Review: 'Skyward Inn' by Aliya Whiteley

 Recently, during a blogging meme, the question came up of which authors we wished were more well-known. The question kept echoing around my mind, even as I picked up my third book by Aliya Whiteley, Skyward Inn. As I started reading I realized that Whiteley is probably the author I am most excited to recommend. There is something about her speculative science fiction that blows my mind each time and I wish more readers had that experience! Thankfully I have this bookblog to direct my raving at, but I am now also armed with physical copies of Whiteley's books to emphasize my point offline as well. Thanks to Solaris and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 3/16/2021
Publisher: Solaris

Drink down the brew and dream of a better Earth.

Skyward Inn, within the high walls of the Western Protectorate, is a place of safety, where people come together to tell stories of the time before the war with Qita.

But safety from what? Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars.

Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future.

Did humanity really win the war?

This is Jamaica Inn by way of Jeff Vandermeer, Ursula Le Guin, Angela Carter and Michel Faber, a beautiful story of belonging, identity and regret.

I first encountered Aliya Whiteley through her novella The Beauty, published in 2014 by Unsung Stories. It was a fascinating discussion and dissection of gender roles through the Weird and Speculative, during which Whiteley almost lulls you into a sense of security until she rips away the comfort blanket and confronts you with the darkness. I then read The Arrival of Missives in 2016, also published by Unsung Stories. Entering solidly into Speculative territory, The Arrival of Missives shows us a society uncannily like our own and yet fundamentally different in ways that are hard to pinpoint. Addressing the odd moment of freedom for women shortly during and after World War I, it is a novel of awakening and questioning, one that is intently concerned with belonging and identity as well. Since then I managed to miss Whiteley's subsequent works, but I wanted to revisit these two to show the themes and threads that run through Whiteley's work. There is a consistent questioning of gender, of society, of the dangers and benefits of conforming, and a consistent gaze upwards at the stars. Her writing is through provoking and often becomes a conversation starter for me. Skyward Inn follows in the tradition of her other work perfectly in that it isn't letting me go.

Jem, human, and Isley, Qita, run the Skyward Inn in the Western Protectorate, a part of England that has closed itself off from the rest of Earth in a rejection of humanity attempting to colonize Qita. It is a quiet life, but one that can be fulfilling. But then visitors arrive from outside the Protectorate and things begin to change. Perhaps the Protectorate isn't as closed off as it thought. And perhaps humanity's "war" with the Qita wasn't won as painlessly as they have assumed. Jem is the protagonist for most of the novel, but there are also chapters dedicated to her son, Fosse, who lives with her brother, the leader of the Protectorate. Jem has been to Qita, has experienced the world outside, but Fosse is still young and a bit lost. I don't want to give anything about the plot away, since every reader should get to explore its smooth twists for itself. What I will say is that by the end of the novel all the topics that were promised, belonging, identity, and regret, had come to the surface and I was pondering on each. Skyward Inn is a beautiful story, with stunning imagery and big questions which never feel forced but always come naturally.

I think it has become clear I'm rather a big fan of Aliya Whiteley's writing. She manages to make something stunning out of everything she describes. I featured the first line in a post recently, and it is a beautiful example of her writing:

'The lamps on the walls are burning low. I love this time, time between times. It's a soft grey bleed from night into morning.'

It is so atmospheric and it tells you so much about who Jem is. The descriptions of both Earth and Qita throughout Skyward Inn are stunning, and the way Jem tells stories of both not only lets you see these worlds but also lets you see how she sees them. What is it she notices? How does she describe it? Did she feel like less of a foreigner on Qita than she does in the Protectorate? Where is home for her? In this way Whiteley interweaves her main themes with her plot from the very beginning, until these questions become bigger and bigger and there is no way to escape these questions. Both Jem and Fosse were fascinating, if very different, protagonists, who struggle answering these questions for themselves. They felt very fleshed out, irrational in the way humans are, but also deeply intuitive. Isley stayed a little bit more of a mystery, but I do think that was rather on purpose. There are key images from Skyward Inn still deeply embedded in my mind and although I could talk about this novel extensively I struggled with writing this review. I have tried to avoid spoilers while still whetting your appetite, but the key takeaway should be that Whiteley is a spectacular author of Speculative and Science Fiction and you should really treat yourself to one of her books as soon as possible.

I give this novel...

5 Universes!

Skyward Inn is a beautiful book that asks its reader to truly think about their humanity and their home. With her  eyes aimed at the stars and her feet solidly rooted on Earth, Whiteley has done it once again!