Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig - Book Review

Chuck Wendig branded his new Young Adult book Under an Empyrean Sky “Cornpunk” and I honestly can’t think of any better term for it. Set in a near future where corporate interests have caused a literal separation between the Empyrean haves; who live on giant floating cities, and the earthbound have-nots who work in the corn fields far below.

This isn’t any corn anyone in 2013 would recognize though; it’s a blood loving hybrid of a noxious weed and Lovecraftian abomination. The corn is so essential to the Empyrean for fuel that it’s illegal for those below to grow anything else.

For those people unfortunate enough to be born into the world below the floating cities life is short and tough. There is a constant risk of mutation, not to mention the everyday risks of starvation and maiming present in Wendig’s universe. The story plays on a lot of post apocalyptic tropes without overdoing them.

I’ve read some other reviews that have panned both the sex and the swearing in Under an Empyrean Sky, but I honestly can’t see what the problem is. There is one sex scene and it’s all implied, not shown. There is a fair bit of swearing but it’s all taken in context and doesn’t read as gratuitous given the situations that the main characters find themselves in.

The story follows Cael McAvoy as he attempts to deal both with his extreme life in the cornfields running a salvage operation and normal teenage boy problems with his parents, love life, other teenagers and general angsting. That said, Wendig never falls into the trap of turning Cael into a whinging teen cardboard cut out. Cael continually fights to do what he believes is the right thing in any given situation and is pleasingly both competent and fallible at the same time.

Chuck Wendig paints all of his characters well, and even relatively minor characters come across as having their own complete (if occasionally disturbing) lives. One of the main antagonists proves to have a lot more to him than the brutish bully we’re first introduced to, and it’s worth paying attention throughout to the little hints Wendig leaves as to where the story is going.

If Under and Empyrean Sky has any major fault it’s that it feels like a small piece of a much larger book and it has clearly been set up for several sequels. I definitely understand the desire to pace a YA series over multiple books, but it would have been good to get a bit further into the story before being left waiting for the next book.

Part of that feeling of wanting more comes from the richness of the world that Wendig has created. He presents all kinds of subtle hints as to the way the wider world outside of the main characters works and it paints a vivid backdrop for the more human stories that we’re following directly. Under an Empyrean Sky wears its main message on its sleeve; a world where a ruthless agricultural giant becomes the ruling body is not going to be a nice place to live. Despite its message, the story never comes across as patronizing, instead the story and setting read as a logical extension of the way some corporate entities operate today.

All in all Under The Empyrean Sky is a well written, thought provoking YA novel that never stops being fun to read even in its darker moments. I can’t wait for the next one.

Reviewed by Andrew Jack

Under the Empyrean Sky (The Heartland Trilogy)