Skyhunter

Anyone who reviews this book as “average, typical YA but still good” is not reading this book right. I don't typically make that kind of statement either, but given what I am (an Asian-American who immigrated here) and how I am very familiar with being dissimilar to those of my ethnicity and those of my adopted country's, this book touches on a LOT of topics in a very nice way, but subtle and blatant. It goes where a lot of YA books don't go, and I love it.

Talin is a mute refugee from a country, Basea, that has been conquered by Karensa. Throughout the whole book, she constantly struggles with imposter syndrome given that she is a Basean and everyone else looks down on them for their skin color and perceived inferiority. She is very talented in her own right, a gifted warrior who is the best Striker that Mara (one of the last independent countries) has. However, she is the only Basean ever allowed to become a Striker as the rest of her people who escaped with her has to live in the Outer City, unprotected by the high, thick walls that separate Mara from the bio-weapons, Ghosts, and their invading masters. This causes Talin to believe that only through the kindness of her Maran friend, Corian, was she ever allowed on the team. Many background characters and minor characters give her derisive looks and basically never acknowledge her skills, even though she belongs to the only elite fighting group that Mara has to protect them. This rings especially true for those that are uprooted and brought to a society in which they are the minority and are looked down on–Talin is told repeatedly by her friends how good she is, but that doesn't matter (to her) if everyone else thinks differently.

Next, we have the topic of language. Language is very important in this book and in the real world, as it is one of the only ways we can communicate our thoughts and understand each other. Because Talin is mute, she signs in both Maran sign language to her Striker companions and Basean sign language to her mother. There is a poignant moment in the book right before the group is heading out on a deadly mission. Talin and her friends are eating at a feast at the Outer City with her fellow Baseans. There is a refugee who is very paranoid and suspects that the Strikers are there as a spy (people also suspect that Talin is a spy for Mara as well). When her friends sign to one another, the man tells them “oh you're using that secret language!” and someone else tells him “well, maybe you should just learn that language then.” Fear of others through not communicating goes both ways. And if you don't put in the effort to learn the other language but still feel fear, then that is on you. That is how some countries treat their immigrants/refugees, scared of their native language but not learning it. To drive in the point of how important language is, Lu even writes in a moment of a bad translation mistake, instead of “talk and you will live,” the translator says, “talk and we will make you live.” Given the prisoner's suicidal disposition, this would not work as a threat.

Those are the two moments off the top of my head that I can think of. There are other themes of enemy soldiers having to fight due to their loved ones being in danger if they do not obey. The civilians of the enemy country not knowing how terrifying their country really is, or maybe they've been forced to agree with their leaders that they've started to believe it. I personally think that this is one of my favorite books from Marie Lu as she actively inputs social commentary woven into the plot and the characters. Lovely all around.

The only reason why this is four stars is because I wish that there could have been more done with Adena and Jaren, especially his relationship with Aramin. I hope that the sequel has more, as I would like the queer characters to have more of a focal point rather than a supportive position. Additionally, though I did like what she did with Talin, I wish Marie did more with Red? We got a glimpse of his backstory with his dad and sister, but then what else? He was delegated to a protector role, a trump card, and I wish we could've gotten more. I also thought that the romance between the two escalated too fast, so I wanted that to slow down a bit. Otherwise, I loved this book.

Eh. It's not bad, but it's not good either. It did have the potential to be really good, it just never reached that point.

The book opens with a fast-paced action scene which might be a bit too fast for me to bring myself to care about certain characters, but fine. We were just starting after all. But then the pacing gets weird. After Red is introduced as Talin's new shield, the writing suddenly becomes weirdly introspective, complete with flashbacks and nightmares and realizations that are so conveniently shared through a mind link. While the bond plays an important role in the plot, the fact that Talin and Red can just share thoughts anytime they want feels so... lazy. Like that way they can just resolve issues instantly, on top of trampling through the language barrier like it's an advanced Google Translate. Red also never really gets fleshed out beyond his past and nightmares. It makes the current him feel very one-dimensional, not to mention there's a lot of telling and not showing involved since Talin can just sense how he feels from the mind link.

There's also a looot of repetition in this book. Information is repeated time and time again, sometimes with a bit of a new addition to it. It just feels so redundant, not to mention the writing loses its focus every now and then. Like Talin sudden, thorough observation of Red when she was supposed to look for magnesium, or the Midwinter dinner. Maybe they were intended as interludes, but by that point I was growing impatient since all the flashbacks and thoughts and seemingly irrelevant scenes really dragged the plot. As usual, there is a plot twist near the end of the book but by that point it was no longer surprising or anything.

Not sure if I'll read the sequel since I really don't feel anything towards the characters, except maybe Jeran, but we'll see.

The Karensa Federation has conquered a dozen countries, leaving Mara as one of the last free nations in the world. Refugees flee to its borders to escape a fate worse than death—transformation into mutant war beasts known as Ghosts, creatures the Federation then sends to attack Mara.
The legendary Strikers, Mara's elite fighting force, are trained to stop them. But as the number of Ghosts grows and Karensa closes in, defeat seems inevitable.
Robbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows firsthand the brutality of the Federation. Their cruelty forced her and her mother to seek asylum in Mara. She finds comfort only with a handful of fellow Strikers who have pledged their lives to one another and who are determined to push Karensa back at all costs.
But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front, Talin senses there's more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? Or could he be the weapon that will save them all?
For me this series kind of mixed of YA fantasy & scifi. I always like miss Lu writing style, and like any other miss Lu's work, be prepare for your feeling to be drained. There's hint of a romance coming, and I will definitely read the sequel.