Book Beach Bunny

So Cytonic (book 3 in the Skyward series) was my most anticipated book of the year… and I enjoyed Cytonic but a funny thing happened while reading it…

I felt as though some of my excitement about being back in the world was lacking for the first time.

And I think it might have had something to do with the novellas. Spoilers for the series warning!

Sanderson and his co-author published 3 novellas in the world and it was heavily suggest, not the least by Sanderson, to read the books in publication order.

Sunreach and ReDawn, then Cytonic and then Evershore (which I still haven’t read yet.)

Anyway being the good little Sanderson fan I did exactly that and they were…

Fine.

I do like the rest of the characters of Detritus that it deals with and I do think you should probably read them before the 4th book because pieces are definitely being set for the final battle.

Sunreach is probably the most forgettable but the slugs continue to be adorable. I like the rest of the flight crew and some parts are pretty funny but after the world opening that was the second novel it feels a little light. ReDawn opens up the world more for the flight crew as we deal more with Alanik (the crashed pilot whose place Spensa took over in book 2) and her people.

At the end of that one at least I felt that Jorgen and the rest of the crew were finally only a more even basis with Spensa in terms of bigger picture.

So what about Cytonic?

The last we saw Spensa she had jumped with Doomslug and M-Bot into the Nowhere- where now she must walk the path and try to find out the truth about her and the other Cytonic’s under the nose of increasingly pissed off delvers and all the many strange places and beings stuck in that dimension between.

This is very sci-fi and leans a lot on some of the adventurous stories of our past… pirates, explorers, rebels that kind of thing. I like the thread of stories connecting all the things memories and emotions. Nice touch.

There’s some good characters. (If you missed the camaraderie of the pilots in the first book Cytonic might give you more your fill.) Good character development and we do get some answers. Like I said about the novellas… after Cytonic the pieces are in place for the finale.

And it also hurts a little that this is the penultimate book? Sanderson has set up the ending very well now it’s a matter of seeing if he can stick the landing.

Recommend Cytonic: Yes. I recommend the entire series obviously and the novellas are fine. I just think if you aren’t worried about slight spoilers it might be better to read them in the wait between Cytonic and the finale.