Felix is a painter living a rather drab existence in the colourless city of Galvanary. One evening he is awoken by voices outside his apartment and a pair of thieves make off with his roof. Felix chases after them and soon learns that they are a rather unusual crew of a flying ship called the Odyssey who need the roof to complete the ship. The ship is Captained by a young woman named Shiweo who, along with a talking cloud named Theo, a giant bamboo man and a foul tempered goldfish, is on a quest to find the Wishing Fish the being who created the universe of Orberana and will grant one wish to whoever finds it. Felix unwittingly accompanies them and his life quickly gets a whole lot more interesting.
Remember that old saying about not judging a book by its cover? While I think that ought to be expanded to include not judging a book by it's blurb or title. Neither of these really caught my interest and I decided to read this book more on a whim. I'm Glad I did.
Cho's world building is absolutely fantastic and it is obvious he has invested a great deal of time and energy into it. The world above the clouds is an intriguing one and I look forward to seeing more of it. The characters are all fully realized and fulled with a child-like charm that has the reader rooting for them in the first few pages.
An impressive debut from Cho and one of the better YA novels I've read in some time. 8.5/10.
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