Imprison the sky by A. C. Gaughen
Elementae series, book 2. Bloomsbury, 2019. ISBN:
9781547602544.
(Ages: 12+) Highly recommended. Themes: Fantasy, Air, Magic,
Slavery, Science - Experiments. Aspasia was captured by the
Trifectate as a young child from her family. She was sold as a slave
to a ruler called Cyrus and made to do slave trading. Secretly she
is an Elementae with air powers. As time goes by, she puts together
a crew of Elementae on one of Cyrus's ships, the Anorca, to free as
many women, children and Elementae they can get their hands on so
they don't have to suffer slavery. Cyrus is close to discovering
Aspasia's secrets that could kill her. She searches the vast ocean
trying to find her brother, Gryphon, and her sister, Pera, before
Cyrus finds them and sells them off to slave masters, whom would
kill them. Aspasia travels to a slave sale in the Trifectate and
buys three new recruits who all hold an Elementae power. She
purchases two girls and one boy who has an extraordinary power that
she has never seen or heard of before. Aspasia's crew and new
recruits suddenly find themselves right in the center of a boiling
war that will cover every last millimetre of the ocean. Will she get
her freedom or will she die in the hands of Cyrus?
This heart stopper and page turner of a story will make you want to
read more. Each time I put the book down, my heart was racing and I
was breathless as if I just ran a race. The way the story was set
out and the way the characters acted and behaved made me feel as if
they were real people who lived in this world. At one point I was
going to ask my parents if we could fly to the Wyvern Islands and
visit Aspasia and her crew of Element. Personally, I was so on the
very edge of my couch that I actually fell off. This story is about
freedom and power and how saving people can bring good and bad. This
magical tale of Aspasia and her crew was absolutely a show stopper.
I would recommend this book for 12+ and I think I would give it out
of 5 stars probably 4.5 personally.
Ruby O. (Student, year 7)