Book Review: Skyward

Skyward
Published By: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: November 6, 2018
Page Count: 513
Buy it at AmazonBarnes & Noble, or IndieBound
Source: library
YA — Science Fiction

Eighty years ago, the remnant of humanity crashed onto the planet Detritus.  The majority of people scrape together a life for themselves within the network of caves below the barren surface of the planet, while a few pilots fight for their existence against alien Krell incursions above.  Spensa has always wanted to be a pilot like her father and to redeem both herself and his memory. (He was shot down for abandoning the fight against the Krell). 

Skyward delivers on amazing air battles as well as on Sanderson's usual witty dialog.  I can only imagine that Sanderson did an incredible amount of research about fighter planes and dog fighting for this novel.  Every simulator and battle scene made me feel like I was sitting in the cockpit with Spensa, and I loved the crazy maneuvers the pilots were able to do because the DDF ships are more like space ships than airplanes.  It was so vividly written it felt almost like I was watching a movie.

I have to be honest, though.  Being the huge Brandon Sanderson fan that I am, I wanted to like this book more than I did, but the characters just didn't feel as real to me as his typically do.  By a third of the way through the book, Spensa was almost a caricature constantly spouting or thinking in melodramatic declarations.  I know that teens can get on a theme and play it into the ground (I have one who does this), but it became irritating after a while as a reader, especially because Quirk also has a similar verbal tic.  Likewise, M-Bot is continually acting like a real person with human emotions while reminding the reader in the same breath (electron stream?) that it's a fake emotion subroutine.  The joking/not joking shtick got tired by the end of the book.  Also, either I am getting quicker on the uptake which is doubtful, or Skyward is missing the never-saw-that-coming twist ending at which Sanderson excels.  I guess not every book needs one, which is more a matter of my personal frustrated expectations, but I missed it.

That said, my seventeen year-old son finished the book in a day and said he would give it four and a half stars out of five, so I think Sanderson definitely hit the mark with his intended audience.


Summary:

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 combat the Krell. Pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race.

Becoming a pilot has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring above the earth and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with that of her father--a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa's chances of attending Flight School at slim to none.

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

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