Teaser

Under its tyrannical new leader, the Superiority has declared war on humanity. The only hope for the future of our species is Spensa and the pilots of Skyward Flight . . .

Review

Once upon a time, which was actually not that long ago, I was a Brandon Sanderson super fan. I even have the t-shirt to prove it. I devoured absolutely everything he wrote, even as I aged out of the target demographic for some of his works. These days I’m obsessed with different authors, but I I have kept following Sanderson’s work. Thus, having started his young adult-oriented Skyward series several years ago, I’ve now seen it through to the end. In some respects, the bitter end.

When you follow a series for several years, it’s natural to see a change in the author’s style. Authors, as a general rule, improve their wordcraft from book to book as they accumulate more experience. Sometimes they’ll experiment, but more often they simply become more themselves. That’s the case here, as this is among the more Sanderson of Sanderson books. If you’re a fan of his plotting and prose, then this is great. However, the downside of this writing evolution is that the tics become more obvious too. Sanderson’s humour, in particular, is overly evident in this book. There is some experimentation in the final act, but for me it didn’t really work. This is a story that has always been Spensa’s to tell, but for some reason the last twenty chapters are a grapeshot of third-person perspectives. A surprisingly messy ending, it must be said.

Like the rest of the series, Defiant is a a fairly solid young adult adventure, though at times it comes across as a little more juvenile than that. It’s good clean fun, with plenty of action and a fair few moral lessons along the way. If I had encountered this book a decade ago, I think I’d have enjoyed it a lot more than I did at my current age. However, this does mark the end of the only young adult-oriented science fiction series I was reading. It’s all adult from here on out.

For the curious, the Cytoverse will be continuing with a new series of novels written by Janci Patterson, co-author of the Skyward Flight novellas. Doubtless these will still bear Sanderson’s name in some capacity (I believe he will still be involved in the early stages of the books) but this mark an interesting point in the saga. For Patterson, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. For Sanderson, it’s an ending of sorts. As for me, it’s an exit ramp. The train may be continuing its journey, but this is where I’m getting off.

Book Stats

• Skyward Flight (#4)
• Published by Gollancz in 2023
• 414 pages