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I remember exactly what prompted me to pick up this book when I saw it in the store: the cover. I'm rather partial to covers, especially covers that really reflect the genre of the book. In this case you can see that this is a weird cross between SF and F, and that very much reflects what takes place in the book.
Mankind travels to the stars through Kardashev tunnels-dangerous 'wormholes' that are unstable and unpredictable (sometimes you make it, sometimes you get torn to pieces). Travel is controlled by a massive company called Minerva. But with no other known way to travel quickly to the stars, some people are starting to wonder if its worth the millions that are lost on destroyed ships to travel in space at all. In comes Titus Quinn.

Titus Quinn is a man who has been to another universe, by accident. His ship, his crew, and his family were with him when it happened. When he appeared suddenly on planet without his wife and daughter, suspicions arise. He talks about this other universe, yet parts of his memory are gone. Nobody believes him and he decides to live a life of solitude, even from his own family.
But when a ship's mSap (AI) goes haywire and uncovers a way to this other universe, Minerva suddenly needs Titus to navigate the completely alien world beyond and help find a way to use this other universe to make travel safer. For Titus, however, this is an opportunity for him to find his wife and daughter in a place called the Entire, where ruthless alien lords rule over other sentient beings and death, while forbidden, seems all too easy to come by.
Bright of the Sky is an interesting novel. While the basics of the story are purely science fiction, it could also be fantasy if you took away the space ships and obviously advanced technologies. I found the world that Kenyon created to be rather fascinating, not so much because of the strong Asian influence, but in the way that she designed her various aliens. No species are useless; they all seem to have a purpose that makes sense. I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of these different species-their bodies, minds, uses, hobbies, etc.
World building aside, there were some things I really had some problems with. The first chapter ran into an issue that seems prevalent lately: the science got in the way. The first few pages work rather well, but Kenyon seems to let her grasp of quantum mechanics and AI's get in the way and it feels like it clouds over what is actually happening. Another issue was that she periodically switched POV in the middle of sections. Sometimes I caught it, and other times it left me confused about who was talking.
Given that this is part of a series (a trilogy I believe), I can forgive the rather sad ending to the novel. Presumably the author intends to tie up the plot line that didn't get resolved due to other issues, which became more pressing for Titus.
All in all, the novel is good. It would be suited for someone that looks for a different flavor of adventure story-a sort of more subtle adventure that doesn't attempt to be too grand until the end, fulfilling what I would call a sense of wonder over a sense of pure action. It'll be interesting to see where the story goes in the next book.

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