"A book to take solace in."
Its triumph lies in the way Whiteley uses the metaphor to examine the tortured process of love and attachment.” — The Guardian
"Whiteley takes the reader on a cryptic journey of trust, identity and knowing your place in the world." — Starburst Magazine
Starburst Magazine - Fred McNamara
“ Skyward Inn feels like an instant classic of the genre.” — The Guardian
The Guardian - Lisa Tuttle
"A vital contribution to modern speculative fiction and a novel to be read and reread and pondered at length.” — The Fantasy Hive
The Fantasy Hive - Jonathan Thornton
"Skyward Inn is a quietly disarming and beautiful book that masterfully blends literary conventions with science fiction." — Dark Matter Magazine
Dark Matter Magazine - Alexander Pyles
"A melancholy and compellingly weird tale of identity in crisis." — SFX
The Times
01/18/2021
Beneath the veneer of understated English-village realism lies a mind-bending reality in this slow-moving sci-fi fable from Whiteley (Skein Island ). Years ago, Jem abandoned her baby for a 10-year contract to plaster the newly discovered planet Qita with propaganda posters. Now she’s back home in the Western Protectorate, a walled-off region of England that has chosen to return to a pre-industrial life, where she and her Qitan partner, Isley, run a popular inn. Jem and Fosse, her now-teenage son, both seethe with resentment and alienation; meanwhile, an unauthorized Qitan visitor sparks a chain reaction of uncanny physical ailments among the people of the Western Protectorate, and the strange symptoms cast the Qitans’ peaceful surrender to humans in a new light. Much of the novel is bogged down by dreary characters and overly vague worldbuilding, but as Whiteley builds to the climax, her trademark subtle surrealism shines. Literary sci-fi readers with a taste for family drama will enjoy this molasses-slow, deeply weird story of missed chances, invasion, and assimilation. Agent: Max Edwards, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)
"A story of the future that is an appeal to the present. The best kind of science fiction. A novel of its time, confronting current and terrible misjudgements with which humanity assures its own demise. All made startling by a typical Whiteley strangeness." — Adam Nevill, author of The Reddening and Wyrd and Other Derelictions The Rift Children of Time are important, and will become even more so. Exactly what SF should do.” — Marion Womack, author of The Golden Key The Migration
"A unique work of literary and speculative excellence." — SciFiNow
Skyward Inn is an experience. Whiteley is a strong voice in speculative fiction and readers will be delighted and unsettled by her novels for years to come.” — The Nerd Daily
The Nerd Daily - Kibby Robinson
"Whiteley explores questions of identification, attachment and belonging, tying everything together in a wonderfully surreal and weirdly uplifting denouement." — The FT
"When it comes to misdirection, Aliya Whiteley is the very devil." — The Times
Whiteley has a penchant for describing the disturbing... a surreal and disquieting post-apocalyptic consideration of the roles we place ourselves in.” — The Barnes and Noble SF&F Blog
The Barnes and Noble SF&F Blog
"There are some books that are simply beautiful. And Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley is one of those." — Libri Draconis
"A moving and thought provoking tale, completely unlike anything I’ve read before." — The Bibliophile Chronicles
The Bibliophile Chronicles
"Rarely has a writer who is not Philip K. Dick had so much fun building a world only to take it apart." — LA Times
LA Times - Noah Berlatsky
"Clever and touching: a book of cosmic scope but with real characters and a human heart."
"A moving and thought provoking tale, completely unlike anything I’ve read before."
The Bibliophile Chronicles?
Visceral and unsettling - I loved it
"A powerful and surprising examination of colonialism and its unintended consequences. Highly recommended."
"A melancholy and compellingly weird tale of identity in crisis."
Its triumph lies in the way Whiteley uses the metaphor to examine the tortured process of love and attachment.”
The Guardian on The Loosening Skin
The absolute best kind of philosophical SF, & indisputable inheritor of Le Guin. Aliya Whiteley forces us to confront difficult ideas, but they are important, and will become even more so. Exactly what SF should do.”
“A vital contribution to modern speculative fiction and a novel to be read and reread and pondered at length.”
"Rarely has a writer who is not Philip K. Dick had so much fun building a world only to take it apart."
"Whiteley explores questions of identification, attachment and belonging, tying everything together in a wonderfully surreal and weirdly uplifting denouement."
Whiteley has a penchant for describing the disturbing... a surreal and disquieting post-apocalyptic consideration of the roles we place ourselves in.”
Barnes and Noble SF&F Blog
"A story of the future that is an appeal to the present. The best kind of science fiction. A novel of its time, confronting current and terrible misjudgements with which humanity assures its own demise. All made startling by a typical Whiteley strangeness."
Skyward Inn is an experience. Whiteley is a strong voice in speculative fiction and readers will be delighted and unsettled by her novels for years to come.
"Whiteley [is] one of the most original and provocative voices in contemporary science fiction."
"Intense and consuming writing, constantly challenging expectations."
"Whiteley takes the reader on a cryptic journey of trust, identity and knowing your place in the world."
