with her heart set on avenging her murdered family and usurping the murder suspect on her throne. Meanwhile, Wraetan refugee Alyosha, a DroneVision reality show, is framed as the assassin of Rhee.

Rhoda Belleza has masterfully crafted a universe with a grand design that withholds its narrative questions and possibilities for maximum suspense. The population in her world have a device, known as the "cube," which stores and playbacks memories and becomes a pivotal attribute to the mechanics of the plot. The book has a solid political foundation in its world-building The climate of Belleza's galaxy very much uncannily reflects upon real-life politics, such as the refugee crisis, discrimination, a rhetoric-figure who plays to the basest fears of citizens to gain an iron fist over the world.

Empress of a Thousand Skies calculates its familiar sci-fic pulp beats, not unlike the whimsy of Star Wars or the intellectual ethical dynamic of Star Trek, toward page-turning dramatic payoffs.
This book was not what I expected. Like most YA, I figured the two main characters would fall in love and save the galaxy together, hand in hand. I. WAS. SO. WRONG. So, if that is what you’re looking for, then this book is probably not for you. But if you’re looking for a fast paced fun read, insane world building, conspiracies, diverse characters, and a true scifi where romance doesn’t dominate the story, then please please PLEASE read this book!

The author basically gives us a metaphor for what’s happening in our country today. A leader who uses fear to manipulate others into racial profiling? An entire race of people who want to be seen as humans and not religious freaks? Innocent refugees trying to escape their past and prove they aren’t dangerous? Throw in two kick ass characters on a roller coaster ride through this new galaxy and you’ve got a super fun and engaging debut!
There are some books with loads of potential that never seem to find their footing and then there are the ones that you wholeheartedly believe in despite their shortcomings. For me, Rhoda Bellaza’s Empress of a Thousand Skies falls into the latter category. Little spoiler here to open this review, please skip the rest of the paragraph if you do not wish to see. I want to start off by saying that the synopsis is very misleading when it comes to how the two lead characters converge. Their individual arcs do not directly intersect, but their stories do. I want to put that out there because I spent a large majority of my time while reading, wondering when these characters would actually meet and was really disappointed to see that they never did. With that being said, I do need to read a sequel soon because I’d love to see these characters in the same room together.

There are so many layers to Bellaza’s universe and this is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this debut so much. Interplanetary politics plays a large part. From Rhee’s home planet Kalu to Wraeta, a planet destroyed during the Great War and Aly’s birthplace, this world is populated by a variety of individuals who have all be impacted by this war. The peace treaty currently in place was Rhee’s father’s greatest accomplishment, but it has not erased the bad blood between the planets. The war itself created a population of refugees who continuously face discrimination. Technology plays a really interesting role in this world. Most people have what are called cubes installed that make it easy to access information as well as store important memories. Seeing how the characters relied so heavily on this form of technology and how disconcerting it was for them to power down reminded me of how often we rely on our phones for information and how eager we are to take a picture or video of an important event, not realizing that this can sometimes hinder the experience.

At the beginning of the story, Rhee is determined to avenge her family. I liked Rhee for the most part, but there were times when I was puzzled by her decision making. She’d been training for years, but when it came to her plan for revenge, she hadn’t thought much further than getting close enough to the person she believes is responsible in order to stab them in the heart. I mostly chalk up this lack of preparation to her youth and inexperience. She is the kind of character who is motivated more by emotion than reason. I believe Rhee had a lot more influence than she realized and wondered why she didn’t just come out of hiding, take the throne, and then enact her revenge. I loved Aly’s character, flaws and all. As a Wraetan refugee from a once-hostile planet, Aly carries around a lot of weight on his shoulders. He is judged more harshly and seen as untrustworthy by a lot of people. He struggles with living in a world that can be unfriendly and unfair, wanting to prove to everyone that he is worth more their prejudice views would dictate. Like Rhee, he has lost his entire family and is still searching for his place in the world.

Empress of a Thousand Skies has plenty of elements that are relevant to our current political climate, is multi-layered when it comes to its world-building, and introduces two very different and engaging characters that I’m dying to learn more about. It isn’t often that I say this, but I wish this novel had been longer, so I could get a chance to spend more time with both Rhee and Aly.