The Surviving Sky

Surviving Sky, Book 1

By: Kritika H. Rao

Narrated by: Pranshu Mishra, Sharmila Devar

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.

©2023 Kritika H. Rao (P)2023 Reccorded Books

Critic reviews

"Sharmila Devar and Pranshu Mishra tap into the emotional turmoil of a marriage on the rocks in a Hindu-inspired eco-fictional world in which humans fight for their lives amid devastating storms.... With a broad range of emotional complexity, Devar and Mishra skillfully balance the couple's interpersonal strife and the far-reaching implications of a shifting society filled with secrets." (AudioFile)

Melodrama in a Mildly interesting World

Starting off with the good - the world is interesting, the ideas around conscienceness and controlling the world around oneself has promised.

with that said, the human emotions and interactions were wayyyyy overdone. the auth constantly has to tell us how people feel because their feelings and the circumstances are completely disconnected.

I also felt like the explanation for why mysterious things were a certain way was consistently based on a special circumstance or type of being that hadn't previously been mentioned.

I would spend my time elsewhere.

I really wanted to like this, but...

I was intrigued by the premise and the potential world building, especially the Hindu-South Asian inspiration. The first few chapters I was drawn in and felt the voice performances were great. However, the male actor for Iravan essentially spoke in a teeth-clenched growl 80% of the book. The female actress was good. The story was confusing (I would say confused) and really did not go anywhere until the very end. And then the last 1/4 of the book the plot took a turn that made no sense. Maybe in future books more of the world and "magic system" will be built and revealed.. the characters are also very one-dimensional, which is a shame because they could be really interesting. Ahelia basically served no purpose of her own other than as a plot foil. I really was going to abandone this but kept giving it another try until I reached the point where I felt I might as well. I honestly cannot imagine what additional books would be about as the plot entirely resolved itself (way too neatly). Lastly, Iravan is about the most unlikable character I have read in a long time. He is arrogant, ego-driven and condescending. The great reconciliation felt so unbelievable. I actively was rooting against him the entire time. I kept expecting Ahelia to play some part or some aspect of her character to be the key. But alas she serves very little purpose despite being the only character that is remotely interesting or has depth. All this being said, I think I would have enjoyed this lore had I read it. I still would loathe Iravan. But I think the story and world would better translate. I just could not get past the choice to make Iravan constantly giving a gravel guttural angry growl. Which is a shame because the actor has a rich voice made for audio narration. Just a really unfortunate choice and a really loathsome character.

What an amazing story

This is the first book that I’ve chose to read on my own. I couldn’t be more happy that this was the book. It was… amazing.

Very near DNF

I very nearly did not finish this book almost entirely because of the male narrator. Not every single word needs to spoken in a growl. It got to an almost peak annoying level half way through the book and I almost stopped listening all together.
Aside from the narrator, the book itself is interesting on the surface. The magic behind it is still very confusing and not very well explained but the basis is good nonetheless. However I could not get past the husband and their toxic and manipulative marriage. He’s possibly the worst character I’ve read in a while, and I found myself really hoping he’d honestly die off at some point. Overall, I’d probably not recommend this book to many people unless they were specifically looking for a book exactly like this.
Why can’t we ever just have strong, independent women leads who aren’t gaslit the entire book to believe they’re less then?

A Truly Original SciFantasy Odyssey

If you enjoy science fiction, fantasy, magic, richly textured stories, mystery, adventure, complicated emotional characters, and a messy romance, and spirituality (which may be very different than your own) you will enjoy this amazing book. I can't wait to read more from this author. If you don't enjoy that combination of elements, this is probably not the book for you, as evidenced by the reviews that mention some of those elements in a negative light.

The voice acting was top-notch and a big part of the appeal for me.

At first, I was a bit put off by the lack of where in time/space the story takes place. It is not clear if it is Earth's future, an alternative Earth, or some completely different place in the Universe. But soon I let go of that and just enjoyed it. Also, I originally thought the focus was SciFi, but I would peg it as more like sciency magic.

Some reviewers have described some of the characters as annoying or immature, but I would describe them as a combination of passionate and victims of circumstances. The circumstances are one of the most compelling parts of the story. There are secrets kept between different groups that shape the story and form the central struggle that must be overcome.