The Cloud Hunters by Alex Shearer

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Pages: 283pgs

The Story

Hunting the skies is not for the faint-hearted. In a world where water is scarce and deadly jellyfish swim through the sky, mollycoddled teenager Christien dreams of excitement and danger. When he meets the exotic and alluring Jenine and her family of Cloud Hunters, he becomes determined to fulfil that dream. . . .

In a richly imaginative tale, Alex Shearer creates a Dahl-esque fantasy that roams through realms of magic, wonder and adventure.

The Review

THIS book right here was one of the most imaginative ideas that I have ever come across this year and I wished I'd read it sooner than I did because let me tell you, with similarities that remind me so much of the creativeness and innocence of Howl's Moving Castle (one of my favourite movies and books), I firmly believe someone should make an anime movie or something out of this book. It was just filled with so much awesomeness even for a much smaller book.

From the beginning, I found THE CLOUD HUNTERS was a very unusual book but it's also the book itself that sets it apart from all the other books I have previously that truly matters here. Containing interesting characters, beautiful world-building and a clever blend of adventure, fantasy and smaller of romances, what made me dive further into this brilliant world of Shearer's was the fact that neither unique element overpowers another which made me enjoy this book even more and it's the kind of read - a flowing and beautifully-written read - where I can see many people enjoying themselves as well. Ah, I just fell in love with this book as soon as I opened the page and I wished it wasn't over already.

But let's talk about the characters. Christien, for one, who is our main character, was a fantastic boy and I loved just how fascinated he was about the people who call themselves 'The Cloud Hunters' in the book, those people whose adventures are based solely around collecting water for their lands in the sky. Literally. In the sky. The more he thought about them, the more I wanted to know about them . . . it was a dream within itself really and I couldn't help but be swept up by it all. Janine, on the other hand, a young girl who is a Cloud Hunter herself, was perfect for a boy like Christien and not to mention the total opposite to him. While she may live a hard and rough life in the skies above alongside her family, but I loved how tough she was throughout the book and I can definitely see why Christien was falling in love with her . . . boy this book . . . I had a lot of feels in this one, especially with these two main characters so just you wait people until you read the book . . . it was so emotionally awesome in every single way.

Overall, THE CLOUD HUNTERS was a book I was so glad to have a chance to read and whether people were a fan of the ending or not, but I personally had totally loved how a simple idea - a simple but a very creative one at that - turned out to be such a wonderful journey for me and I can't wait to read more from this author!

The Rating

5/5 stars