Skyward | REVIEW

I finished my first book of 2019 and man oh man, was it fantastic! I am so happy that I decided to go outside my comfort zone and try this book, since even though I love Brandon Sanderson and his writing, I’ve never actually read a sci-fi before. But I am happy to say that after reading this, I think I’ll try even more sci-fi!

Skyward follows Spensa (callsign: Spin) who has spent her entire life wanting to grow up and be a pilot just like her father. The only problem? In the eyes of the government, her father is a coward because he fled from a battle. In this world, pilots are the only defense for the last of the human race against an alien race called the Krell, and since the pilots are so respected and needed, for one to abandon his flightmates during a battle is a big deal. Because of this, Spensa and her family are now outcasts and Spensa has to deal with everyone treating her worse than the dirt under their shoes.

To prove everyone that not only is she NOT a coward, but to prove her father was not as well, she decides to take the pilot’s test and become the best pilot on their planet. What follows is an action packed, fast paced race for survival.

Spensa is probably one of my favorite characters ever. She comes across as this tough, I’m-gonna-kick-your-butt kinda girl, but over the course of the book she has so much growth as a character and has to finally come to terms with her emotions and being called a coward because of her father.

Her flightmates were also amazing each in their own way, and even though they were all side characters they also had good growth and you really felt for all of them and got to know them, which is something that I find some books lack.

My favorite characters (other than Spensa, of course) is MBot and Doomslug. I can’t say too much about Mbot without ruining the story, but he is a talking….robot, and is great comedic relief, especially during emotional parts of the book. I never hear anyone talk about Doomslug, but she was such a cute little creature! Sanderson doesn’t just throw random characters into his books, so I really want to know if she has a purpose and where she came from!

I also really enjoyed the fight scenes and Spensa’s training, which was a from the frying pan to the fire kind of training. From the start, you realize that none of the characters are safe and Sanderson really follows through with that, which honestly makes me nervous for who dies in book 2. Sanderson’s fight scenes are always so well done, and this was no exception. The book even includes diagrams of the starfighters and the moves they mention, which made the world and ships so much more real.

The day I finished this, it took me forever to fall asleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters and what might happen next. Theories were going through my head on the Krell and the situation our characters are put in at the end because let me tell you, it’s a wild ride! I don’t know why it still surprises me, but literally everything Sanderson writes blows me away! If he published his grocery list I would read it.

I 100% recommend this to EVERYONE, whether you are a hardcore fan of Sanderson and sci-fi to anyone looking to dip their toes in. This is favorite book of the year material, and it’s only the second week of January!