Skyward ~ Brandon Sanderson
528 pages
Source: Amazon
The daughter of a coward, a sentient space ship, and a talking slug all walk into a story…
Ok, it’s not the start of a really weirds joke, though it kind of sounds like one.
It’s actually the set up for Brandon Sanderson’s latest novel, Skyward.
16 year old Spensa, has dreamed of taking to the skies with the elite fighter pilots since she could open her eyes. The only problem is that she has lived in her father’s questionable shadow for almost as long. There were some questionable circumstances that lead to her father’s death when she was little, leading her entire family to be shunned as cowards and Spensa’s subsequent maltreatment by most of the flight school.
Nevertheless, she is granted an opportunity to contend for a spot on the elite team, making friends and enemies along the way. Determined to make a name for herself and, in doing so, clear her father’s name, Spensa white knuckles her way through cadet training, despite a few strong forces working tirelessly to stop her.
Skyward has the action and intensity of Star Wars with a sprinkling of Jim Henson’s darker (think Labyrinth, not Sesame Street) knack for bringing random items and beings to life. Sanderson has a way of weaving delicate emotional threads into a tapestry already thick with fast-paced sky racing and witty banter.
This was my first Brandon Sanderson book, though I was pleased to find that he has a pretty deep collection of well-loved sci-fi to explore. From what I can tell, Skyward is just the tip of the iceberg. Onward, we go into the collection!
