The Cerulean

November 1, 2018
An exploration of feminine power, autonomy, and sexuality.Nearly 18, Sera has led a protected life in the City Above the Sky, an all-female society connected to a planet via a magic tether. Her race of Ceruleans possess blue hair, blood, and eyes and silvery skin. Sera is chosen to sacrifice herself by jumping off the edge of the City to break the tether so that her people can locate another planet with resources to draw upon. On the planet below, 18-year-old biracial human twins navigate another culture's social restrictions. Leo, who appreciates women and fashion, takes after their Pelagan mother with his blue eyes and light skin, while Agnes, who is attracted to women (in a homophobic culture) and loves science, resembles their Kaolin father with her brown skin and eyes. The two go on an expedition to collect another specimen for their ruthless father's popular theatrical freak shows and come across Sera, who never could muster the romantic feelings for girls her society expected, following her crash. Most citizens of Kaolin are brown-skinned, while the Pelagans are predominantly fair-skinned. In places, the text appears to unquestioningly privilege lighter complexions. In alternating narration, Ewing (The Black Key, 2016, etc.) provides intricate, well-explained worldbuilding, slowly unveiling a deeply buried mystery and leaving characters poised for new discoveries.Readers will consider the invisible tethers that bind us to societal expectations and the connections we'd rather forge in their stead. (Fantasy. 14-18)

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Gr 7 Up-Sera lives in the City Above the Sky, an ethereal disc that travels across the universe and tethers itself to planets for a source of energy. The City is populated by silver-skinned, blue-haired women whose blood is magic. The women of the city marry in triads and procreate through parthenogenesis; males do not exist. Sera's city has been parked above its current planet for almost a century when the decision is made to move on. To break the tether that attaches the City, a sacrifice must be made. Sera, who has always been somewhat of an outcast, is chosen for this sacred task. When Sera's fall from the sky fails to break the tether, she miraculously survives. The protagonist is immediately captured and kept as a curiosity by the male-dominated society she finds in the world below. Meanwhile, mystery and intrigue unfold back in the City with a possibly corrupt High Priestess at the center of it all. Part high fantasy, part mystery, with a whole lot of feminism, this first volume in a duology inventively explores the themes of gender, nonconformity, self-acceptance, and family. While a little slow to start, the tale will grab readers as they get to the meat of the story, and they will be hooked. VERDICT Give to fans of The Reader by Traci Chee or any epic fantasy lover ready for a rich new world and a complex but rewarding plot.-Sara Brunkhorst, Indian Trails Public Library District, IL