Skyhunter (Skyhunter Duology, 1)

*Aesthetics ~ check out that cover, it looks simple, but oh the colors and that font. 😍😭Then if you had the hardcover edition like I do, the title is sprayed against the pages…and then….and THEN when you take off the jacket, you get more of that purple pink title and that title in that font again. I think it’s right now my favorite cover of 2020 and I didn’t think it would be at first glance.*World Building ~ Marie Lu knows how to build a fictional world. This story is set in a dystopian world, Mara is the last area standing against the Karensa Federation who wants to take over every inch of land in their country. This story is set way after our current civilization. There are ruins of our cities made of steel and people have learned to use the materials they found to survive. There are evolved humans, more like humans that were experimented on, that turned them into killing creatures called Ghosts. So the sci-fi aspect is very present in this story.*Characters ~ interesting and diverse characters. My favorite so far is Jeran, one of Talin’s friends. Talin is a solid main character – she’s strong and we shall see what happens in the next book.Writing ~ engaging from the start. The story is intense with lots of action, and characters dealing with their own personal traumas. There is a great message of being brave and strong no matter what life throws at you.~As engaging as the writing is, the middle of the book started to lose my attention. I might have been expecting more from the story or maybe I wanted it to go deeper. Maybe I wanted more romance and I got some of it with Jeran’s storyline at least, yay! I can’t pinpoint it just yet, maybe it was too predictable? Was I not connecting to any of the characters? But I started to get bored, until the last few pages happened, which was a total cliffhanger.~I had a lot of questions that weren’t answered and maybe will be answered in book two – but the whole mind link thing between Red and Talin, why did it happen so quickly?~Triggers: violence, killing, experiments on humans, abuse, grief, traumaThe physical book is gorgeous, the writing is wonderful but I might have been expecting more because it’s a Marie Lu book. As a dystopian, sci-fi novel I think it has a lot of action and the ending makes you want to read the next book. I think I’m looking for more of a connection to the characters but maybe that will happen in book two when we find out what happens next to Talin and Red.

I was a little nervous going into this book because I was not a fan of Marie Lu's previous book published this year. I was, however, a huge Legend fan and I loved Warcross, so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out I ended up loving it! This was a classic YA dystopian that was not heavily focused on romance. I loved the characters, the world, the descriptions, everything!Talin was a fantastic main character and I thought it was really cool how she and her fellow strikers did sign language to communicate with each other. Talin's mom was also such a badass! I loved Red too and I found his Skyhunter abilities super interesting. I loved Talin and Red's bond! Jeran and Armin were fantastic and I would love to read more about them and their relationship. Adena was snarky and smart, and she knew about basically everything relating to science and weapons. Not the most realistic, but that's okay.I can't wait for the next installment of this book and to see what happens to everyone. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Marie Lu's other dystopian books.

I really enjoyed Skyhunter, another winner from Marie Lu. Tallin is a refugee and is mute. She is a Striker, a special type of fighter, for the country of Mara. Mara is under threat from the Karensa Federation, which has invaded every other country except for Mara. Tallin and her mother fled to Mara when the Federation invaded their own country Basea. Mara does not treat its refugees well. Even though Tallin risks her life for Mara, she is mocked and called a "rat". The Strikers are trained to fight "ghosts", dangerous genetically modified people turned into monsters created by the Federation.The story gets going when an unusual prisoner from the Federation is captured by Mara. He is slated for execution. Sensing something important about him, Tallin advocates to spare his life.Skyhunter is a fast paced sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian. The Federation is truly chilling in its treatment of people. There are references to an ancient society that met with an apocalyptic end, which makes the reader to want to learn more. The characters are interesting and well developed. Tallin's character offers the unique perspective of that of a refugee and a mute person. Skyhunter is the first book in a series. I look forward to future installments.

This was AMAZING. Just wow. Wow wow wow. I didn’t think I would be a fan of Marie Lu from my memories of reading Legend (which I will have to try again now evidently) but this book has changed everything!!I loved how the main character, Talin, was written so in depth. Her inability to speak and her use of sign language was clearly so well research and executed so effectively it refreshed the YA genre.And omg the enemies to lovers trope is the BEST. More like enemies to best friends here but it’s a work in progress ;)I loved Red so much and I loved how they found each other. They both struggled to communicate to others but found kinship with one another and aaaa 🥺 I wish there were more scenes of them together and their developing friendship.Jeran and Adena were amazing side characters and I loved the little tidbits of their lives. Especially Jeran and Aramin with their clear yearning for each other. So adorable please give us more scenes with them in the next book😭The mother is also SO BADASS like damn. She didn’t feature much but she brought so much to the scenes where she was present.And the ending wowww I really can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next book. I absolutely LOVED it.

Marie Lus Schreibstil hat sich seit ihren letzten Büchern wahnsinnig entwickelt. Ständig bleibt man ein kleinen Sätzen hängen, die einen emotional aus der Bahn werfen und die Spannung erhöhen.Kleine Details in der Geschichte reihen sich nach und nach ein und man erlebt mehrere Aha-Momente.Talin war eine tolle Protagonistin und ihre Verbindung zu Redlen war wirklich wun-der-schön ausgearbeitet. Irgendwie authentisch, zum Mitfühlen, und hat nur einen kleinen Teil der Geschichte eingenommen. Weniger als Talins Verhältnis zu ihrer Mutter, die ich sehr lieb gewonnen habe. Durch diese Momente hat man Talin noch besser verstanden.Es gäbe Kritikpunkte, die mich persönlich nicht gestört haben (sondern mMn zum Genre gehören): Man braucht am Anfang ein wenig, um die Welt zu verstehen, weil wenig erklärt wird. Dadurch dauert es, bis man mit den Figuren mitfühlt. Und wie gewohnt für YA, sind die Protagonisten Teenager und weitaus kompetenter als es realistisch ist und kommen auf Ideen, die die Erwachsenen in den Büchern weder haben noch zulassen wollen ;)Definitiv eine Geschichte für alle, die Legend mochten =)Oder die, die The Young Elites ein bisschen zu "out there" fanden, Marie Lu aber noch eine Chance geben wollen.In Warcross gab es ganz andere Vibes, es hatte etwas Frischeres, hat einen mental mehr aber in die Mangel genommen. Skyhunters Setting ist düsterer, aber der Inhalt leichter verdaulich.

I think that was the best book I’ve read in 2020. No joke, the story is so good and the characters are so interesting. I don’t have words enough to describe this book!

The characters are amazing and the arc they go through is so good. The pain is so raw and the relationships are great