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rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? No
4.0
While I didn’t love Starsight as much as Skyward, it was still a great and well-crafted novel. Characters get more depth, and the world of the series is greatly expanded upon.
After the events of the first book, Spensa and her squad are struggling more than ever to fight off the Krell. By chance, she suddenly gets the opportunity to go to Starsight, the place many alien species live, including the Krell. All those different new species were so interesting and Starsight was just fascinating and vividly described. Because of this shifting focus, the political conflict between the different species is introduced which was so great. Just like this conflict, the fighting scenes with the star ships are still so dynamic and just amazing.
Towards the end, there were many reveals that just left me shocked, like the reveal that the snails are used to hyperjump or that Cuna is on Spensa’s side. It was kinda sad how Cuna accepted Spensa, even though she was a human, but Brade couldn’t, forcing Spensa to flee and leave M-Bot behind . The ending itself was so amazing as well: The Delver arrives but Spensa is able redirect him to Starsight where way more aliens live that would be hurt by it. Of course, she first thinks she failed but then she’s able to save Starsight. I especially loved the fake epilogue where everything seems well but then another chapter is behind it – and everything is not well .
There are two reasons though why I couldn’t give this book five stars like I gave <i>Skyward</i>: Firstly, this book felt too disconnected from the first one. Many characters from there only have few lines of dialogues and we don’t see any of the old settings. Secondly, some things didn’t make too much sense to me, like how no one would notice that Spensa talks to M-Bot, and some things were a bit predictable, like Spensa’s first plan failing .
Looking at the characters, there are so many that I absolutely love. I really like our main fighting squad, even though they’re not much in the focus here. Thus, it was nice to get some Jorgen POV chapters in between. I even love the non-human characters, like M-Bot or the snail. It was also interesting to see how much Spensa changed because she spends some time with the aliens.
With this mean ending, I need to know how the series will continue after Starsight – luckily, the third book and the novella collection are on their way to me right now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent and Slavery
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