And if we're being honest, none of us are surprised because, well, we expect masterpieces and only masterpieces from him, and he has yet to let me down. In fact, my expectations were already sky-high for Cytonic, and BrandoSando managed to exceed even that. I still don't know how he does it, but I am content to accept it and be left to devour every book he has ever published. Spensa is the protagonist as is usual with the main series. M-bot and Doomslug (I would die for Doomslug) appear in the book too but the other main characters from previous books have very short parts only. For some reason, I find myself more enamored by the humans in this series which made the characters in book one my favorite. Book two characters took some time to warm up to but I ended up loving them, in book three it was a bit tedious to go all over new characters again which made me feel lukewarm at best regarding the characterization in this entry. In fantasy, the world can be explained gradually, but in sci-fi, it seems, when new worlds are discovered—you will hear ALL about them. A fully manifested delver is titanic in scale, enough so to have its own gravitational pull. The one summoned by Brade is somewhere between a massive moon and a small planet, while the one called over Detritus in ancient past was capable of enveloping the entirety of the planet. [9] [3] Interior [ edit ]

As always, Sanderson delivers the best books, and for all my initial panic with this one, I was absolutely in love. The second to last book, not counting novellas, this third entry in the Skyward series was as strong as the previous books in my opinion, and delivered pretty much everything I hoped for. That said, I have seen some discontent regarding this book and understand some of it, but disagree with most of it while keeping in mind that we all have our own valid opinions on these things.It physically pains me to give a Sanderson book a rating this low but I must be honest... this was definitely my least favourite of all the books I've read from him. I both enjoyed it but was also super disappointed if that makes sense?? Dealing with loneliness, identity, duty, potential, and what makes us who we are is not an easy fit. All of these topics are hard-hitting and personal - even if we don't experience them exactly as Spensa does - and having had the time to explore them was gratifying. I know I keep saying this, but there is so much world building that it interrupts my reading slightly...all these new aliens, and I forgot which was which! (Maybe that’s just my sleep deprived brain though...) And honestly even with my complaints on Cytonic being dragged out and a filler book, I can only imagine how hard this especially was to write?? With having to describe the crazy place that is the Nowhere literally how did he even do it and with the so many different elements he included + that plot twist—SEE NOW THIS IS WHY I ADMIRE THIS MAN SO MUCH. Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa’s seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

I'm still heartbroken that we didn't have any appearances of Skyward Flight. Yes, I know that they're in the novellas but it's so sad thinking about the fact in the end, they would've only been with Spensa in book 1 and (thankfully) book 4 *sobbing* I wish she could have done this in a way other than traveling across fragments—pieces of worlds—in the nowhere, following a made-up path of random locations listed to her by another character. The Path of Elders reads like an excuse to info-dump and let Spensa use her full powers without doing much discovering on her own. She just knows things after each stop on the road trip episode of this series. It’s very repetitive, and the different fragments end up adding next to nothing to the story. After one stop, Spensa starts referencing the star in her soul that gives her the power to do whatever the plot needs her to do at a specific point: “I tried to stoke my soul, like I was a star.” I read the whole book and I still don’t know what that means, Spensa 🤡 Honestly, this book is more fantasy than science fiction. And, naturally, most of this book's laugh-out-loud moments are credited to our favorite not-so-artificial intelligence spaceship personality, M-Bot. These books wouldn't be what they are without him, and much of the reason why Cytonic was my favorite is his comedic relief. After the events of Starsight, M-Bot is dealing with a lot of new feelings- being an AI, emotions aren't something he's accustomed to, and he takes every opportunity in this book to bother Spensa about having them. It had me clutching my stomach in a fit of giggles, and yet by the end his humor turned into something I didn't expect, but appreciated nonetheless: an elaborate study of emotions and how/why we react to them. It shouldn't be possible for a robot to have character development, but it seems BrandoSando makes the impossible possible. And seeing M-Bot try to understand jokes and insults had me deceased. okay, before y'all come at me with the pitchforks (and before i let you, because no one is as disappointed as i am) hear me out: this book was literally just one long info-dump. it felt like one of those unending cutscenes in a video game where every aspect of how the tea my character is drinking was brewed is explained along with its archaic history when all i want is to get to the actual gameplay. I think too much of a good thing may not necessarily be a good thing and this was the case with the world-building here. Sanderson is a genius when it comes to creating new worlds but I believe it was too technical in this series that it became a bit of a chore trying to follow it. I think the book was best at the start and ending and it stalled a bit in the middle with all the follower things I mentioned before.Cytonic focuses a lot on worldbuilding. Some revelations were interesting, but others felt random. Surehold didn’t have any relevance until now. I also wish the delvers were scarier. Exactly what the delvers are angry about seems less clear in this book and is therefore less menacing. They made a lot of vague threats, and when they followed through, it was just kind of… funny. A line of starships driven by an emotionless Chet is objectively hilarious, especially considering his elaborate mustache. En este libro tenemos a Spensa en el “niguna-parte”, una especie de universo paralelo donde “flotan” como islas en un mar de “nada”. Pero, hay que fastidiarse, hay aire respirable (este tema ni se menciona) y hasta se puede saltar de isla en isla cuando pasan cerca. Sí, hay que fastidiarse de nuevo. Also, I just realized what if he made this book ending not so bad because he's saving all the pain for Defiant.... hahaha DON'T DO IT BRANDON. Spensa's matured so much from the previous books. But it also hurts so much with all that she's had to go through. All the pain and loneliness... but also Spensa feeling guilty for enjoying herself broke me because she didn't think she had any right to have fun moments with all that was going on. She kept all her feelings inside and refused to let them out and I was in scudding pain. I love how Spensa started questioning a lot of things and wondering just how much of herself was she going to have to keep giving until it was enough. These words: "It's all right. Your pain is real. Your passion is real. You can choose. It's all right."—the way that hit so hard omg I scudding love Spensa. I am genuinely scared that something bad will happen in the last book but this is YA so no reason to worry, right?? Right??? *laughs in fear*

and i was expecting a balance of the two from this book, especially considering that the previous books had healthy amounts of both elements, and that the plot and action are what actually hooked me to these books in the first place. The chief safeguard, maintained both by the people of Detritus and by the Superiority, is to abandon all but the most crucial cytonic abilities and technologies, and surrounding inhabited spaces with cytoshields, which clamp down on and limit cytonic activity. Cytonic communications have likewise been abandoned, and radio usage is greatly limited, with cables replacing it where possible. [16] [21] Artificial intelligence has been banned, and in the present times, AIs are regarded with fear by the people of the Superiority. [22] However, it seems that, much like few scattered cytonics don't pose a threat, lone AIs are capable of functioning without drawing the delvers' ire. [23]Skyward has 3 Novellas taking place around the Cytonic timeframe, and are co-written by Janci Patterson. Each novella is from a different characters point of view. Seeing Spensa again is going to be a deligth but I will miss my Skyward Flight a ton, doesn't matter that I just saw them on the novellas. Delvers were an artificial intelligence that went into the nowhere and evolved to a higher form. However, the AI at first only experienced emotions over a period of days when its creator, Jason Write, died. With the pain overloading its mind and not understanding how to deal with any sort of emotion, it expelled all memories and personality, then copied itself over and over to avoid any sort of pain or loneliness whatsoever. [26] The writing bothered me in this book. It sounded clunky and juvenile and often awkward. Emotional moments sometimes fell flat because they were written too simply. An unremarkable plot like this needs more drama and emotion and lyricism to make an impact.