I've been wanting to read more books by Brandon Sanderson ever since I read the last few books in the Wheel of Time series so what better place to start than with Skyward, the first book in his new YA sci-fi series. I'm happy to say that this has now solidified my position as a fan and I'm looking forward to working my way through his huge backlist!

Spensa grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot like the father who was a hero to her, even when he was killed in action after being branded a traitor all she wanted to do is follow in his footsteps and find a way to clear his name. Being the daughter of a coward has followed her everywhere, her family are looked down on and she is picked on constantly but she refuses to give up on her dream - no matter how many people try to stop her joining flight school and fighting to protect her people.

You see Spensa's people have been at war with an alien race for hundreds of years and their situation is getting more and more desperate. They have been under attack ever since they crash landed on their planet and the Krell seem determined to destroy what is left of the human race. Nobody knows quite why the Krell keep attacking but it is getting harder and harder to fight them off as they loose ships and fighter pilots more and more frequently. Flight school is dangerous and only a tiny percentage of cadets even survive the course but Spensa is determined to be one of them and she will do whatever it takes to earn her chance to fly.

Skyward was a fantastic start to this new series, the world building was brilliant and I loved the fight training missions and battles with the Krell, there were a lot of edge of your seat moments because things are so dangerous and Brandon Sanderson isn't afraid to sacrifice his characters so that heightens the sense of fear as you're reading. Spensa is such an interesting character, she has a bit of a chip on her shoulder thanks to the way she's always been treated and she puts on a layer of bravado to face the world so she can come across as a little aggressive and full of herself but underneath all of that she's scared and vulnerable and very, very easy to like. I loved getting to know her and the rest of the kids in the Skyward Flight, these characters were all very complex with their own motivations, fears and dreams and they all changed and grew throughout the story (well the ones who survived did anyway!).

I have to give a shout out to M-Bot and Doomslug who were both fantastic additions to the story, M-Bot was hilarious and I loved the way he looked at the world while Doomslug was just super cute. I really enjoyed the way Brandon Sanderson slowly reveals information about events surrounding the death of Spensa's father, and all the questions he raised about the Krell and why they were so determined to fight humans. Some of those questions are answered by the end of the book but others are left open for future instalments, I'm definitely going to be first in the queue for the sequel when it's published.

If you're looking for a book with daring aerial battles, fantastic characters, a talking spaceship, alien invasions and a character who just won't take no for an answer then you can't go wrong with Skyward!

I've long been aware of Brandon Sanderson (well ever since he took on the task of finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time epic) but hadn't read him so this one intrigued me. I liked the plot idea of following Spensa's journey to become a Pilot against the odds. I believe (unless I'm mistaken) that this is Sanderson's first foray into science fiction from his usual fantasy field and I think he makes the transition extremely well. There is good world building and character development with plenty of scope to like and dislike differing characters. It is a very easy book to read even at over 500 pages. By this I mean I find with some sci-fi books it becomes easy to get bogged down in technical details of futuristic technology but Sanderson's writing flows well enough to avoid that. At times I found it tricky to get onto the Young Adult wavelength (the audience this book is geared towards) but it didn't detract from the story, just took my mind time to adjust (I left the YA age group long ago!). All in all I'd recommend this and will now try one of Sanderson's fantasy epics.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion for review Arc.

Bless the Stars for Skyward.

Brandon Sanderson’s newest epic is released with as much fanfair as his others, a 528 page beauty of space flight and growing up to show you’re the best, against all odds.

Spensa is a great little character with some serious attitude. As a young girl, she is enamoured by her father – a spacefighter pilot for the DDF – and as any Daddy’s Girl she looks up to her father and wants to do what he does. Events that follow change Spensa’s life for good and here is where our heroine starts to come into herself.

As always Brandon’s work is brilliantly written with characters you love to love and characters that you love to hate. With protagonist’s and antagonist’s galore, you’re sucked into Spensa’s world from the get go; from the astoundingly descriptive local areas to the deadly Krell and their mission to destroy.

Skyward is Brandon’s latest Young Adult fiction novel – and as a non-Young Adult reader I can 200% say read this book!

Skyward has Brandon’s usual flair for the epic with humour in spades – I love M-Bot.

The characters in Skyward are a toss up between great and awesome. Certain characters have got a nice way of saying something without saying anything at all which is something I’ve always loved in a good book.

I think my favourite other than Spensa and M-Bot has got to be Nedd – you’ll see why when you read the book, he’s the good guy.

Skyward has it’s humour and it’s drama but it also has it’s sadness. My eyes did well up at several parts and you know a book is good when it brings emotion to the forefront. When you sit there reading and you instantly feel a connection with the characters and the surroundings and you find yourself rooting for your favourites.

I would highly recommend Skyward to anyone who loves sci-fi, young adult and a mix of the two. Another great book by Brandon Sanderson and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

“If I listened, I could hear the stars. They sounded like horns of battle, calling out, drawing me toward them…”

I’ve wanted to read Skyward since I saw Brandon Sanderson’s name on the cover — because although I had only read one of his books before reading Skyward (I read Warbreaker and loved it!) I fell so deeply in love with that book that I swore to myself I’d pick up everything he ever wrote. So when I saw that he would release the first book to a new series, a sci-fi book nonetheless, when he usually writes high fantasy, I was intrigued to say the least. And friends: I was not disappointed! Rarely have I read a book as fun, as adventurous and as captivating as Skyward; it has over 500 pages, but it didn’t feel like it. Even if it had twice as many pages, I’d still say it wasn’t enough, because this book pulled me under its spell completely.

Now, for a more detailed review, let’s start with the world-building. I’m not always a fan of sci-fi novels, but I think after reading Skyward I might become one! Because the world Brandon Sanderson created here was intriguing and yet terrifying — humanity is almost dirven to extinction, stranded on a planet and constantly attacked by alien starfighters. Mankind’s only hope: starfighter pilots of their own, like Spensa’s father was before he was killed when he abruptly deserted his team. And yet, years later, Spensa is still determined to fly, too.

“But remember, Spensa. You get to choose who you are. Legacy, memories of the past, can serve us well. But we cannot let them define us. When heritage becomes a box instead of an inspiration, it has gone too far.”

With that, let’s get to the characters: I will say that I had my issues with the protagonist. Spensa is rash and sometimes a little bit too stubborn (and as I said, at the beginning I wasn’t too fond of her), but she goes through a lot of character development and I think overall she changes quite a lot. At the end, I really grew to love her, and the all the other characters, too. This group of theirs — all future pilots, coming together from different parts of the planet to form a team of pilots that is supposed to save what’s left of humanity — was so wonderful! They had such amazing dynamics. They became more than flight mates, they became friends, and I loved that. Every character is unique and has his or her own mind and I’m incredibly thankful for that, since character driven book are what gives me life! Plus, the interactions and especially the dialogue between them are absolutely amazing!

“I, being robotic, have no concept of fragile things like human impatience.”

My ultimate favourite is M-Bot, though, the spaceship Spensa discovers — it can talk, seems to have a mind entirely of its own, and is absolutely hilarious. A little bit arrogant, a little bit timid, but mostly just the best spaceship anyone could hope for.

The story itself is gripping from beginning to end — the last ten chapters or so were so action-packed and suspenseful that I could not, for the life of me, put Skyward down. Honestly, I had goosebumps the whole time, because this book and the ending are EPIC. Plus, the whole world is so interesting and I want to know more about it, more about the history of it, more about everything! I can’t deal with how perfect Skyward is and I need the sequel, like, now 😭

“People need stories, child. They bring us hope and that hope is real. If that’s the case, then what does it matter whether the people in them actually lived?”

Overall, I can say that Skyward deserves ALL THE STARS. I mean it. This book is truly brilliant! From the story, to the characters, to the world-building — I loved every moment of it. This book made me fall completely in love with sci-fi: now I, too, want to go to flight school, fly spaceships with my flightmates, and pretty much save the planet and humanity.

Skyward is a sci-fi alien fighting adventure which follows 17-year-old Spensa who, after having spent years of dreaming about flying among the stars, discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship. We thus watch Spensa as she repairs the space vehicle, progresses through her months at flight school and persuades the peculiar talking machine to help her pursue her dream.

Although I adored Illuminae, I've never been the biggest sci-fi fan. In many ways, the two YA novels are similar; feisty female protagonists and AI systems with attitude problems. There was something about Skyward, however, which didn't have me in its grip.

This book could be 100 pages shorter and we would still have the same outcome. I found the detail about the flight and battle simulation scenes repetitive, so much so that I skimmed over some descriptions. There was so much flight jargon that I felt as if I needed to go to flight school myself just to be able to visualise Sanderson's world in all its glory. It was only up until the last quarter of the story when the story got interesting.

Moreover, I found difficult to warm to Spensa, but the banter between the Skyward Flight team members did make the battle scenes more amusing, each owning their own flaws and quirks. Eventually, after hundreds of pages of battle scenes, questioning whether choosing survival is a cowardly act and repairing 'M-Bot', we're suddenly hit with an abundance of revelations and twists. The pace quickens and we finally learn more about the ominous alien enemy, the 'Krell' who the team have been fighting for the past 400 pages.

Perhaps I didn't truly immerse myself into Sanderson's world, perhaps this genre isn't for me. However with a sassy talking AI machine, battle scenes left right and centre and an ominous enemy, this book is perfect for any sci-fi fanatic.

I can't even begin to describe how much I loved this book. I am a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson and struggle to comprehend how one man can fit so many worlds in his head, and more amazingly, pen them into absolute masterpieces. After reading Skyward I'm even more awed. It is so different from the books of his that I've previously read, so it wouldn't be fair to compare it to any of them. Instead I will say that it's a brilliant book in it's own category. Which, I guess, would be somewhere around and between fantasy, sci-fi and YA. Before I ramble off to oblivion let me just wrap it up by saying that I loved the characters, their development, the story, the fantastic struggles and human flaws, it all created something that I can't wait to read again.

OK confession time this is only my second Sanderson book. Despite having many of his novels gracing my shelves, I had until this book only read The Rithmatist. I have similar feelings to this work as I did to The Rithmatist, and that is that Sanderson’s world-building is what makes his books great, over his characters and plot-lines.

I really did enjoy this book and the world that Sanderson develops over the course of this book is fascinating. On the one hand this book is a bit of a slow burn introducing us layer by layer, bit by bit to the aptly named Detritus, the Defiant, it’s culture, history, politics and people. While on the other hand we are treated to fast paced action scenes, filled with lively and interesting characters, witty AI chatter and some gut wrenching scenes that pull at your heart strings. Both of these are seamlessly woven together to create a fantastic novel that keeps the reader engaged.

Spensa (Callsign: Spin) is a great character, she is a fantastic combination of projecting hardheaded cockiness while internally she is questioning her entire self. This made her a really personable character. I really enjoyed the narration from her perspective, her determination and hardheadedness as well as her moments of doubt and vulnerability again meshed nicely with the world-building. At first i did occasionally find moments when Spin’s constant anger was a little grating. However, real growth in characters is sometimes missing from some YA plots with them not actually learning anything out of all their struggle, this is very much not the case for Spin. She truly grows and develops as a character, she really learns something during her story arc, which makes her a fantastic MC. The introduction of M-Bot, with its AI sassy backtalk added great light moments into the plot and it became my favourite character. The host of side characters that Spin encounters along the way are all fantastic and individual, they all have great depth to them that we again slowly encounter throughout the book in a very natural and fluid way. All in all a great team to read about.

My only gripe is at the very very end (as in the epilogue) it seems like it is both trying to to tie everything up in a neat little bow (a bit of a YA trope that really doesn’t need to happen anymore) while still strangely being very much setting up for the book in the series which just left me a little unsatisfied. This is not a major gripe I just wish Sanderson had let his late plot reveals hit and left me itching for the next book to find out more.

If your are a Sci-fi reader this is a nicely thought out YA Sci-fi, that is will capture your imagination. If you are not a Typical Sci-fi reader I would say give this one a try, it is most definitely Sci-fi from a fantasy author and is a great introduction into the genre for someone that hasn’t explored it before. It is a fun, fascinating and worthy read and I will be continuing with the series.

"Spensa's world has been under attack for hundreds of years. An alien race called the Krell leads onslaught after onslaught from the sky in a never-ending campaign to destroy humankind. Humanity's only defense is to take to their ships and fight the enemy in the skies. Pilots have become the heroes of what's left of the human race.

Spensa has always dreamed of being one of them; of soaring above Earth and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father's - a pilot who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, placing Spensa's chances of attending flight school somewhere between slim and none.

No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, but she is still determined to fly. And the Krell just made that a possibility. They've doubled their fleet, making Spensa's world twice as dangerous . . . but their desperation to survive might just take her skyward . . ."

This book was absolutely fantastic, I've read a couple of other books by Brandon Sanderson and this one did not dissappoint! I loved all of the characters - Spensa, Cobb, M-bot, doomslug - none of them were annoying at all and the storyline was fascinating.

It normally takes me a little while to settle into a story but I was comfortable with this one right away.

Would definitely recommend this book!

I loved this book! I loved the plot, the world building, the action, the humour, but most of all, I loved the characters, each and every one. Spensa, Cobb, M-bot, and all of the cadets in Skyward flight. SO GOOD.
Spensa's father is a famous pilot, fighting to protect their world from the Krell, who have been attacking at regular intervals for hundreds of years. Spensa has always wanted to be a brave pilot too, and has a lot to prove - and a lot to learn, about her father, the enemy, the world she lives in, and what it really means to be brave.
I've read plenty of exciting teen space alien fighting adventures, but the themes underscoring this.make it so brilliant, moving and emotional. Spensa is just such a wonderful character and is really not afraid to wear her emotions on her sleeve, to put it mildly. It's sweetly funny in a lot of places and I found myself reading with a big goofy grin, but it has its sad and thoughtful moments too, and I loved that everyone has their good and bad sides - No cartoon evil big bad with no motivation here. I basically loved everything about it, and enjoyed every minute. Im really going to miss this book!
I'm very grateful to Netgalley and Orion publishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy in return for an honest, unbiased review (and have to go out and buy it for everyone I know).

A fun fantasy read set in space.

Having never read anything by Brandon Sanderson before I wasn’t sure what this one was going to be like however the synopsis sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a go. I wasn’t disappointed.

Well written with a strong storyline, plenty of action and a mystery to keep you guessing.

The best feature of this book for me however is the character relationships. The dynamics between all of Skyward flight felt real and believable of a group of young teenagers. I particularly enjoyed their banter and the banter between M-Bot, Spensa and Rig.

The only thing that stopped this being a 5 star read for me was the pacing early in the book. Whilst I loved the amount of attention given to world building and scene setting (which were incredible) it did mean that the story moved a little slow to start with. This soon picked up though with the exciting aerial battles scenes and the introduction of the mystery surrounding Spensa’s dad.

Well worth a read and a fantastic YA sci-fi fantasy!

4. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Orion Publishing Group) for providing a copy. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

Skyward is the story of Spensa who lives on the planet Detritus, which, as the name suggests, is a junk planet abandoned by it's previous inhabitants. She was born there to a family who were crew members on a fleet of spacecraft that crash landed on Detritus following a battle with their enemies, the Krell aliens. The survivors created a subterranean world for themselves but faced aeriel attacks from the Krell. They began building spaceships to fight back and as the daughter of a previously disgraced pilot, all that Spensa wants is to sign up to fight. Those in charge, however, have other ideas.

The first thing that struck me about the novel was just the way that it was written. As someone who often takes a little while to settle in to a book (as you can tell from the number of dashes and brackets in my reviews, my internal monologue never shuts up) I read the first fifteen pages without even realising. The novel zooms along with it's overburners on fire, excitement and adventure on every page. I loved how the answers to my questions were slowly revealed, without any boring info-dumps or obviously fortuitous events. The narrative flowed seamlessly, even through the technical details of how to fly a spaceship. I was hooked from the first sentence to the last.

I loved how all of the characters were depicted in the book, with complex personalities and hidden motivations. Each of them had good and bad traits that often led to errors of judgement or bad behaviour, especially as they were all acting in a highly pressurised environment. I really enjoyed seeing how the characters interacted with each other; arguing, vying for position and using petty insults to cover up the fact that they were all just scared. Psychologically, it was really interesting to see how they used their own quirks to figure each other out and how their diversity eventually became a strength *suppresses urge to spout boring group development theory*.

Unusually for a sci-fi novel (especially one written by a man) the book is pretty female centric and I loved that the female representation was just...there. There was no political point, no-one in the story told Spensa she couldn't be a pilot because she was a girl - indeed, the head of the defensive federation is a woman and the pilots seemed to be a 50/50 mix of men and women. The book could do easily have gone down the Handmaid's Tale route, forcing women to keep popping out babies in order to ensure the survival of a small population against a vast number of enemies but Sanderson clearly chose to make Spensa his rebellious MC for reasons other than her gender. I personally found this a refreshing change (and I say that as a feminist - I just think that trope has been done too many times).

I also really, really loved the fact that there was no bloody romance taking up space in the life of a girl who simply wanted to kill space aliens and avenge the death of her father. It was soooo great not to have to deal with cringey teenage attempts at flirting, although I suspect there might be some of that coming in the next instalment *sigh*.

I loved how the ending to the novel was so difficult to guess and although I had some idea, it was still a surprise. I'll try not to give too much away but a certain character reminded me very much of AIDAN from Illuminae so I was kept in my toes wondering if he was a reliable narrator or not - and what bearing that would have on the rest of the story.

Overall, I loved Skyward from the first sentence to the last. Some parts should have been boring (protracted battle flights filled with technical detail, endless comments about mushrooms) yet somehow Sanderson absolutely chuffing nailed it.

This was the first book I ve read by Brandon Sanderson, and i really feel like I ve been missing out.
Spensa is an amazing character, and the story and although Im not a big fan of scifi reads this book was gripping and created a whole new world for me. The way Sanderson led my imagination was brilliant.
Without giving too much away - you must read this book!

I’d never read any Brandon Sanderson until I requested an e-ARC of Skyward on NetGalley after seeing it was the first book in a new YA sci-fi series. I’ve always been intimidated by his other books as they look like a huge commitment despite hearing so many people rave about them. After reading Skyward though, I’ll definitely be starting the Mistborn trilogy which I’ve had on my TBR pile for months. I fell in love with this story after only a few chapters and can’t wait to re-read a finished copy as soon as possible. I’ve read more science-fiction than ever over the last year and this has to be my favourite alongside the Illuminae trilogy.

The plot was fantastic – it was well-paced, engaging and funny. I’m a huge fan of training sequences so I loved reading about flight school and Spensa’s turbulent training to become a pilot. Slowly adding layer upon layer, the author creates a world that is fully fleshed-out and believable. Themes such as bravery, glory, and legacy are beautifully interwoven into the story and I particularly enjoyed the exploration of the tremendous influences a parent’s decision can have on a child. Once I was fully involved in the plot, I couldn’t put the book down, and the ending has me desperate to read the next book and learn more about this unforgettable world.

My favourite thing though was the brilliant characters, who were skilfully portrayed and memorable. I loved Spensa’s belligerent attitude, anger and stubbornness, especially when she interacted with Jorgen and Cobb. The dynamics between the pilots were complex and believable, and the growing friendships were realistically written. My favourite character though was the incredible talking spaceship Spensa discovers (and Doomslug of course). Its dialogue was hilarious and I loved the quirky characterisation. As you can probably tell, this book was just so much fun and one I would recommend wholeheartedly. I actually have two signed copies and two themed book boxes pre-ordered which surely illustrates the extent of my love for this incredible book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.

Brandon Sanderson is an author I trust completely. I will buy every single one of his books because I know I will like them. When I heard that he was writing his very first science fiction novel, I was so incredibly excited. My expectations for this novel were sky high (heh) and I have to say that Spensa and the gang absolutely smashed those expectations.

I cannot tell you how much fun I had reading this book. In many ways it felt a lot like reading another of Becky Chambers’s marvelous Wayfarers novels -- Skyward is uplifting, hopeful, and shows how one person can change the world.This ridiculously fun take of the classic school narrative was so incredibly fun and felt so fresh and new. In flight school, the social outcast Spensa forges amazing friendships, both with other girls and with boys in her class -- something I always love to see in books -- and the relationships between Spensa and her friends are one of the most delightful aspects of Skyward. Her overall story and treatment by the community, the cultural aspects of a military-controlled community at war, as well as they mystery behind what really happened to her father, all come together to create an unputdownable book. When I read the last page, all I wanted to do was flip back to the beginning and start again.

Spensa is a brilliantly crafted character -- to me, she’s the perfect YA heroine. Her story arc and character growth are astonishing. In the beginning of the book she is brash and selfish, filled with a rage that comes across as an unwavering swagger. She’s so confident that she will prove she’s the best of the best, but is quickly put in her place in flight school. Sanderson strikes the perfect balance of a naturally talented character and the need to actually learn a highly complex skill like flying. Her journey feels so incredibly realistic and I loved reading alongside her progress.

Spensa is a great character, but many of the side characters manage to be just as well written as our heroine. Kimmalyn is a stand-out character for me, as well as Hurl. Both female pilots have so much personality and have such a fantastic, but wildly different relationship with Spensa. My favourites character, however, was M-bot. The less said about him the better, however I think readers will absolutely fall in love with him like I did.

Sanderson proves again and again that he is one of the best storytellers in the business, and Skyward is no different. The perfect blend of humour, action, and heart makes Skyward an unforgettable tale. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in the series!

I just don’t know how Brandon Sanderson does it. I think he might be a wizard. I’ve been enthralled by his work since I picked up the first Mistborn book in 2010 (in a 3 for 2 with The Name of the Wind and The Lies of Locke Lamora – best deal ever), and his books are just consistently astonishing. Skyward is the first fully sci-fi book I’ve read from him (see my review of the sci-fi adjacent Snapshot here), and as I’m a huge fan of his fantasy worlds, I was expecting very good things from this… Luckily, he delivered even beyond my expectations!

Skyward is a fairly chunky book, at just over 500 pages, but it never for one second feels like a long book. In fact, around 450 pages in, I was gutted that I had so little left to read, as I could have stayed with Spensa forever! It’s a story that somehow manages to feel incredibly comfortable and familiar, while also keeping you guessing at every turn. We follow Spensa as she tries to prove everyone wrong about her father by becoming the best pilot she can be – this means one of my favourite things, a training academy! If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I adore school settings, and this is no exception. The situation is made unique by the mystery behind the lessons – what really did happen to Spensa’s father? – and the fact that the authorities hate Spensa so much that she is denied access to all school facilities outside of the classroom. This gives a really interesting edge to the usual training-montage-plot.

Spensa is an excellent heroine and viewpoint character. I loved how human she was – she’s angry and defensive but also incredibly caring and compassionate. I just wanted to see her succeed – and believe me, it’s not a given at any point! Her flight instructor, Cobb, was probably my favourite character. He kind of reminded me of Haymitch from The Hunger Games, in as much as he’s a mentor figure who is deeply scarred from his own experiences, and now has to send these children into the same situation. I thought he was very deftly drawn, with so many layers, and looked forward to Spensa’s classes to see more of him. Without giving too much away, I also loved M-Bot, an AI that we meet slightly later on in the book, and who has a wonderful personality!

I mentioned that the story feels somehow familiar, and I think there’s a good reason for that. Spensa was brought up hearing the epic stories of Earth – Beowulf, the Odyssey, and so on. Her own story follows the archetype of myth, from a humble beginning to a triumphant (if complicated) conclusion. We’ve seen this story before, from Sinbad to Star Wars, but please don’t think that’s a criticism. Instead, it gives Skyward a classic feel which for me, makes this book feel like it’s been an old favourite for years. It’s clever. And of course, this is layered with Sanderson’s trademark world-building – he is the world-building king. While the action is heavily focused on the Academy (and you know, space), you get these glimpses of the world outside Spensa’s experience that hint that there is a fully developed community on this planet. The history and mysteries that unfold over the course of the story are rich – though seeing everything through Spensa’s eyes limits our view of the world, it is certainly there.

Oh, I just loved this. I could go on and on about the storycraft and the beauty of Sanderson’s writing, but what you really need to know about this book is that it’s gripping, compelling, exciting, thoughtful, and most of all, a brilliant story about a girl overcoming the odds – with spaceships. It’s a must read for any Sanderson fan or sci-fi aficionado, or anyone who just loves a good story. I already can’t wait to read it again. Five out of five stars for sure!

Spensa dreams of flying amongst the stars and fighting the mysterious Krell but with an unfortunate family legacy she will have to prove herself to get there.

Where Skyward triumphs so much for me is in the main character Spensa. Spensa is a strong and determined female protagonist but is also refreshingly human. She’s no Katniss with a bow or Hermione with her books, Spensa has always dreamed of seeing the stars as a pilot but she finds flight school challenging and even crashes on her first training mission! She has anger issues, says the wrong things at times and makes silly decisions and this all works to make her both relatable and admirable at the same time.

The other cast of characters are just as strong, although there are a lot of new faces which may feel a little overwhelming at first, by the end you get to know their unique personalities much better. M-Bot, a ship’s AI was one of my favourites and provided a lot of humour throughout.

I also enjoyed that although the book is part of a series and you are left wanting to know more about what is about the happen, the story itself answers a lot of questions you had by the end and also has a nice through-line that makes it almost a stand-alone piece. That said I am eagerly awaiting the next one!

My only negative would be in my kindle copy I couldn’t see any of the drawings and illustrations at the end of the chapters – pictures of enemy ships and battles etc which I would have liked to have seen. I only had an ARC copy however, so this may have been corrected now.

Easily one of my favourite books of 2018, I heavily recommend Skyward to anyone and everyone – get reading! Thank you to NetGalley & Orion Publishing Group – Gollancz for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*** Disclosure - I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

Sanderson's new series is a foray into proper sci-fi, but written for the Young Adult market (which should not be read as a bad thing, just something of a warning that for once any white middle-aged men might have to put some effort into thinking about how the main character might feel. Similar to his super-hero Steelheart series (also outwith his Cosmere univers), the story follows a young person who has had a hard life, has a dream to be something and has put every effort into learning the knowledge needed to achieve that, and just need a little luck to go their way. Sadly, Spensa is the daughter of renowned "coward" Chaser, a fighter pilot who fled the thick of battle against The Krell (a mysterious alien race who regularly attack the surface of the planet that has become the human race's last stand) and was shot down for his desertion. Spensa has to battle against all the odds to get a place on the flight training scheme and work hard to stay there.

The action sequences are decent and regularly spaced throughout the book, both in the simulator training scenes and the actual battle sequences.

The plot itself is fairly typical, and more or less the plot of the Hot Shots film, but in space. There was a tremendous amount of mystery surrounding aspects of the world the human race come to inhabit, and their alien attackers, which was rather clumsily all blurted out in a nonsense bit of exposition in the final 3 pages or so.

As with a lot of sci-fi, Sanderson gets quite bogged down in the made-up science and technology that might exist in the future and this, alongside some of the dialogue, was a little too geeky for my tastes (the use of Jerkface as an insult was cringeworthy the first time but is then used throughout the book).

All in all, a well told sci-fi tale that could easily be picked up by the YA audience but likewise should appeal to older sci-fi readers as well.

https://lynns-books.com/2018/11/06/rrscifimonth-skyward-skyward-1-by-brandon-sanderson/
Skyward was one of my most highly anticipated books this year and as such I always get a case of the nerves but I'm pleased to report that I loved it. Was this a surprise? Maybe it shouldn’t be, I’ve read a few of Sanderson’s books already and loved them all but science fiction doesn’t sit quite as easily within my comfort zone so I usually pick up such books with a sense of trepidation – then add in the fact that this is a space opera and it’s enough to make me doubly nervous. If you’re harbouring such doubts I think I can reassure you. This is, in my opinion, storytelling at it’s best and I couldn’t put it down – just one more chapter, just one more page – until I found myself in the early hours of the morning still devouring the words. Skyward has not only given me a whole new confidence in picking up more from this genre but has also renewed my slightly failing joy of YA.

Where to begin with the overwhelming praise! Well, the story gets off to a quick start. We meet a young Spensa on an outing through underground caves on the planet Detritus, named for all the junk that circulates in space above it blocking out the stars. Her father is taking her to the top, something Spensa has longed for, and the two of them share a moment of pure joy when they witness the stars above through a momentary gap in all the debris. The joy is about to be short lived. Spensa’s father, being a pilot, is about to be called into battle where he is shot down, not as a hero but by one of his own colleagues, and then branded a coward for fleeing the scene.

As you may imagine Spensa spends the next few years being treated terribly by those around her (apart from her family). She refuses to believe the story of her father’s cowardice and longs to clear his name, she is also desperate to become a pilot and studies hard for the final entry examination.

Now, I don’t want to give away too much here. Suffice to say that Spensa is going to have constant obstructions to achieving her dreams. She’s going to make friends where she least expects and she’s going to grow up – and it’s downright entertaining watching her struggle and come up with creative ways of jumping the obstacles in her path.

The world building here is just wonderful. FIrstly you have the planet Detritus. The only surviving humans live here – scattered beneath the crust in a bid to keep the aliens that circulate the skies above detecting their whereabouts. As the years have passed the humans have become more ambitious – building ships to try to protect themselves but their know-how is woefully inadequate and the aliens outnumber them. Attacks usually take place when a large chunk of waste finally falls through the atmosphere and creates a gap for fighter ships to enter. We gradually learn of the way in which the survivors of humanity came to the planet and this is delivered in snippets of story telling delivered in various forms as the story progresses. The way this world is set up is really something else, the delivery is so smooth that you never feel like you’re doing anything more than reading a highly entertaining story. No info dumps. No huge chunks of information, no history lessons that are difficult to digest. It’s all blissfully incorporated into the story and delivered with perfect timing.

The pace is light speed. There’s plenty going on and a number of battle scenes that had me sat on the edge of my seat. This is a gripping ride. Fight sequences can be a bit hit and miss for me but this one translates to the page so well that I had no problem visualising it and it’s good. It’s real good.

Finally, the characters. I loved Spensa. She makes mistakes, she totally goes off on the wrong number, she also has her own prejudices and assumptions and quite often, (very often) she is woefully misguided and wrong and this is what makes her brilliant to read. Thankfully, she can be humble when she’s wrong. Her world is sometimes shaken up. She grieves. She spends a lot of time being alone but she also manages to turn things around and make friends. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and Spensa is a prime example of that. And on top of that she has her own secret friend who takes this whole story up to the next level – I loved, loved, this element of the story. There are also, of course, a good number of supporting characters who all play such crucial roles. And, I’m so pleased that at this point we didn’t go down the route of romance – I’m not saying that there won’t be something in future, who knows, but no instalove here. It’s a woo hoo moment.

I think my favourite part of this was watching Spensa grow, enjoying her time at flight school and loving the time she spends in the caves that become her temporary home.

I can see where the comparisons to Top Gun are coming from but for me this felt more like Star Wars in a number of ways – absolutely none of which I’m going to go into here. Just read it yourself and prepare to be wowed. Well, okay, I would just mention a great female lead, exciting battles in space, and on top of that – well, let me say that ‘the force is strong with this young Jedi’. Read it – and weep – because Sanderson undoubtedly knows how to play with the Heartsichord. There are sacrifices – but, more than that there is hope.

I loved it. I highly recommend it. I can’t wait for more.

This book deserves all the 5 stars and a few more.

I was a bit worried before picking this up. I’m a massive Sanderfan, but after hearing he dropped his Apocolypse Guard project because he couldn’t get it to work, and went straight into Skyward, I was worried that we were going to get something subpar. Man was I wrong. This is brilliant. It might just be the best thing Sanderson has written since the original mistborn trilogy.

It’s simple but complex, straightforward but deep. It’s a coming of age story that I thought was going to follow a simple path, but it quickly grew into a Sanderson epic that I didn’t want to put down.

Sanderson has hit on something brilliant here, and I really can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy. But i also need him to finish Mistborn, and Stormlight, and I want more Elantris....

Dammit he’s so good.

I was overjoyed when I got the notification that I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was totally living for the synopsis - a teenage girl fighting to realise her dreams against all odds, repairing a ship - that might have soul - navigating flight school. I loved Enders Game when I read that - probably like 15 years ago - and since then, have been looking for a similarly capturing SciFi story with a similarly brilliantly thoughtful ending. I hate when SciFi books end in something so incredibly far fetched because the author cannot resolve it in a plausible way. I love when it makes you think. Like really think.

Skyward delivered all that and so much more. This book might make actually make it as my favorite book that I read this year. I do not get very emotional easily while reading but this book had me literally laughing out loud several times, crying a couple of times and at least twice I yelled "no no no noooo. I really did not want it to end and I want it to continue. Like now.

I was able to fully immerse in this universe, the worldbuilding "just happened" and did not feel forced or info-dumpy and it was a fresh and exciting world. I appreciated that the characters had made-up technology that sounded realistiv and reasonable but also definitely fictional and that this technology did not simply enable the characters to do anything the author wanted but also created limitations and struggles.
Character development was also amazing. I appreciate if a book creates unlikeable characters at first that you understand the motivation more and more and they develop into a much more likeable version. This is exactly what happened here. At first our main character pretty much was an aggressive brat. Yes, she was annoying. I understand how an annoying main character might turn some people off but it was done very well here with me instantly understanding the characters motivation for being like this. You could tell that this arc was very much intentional as she, much later in the book, asks "is that what I sound like?" I appreciated this moment so much. I also loved the counterpart 'Jerkface' and the relationship with the main character. I do not like how in a lot of YA books there seems to be a need for two characters having to end up in a romantic relationship (especially instant love to hate once) and I very much liked this much more realistic development between those two. Besides these two, every other character had a realistic development and the more we got to know about them the more I understood why they acted how they did. I truly enjoy when characteristics are not painted as black and white and you get to understand the motivations and can, in a way, root for everybody, even though they are on opposing sides.
But the main star definitely was the AI in the ship who had me laughing out loud. So. Many. Times. Yes, at the end it got repetative and a bit annoying but it created enough hilarious moments that I simply loved.
The ending made me fall in love with this book even more because there was no need for a forced and far fetched resolution, there was no need for a simple black and white resolution. To me it is everything when a book is attempting to open up our minds and try to teach us to stop thinking our opponent is simply the bad one. Understanding motivation, understanding the bigger picture would help resolve so many issues humanity has. And this book tapped into this strong belief of mine perfectly.