Book Review: Skylark in the Fog by Helyna L. Clove

So when the universe falls to pieces, it doesn’t mean your life has to, right? That comes later.

Jeane Blake, captain of the spaceship Skylark, makes her living by looting dead worlds, planets fallen prey to naturally occurring wormhole-like rifts plaguing the cosmos. She survives the only way she knows avoiding commitment and arguing with her dead foster father's ghost. But when her crew stumbles upon an alien device that could collapse the wormhole network and wipe out all sentient life, they catch the hungry eyes of the Union, a tyrannical empire hunting the sinister tech.

As she flees the Union’s brainwashed agents, Jeane is forced to take on a shady mission and gets stuck assisting the runaway monarch of a technocrat planet. Queen Maura Tholis is seeking the aid of an interstellar resistance to reclaim her war-torn world, with another trouble-magnet device as her bargaining a glove that allows her to command AI systems. Jeane couldn’t care less about the whole deal, but things become personal when the Union annexes the place she calls home. And it might be her fault.

Reluctant to become weapons in the hands of power-hungry militants and desperate rebels, smuggler and queen join forces. But to save their homes, they must redefine themselves, work with the enemy, and face personal traumas they’d buried long ago—and only stars know which challenge might break them in the end.

GENRE: Space Opera / Sci-fi Adventure

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Helyna L. Clove (she/they) is a science-fiction/fantasy novelist, and a lover of all types of storytelling, hot comfort drinks, and a universe full of stars.

She was born in Hungary and raised in a small village a few miles off the shores of Lake Balaton. She was often described by her teachers as someone always having “her head in the clouds”, and she spent the first fifteen years of her life mostly consuming books from her parents’ home library, watching some great 90’s sci-fi shows, and working on her eclectic music taste. After several arduous years of obtaining her astrophysics degree, she currently lives in Wales with her small family of a wonderful boyfriend and Puddle, the tortoiseshell cat.

When not writing her stories, she can be found commandeering radio telescopes, reading, cooking, playing video games, or trying her hand at different art forms.

Review

I loved this book SO MUCH.

I was initially worried by how chonky it was. Would it hold my interest? The first 10K words did. Thankfully, it was everything I could've wanted in a scifi novel and more. The years I started to REALLY be into reading, I was obsessed with the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. This book took me right back to those times. Sure, there are no Jedi in Skylark, but there were plenty elements to enjoy.

The writing was great. I love how it never got too technical or confusing despite all the fight scenes and fictional tech and spacetime concepts.

The worldbuilding is EXCELLENT. I was prepared for space travel to just be something that's there and not explained in detail, but no, we got a cool concept instead??? And the unique worlds and races! Helyna has a superb imagination and it shows.

The narrative voice is also very enjoyable; it was easy to follow the switching POVs and there wasn't anything dull about the prose, while still being easy to read.

A+++ title too, when I finally GOT it. The story was a lot of fun. Lots of action, adventure, political intrigue... I was hooked from the chapter Maura and her glove that connects her to a city AI appeared, and her story intertwined and wrapped up well with everyone else's. There were some really surprising twists, too. Plus I could feel the stakes. I was not once bored and feeling like I wanted to stop. The resolution wasn't typical too, and while I'd love a sequel, the book also wrapped up well enough to stand alone.

The characters were fantastic. Even the robots and AI had distinct personalities. Heck, I even got sad for DIKENT at the end of part 2 despite him being an asshole when we met him LOL. I love a good story but characters are what really draw me into a book/series, and I'm spoilt for choice here! Jeane is awesome and she really shines as the protagonist. Maura is also fascinating and complex. But I think Roy might be my favorite.

I'll be reaching out to the author to purchase a signed paperback. I love this one THAT much!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.