Original review: Boring. More later.

New, full review:

I don't know quite what I was expecting, honestly. I hate to use cliches like "gripping" and "page turning", but when I go into a book, I expect sensations similar to these as I'm introduced to the plot, characters, and worldbuilding. I didn't get what I expected.

Nimh is a 16-year-old living goddess forced to live life without ever experiencing human contact. She has been like this since she was five. North is a prince from the sky. Nimh's narration is rich, her inner turmoils growing more and more complex and interesting as the book continues. North is North. North's narration reads like the author wanted to put memes into prose. North's prose didn't mature until far too late, and for that reasons feels anachronistic, especially in the beginning.

I want to say that there was potential in both these characters, but I'm not quite sure I can grasp who they are. They just bored me. Nimh and Daoman have a strained father/daughter leader/successor relationship that I loved reading for the one scene we got to explore that dynamic. He gets murdered soon afterwards. The authors more said they had a relationship strained by an inevitable power struggled than showed it, and I remember a distinct point where I was confused that we were expected to trust Doaman. 

North bored me. I didn't care for his crush on Nimh, and his science vs religion/magic arc also bored me, though I've never fared well with those plots to begin with. When he said a certain plant Nimh used must have a "logical explanation" and proceeded to say it cauterized the wound and therefore "wasn't magic", I near about rolled my eyes. I get that that sort of pointless contradiction--the implication that magic, plants, or magical plants can't cauterize wounds, that magic and chemical reactions are mutually exclusive--is the point of his character, but the flaw in his reasoning was too great for me to ignore. Everything was "there must be a logical explanation", nothing pointing him in the direction that magic is as much an exlpainable force like gravity, physics, or chemistry, with real-world effects. 

The side characters sometimes had more interesting conflicts than the main characters. 

Even the worldbuilding got to me at some points. It took me ages to figure out what heart/blood mothers were, and by the time I did, I was disappointed to realize that they were just the mother who gave birth and that parent's wife. I'd thought (hoped) the meaning was deeper. 

I didn't find most of this story interesting until the very end, when cascading violence and revelations kept up the drama and tension. Unfortunately, this book also spends too long stretching out what little tension it does have. What comes to mind first is the scene where Inshara first arrives, and we're reading through what should be a dramatic and frankly short intrusion by the antagonist for two chapters. Inshara controlling Elkisa went from nail-biting to annoying because it was dragged out for so long. 

Also, why was Inshara able to sap the power from Nimh? What was that about? And why does Inshara almost never get a physical description the way everyone else does?

Overall, I wasn't enthralled with it. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. Interestingly enough, I'm curious to know what happens in the sequel despite the lack of pizzazz of the first. 

Petty but prominent for me: The prophecy's script was clunky. The pieces Nimh was forcing onto it didn't line up realistically or believably. This book also would have benefited from a map. 

Ooooh! Lots of twists and turns, bordering on confusing at times but workable. Felt a little on the young side of YA to me (just something about the writing style) but the world building is cool. North is chefs kiss!
On the edge of my seat for the sequel!

 At first, I believed that I would give The Other Side of the Sky five stars. I loved the beginning so much, how it introduced us to the very interesting world and how dramatic the plot was from the beginning. Sadly, this rating dropped as soon as the romance and a random villain were introduced, so I could give only 3.5 stars in the end. 

Right at the beginning, I was intrigued by both worlds and the protagonists presented to us: One of the worlds is a more fantasy themed world where Nimh lives. Nimh was chosen to be the new goddess but there are two conflicts around this: First, her people start to no longer believe in her godliness since she hasn’t shown any special powers. Second, there’s some kind of deadly mist spreading. Both conflicts are introduced right at the beginning, giving the story first a fast pace. I especially found it interesting to see how Nimh navigated her position, and I liked the small court drama happening. 

Our other protagonist, North, lives with his people in the sky in a sci-fi themed world. Their problem is that the island they’re living on are losing their height and that North is not happy with the restrictions his position as a prince brings.  I loved this whole set-up with two worlds that don’t know of each other, and I liked the contrast between fantasy and science-fiction. 

The plot starts to pick up its pace when North crashes down. Sadly, it significantly slows down around the half and everything became less enjoyable for me in general. Like I’ve said, I didn’t like the fact that Nimh and North fell so fast in love. What I especially had an issue with was the villain since they just appear out of nowhere. What also annoyed me towards the end with its many reveals that

almost every character lied about their identity/had a secret identity: Inshara is the daughter of the former goddess, Elkisa is a traitor, Techetur (my notes are barely readable so I’m not sure if this is his name lmao) is not a traitor, and Nimh is the light bringer which leads to her character changing so much. In my eyes, the authors tried too hard to implement as many shocking twists as possible, but it just became tiring and not shocking at all after a while

. Just in general, it got so predictable towards the end with

North getting captured by the evil guys to force Nimh to do something. I’m pretty sure that even in the text, it was hinted at that something like that would happen

. It obviously has to end with a cliff hanger as well where

only Nimh and Inshara get ported to the sky

. 

I’m not fully sure what to think about the writing. On the one side, the settings were described so vividly and were just atmospheric. On the other side, there was a bit too much telling, especially when the world was introduced. Of course, it’s hard to introduce the readers to a new world without telling, but it was simply too much for me. I noticed this as well with the characterisation of Inshara; all the characters say that she’s so charismatic, but we never see this on the page. 

Most of the things that I could say about the characters were already said above, but I can add two small notes: I really, really loved the street cat as a sidekick for Nimh and I also liked the fact that North has two moms and is poly if I interpreted it correctly. 

The Other Side of the Sky was not able to fulfil its potential fully but I’m still curious how the story will continue – and end. 

 
"I believe the prophecy brought us together. North, this is our destiny."

'The Other Side of the Sky' is a YA fantasy that explores themes of destiny vs. duty, religion vs. science, love of one vs. love of all. There is prophecy, star-crossed lovers, magic, chosen one, and a cat with an attitude - what's there not to love!?

Kaufman and Spooner have created such a vivid world, both on the surface and in the clouds, that I couldn't help but be mentally transported there. So dreamy and surreal, the imagery was amazing. The plot twists/revelations of this book were so well done, I was truly surprised when I read them! The pacing of the book was good and the dual POV really enhanced the reading experience. I found the first two chapters to feel very long, but that is not indicative of the rest of the book; they (unfortunately?) have to be that long because of how the book is set up, where the POV changes each chapter and the first two chapters are necessary to introduce the two characters in VERY different settings. If you're finding yourself dragging your feet, give the book a couple more chapters - it is totally worth it, in my opinion.

Nimh and North are diverse characters with relatable attributes and personalities. Their differences and similarities compliment each other, making them compelling and also helps drive the plot. I love how they're able to broach very complicated and philosophical topics of conversation and address them in ways that never genuinely belittles the others' way of thinking/living. Of course, they don't always agree on things, but their appreciation of each other exceeds (for the most part) their differences of opinion.

Sometimes I feel too old or exceedingly far from the target audience for a YA novel, but this one didn't give me that feeling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will, hopefully, thoroughly enjoy reading the second book as well.

The only critique I will add is that I wish the characters were aged up a tad. I think this book works great as a YA and have no qualms about it remaining in that genre, but I believe the characters are supposed to be ~15/16, and neither one of them behaves in that manner - whether it be the decisions they make or their vocabulary/diction. Sometimes I would remember or it would be brought up on page the age of Nimh and I would be transported out of the story momentarily.

Warning: Cliffhanger