by Brandon Sanderson

Conditional Recommendation: Spensa goes even farther into the corners of the galaxy to discover what she is and what she can do to save her people.

Genre: Sci Fi/Fantasy

This is by far the most fantastical of the three installments to the Skyward series and I have to say my least favorite of the bunch. Seriously, prepare for weirdness! The stakes get higher and higher as Spensa explores more of her abilities and embarks on a true adventure of discovery. This book is fun to read for the plot revelations and to see Spensa’s character development. Since this is the third book, I won’t talk about much lest I spoil something from previous books, but I will say that I can’t wait to see what the next book brings after this very elaborate side quest. I have mixed feelings about this book and some of its content but the world expansion is good and Spensa’s character arc is well developed. I love her growth. Also, the ending and revelations are great.

Spensa’s life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell—the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home. Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces than can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator. Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy. The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return. To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.

Book Two – Starsight

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