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
stuckinatimeloop's review
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
On it's own, Cytonic is a great book. Brandon Sanderson is great at making unique characters, which becomes a bit of a flaw in this series. Because at some point there are too many characters.
At times Cytonic felt very repetitive and quite similar to book 2. This is why it took me ages to finish. We were introduced to these amazing characters and dynamics in Skyward but for two whole books after that we don't have them anymore. You start to forget the names and all the characters before.
Cytonic and Starsight had the potential to be merged into one book, I feel. Essentially they had the same plot: Spensa goes to an alien place and makes an alien found family. It's written well every time but becomes redundant and boring.
I really hope Defiant happens all or mostly with the characters from book one because I miss them.
The part around 75% into Cytonic was really great, where she had to choose. The whole nowhere world was intriguing. Gave me goosebumps at times.
At times Cytonic felt very repetitive and quite similar to book 2. This is why it took me ages to finish. We were introduced to these amazing characters and dynamics in Skyward but for two whole books after that we don't have them anymore. You start to forget the names and all the characters before.
Cytonic and Starsight had the potential to be merged into one book, I feel. Essentially they had the same plot: Spensa goes to an alien place and makes an alien found family. It's written well every time but becomes redundant and boring.
I really hope Defiant happens all or mostly with the characters from book one because I miss them.
The part around 75% into Cytonic was really great, where she had to choose. The whole nowhere world was intriguing. Gave me goosebumps at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
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
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
fremzz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent
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