Big Big Sky

By Kristyn Dunnion

Book Overview

Sometimes it's harder to kill than pod might think.
I crouch in the dark, stare into the manimal's shining eyes.
It blinks right at me. It shakes in fear. Its thrumping furred chest quickens my own pulse.
The thing wave-sends a sonic roll of pure emo: terror, disbelief, and a wee glimmer of hope...

Rustle is a young scout in a tight-knit female warrior group of five. They're trained to be aggressive, quick thinking, obedient-though for what exact purpose they couldn't quite tell you. But somehow the group is falling apart now. The leader Shona turns out to be a traitor to them. Roku has disappeared. Rustle has failed to show her killing skills in a crucial test of courage, and is feeling quite separate from the others. Loo is a true warrior, ready and able for action of the most extreme kind, though Rustle's private yen for her has not dimmed. Solomon, the healer of the group, is a steady hand, but not even her stability can save them.

So when their StarPod is transported to the Living Lab, they all know that it's time to make a run for it, or else they'll be deplugged - finished, dead. It takes a lot of wit and energy, but eventually they make it to the outside of the great mountain where they've been raised and trained and programmed-and here for the first time they behold the big, big sky of the real world."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889954046
• ISBN13: 9780889954045
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Red Deer Press
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A group of warriors who find themselves out in an unknown world

Kristyn Dunnion Red Deer Press (2008) ISBN 9780889954045 Reviewed by Austin McCredie (age 13) for Reader Views (9/08) "Big Big Sky" is a book about a group of female warriors--Rustle, Loo, Roku, Solomon and Shona-- who are betrayed by one of their own and are about to be deplugged or killed when they make their escape out of the mountain they lived in... and into the big big sky where they have to learn to survive, or die, fighting for their freedom. Through many battles, sacrifices, betrayals and alliances, they find their true lives, free from orders and killing. Kristyn Dunnion is a creative and funny writer. She makes each character speak and think their own way, giving everyone a defined personality; Rustle the curious one, Loo the tough and brave hunter, Roku the silent thinker, Solomon the peacemaker, and Shona the brave leader and troubled girl. Some words were difficult to get at first, like, "Whafa" and "Prolly" but you grasp their meaning quickly. I think Ms. Dunnion is trying to teach us about free-will and freedom: how we should all get them, that they are both a necessary component to life and society, what happens when we lose free-will and freedom, and how, without them, we all turn to mindless people who can't survive on their own. Everyone wants freedom. Sometimes we have to fight for it, like Rustle and her podmates had to. Sometimes we receive it as a gift or right. But some people don't have it and need it. Free-will and freedom are things everyone and everything needs. We all need to see the big big sky. "Big Big Sky" is a book for girls. Boys might enjoy it, but it is a slim chance. It almost has the same ratio of boy-girl readers as "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer did. But this book is for older kids, for some parts are not suitable for girls or boys that are not at least twelve. Either way, it is definitely a book for older girls, by an older girl. "Big Big Sky" by Kristyn Dunnion is an enjoyable book about freedom, life, death and betrayal--a book full of fast-paced adventure. We all need to understand what it is like to get out of our mountain and look at the wonder of the big, big sky.