betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Has it been three years since I read Starsight? Yes. Did I still jump into this without looking up what happened in that book? Also yes. For the most part, I found that some details came back to me while reading this one, but it didn't really seem to affect my reading of it. I mostly decided to pick this up becuase I think the final book in this series comes out this fall, so I figured it was time to catch up.
What works best about this book is the character development. Spensa changes quite a bit in this book, trying to figure out how to defeat the enemy by essentially jumping into their territory. Sort of. M-Bot also grows a lot in this book, and he's just such a great character. We also get to meet a whole new cast of characters, and each of them felt like full characters in an of themselves.
This book did feel like mostly filler for the last book, so it's kind of second book syndrome even though it's the third book. I am intrigued about how Sanderson is going to finish this series off, though, so I will definitely be picking up that final book when it comes out! Maybe this time I won't wait three years to do it.
What works best about this book is the character development. Spensa changes quite a bit in this book, trying to figure out how to defeat the enemy by essentially jumping into their territory. Sort of. M-Bot also grows a lot in this book, and he's just such a great character. We also get to meet a whole new cast of characters, and each of them felt like full characters in an of themselves.
This book did feel like mostly filler for the last book, so it's kind of second book syndrome even though it's the third book. I am intrigued about how Sanderson is going to finish this series off, though, so I will definitely be picking up that final book when it comes out! Maybe this time I won't wait three years to do it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror
lakinglaze's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow I learned some much from this book. What a wild ride! I loved it! I can’t wait to read the third novella and I can’t wait for the fourth book to come out!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Confinement, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, War, Abandonment, and Violence
scrubsandbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Death, and Violence
bookcasey's review against another edition
I agree with other reviewers who said this book isn’t consistent with the first two. So far it’s been a mediocre space fever dream, and I’m not actually engaged enough to want to know where it goes.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Grief
cheye13's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This series has slipped into a pattern that I'm really not a fan of. I appreciated the first book for its humanity; the world operated by sci-fi rules (alien invaders, different government & tech, unique social structures) but the focus of the story was about Spensa - about her growth, her family's past, and her relationship with her classmates.
With each sequel, the world gets bigger and we move away from the characters we've grown to love over the course of the previous book. While the story is interesting and written well, I'd much rather we stayed on Detrius with familiar faces and operated from there. It's very hard to appreciate character development and the humanness of the story (which is what I'm most interested in) when our only constant is Spensa.
With each sequel, the world gets bigger and we move away from the characters we've grown to love over the course of the previous book. While the story is interesting and written well, I'd much rather we stayed on Detrius with familiar faces and operated from there. It's very hard to appreciate character development and the humanness of the story (which is what I'm most interested in) when our only constant is Spensa.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Body horror and War
katrinarose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Absolutely in love with the character development in this book, and amazed at the complex worlds Sanderson creates. I think this would’ve been 5 stars if Sunreach had been written by Sanderson and it was incorporated as alternating POVs in this book. As fascinating as the whole story was, I wish it wasn’t such a huge diversion from the story that was being told in the first two books (minor complaint though). Very enjoyable read, I can’t wait for the last book, and I hope it’s a long one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Death
mypatronusisajedi's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Violence, Gun violence, and Grief
More...