Official Review: Another Sky by Fereshteh Roshan
Posted: 22 Mar 2014, 15:24
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Another Sky" by Fereshteh Roshan.]
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While books taking place in the Middle East seems to be quite common, Fereshten Roshan's story "Another Sky" puts an entirely new spin on a prevalent theme. Roshan combines many different elements in this book in a way that presents a truly marvelous thriller to the reader.
This book follows Anika, a headstrong young woman working for a humanitarian aid organization in Afghanistan. The story starts out with Anika attending a meeting, and seemingly causing much unrest amongst the rest of the attendees with her straightforward and combative attitude. Dr. Rashidi, a very important figure amongst the organizations, especially doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Anika; generating tensions that will last through most of the book. Directly after the conference Anika finds herself in a whirl of trouble; a whirl of trouble that doesn’t calm down until the very last page. The significant portion of the action takes place in Shams, or in nearby areas, where Anika runs into an old friend, Mirza, who has been greatly changed by the conflicts. Facing rebel forces, changed friends, and frustration- Anika expertly deals with it all.
The best part of this book was the subject matter and the plot. While there are numerous books available that deal with tensions in Afghanistan, I can’t think of a single other book that gives the perspective of the humanitarian workers. While I had heard of UNICEF before, I had never truly realized what makes humanitarian aid work. This book does an impressive job of exposing the reader to the challenge of humanitarian work, while keeping the plot moving and the action intense.
The plot in this book is fast moving and forceful. The action begins literally at the beginning of the book and doesn’t slow down until the end. Although there is a lot of action in the book, the story didn’t feel overloaded or rushed. While many of the events occurred rapidly in sequence, they all seemed logical and realistic. It was easy to imagine the series of events actually occurring to a worker in Afghanistan.
The characters themselves were also very enjoyable aspect of this book. Anika was a stunning main character; her actions and thoughts seemed authentic and understandable. While I did find myself occasionally frustrated with her rash and seemingly irresponsible actions, it’s easy to understand why someone would act the way she did and I certainly can’t judge her as a character for behaving entirely like a human being. The supporting characters were also noteworthy; Dr. Rashidi aroused a perfect amount of anger and frustration in me, while Mirza aroused my sympathy while at the same time disturbing me with the vengeance rolling through him. All of the characters behaved/interacted in incredibly lifelike manners and it’s obvious that the author really put a lot of time into making the characters in this story believable.
The writing itself was pleasant to read. I was slightly worried going into this book that the writing would be sub-par, but that was definitely not the case. This author has a strong grasp of what it takes to write a powerful novel and executes many different aspects of writing in a masterful way. The author writes in a straightforward manner, while still being descriptive enough to allow the reader to picture a foreign land in their head. The author also does a really good job of writing in a professional manner. This author writes like a accomplished author; one who has written many other works and understand what it takes to write in a way that will touch and resonate with many different audiences.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars due to the wonderful action, admirable characters, and distinguished writing style. I can’t say that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, which is why I didn’t give it four stars, but "Another Sky" by Fereshteh Roshan is undeniably a book that I would recommend to anyone interested in books about Middle Eastern conflicts or that are strong action novels.
***
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This book follows Anika, a headstrong young woman working for a humanitarian aid organization in Afghanistan. The story starts out with Anika attending a meeting, and seemingly causing much unrest amongst the rest of the attendees with her straightforward and combative attitude. Dr. Rashidi, a very important figure amongst the organizations, especially doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Anika; generating tensions that will last through most of the book. Directly after the conference Anika finds herself in a whirl of trouble; a whirl of trouble that doesn’t calm down until the very last page. The significant portion of the action takes place in Shams, or in nearby areas, where Anika runs into an old friend, Mirza, who has been greatly changed by the conflicts. Facing rebel forces, changed friends, and frustration- Anika expertly deals with it all.
The best part of this book was the subject matter and the plot. While there are numerous books available that deal with tensions in Afghanistan, I can’t think of a single other book that gives the perspective of the humanitarian workers. While I had heard of UNICEF before, I had never truly realized what makes humanitarian aid work. This book does an impressive job of exposing the reader to the challenge of humanitarian work, while keeping the plot moving and the action intense.
The plot in this book is fast moving and forceful. The action begins literally at the beginning of the book and doesn’t slow down until the end. Although there is a lot of action in the book, the story didn’t feel overloaded or rushed. While many of the events occurred rapidly in sequence, they all seemed logical and realistic. It was easy to imagine the series of events actually occurring to a worker in Afghanistan.
The characters themselves were also very enjoyable aspect of this book. Anika was a stunning main character; her actions and thoughts seemed authentic and understandable. While I did find myself occasionally frustrated with her rash and seemingly irresponsible actions, it’s easy to understand why someone would act the way she did and I certainly can’t judge her as a character for behaving entirely like a human being. The supporting characters were also noteworthy; Dr. Rashidi aroused a perfect amount of anger and frustration in me, while Mirza aroused my sympathy while at the same time disturbing me with the vengeance rolling through him. All of the characters behaved/interacted in incredibly lifelike manners and it’s obvious that the author really put a lot of time into making the characters in this story believable.
The writing itself was pleasant to read. I was slightly worried going into this book that the writing would be sub-par, but that was definitely not the case. This author has a strong grasp of what it takes to write a powerful novel and executes many different aspects of writing in a masterful way. The author writes in a straightforward manner, while still being descriptive enough to allow the reader to picture a foreign land in their head. The author also does a really good job of writing in a professional manner. This author writes like a accomplished author; one who has written many other works and understand what it takes to write in a way that will touch and resonate with many different audiences.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars due to the wonderful action, admirable characters, and distinguished writing style. I can’t say that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, which is why I didn’t give it four stars, but "Another Sky" by Fereshteh Roshan is undeniably a book that I would recommend to anyone interested in books about Middle Eastern conflicts or that are strong action novels.
***
Buy "Another Sky" on Amazon
