The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao

Pages: 512 

Publisher: Titan Books 

Released: 13th of June 2023 

This Hindu philosophy-inspired debut science fantasy follows a husband and wife racing to save their living city—and their troubled marriage—high above a jungle world besieged by cataclysmic storms.

High above a jungle-planet float the last refuges of humanity—plant-made civilizations held together by tradition, technology, and arcane science. In these living cities, architects are revered above anyone else. If not for their ability to psychically manipulate the architecture, the cities would plunge into the devastating earthrage storms below.

Charismatic, powerful, mystical, Iravan is one such architect. In his city, his word is nearly law. His abilities are his identity, but to Ahilya, his wife, they are a way for survival to be reliant on the privileged few. Like most others, she cannot manipulate the plants. And she desperately seeks change.

Their marriage is already thorny—then Iravan is accused of pushing his abilities to forbidden limits. He needs Ahilya to help clear his name; she needs him to tip the balance of rule in their society. As their paths become increasingly intertwined, deadly truths emerge, challenging everything each of them believes. And as the earthrages become longer, and their floating city begins to plummet, Iravan and Ahilya's discoveries might destroy their marriage, their culture, and their entire civilization.

What I Have to Say 

This book was fascinating. The setting of this book and how it embraced the Hindu themes of reincarnation was fantastic, the philosophy and themes of the book left me with much to think about, but the main thing that had me interesting in this book was Iravan and Ahilya's marriage and how each one viewed the other so differently. 

Iravan and Ahilya have problems, big problems. They aren't communicating properly and it's having an impact. This book really leaned into the the biases that people can have and how they can affect the way they see one another. Actions that are understandable for Ahilya to make from her perspective, are completely different for Iravan and vice versa. It gave me so much to think about! 

The only problem with this is that when being introduced to Iravan it was through the lense of Ahilya's pain and anger. He made a huge mistake and it came across as controlling and manipulative. So I just didn't warm to him. I'm honestly still not sure what to feel about his actions at the start of the book. I wasn't rooting for this couple at all. 

That was only a minor thing to me, but if you need a really strong romance to get behind this isn't the book for you. 

4 star 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Titan books for providing me with this copy for review.