Starsight (The Skyward Series)

Brandon Sanderson is a master at creating unique and dense worlds, and the ever-expanding universe of Skyward is no different. In Starsight we are introduced to an impressive new location, a smattering of new species, and a deadly threat. Sanderson delivers on building not only stellar visuals, but also intrigue. However, something Is lacking. Something doesn’t feel quite right. Everything is too smooth, too easy for Spensa. She is a character who is arrogant, rash, non-compliant and is always going against orders by following her gut or know-how. Yet, she never really gets in trouble. Sure, people are “upset” that she was disobedient once again, but she never feels the consequences of her actions. Also, everything works out for her pretty easily. She ends up taking on a HUGE task, which has a bare minimum plan and super-fast execution, without out any real conflict or hitches. M-bot is still a shining star and really the only character who continues to develop, but he is the reason why Spensa doesn’t struggle much. Also, she picks up her "powers" pretty easily with no training and is sort of Mary Sue to win the day.I have a hard time placing how I feel about this book (and series as a whole) because Sanderson keeps dangling information and questions. I feel satisfied getting so many answers in this book that it distracts from the fact that it is not his best. There will be another book although I wish it had ended here. I don't feel invested in the characters even as I want to know more about the world and the conflicts. It's a strange space to be in. I give this book 3.5 stars. 3 seems too much a slight with the world and intrigue Sanderson has created, but 4 seems generous considering that lack of characterization and conflict. It’s methodically written, imaginatively inspiring, and lacking in gut.

I love Sanderson books. I've read Mistborn, Reckoners, Elantris, Warbreaker, Stormlight, etc etc etc many times and they all held my attention each time. This book though... doesn't. I mostly blame the constant plural pronoun use in referring to a singular character. It is disruptive as i constantly had to recheck who was in the scene. Around page 200, it got interesting for about 100 pages. I have 70 more pages to go.... but it is my least favorite of all his books besides the Alcatraz series, which are dumb on purpose and so can be forgiven.

*WARNING* - THIS REVEIW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR STARSIGHT Before I say anything, I would like to state that Brandon Sanderson is an AMAZING writer and Skyward was probably the best book I've read in a while. That being said, not every sequel can be as good as the first. Starsight was an okay read, but it was lacking with the teamwork laced throughout Skyward. Instead of Spensa working with her flightmates introduced in the first book, she spends the majority of the book in outer space, infiltrating the Krell. Because of this, the interactions between Spensa and the other characters are often humorless, and it was not enjoyable. M-Bot, as always, was there to lighten the mood, but his time was also limited in the book. Spensa finds a new flight, but it lacks the character development and experience as Skyward Flight. There is SOME romance between Jorgen and Spensa, but it is an extremely small amount. Also, Spensa's flightmates from Skyward are only mentioned once or twice in the book. Why would you put so much time into writing characters and then not have them play even a minor part in the next book? On the plus side, Jorgen seems to develop more into his own person, and many questions from Skyward are answered. WARNING - this book does end on a cliffhanger. Honestly, reading this book is totally up to you. I would recommend this book, but only for the purpose of gaining information for the next book. I sincerely hope that Sanderson's final Skyward book is better written and spends more time with the OGs of Skyward.

This book would have been alright for maybe half the kindle price of 10.99 but it just wasn't good enough to justify the full price to me, especially considering the quality of work we have typically come to expect from this author. The whole story feels as if too much new information has been shoe-horned into one volume for no apparent reason. Other than the main character and her ship, Starsight is almost entirely about completely new characters and circumstances which are too far outside of the established experience of the main character to make this story believable. I remember being interested enough in Skyward to want to know what happens next, but even with the pseudo-cliffhanger-morphed-into-total-cliffhanger ending of Starsight I'm really not inclined to keep following this series.Personally, I would much prefer if Mr. Sanderson focused on the Stormlight Archive series instead. Now those are some great books.

This book was so hard for me to put down. Sanderson delivers with another classic, surprising nobody. Highly recommend this series to anybody who enjoys Sandersons work.

More than anything, what I cherish about Brandon's books is that the stories are never predictable. The plots go off in directions I never would have anticipated, but not randomly so. Every twist and turn is the result of understandable (if not always logical) choices the characters make. Starsight is no exception. It's not the straightforward continuation of the story in Skyward. Spensa (and M-Bot) face entirely new and exciting challenges and continue to grow. I won't spoil any of it, but I wholeheartedly recommend it for everyone who enjoyed Skyward or any of Brandon's previous books. I know they market these as being for a younger audience because the protagonist is a young girl, but you don't have to be a kid to enjoy them. The story and complex worldbuilding are appealing even to an old guy like me.

A great sequel. Nah a great book by any standards. A lot has changed in the last 6 months. The right people are in charge of the humans Spensa has gotten the notoriety she deserves but is obsessed with not only craving battle but unlocking the power within her to save her people.In this story she is once again thrown out of her comfort zone and into a mission that sounds like suicide on every front. Of course she never backs down."A hero does not choose her trails".What does make her such a great hero is dispite her own self doubts her courage always manages to inspire others. Her determination to overcome is amazing like the first book there are many obstacles for her to overcome especially in the bigger universe.A great story as soon as I finished it I wanted to read the next book. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The second novel of Spensa, a woman who has grown up on humanity’s last refuge, and become a pilot to help defend her world. Starlight starts without an obvious direction to go in - the plot of the first novel, while leaving space for the sequel, didn’t make the onward path obvious.So I was happy to find that Sanderson has found a way to advance the plot, and of course his all-important worldbuilding, without dramatically shifting the tone of the narrative. We’re still aligned with Spensa, exploring an unfamiliar environment, learning so much, and facing an even bigger threat than before.I didn’t find the novel as captivating as I had expected though. It’s not non-captivating, just not to the level I have come to expect from Sanderson’s novels. There are evident similarities between the style of the narrative here with his previous young adult novels, but it’s clearly grown since Alcatraz into something I can at least engage with without being put off.What I loved the most about this novel is the worldbuilding - that Sanderson is taking all the little seeds that he planted in the first book and growing them into surprising new directions, that either make you feel a bit dumb for not seeing where it was going, or make you rethink your understanding, or just make you go wow.

As a fan of Sanderson I can’t quibble over the quality for this target audience (and at 36 I really am not his TA for this series). I could just write ‘he’s done it again’ and be done with it. Yes, there’s excellent world building, interesting characters and a plot line that just keeps you turning those pages...just as you’d expect in any of his series, but it’s the very humanity he so skilfully embroils into a world that is not quite human that enables you to feel every frustration and every plight and keeps you reading. There’s something very human in the characters, whether they’re actually human or not, that makes you feel you’re discovering something together. And that is the power of a great story teller.

As my title says. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love that every chapter is filled with action and intrigue. My favourite character didn't feature quite as much (M-Bot) as I'd have liked and he appeared to have a little bit of an existential crisis, but I guess it made their character a little more in-depth.The story takes place in a much larger expanse and introduces you to some great new characters and species that made it feel like it has far more longevity and possibility for other sub-stories. Can't wait for the next one!

I have bought & read most of Brandon Sanderson's novels. I loved Skyward, Starsight expands the story in so many ways & you come to realise why humans are on to Detritus start with. The pity is of course that humans have changed but the Aliens who keep them there don't know this, and like all politics some of them use the fact of their continued existence for their own ends. A Fast moving pacey story that leaves you on the edge of your seat not really sure who to trust. I look forward to the third in the series Cytonic but I wish they had a date for putting it out in paperback Hardbacks are big & take up a lot of room.