【 SKYWARD 】

The pinnacle of YA Sci-fi, and you can’t tell me otherwise.

Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Published: November 2018
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 513 (paperback)

Quick thoughts
Everyone said this was amazing and that Sanderson is a god of a writer. I am pleased to report that everyone was right. WOW. This was ridiculously fun to read, full of fun characters (SASSY SENTIENT SPACESHIP, PEOPLE) and action packed until the last page. *grabby hands* I need more!

Sass and hardship
So it’s been a hot second since I finished reading this book and wrote that paragraph above, but I’m still completely obsessed with this series. I’m so ready to pick up book two and continue the adventure any day now.

This book has so many great characters to both love and hate in it. It kind of felt like Divigerent but space-ified, which is a super weird comparison, but stick with me here.

We begin by learning that something happened on the final flight of Spensa’s dad that put both her and her mum as outcasts. Her whole life she’s lived with the shame and scorn of everyone else in this world because of her father’s actions. But Spensa doesn’t believe he was a bad man or really did anything wrong, and she’s determined to become a pilot herself.

This reputation is going to place barriers between her and her goals left right and centre. It’s going to make her the victim of bullying by other wannabe pilots. And it’s going to dump a whole load of hardship on her and really tests the depth of her tancity.

Set in a world where aliens roam the skies above the planet and human pilots are revered as heroes for defending their world, this is really something else. Everyone lives underground and there is just so much cool history going on behind the world-building of this tale.

Can we talk about the spaceship
I sorely wish someone had been talking more about the spaceship’s presence to me before I read this. I would have picked this up TEN TIMES faster. At some point in the story we are introduced to a sentient and slightly unhinged spaceship. And it’s probably the best thing that’s ever been written. I jest not.

The spaceship is hilarious and constantly frustrates Spensa as she tries to repair it and make it air-worthy. There are so many awesome adventures awaiting you in these pages surrounding this mechanical character, and it will have you giggling away and flipping through pages like there’s no tomorrow. I repeat, it’s HILARIOUS.

Nothing makes me happier than sassy, cracked-up characters in books. If you thought you liked the spaceship in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, this is a thousand times better than that.

Final thoughts
I don’t need anymore convincing that I should go out with my next paycheck and buy every book under the sun that Sanderson has written. Storytelling has never been so wonderful.

Grab a copy!

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Have you read Skyward?

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