There is a tender love story between Tristan and Hesper, whose relationship seems more and more impossible as the book goes on. Its core message is that faith in God defeats fear and gives one the courage to do what needs to be done.

Christian readers might well be uncomfortable with the fantastic elements in the book, but it is highly moral. Sky Bounce specifically addresses idealistic young people who want to help change the world, but don’t know how. Tristan and Hesper are actively engaged in trying to make their worlds better places. It moves from the totally imaginary Alula realm to a more familiar high-school setting, and shows how both worlds are troubled by simple greed, wickedness, and despair.

Tristan somehow finds her, and the two of them will travel to yet another plane of existence before the book is through. She is deeply troubled about the crime and violence of the human plane, but feels powerless to help. Hesper finds herself a human teenage girl in our world, without memory of her Alula life.

Hesper’s mother was Sent, and Hesper is terrified that she, too, will be Chosen. It seems that the Alula council periodically Sends young Alulas to another plane of existence, from whence they never return. Together, Hesper and Tristan have perfected a way of leaping/gliding that they call fly-bouncing.īut Hesper lives a life of fear. Alulas can fly but they’re slow and weak Mantaurs are strong and swift but planted firmly on the ground. Hesper and Tristan love each other’s company, and together they are quite literally better than either of them is alone. Tristan glows, and so was exiled from the society of other Mantaurs. Apparently the Alulas must drug the Mantaurs in order to “do quickly the thing necessary to perpetuate our kind, and leave before the Mantaurs’ drowsiness wears off and they can attack.” Therefore, it’s unusual that Hesper’s best friend is a Boytaur (wince) named Tristan. These are half-man, half-horse creatures called Mantaurs (classical mythology fans, please wince here), who seem to be rather brutish and nasty customers. Alulas are winged women who, for reasons never addressed, live totally isolated from the males of their species. Our narrator is an Alula girl named Hesper. It’s definitely a book for younger readers, and its protagonists are teenagers. It has strong religious and moral undertones, and I’m almost tempted to call it an inspirational, except that it is firmly set in a highly original fantasy universe. Deanna Miller’s Sky Bounce isn’t easy to categorize.

Sky Bounce by Deanna Miller