The Starfall Knight by Ken Lim

Description:  Surrounded by cut-throats and slavers, Alessa knows there is more to existence than mere survival on the aerocks – landmasses that traverse the endless sky, powered by a volatile mineral. When the opportunity for a new life presents itself, there is nothing that will stop Alessa from having her way.

Devan seeks the respect of his peers, protectors of their homeland which is an aerock so large that it can haul along smaller lands. When Alessa’s aerock makes landfall, they bring more than commodities and supplies for trade. They bring memories of past mistakes.

They bring war.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I received a request to review this book.  Lucky for me The Starfall Knight was a fun fantasy read, but if you're looking for elves and the like you'll need to look elsewhere.  It's not that kind of fantasy story.  Whether it be fortunate or unfortunate I immediately had a concept of what chained together aerocks would look like because I'm an online gamer and have climbed the chains between floating rocks that were connected together on more than one occasion.  So I moved on with the concept of floating landmasses as if it was as natural as breathing.  I have lived on islands before though and have to say I would prefer bigger landmasses especially if they were floating.  I'm sure my fear of heights (or more specifically falling) would have made elements of this world very uncomfortable for me if I'd had to live in it, but our characters were up to the challenges presented to them.

Devan and Alessa are the mains here and seemingly as opposite as can be.  Devan is a Centaran ranger who scouts around the connected aerocks, blames himself for a long ago tragedy and is out to prove his naysayers wrong.  Alessa is pretty much a pirate wench who, though tough, seems to be a step above her companions.  There were some good supporting characters as well and as a whole I have to say the characters were pretty well done evoking empathy and dislike.  The world building and descriptions were good as well.  There's plenty of adventure and action to be had throughout this tale and I enjoyed the trip.  It wasn't perfect, but I liked it. 

I enjoyed the cultural differences of the various aerocks and the intrigue as well as an entertaining fantasy element.  There's plenty of bloodthirsty bandits and brave defenders, along with some secrets to be revealed and the like.  The writing was good and I had no problem moving along through it at a good pace.  There were a few strange things, but I don't want to give away the story and part of explaining it would have to include doing so.  The only other thing is I really would have liked to have found out more about the actual study of the Starfall Knight and its accompanying items, but I always want to know more about the mystery.  Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read and I'd be willing to read something else by this author.