Skyward

Sanderson is one of those authors that rarely puts a foot wrong for me. Skyward is his take on SciFi and it knocks it out the park again.

The world of Skyward is an intriguing one - humanity is trapped on a planet that isn't Earth continuously fighting against the Krell, an ambiguous alien race. An elite group of fighter pilots combat this threat, fighting an attritional battle that they are losing. Spensa, our main protagonist is the daughter of a disgraced pilot, but longs to follow in his footsteps into the sky.

The main bulk of the story is a coming of age tale of Spensa training to become a pilot and the obstacles she has to overcome to get there. At the same time there are some brilliant allusions to something more going on - how did her father end up disgraced, what happened and how did humanity end up in this war?

Sanderson has a wonderful easy reading prose that is so comfortable to relax into. His world building and character work is second to none. This particular work sits on an intriguing boundary between YA and adult SciFi, yet works brilliantly well as both. A stellar read and I look forward to continuing the series!