The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life. I'm thrilled that many of the company who created Standing at the Sky's Edge in Sheffield and at the National Theatre are continuing to tell this important story in the West End, and equally excited that a brilliant new group of actors are joining the cast to bring new perspectives and fresh takes on Chris's characters and Richard's songs." Director Robert Hastie said in a statement. "Getting the casting right is central to any show's success, but with this show it feels particularly crucial. The characters in this show might be fictional, but they represent real people's lives, so the actors who embody these roles need to take pride in telling these beautiful human stories, and I'm confident that this incredible cast will do exactly that." Cassiel Winters is a space cadet with a secret. She experiences what she thinks of as "deja vu episodes" and strange glimpses of overlapping time sequences that she doesn't fully understand. The only thing she does comprehend is that her older brother Daz - a fully-fledged member of ESE (Earth Space Exploration) and her only remaining family - is missing, and that someone left her a note telling her to hide. Having joined ESE herself in the hopes of finding Daz, we join Cassiel towards the end of her cadet training on board a spaceship about to take her final tests for the second time. Being the first cadet ever to fail her original tests is not something she feels particularly proud of, so imagine her surprise when she is asked to undertake a special mission by her commanding officer. There were also some Æon Flux reminiscent moments near the end (the original animated MTV show, not the crappy movie), which made it all the more amazing. The good about this book is the uniqueness of the plot. I can’t talk too much about it without major spoilers, but I like the plot. It’s interesting and it’s different. I enjoyed the Thell’eon’s (especially their leader, Prime Or’ic). I love the fact that she is doing all of this to find her brother and bring him home. It’s nice to see her loyalty and love for her family. It’s not something we see a lot in young adult fiction anymore, most protagonists tend to be orphans nowadays, or have bad relationships with their parents. Cassiel is very determined and one of my favorite things about her character is that she is not good at everything.

I really liked Cassiel. I liked that she was far from naturally talented, but that she tried her absolute best all the same. And I liked the fact that though she got a bit better, she never magically becomes top of the class. As someone who is equal parts malcoordinated and determined (and who has an incredibly fit and well-coordinated brother!) this felt like a quite believable portrayal of being somewhere that's really unsuited to your skills and trying to make the best of it. I also find the dynamics between siblings to be fascinated, so I enjoyed the fact that worry about her brother was a major driver. Hailed as ‘the most exciting new British musical in years’ (WhatsOnStage), Standing at the Sky’s Edge was originally written as a love letter to Sheffield, charting the hopes and dreams of three generations over the course of six tumultuous decades, navigating universal themes of love, loss and survival.

Reviews for the original National Theatre production

I'd definitely recommend this to younger readers interested in fantasy or adult readers who enjoy YA. I'm very excited for the author to continue writing because if this is his debut novel and there's a chance for a second in this series, I'm totally there, cheering him along with his students. Cassiel Winters is one of few women training to be a part of the ESE (Earth Space Exploration), an agency dedicated to space travel, discovery, and protection of Earth. After failing her combat test for the first time, Cassiel is about to get a second chance. However, she didn’t join the ESE and move up to space to live in a space station for nothing. Cassiel’s brother has gone missing on a secret mission for the ESE, and she is determined to find out what happened to him. But she also has a secret; she has episodes called deju vu, where she has visions of things that have happened and things that are soon to happen. Nobody can know about her talent, or who knows what they’d do to her. I read Star Trek was an inspiration for this, and I can see it, the Klingons being the Thell'eons, etc. And just as Star Trek, it's great in the way that it's kind of cheesy but super addictive and fun. What was weird and definitely Mary Sue-ish is how every male (human or alien) Cassiel meets is enamoured with her. She's everyone's object of desire. What's most desirable about her? Her virginal innocence. I mean... I mean, really. There was enough writing talent here to preclude the need for this... whatever this is.

For Sky Mobile, Broadband, Talk and/or Line Rental: Early termination charges only apply if your subscription ends before the end of your minimum term, for reasons other than those permitted under your contract. Please read your contract for more details. Your Sky Mobile contract is available at sky.com/mycontract (sign in with your Sky iD). I usually read a lot of books between Christmas and New Year's Eve, since the day to day life an work does not leave enough room for reading. The plot and action really just made this book for me. My heart was constantly racing, and I just wanted to know what would happen next. I enjoyed how the story unfolded, and there were several plot twists that I didn't really expect, and I look for the plot twists, so that's saying something. But, on that note, are we to assume that every planet she went to, or ship she floated in, was under the same acceleration due to gravity as Earth? At one point the difference was briefly mentioned about the gravity on Thell'eon, but her weight never seemed to change. That would have been an incredibly easy piece of the science to accurately work in. Just sayin'.)

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