In the Heartland, the corn has been genetically modified until it can be left to its own devices, leaving those who work the fields with few tasks but harvesting the crop that funds the flotillas, which hover high above the land and house the elite ruling class, the Empyrean. Cael and the others in the Heartland toil endlessly to keep the corn and the mysterious illnesses that accompany its growth from their lives. When Cael\u2019s sister sneaks onto the flotilla, the consequences for her and her family on the ground are severe. And after Cael\u2019s first love\u2019s family wins the lottery to be relocated to the flotillas, he knows he has to go after her. Through all these trials, Cael realizes that the only way to save the Heartlanders is to challenge the idea that corn must be king. Wendig convincingly illustrates the kind of culture and environment that might be the result of today\u2019s agricultural practices and genetically modified industrial crops. The dystopia that arises from this projection is believable and chilling, but it never overpowers the stories of the characters that live in this world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
SLJ reviews, Sept 2013 (reviewed by Anna Berger)<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the Empyrean Sky<\/strong> is on sale now ($3.99 Kindle<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, $10.79 hardback<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, available in audio formats<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, too. B&N and Indiebound buy links below. Thanks!)<\/p>\n Preorder: Amazon<\/span><\/a> \/ B&N<\/span><\/a> \/ Indiebound<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" School Library Journal Reviews Heartland, Book #1! (Note, mild spoilers within.) In the Heartland, the corn has been genetically modified until it can be left to its own devices, leaving those who work the fields with few tasks but harvesting the crop that funds the flotillas, which hover high above the land and house the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-5hc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20286"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20292,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions\/20292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2857\/8750462708_ca28842046_b.jpg?resize=687%2C1024\")
<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\nUNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY<\/strong><\/h1>\n