Hey all, Dani here.
It has been another very nice day at Gen Con, but I’m glad we’re going to have an early night tonight. Some relaxation at the hotel, especially the hotel hot tub, will be great.
All right, well let’s just keep moving and grooving with all these posts and reviews and awesomeness.
Summary
Spensa’s world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what’s left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa’s dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with that of her father’s—a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa the daughter of a coward, her chances of attending Flight School slim to none.
No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.
My Thoughts
Rating: 5 stars
I’ll start off by saying that I had to buy the UK cover for this book. The US cover is fine and I like it, but I just think the UK cover looks so much cooler.
I think I can admit that I am biased when it comes to Brandon Sanderson. I have yet to be disappointed by one of his books, so I go into each book mentally prepared to read it quickly and become very absorbed by the story and the characters.
This does not change when the genre is sci-fi instead of his typical fantasy. I still thought the world building was really interesting, and I enjoyed the character development and the revelations spread throughout the novel.
The pacing was nicely done and there were no real slow points. To me it felt like every scene furthered the plot or the characters or revealed some detail that would be relevant later or would be really important later.
Experiencing space flight school was actually a lot of fun. I liked the training simulations, and the serious number of times that the students got thrown into real battle scenarios because of numbers issues and more. Sometimes that meant the stakes were really high and the consequences could be quite dire.
This is a dangerous place, and Brandon Sanderson makes you believe that, because all of the characters are at risk. It’s brilliant. I had a great time reading this, and I am very much looking forward to reading the sequel.
Where to Get a Copy
You can buy a copy for yourself from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore.
You can also borrow a copy from your local library.
Free State of Geek 
I have a number of Brandon Sanderson novels that I’m yet to read – fantasy is not a genre I consume frequently, but I love sci-fi! Your review has got me really interested in ‘Skyward.’ It might just be the book to lead me into reading some more of his work sooner (like the ‘Well of Ascension…’) Have to add this one to my shopping wish list! Now I’m in the mood to curl up on the couch with the dog and a cuppa to get lost in a good book… but I’ve got to go to work instead. Blargh!
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Darn adulting and needing to go to work! I hope you get the chance to pick up Skyward soon. Enjoy!
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OMG, OMG!!! Super excited you read this one!!!😍👏🏻 I’m so glad you liked it, it’s an INCREDIBLE book. I can’t wait for the sequel 😄
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Haha, thank you. I wasn’t going to skip this one. I love Brandon Sanderson.
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Great review!! I have heard so many things about this books and I am happy to see that you are a big fan that I can reach for when I am reading and I need to talk Haha the UK version is quite good!! His worldbuilding I think is one of his best assets haha
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Yes, I am happy to talk about Brandon Sanderson, or any books/authors really. And if they got Brandon Sanderson to do one of those online Masterclasses for Worldbuilding, I would definitely sign up for it. I can certainly admit that I’ve learned a lot about worldbuilding from reading his books and from playing RPGs.
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Have you done any master class? I really need to get to his! I read only Steelheart and I need to move to the others on the series and then do Mistborn!
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I haven’t tried any of the Master Classes, though I’ve been tempted to try Neil Gaiman’s. We haven’t really had good internet since we bought our house, so blogging and basic social media/e-mail is about as much as we can handle without going over our monthly data limit.
For the Master Classes, the writing ones they have are: Neil Gaiman teaching the art of storytelling, Joyce Carol Oates teaching short story, Margaret Atwood teaching creative writing, David Baldacci teaching mystery and thriller writing, Aaron Sorkin teaching screenwriting, Dan Brown teaching writing thrillers, Malcolm Gladwell teaching writing, Shonda Rimes teaching writing for television, Billy Collins teaching reading and writing poetry, James Patterson teaching writing, David Mamet teaching dramatic writing, R.L. Stine teaches writing for young audiences, and Judy Blume teaching writing.
So of all of those, Neil Gaiman’s definitely sounds the most intriguing to me.
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