Skyward

I was hesitant to read this book, but it's a definite rebound for Sanderson after Oathbringer. There was a story, there was a plot, there were decent characters, action, literary flow–all things that Oathbringer was lacking.

Now that Sanderson can write a book and it will automatically reach the NYT bestseller list, he continues to shift his writing more towards the casual side, even satirizing flowery writing in FM's character. I don't like this, but it certainly works for YA. It seems like Sanderson has just decided to work with what prose he has, instead of struggling over every word. It works, but there's a notable drop in writing quality from his early-period works.

The ending was...meh. There is a big deus ex machina and the book ended quite a bit before I'd expected it to, to be honest. It felt vaguely like a rehash of the ending of Calamity. It was fine–I've just read at least five better Sanderson avalanches before.

The interactions between Spensa and M-bot were probably the highlight of the book. I've never thought of Brandon Sanderson as a character-driven author, but this book was indisputably character-driven. It's hard to write a flight-school book and keep the reader's attention after five similar battles, but Sanderson managed to do it.

I wouldn't recommend this book unless you're a fast reader and are looking for a binge read, but it was a fun waste of time at three in the morning.