Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: XXXXX

Published November 26th by Gollancz

“A hero does not choose her trials. She steps into the darkness, then she faces what comes next.”

All her life, Spensa has dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she’s a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing.

Spensa is sure there’s more to the story. And she’s sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars–and it was terrifying. Everything Spensa has been taught about her world is a lie.

But Spensa also discovered a few other things about herself–and she’ll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to. 

I was lucky enough to have been picked to take part in the blog tour for the first book in this series, Skyward, last year (spoiler-free review here) and it was one of my favourite reads of the year and I’ve been dying to get back to see what Spensa and M-Bot have been up to now so I jumped at the chance last month to receive a copy from Gollancz in celebration of its release (thank you Stevie and co!)

This definitely took a very different turn from what I spent the whole year expecting and I’m so here for it, I enjoyed the first book but this absolutely ramped it up another notch. I immensely enjoyed the character progression from both Spensa and M-Bot that we get to see in this book. I love that Spensa who has always been hot-headed and relatively aggressive by some standards, in this book is forced to reign it in or be discovered/fail her mission so we really see another side to her where she tends to think things through a little more and although I think that it’s all part of what makes her personality she definitely improves from it as it opens more options to her and allows her to learn more and take more in. M-Bot is going through some self-discovery and although at first, I wish he had maybe featured more I think the way his story progresses actually works very well and is beneficial for both him and Spensa.

We get a lot of little reveals and information throughout this book, about the Krell and the society they come from in particular which was spun in a way I really enjoyed. It was nice to understand more about the other alien races and to see some of their unique perspectives as well as learning how humanity’s presence in the galaxy has affected them, for better for worse as well as discovering more about the history of humans themselves. There is a nice dose of political intrigue involved which I found added another interesting spin (see what I did there – I’m not sorry) to the whole story as well and I loved never really knowing what anyone’s true motives where. Starsight definitely evolved from the action/adventure story into something so much richer and more complex.

Starsight also features some important themes and messages throughout which I think are really valuable and also played important parts in the story simultaneously such as the idea of individuality, a collective society as well as prejudice and bias, messages that I think will always be relevant and we see Spensa (and others) realising that in order to really understand others it’s important to listen.

Although I do think I enjoyed Starsight more than Skyward I do find it very difficult to compare the two as they are, in my opinion, fairly different books and although I loved what Sanderson did with Skyward and the whole Flight school kind of thing (most people know I love the whole “boarding school” kind of setting) this is another level and featured even more of the things I love. Like the Kitsen. The Kitsen are amazing.

The ending was immense and I am in desperate need of book three already although I have a bad feeling that we might have to wait an extra year for the third book as Sanderson is releasing a large book from a different series next year but this is all speculation so we shall see. Fingers crossed it’s not too long of a wait! I hope you all have a happy new year and I’ll see you in 2020!

 

December TBR 2019

It only occurred to me this morning as I write this that I haven’t actually decided on a TBR for this month. I’ve just kind of been picking each book as I finish the one before. Looking at last months TBR I got through about half it but read two other books that weren’t on the list at all so I think four was an accurate estimate for a quiet reading month. I’m going to try and stick with four again this month as obviously it’s Christmas but I have a few things going on this month (mostly Dungeons and Dragons related, I’m not gonna lie) that will mean I might not be able to read as much as I would like (always the case tbh). I’m just going to wing this TBR so let’s see…

Starsight by Brendon Sanderson
I adored Skyward last year and its sequel has been one of my long-awaited releases for the end of this year. This will quite likely be my next read and I’m so grateful to have received a gifted copy from Gollancz on its release. I’m so very ready to follow Spensa and M-bot (not forgetting doomslug) into the stars!

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
I had been hearing about this for a while, I own Slayer by the same author which my husband immensely enjoyed reading but I haven’t got around to yet and as someone who loves Arthurian lore I was tempted more and more every time I heard something about this new release. It was when author Kiersten posted “SO MUCH LONGING IT COULD BE A CW SHOW MAIN COUPLE BROKEN UP AT THE END OF SEASON ONE” on Twitter that I immediately brought it. I love me some longing and angst and this description just gave me Kara and Mon-El from Supergirl vibes after stuff goes down there and I need more of that drug and I’m hoping The Guinevere Deception will deliver.

The God Game by Danny Tobey
I am SO hyped for this January release! I was lucky enough to have been picked to receive one of the few ARC copies of this from Gollancz. We have a virtual world ran by underground hackers, an omnipotent A.I that refers to itself as GOD and starts demanding its users complete more and more worrying and cruel missions with threats against them if they do not complete them. This book sounds so very up my street and with CTRL+S still very fresh in my mind I’m excited to get around to this book.

Somebody Give This Heart A Pen by Sophia Thakur
The Goodreads synopsis describes this much better than I ever could:
“From acclaimed performance poet, Sophia Thakur comes a powerful new collection of poems exploring issues of identity, difference, perseverance, relationships, fear, loss and joy. The collection is arranged as life is: from youth to school, to home life, falling in love and falling straight back out again. The poems draw on the author’s experience as a young mixed-race young woman trying to make sense of a lonely and complicated world. With a strong narrative voice and emotional empathy, this is poetry that will resonate with all young people, whatever their background, and whatever their dreams.”
I haven’t read a lot of poetry recently and it’s just something I tend to dip my toe into now and again but something about this book just called to me and I’m looking forward to reading this one too!

The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli
I really loved The Last Namsara, which I finally got around to reading last year just before the release of The Caged Queen. I enjoyed both of them but The Last Namsara especially. I’m really looking forward to this third book in the Iskari series! I only have my kindle version of this at the moment which I preordered but I will probably need to get my hands on a physical copy to match my others asap.

I think five books is probably ambitious enough for me this month! Especially as Starsight is quite a big chunky book. Have you read any of the books on my TBR? What are you hoping to read this month? Do we have any the same?

S4S – Books set in Schools

Continuing with the back to school theme (don’t even talk to me about actual school right now) this weeks theme from Steph at A Little but A Lot is “Books set in schools” I think I’ve discovered a trend I like in books…Harry Potter by J.K Rowling
An obivous one I know but I love the whole boarding school setting and I’m not sure if I discovered this because I read Harry Potter or because it reminds me of Harry Potter. Either way, I like it and I think good ole Hogwarts had a part to play in that so I had to include it. 

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
This probably feels as predictable as Harry Potter for me at this point as I’ve not been able to stop raving about this book and the rest of the Nevernight Chronicles for the past few weeks but I really loved Mia’s time in the Red Church and is in part a reason why this book has become one of my all-time favourites. For those who have yet to read Nevernight, the Red Church is basically Murder Hogwarts for wood-be assassins. 

The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
The prestigious academy which Hugo lives on the grounds of in The Starlight Watchmaker is fascinating and full of so many different species of aliens who are all learning the skills they will need to lead and shape their worlds in the future, I loved reading about it. 

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Another boarding school setting, this time it’s a flight school where the pupils are trained to shoot defend their homes from an alien threat that has plagued them for years, not to mention that completing the programme and becoming a pilot of prestigious in itself!

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and other authors
So this book collects all of the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy short stories into one and although the content within a lot of these stories stretches further than the academy itself, the main storyline itself that the smaller ones are embedded into all take place within the academy. I loved this collection a lot more than I thought I would. 

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino
A manga instead of a novel but still counts, Vampire Knight mainly takes place at Cross Academy where human students attend the school during the day and vampires at night. This one is totally a boarding school again too, apparently, this is a thing.

Also, honourable mention to Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori is one of my favourite mangas and takes place almost solely in a school for rich kids (actually not a boarding school though, shock horror) where a “poor” honours student accidentally breaks a vase worth 3 million yen and works with the school host club to earn back the money. I would have put this on the list but I thought of Vampire Knight first.

Do you have a favourite fictional school? If so which one? When I was younger I always wanted to go to Cackles Academy from The Worst Witch (another honourable mention as I somehow forgot it when making this list).

 

Skyward – Blog Tour Spoiler Free Review

Skyward by Brandon  Sanderson

Rating: XXXXX

Published November 6th by Gollancz
(I received  a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

“Alas poor space junk,” M-Bot said. “I would have pretended to know you, if I were capable of lying.”

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.

There are SO many great books coming out right now and this is another one I’ve been excited about for a little while now, after dabbling in Sanderson’s Mistborn series previously I couldn’t wait to see his take on what promised to be a Sci-Fi tale right up my street and I was not disappointed, this book is, surprisingly probably no one, absolutely fantastic.

The world building is done brilliantly, any info dumping is done well and at just the right moments but most of the information we get to help create the world in Skyward and help us to understand it is expertly layered into the narrative like brushstrokes to help create the overall picture that is is the Defiant civilisation, their history and their customs. I enjoyed that it wasn’t just the epic moments that were talked about either, there were brilliant small moments that really added to the characters and quite often the world building itself led to some great character development instead of just a general history.

Skyward has many great facets, one of them is most certainly the characters with even the smallest being memorable and easy to identify. Most characters were refreshing and weren’t cornered into stereotypes, everyone had their own stories and their goals which were surprisingly simple to keep up with but the characters, their emotions and choices felt no less complex for it.  I usually try to refrain from mentioning my favourite characters for fear of giving away spoilers or favouritism but although I loved all the characters I have to say for me personally, M-Bot totally stole the show in the best way. It’s funny, sincere and the most precious, heartbreaking A.I I have ever had the pleasure to read (AIDAN is a close second but that’s another story).

The pacing is spot on and almost constantly has you on the edge of your seat for one reason or another, this is an absolute page-turner and I often found myself totally immersed to the point where I decided to read a little before bed around ten thirty and finally put the book down around three in the morning, it just sucks you in. The battles and even the flight training are particularly fast-paced but written in such a way that they are easy to understand well even when reading at speed which is perfect because if you’re anything like me you will be practically inhaling the words. I was worried the ‘flight speak’ would get repetitive or boring but found that actually, it meant that I was much better able to process the information and I honestly think if you showed me a diagram of a DDF Poco class fighter I could name a good amount of the parts and what they’re used for. Although I enjoy Star Wars I hadn’t initially been sure how I would about the fighter elements parts which a fair bit of the story is comprised from but I feel that Skyward hit the perfect spot where it was exciting and that extra understanding just really helped boost that enjoyment.

The overall story is interesting and certainly piqued my interest many times as a truly good book should, there are some great little twists and turns throughout, some brilliant friendships between the characters and I genuinely felt myself being pleasantly surprised at the turns a lot of the story took. This book is a great sci-fi gem and I don’t think I have ever read such a large book at such a fast pace. Skyward is certainly a story that will stay with me, its humour, it’s important messages, the teamwork, the hope and the thrilling ride.