Fragments of Skyonae
by Raleigh Markovski Falcone
Commander Ryoko Hyakutake earned it. Her new title, honor, and the respect of the Skyonian Imperial Military. But she'd throw her reputation away in an instant to bring back those she lost. Crippled with survivor's guilt, she, along with the rest of the military, search for the remains of a sacred sword across the war rotted ruins of Macloc to strike back against the god Xilmire and the Corruption: a curse that morphs Skyonians into malformed beasts.
When Ryoko becomes the first person to slip free from Xilmire's grasp, she uncovers both a conspiracy against her within the ranks of the military and the horrifying secrets of the god's curse. Each new revelation about the curse could put her life further in peril.
But there is a chance those secrets could save her people.
Will she uncover the curse's secrets in time to save everyone? Will she save herself? Or will the Skyonian Imperial Military destroy itself?
SPFBOX – Our Reviews
Nerd Book Review
“Commander Ryoko Hyakutake earned it. Her new title, honor, respect, and the respect of the Skyonian Imperial Military. But she’d throw her reputation away to bring back those she lost. Crippled with survivor’s guilt, she, along with the rest of the military, search for the remains of a sacred sword to strike back against a god and his curse.”
Fragments of Skyonae is a steampunk/anime inspired dark fantasy novel that follows Commander Ryoko Hyakutake as she attempts to stop an evil god and those he has forced to follow him. Ryoko is saved from this fate herself by the Skyonian Imperial Military at the beginning of the book and she joins up in order to stop help stop the evil herself.
The book has a very video game and anime feel to it with that steampunk element included as well. Ryoko fights mind controlled cyborgs and is saved by a human/eagle hybrid at the beginning of the book so I definitely felt the video game influence right away.
I chose to DNF this one at 20% because it just felt way over the top and the dialogue felt like it came straight from a video game. I’m sure that people who are actively looking for this style of writing will enjoy it but I just felt like it was overwhelming and felt like a niche book that would not do well in a competition setting.
