Starsight

4.5 Am I Alive Stars***“I will sing to you,” I whispered. “As your ship burns and your soul flees, I will sing. To the contest we had.”***What happened is what always happens when I read a Sanderson novel. I devour it in a day or two and then I can’t think of how to write something that does it justice. So here it is weeks later and I’m finally getting to a review for it. The short of it…******** SO GOOD *********But the long of it is that Sanderson does sequels great. He takes the foundation of what he has already established in the prior books and expands on it. I never have word building complaints or think his characters are one dimensional because they are always complex with both good and bad traits just like real people.I thought that I might get a little bored hanging out on Detritus with the crew fighting the Krell but Sanderson made she that wasn’t going to happen by introducing new characters from across the galaxy and opening up the story to see inside the other side.***“Cobb,” I said, stepping closer. “Those aren’t bloodthirsty monsters out there; they’re just people. Normal people, with lives, and loves, and families.”“And what did you think we’ve been fighting against all these years?” Cobb asked.“I…” I didn’t know. Red-eyed, faceless creatures. Relentless destroyers. Not far from how they saw humans.“That’s what war is,” Cobb told me. “A bunch of sorry, desperate fools on both sides, just trying to stay alive. That’s the part that those stories you love leave out, isn’t it? It’s always more convenient when you can fight a dragon. Something you don’t have to worry you’ll start caring about.” ***I don’t want to give away too much because the magic is in the story itself but M-bot, Spensa and Doomslug go on an epic adventure and we learn more about them along the way as they travel in space and meet the enemy.***A hero…does not choose…her trials, Spensa…“Gran-Gran?” I asked, trying to pinpoint the location of the words.She steps…into the darkness, the voice said, fading. Then she faces what comes next… ***M-bot is truly a favorite character of mine. I mean a sentient ship with an uncompromising love of mushrooms how could you not adore him. Plus he is great banter for our Spensa and sometimes her reality check.This is a true Sanderson story where we get glimpses of other complex cultures and how they live. In true Sanderson fashion there are great small details that just give a lot of life to the story. Like thinking about how a culture would live and reproduce and how that could form an entire culture.***“Some are crimson, others blue,” I said. “Is that like humans, with our skin tones?”“Not exactly,” M-Bot said. “It’s kind of like a gender distinction.”“The blues are boys, the reds girls?”“No, their biology is very different from yours. They have neither sex nor gender until they breed for the first time, whereupon they form a kind of cocoon with another individual. It’s really quite fascinating; as part of the breeding process, they merge for a time into a separate third individual. Regardless, after breeding, they become red or blue, depending. They can initiate a change in other ways, if they wish to be considered unavailable for some reason—while the dark purple color is the skin tone of one who has not mated, or who has broken their pair bond and is seeking another mate.” ***Truly fascinating how Sanderson’s imagination works.Even though we didn’t get a lot of time with the gang from the first book I saw them just enough that I was satisfied with the developments there. I like that Jerkface has his own mission and isn’t just a pretty face in the story.I’m already desperate for the next book as Starsight left off at a precarious place for Spensa, M-bot and Doomslug. Plus Jorgan is doing something very interesting too and I’m excited to see how his quest goes.Just one more book to look forward to in 2021 I guess since Stormlight 4 is scheduled for 2020. I totally accept this because STORMLIGHT 4!!!!!

Really enjoyed this book two, can’t wait to get into book three. Really like the author’s style of storytelling, very captivating.

Laggy near the middle but the beginning and ending were solid and engaging. Looking forward to books 3 and 4!

This review comes from a re-read right before I dive into the third one.I have read plenty of book series and lately I have had difficulty finishing anything. I would either stop on the 2nd book of a trilogy or finish it after a couple of months only to be able to start something new. In any case, I was rarely truly satisfied.This one I finished in 3 days and frankly the last day I read 40% of the book, I just couldn’t stop.Any book that captivates me so much that I can’t stop reading deserves extra points for me.Why would I give five stars though? Well, this book is amazing! First of all, you understand everything going on. You can picture descriptions, understand the politics and any terminology, even the weird species and their appearance or customs make sense. At the same time, any descriptions are no longer than they need to be, they don’t get tiring.The story is good, with constant development and twists in a perfect mix. The mysteries slowly get unraveled while at the same time new issues plague our protagonist. It’s amazing how stuff have been planted from the very first book only to make sense now..There are also emotional moments, epic moments, stressful moments, all so well done.There is also a lot of deeper meanings and topics for discussion through the book series. The whole take on aggression and isolation of species, the Dione reproductive method and implications, all add to the depth of the book. The characters are unique enough and the biggest shortcoming to me is the fact that we don’t spend real time with the previous crew. Still, there is a fresh cast, with their own distinctive personalities and motives, very well implemented.If you have read the first book of this series, I can’t imagine you have doubts about reading this. If you haven’t read any because maybe you don’t like the space setting or you haven’t read much of Sanderson, well, I urge you to read this gem, you won’t be disappointed

I boght this book for our daughter, and she encouraged me to read it. It's a young adult book, and I did enjoy it enough to start reading the sequel. I liked the fact that the teenager constantly made mistakes, which is more realistic than how main characters are usually portrayed. I won't give away the ending, but it was a surprise.

I can say that Brandon Sanderson has changed my life. Time that I would have spent on lesser things, now goes to the pursuit of reading in a way I had lost well over a decade ago.Starsight is probably the 15th Sanderson book I’ve read. But it’s the first youth one I have read with my 12 year old daughter. I read Skyward a couple of years ago, and gave it to her a couple months ago. After she devoured it, we read this one at the same time. What a JOY! This has been something we both love, and talk about together. We joke along with the lovable characters, we share anger with the antagonists, and have been thoroughly swept along with the story together!I have her “eating her [reading] vegetables” and reading a classic book series (Anne of Green Gables), and her desire to read Cytonic has her flying through it at breakneck speeds. So, thank you Brandon Sanderson, once again. You are inspiring another generation with your work, and God given gifts!TLDR: To those reading this review. This is a white-knuckle ride full of humor, love, and fun. Read it. You will LOVE it!

I couldn’t predict this book if I tried! At the end, everything made sense and the characters became bolder, more In tune with the story. Sanderson once again holds us hostage as we check daily for when the next book will come out...

A great sequel. Nah a great book by any standards. A lot has changed in the last 6 months. The right people are in charge of the humans Spensa has gotten the notoriety she deserves but is obsessed with not only craving battle but unlocking the power within her to save her people.In this story she is once again thrown out of her comfort zone and into a mission that sounds like suicide on every front. Of course she never backs down."A hero does not choose her trails".What does make her such a great hero is dispite her own self doubts her courage always manages to inspire others. Her determination to overcome is amazing like the first book there are many obstacles for her to overcome especially in the bigger universe.A great story as soon as I finished it I wanted to read the next book. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The second novel of Spensa, a woman who has grown up on humanity’s last refuge, and become a pilot to help defend her world. Starlight starts without an obvious direction to go in - the plot of the first novel, while leaving space for the sequel, didn’t make the onward path obvious.So I was happy to find that Sanderson has found a way to advance the plot, and of course his all-important worldbuilding, without dramatically shifting the tone of the narrative. We’re still aligned with Spensa, exploring an unfamiliar environment, learning so much, and facing an even bigger threat than before.I didn’t find the novel as captivating as I had expected though. It’s not non-captivating, just not to the level I have come to expect from Sanderson’s novels. There are evident similarities between the style of the narrative here with his previous young adult novels, but it’s clearly grown since Alcatraz into something I can at least engage with without being put off.What I loved the most about this novel is the worldbuilding - that Sanderson is taking all the little seeds that he planted in the first book and growing them into surprising new directions, that either make you feel a bit dumb for not seeing where it was going, or make you rethink your understanding, or just make you go wow.

As a fan of Sanderson I can’t quibble over the quality for this target audience (and at 36 I really am not his TA for this series). I could just write ‘he’s done it again’ and be done with it. Yes, there’s excellent world building, interesting characters and a plot line that just keeps you turning those pages...just as you’d expect in any of his series, but it’s the very humanity he so skilfully embroils into a world that is not quite human that enables you to feel every frustration and every plight and keeps you reading. There’s something very human in the characters, whether they’re actually human or not, that makes you feel you’re discovering something together. And that is the power of a great story teller.

I have bought & read most of Brandon Sanderson's novels. I loved Skyward, Starsight expands the story in so many ways & you come to realise why humans are on to Detritus start with. The pity is of course that humans have changed but the Aliens who keep them there don't know this, and like all politics some of them use the fact of their continued existence for their own ends. A Fast moving pacey story that leaves you on the edge of your seat not really sure who to trust. I look forward to the third in the series Cytonic but I wish they had a date for putting it out in paperback Hardbacks are big & take up a lot of room.

As my title says. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love that every chapter is filled with action and intrigue. My favourite character didn't feature quite as much (M-Bot) as I'd have liked and he appeared to have a little bit of an existential crisis, but I guess it made their character a little more in-depth.The story takes place in a much larger expanse and introduces you to some great new characters and species that made it feel like it has far more longevity and possibility for other sub-stories. Can't wait for the next one!