Skyward – Brandon Sanderson

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Published November 6, 2018

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul. 

I’ve read a few Brandon Sanderson books, I do believe this is my 5th one, and my goodness. He always blows me away. When I first came back to reading about four years ago, I randomly picked up Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, and  I couldn’t believe I had been missing out on such good books like the one I had just read. Between the Reckoners trilogy, the first Mistborn book, and Skyward…this man can do no wrong. Seriously. I felt like I was in the middle of watching an epic Star Wars dogfight about 85% of this book, and all the other times, I was just so engaged and into the perseverance and uniqueness of Spensa that I couldn’t put it down.  His writing is so entrancing and it pulls you in like a siren’s song. I kick myself sometimes for devouring his work so quickly, but I just can’t put it down! 

Let’s start with Spensa, our main character. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy with a main character than I had with Spensa. She’s determined, strong, her tenacity and personality overall is just *chef’s kiss*. I felt like reading a book with a character like Spensa, makes me feel like I’m capable of doing anything. Which, as an almost thirty year old woman, I know I can do anything if I put my mind to it but Spensa for some reason makes it feel like that phrase is more attainable for whatever reason. She’s a wonderful main character and would recommend if anyone is looking for a strong female MC to pick this up because she makes this book worth it alone. 

Now, during this book, Spensa finds a ship wrecked in a cavern. This lovely being is M-BOT. He’s a ship with high tech and artificial intelligence which Spensa is NOT familiar with. And I ADORE this ship. And no spoilers but the end, I couldn’t handle it. He had such great character growth even for a silly little ship A.I. it was impeccable. I loved it. I love love love how much time and thought Sanderson puts into each and every one of his characters in his books.

The story is so great, wonderful pacing, a lot of just chipping away at the main plot but also keeping a good bit of mystery along the way. I think that was my favorite thing about it really. You had some really big moments, suspenseful ones like all the dogfighting etc, and then you had flight school, and M-BOT etc. which was still great paced but help keep you engaged the whole time. I loved how Brandon Sanderson revealed all the big reveals. It was great, and he left just enough to make you want to continue reading more into the series. 

This is going to be a 4 book series (so far) and I feel like this first book is just such a great foundation to be able to expand and continue with some great stuff so just like with From Blood and Ash, the sequel is my immediate next read 

On to “Starsight”!  

5/5 Stars