Book Summary and Reviews of The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew

The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew

The Dividing Sky

by Jill Tew

  • Critics' Consensus (11):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2024, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Serpent & Dove meets Arcane in this dystopian romance debut that follows a cunning memory merchant who deals a little extra happiness on the side and the handsome rookie officer on her tail!

In 2460, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man's-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive.

Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy's shady dealings are messing with citizens' brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there's one problem: her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn't remember?

As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

 "A gutsy debut that will leave readers wanting more." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Messy human emotions strain against technology and morality in this high-stakes story packed with slow-burn pining and plentiful tension, enriched by skillful worldbuilding and nods to Henry David Thoreau's Walden." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A simple, sweet romance with dystopian flavor and a hopeful ending that is perfect for genre beginners." —Booklist

"Dynamic, vivid, and electrifying." —Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Beasts of Prey

"Jill Tew paints a world so real you could step straight into it. A debut to watch." —Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of The Isles of the Gods

"A compelling, clever, and endlessly swoony dystopian romance." —Alechia Dow, award-winning author of The Sound of Stars

This information about The Dividing Sky was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Jill Tew

Jill Tew was destined for speculative fiction nerddom from childhood. She grew up watching Farscape, Hercules, and The 10th Kingdom, and always had the latest copy of Animorphs tucked in her backpack. Now she writes the kinds of stories she loved as a kid, with characters she wanted to see more of— Black heroes asking big questions, saving the world, and occasionally falling in love along the way. A recovering business school graduate, Jill enjoys belting showtunes and baking in her spare time. She lives in Atlanta with her family.

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