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emily44's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is such a fun book to read! The story draws you right in and leaves you wanting more. The characters are enjoyable to follow. There were a few instances that were predictable but I personally don’t mind that at all. Would totally recommend this book to someone who enjoys dystopian books and to people who don’t read too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
pelb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t it for me. I’m a huge attack on titan fan, so I thought this book would be great since it’s an similar premise. Unfortunately it’s a little too similar in some aspects. This is like if attack on titan was a book, and it was way more boring and predictable. The plot was interesting but as I said, unoriginal, which I would have been able to get past if the characters were better. Sadly, the characters were my biggest problem with this book. They were so one dimensional and bland that I didn’t even care what happened to them. I couldn’t connect with them at all which made the story uninteresting. They all had literally no individual personalities, which was very disappointing. There were definitely good aspects of this book, like the prose was very beautiful and it had great diversity and representation. But overall, to me it’s flaws out way the positives, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, War, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
ashylibrarian's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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? No
4.0
I would love to see this book turned into a visual creation. I think the concept of the Skyhunter, the war machine, would be so interesting to see brought to life in a visual format.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, and Blood
Minor: Torture and Death of parent
artmuseam's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
currently struggling to find the right words to describe this breathtaking, action-packed story. i’ve always been a fan of marie lu’s works and how they keep you reading until you’ve reached the end of the novel. i was introduced to a world that made me fall in love with all the characters and the ways they worked together to fight against monsters that i pitied rather than hated. this book kept me at the edge of my seat until the very end and i can’t wait to start the next one! 10/10 recommend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, War, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Death, Classism, and Cursing
fictionaladventures's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This was SO GOOD! Perhaps the best prologue I’ve ever read? When I got home from work after starting it, I had to read the prologue to my mom because it was so perfect. And the story didn’t ever lag from there. It was unique and completely captivating. The Ghosts remind me of a mix between the monsters from The Last of Us and Game of Thrones 👀
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Gun violence
literarypenguin's review against another edition
adventurous
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
This is my first book of Marie Lu's that I have ever read and I have to say that I don't know how she does it! This book held my attention until the very end and didn't let go!
The plot of this book held me, talking about war and racism throughout this world. The Federation is bent on taking over the continent and spreading their legacy to all parts. They want to run their experiments on people and let those experiments fight for them to take cities that do not comply with them. They really think that what they are doing is right while the city of Mara is a city holding on to it's independence from the Federation trying to fight off swarms of Ghosts, mutated creatures that when they bite humans they turn into them.
The characters are great in this book my favorite was Talin, a refugee that came to the city of Mara with her mother after her village was destroyed and her father killed. Because of this incident she becomes mute unable to speak. I love how the other characters use sign language to communicate with her and they even weave it into the Strikers and how they do things on the battle field. That was very clever! Her other friends Jaren and Adena were amazing and their bond as Striker and Shield was so close and lovely. These group of characters all have a struggle in the world that bonds them together. Talin faces racism every day by not being trusted by the other Marans but she keeps her chin up and head held high, Jaren is abused by his father and brother but has a sweet and gentle heart despite this. Adena tries to make her brother proud of her and tries to advance her inventions and Red deals with his trauma after the Federation tortures and experiments on him.
The world was great and I loved learning about the Ghosts, Strikers, and Shields. It was a harsh environment to live in torn up by war and survival which our characters had to learn how to survive in. The Ancient Ones were fascinating and I hope that we learn more about them in the next book.
I highly recommend this book and I can't wait until I can pick up the next one!
The plot of this book held me, talking about war and racism throughout this world. The Federation is bent on taking over the continent and spreading their legacy to all parts. They want to run their experiments on people and let those experiments fight for them to take cities that do not comply with them. They really think that what they are doing is right while the city of Mara is a city holding on to it's independence from the Federation trying to fight off swarms of Ghosts, mutated creatures that when they bite humans they turn into them.
The characters are great in this book my favorite was Talin, a refugee that came to the city of Mara with her mother after her village was destroyed and her father killed. Because of this incident she becomes mute unable to speak. I love how the other characters use sign language to communicate with her and they even weave it into the Strikers and how they do things on the battle field. That was very clever! Her other friends Jaren and Adena were amazing and their bond as Striker and Shield was so close and lovely. These group of characters all have a struggle in the world that bonds them together. Talin faces racism every day by not being trusted by the other Marans but she keeps her chin up and head held high, Jaren is abused by his father and brother but has a sweet and gentle heart despite this. Adena tries to make her brother proud of her and tries to advance her inventions and Red deals with his trauma after the Federation tortures and experiments on him.
The world was great and I loved learning about the Ghosts, Strikers, and Shields. It was a harsh environment to live in torn up by war and survival which our characters had to learn how to survive in. The Ancient Ones were fascinating and I hope that we learn more about them in the next book.
I highly recommend this book and I can't wait until I can pick up the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Blood
bookishmikay's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Gore, Death, and Blood
jasperdotpdf's review
emotional
tense
fast-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
4.0
So this was the first Marie Lu book I ever read, and I really loved it!
The worldbuilding was great, and Talin‘s characterisation as well. I love how she handled her grief throughout the book, and how it was a constant factor that she carried with her even to the end of the book. It felt very realistic to see her remember Corian even when she‘d bonded with Red. It was also really interesting to see a mute MC, which I‘m just gonna take as disability rep even though it isn’t a huge hindrance for Talin.
I did have a bone to pick with how this was handled, however.For the majority of the book, we‘re told that Talin lost her voice during the siege of Basea because of poison gas, however the reveal towards the end of the book rubbed me the wrong way. It feels like it‘s a setup for her to regain her voice in the sequel, which I really wouldn‘t enjoy. It was great to see a main character with a disability that wasn‘t painted as something they needed to overcome, and I fear that it‘s going to become a plot point in Steelstriker, despite there not being a major struggle throughout Skyhunter that would make this feel rewarding in any way, shape or form.
The pacing was a little fast for me, especially how the developing of relationships between the characters was handled. But this definitely had the usual upsides of faster pacing — namely that this book was a breeze to read through and managed to keep my attention fairly well.
The way Marie Lu handles the setup for the climax was nothing short of captivating and it did make me tear up a little bit.
The end, as well as some small parts of the story were a little predictable, but I‘m not one to dislike any and everything that doesn’t have schock value. Despite the predictability of these moments, the way I grew to care about the characters still made them pay off.
Apart from some small redundancies/repetitions in writing, and my wish for a little slower pacing this book was absolutely amazing.
The worldbuilding was great, and Talin‘s characterisation as well. I love how she handled her grief throughout the book, and how it was a constant factor that she carried with her even to the end of the book. It felt very realistic to see her remember Corian even when she‘d bonded with Red. It was also really interesting to see a mute MC, which I‘m just gonna take as disability rep even though it isn’t a huge hindrance for Talin.
I did have a bone to pick with how this was handled, however.
The pacing was a little fast for me, especially how the developing of relationships between the characters was handled. But this definitely had the usual upsides of faster pacing — namely that this book was a breeze to read through and managed to keep my attention fairly well.
The way Marie Lu handles the setup for the climax was nothing short of captivating and it did make me tear up a little bit.
The end, as well as some small parts of the story were a little predictable, but I‘m not one to dislike any and everything that doesn’t have schock value. Despite the predictability of these moments, the way I grew to care about the characters still made them pay off.
Apart from some small redundancies/repetitions in writing, and my wish for a little slower pacing this book was absolutely amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Medical trauma
Minor: Ableism and Racism
steffandbooks's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I think I've just found my favourite read of the year. This book is utterly amazing and I don't understand why this is not talked about more. If you like dystopian and/or sci/fi books, please go read it.
The book had me hooked from chapter one and it actually already made me cry. How good is an author with words if characters can already make you cry only after a few pages, when you didn't have long interactions with them and the chance to build up a relationship with them? I say, absolutely amazing. Marie Lu may have become one of my new favourite authors and, naturally, I have to go read her other books now as well.
Although this series is a duology, I immediately wanted to go back to the start and read this book all over again.
I am in love with the characters, with the setting, with the world, with the plot. It's everything. This book also made me want to learn sign language.
How the characters are all part of an elite soldiers group made me think of special forces like SEALs and I do enjoy TV shows about special forces as well, so I was intrigued to see how the "war" setting can be put into words. But Marie did not have any problems with that. I was able to follow every single scene and was able to let it play out in my head.
And what I found even more amazing is that the FMC wasn’t the center of attention, wasn’t the overpowered girl that needed to save the rest of the country. While Talin is a very, very good soldier and also very likeable character with many obstacles to overcome, her other friends and main focus in the books were also equally amazing at something particular and haunted by their own demons. And then we got Red. He is the overpowered character, the hope of everyone to save the world. But we did not get his POV, so everything was told from Talin‘s POV, which is why this whole thing was so refreshing. I know this might change due to how the book ends, but I am sure Marie will be able to find a perfect way to unpack it in the second one.
It also didn't feel like YA to me at all. The character are all 18 years old and older, Red even 22 years old and just the content did not scream YA to me. Although the romance was rather an undercurrent and we focused more on the plot, the interaction between the love interests was described in a more adult way, I would say - but don't get me wrong, there was no explicit content, but it also wasn't fade to black or like "oh my god he touched me, what am I going to do now" kind of thing.
All in all, this book is just amazing and I hope the second one can live up to the first's standards.
The book had me hooked from chapter one and it actually already made me cry. How good is an author with words if characters can already make you cry only after a few pages, when you didn't have long interactions with them and the chance to build up a relationship with them? I say, absolutely amazing. Marie Lu may have become one of my new favourite authors and, naturally, I have to go read her other books now as well.
Although this series is a duology, I immediately wanted to go back to the start and read this book all over again.
I am in love with the characters, with the setting, with the world, with the plot. It's everything. This book also made me want to learn sign language.
How the characters are all part of an elite soldiers group made me think of special forces like SEALs and I do enjoy TV shows about special forces as well, so I was intrigued to see how the "war" setting can be put into words. But Marie did not have any problems with that. I was able to follow every single scene and was able to let it play out in my head.
And what I found even more amazing is that the FMC wasn’t the center of attention, wasn’t the overpowered girl that needed to save the rest of the country. While Talin is a very, very good soldier and also very likeable character with many obstacles to overcome, her other friends and main focus in the books were also equally amazing at something particular and haunted by their own demons. And then we got Red. He is the overpowered character, the hope of everyone to save the world. But we did not get his POV, so everything was told from Talin‘s POV, which is why this whole thing was so refreshing. I know this might change due to how the book ends, but I am sure Marie will be able to find a perfect way to unpack it in the second one.
It also didn't feel like YA to me at all. The character are all 18 years old and older, Red even 22 years old and just the content did not scream YA to me. Although the romance was rather an undercurrent and we focused more on the plot, the interaction between the love interests was described in a more adult way, I would say - but don't get me wrong, there was no explicit content, but it also wasn't fade to black or like "oh my god he touched me, what am I going to do now" kind of thing.
All in all, this book is just amazing and I hope the second one can live up to the first's standards.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, War, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Racism
vaniavela's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, War, and Racism
Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence