“Skyward” by Brandon Sanderson

5/5 stars (wish I could give it more!)

               I am so glad I read this book.

               I’m going to be completely honest: I had never even heard the name “Brandon Sanderson” until sometime this year. Once I did hear it, I realized that everyone was talking about how amazing he is and that he was a very, VERY, well-known fantasy author. I decided to give his books a shot and started with “Skyward”, as it seemed a whole lot less complicated than figuring out where to start with his other books (Elantris? Mistborn? The Stormlight Archives?) I was not expecting this book to blow me away. Enough of my ramblings about how I came to read this book; here is the actual review.

               Spensa wants to be a pilot. And not some cargo pilot or commercial pilot—she wants to be a fighter pilot. The human race is trapped on a planet surrounded by debris. On top of that, the Krell frequently attack them. The humans take to the skies to fight back. Spensa longs to be one of the pilots fighting back, but there’s a lot standing in her way–the tests to get into flight school, the fact that all of society holds a grudge against her because of her father, actually managing to graduate from the flight school. However, Spensa has no intention of letting anything, or anyone, stop her from claiming the stars.

               There’s so much I want to say about this book, but I also don’t want to spoil anything, so I will have to limit myself to minimal fan-girling. First off: I love Spensa! I was somewhat concerned at first because I have read many books where a determined female lead is written poorly and just comes off as aggressive and brash. That is not Spensa at all (and I’m very sorry for underestimating you, Mr. Sanderson!) Spensa does have a bit of an obsession with warriors and somewhat cringy, overly violent insults, but that’s part of what makes her character so enjoyable! Her character development was also handled expertly and I can’t wait to see more of her in the rest of the books.

               Second of all, the side characters were also amazing! I can’t say much about them for fear of spoiling anything, but I will say that I particularly love M-Bot and he might even be my favorite character (though I’m not picking any actual favorites until I read Starsight!) All of the side characters have their own unique personalities and I loved seeing them grow alongside Spensa. I can’t wait to get my hands on Starsight and continue following these characters on their journey!

               Of course, I have to devote a section of this review to the world-building. I know everyone talks about Sanderson’s amazing world-building, but actually reading it and seeing it makes it much easier to see why everyone talks about him. I was fascinated by the history of the human race, the other planets out there, and how humankind ended up on Detritus. There are so many things I have questions about and I want to see more of this world! The last few chapters of this book had me on the edge of my seat, waiting desperately to see where the plot was going and if I’d actually get some answers!

               In the end, my only regret is that I did not learn about Brandon Sanderson sooner! This book had me completely enraptured from the prologue to the very last page! As someone who tends to prefer fantasy over sci-fi, I wasn’t expecting to love this book so much! I will definitely be reading more of Sanderson’s works. If the rest of his books are just as good or better, he’s going to join my favorite authors list!

               Also, does anyone know where I can get a Doomslug? I really want one now!