Literature & Fiction
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Cytonic (The Skyward Series)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The third book in an epic series about a girl who will travel beyond the stars to save the world she loves from destruction from the author of the Reckoners series, the Mistborn trilogy, and the Stormlight Archive.
Spensa's life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell-the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What's more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home.
Now, the Superiority-the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life-has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa's seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.
Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she's able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.
The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.
To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.
Spensa's life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell-the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What's more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home.
Now, the Superiority-the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life-has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa's seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.
Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she's able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.
The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.
To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for Skyward
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
"Startling revelations and stakes-raising implications . . . Sanderson plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"With this action-packed trilogy opener, Sanderson offers up a resourceful, fearless heroine and a memorable cast . . . [and] as the pulse-pounding story intensifies and reveals its secrets, a cliffhanger ending sets things up for the next installment." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"It is impossible to turn the pages fast enough." -Booklist
"Sanderson delivers a cinematic adventure that explores the defining aspects of the individual versus the society . . . [and] fans of [his] will not be disappointed." -SLJ
Praise for Starsight, the sequel to Skyward
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
"No one has more fun writing or is better at describing galactic dogfights. . . . Read the first one for fun or enjoy the second on its own." -Booklist
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
"Startling revelations and stakes-raising implications . . . Sanderson plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"With this action-packed trilogy opener, Sanderson offers up a resourceful, fearless heroine and a memorable cast . . . [and] as the pulse-pounding story intensifies and reveals its secrets, a cliffhanger ending sets things up for the next installment." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"It is impossible to turn the pages fast enough." -Booklist
"Sanderson delivers a cinematic adventure that explores the defining aspects of the individual versus the society . . . [and] fans of [his] will not be disappointed." -SLJ
Praise for Starsight, the sequel to Skyward
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
"No one has more fun writing or is better at describing galactic dogfights. . . . Read the first one for fun or enjoy the second on its own." -Booklist
Readers Top Reviews
John MarinvilleCJ
***UPDATE*** I contacted Brilliance Audio, and they responded very quickly, sending me a corrected Audiobook at promptly and at no further cost to me. I really don't ask for a company to be perfect every time; I simply ask that they resolve the few issues that do arise in a reasonably fair way, and Brilliance absolutely did so! ***Original*** I genuinely don't know how to rate this, because Brandon Sanderson's work is clearly 5 Stars, but the MP3 Audiobook is literally defective: - Track 29 cuts out midsentence at 5min 58sec out of 14min 57sec. - Track 30 cuts out at 8min 55sec out of 15min 45sec. - I don't know how many more tracks have issues, because I can't proceed with parts of the story missing! I returned the first copy for replacement, assuming it was just a one-off issue, but the replacement that arrived today has the exact some omissions in the exact same places!
DCarlisleJohn Mar
I thought the first two were better, but this is worth reading.
Cyndal E.DCarlisl
Liked the characters and the adventures. Very imaginative World building. Not as dark as Mistborn. It's a good sign when you get to the end and want more.
SkyMtnCyndal E.DC
What can I say. It started a bit slow and early on I was somewhat unhappy. I said, "I am not sure I want to read about Spensa's JOURNEY. I want things to happen. Important things." Well, it might start a bit slower, CALMER, but it builds and builds. One surprising thing after another is revealed and in the end, it has become a fascinating book. I highly recommend it. Make sure to read the other two books in this series, first. Also, when the journey ends, some surprising things have happened to other people. In fact, Spensa says, "Guess I wasn’t the only one who had some stories to tell." Well, Brandon Sanderson has written 3 short novels that fill in a lot of the gaps, and you can find them on Kindle in a grouping called, "Skyward Flight: The Collection: Sunreach, ReDawn, Evershore" and then the 3 short novels are all released as separate AUDIBLE recordings. Yes, i had to spend one Audible credit for each of them, but I would gladly do it again. If you like Brandon Sanderson, then read these books. If you already read the first two in the series, then you will be very happy with this one.
Carmela EnriquezS
Brandon Sanderson never fails! Cytonic is a fantastic installment to the Skyward series, very interesting as Sanderson took this world into a whole new level. Like Starsight, Spensa meets a new group of friends, away from the original group of characters in Skyward. I somehow miss them though, that's why the novellas are awesome! This exceed my expectations, so much character growth, especially with M-Bot - I love him so much!
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
I dropped out of a wall.
Like, I emerged straight from the stone. I flopped forward in a heap of tangled clothing and limbs. M-Bot made a grunting noise as his drone body fell out beside me, but there was no sign of Doomslug.
I scrambled to my feet, orienting myself, looking around to see . . . a jungle? Like, a real jungle. I'd seen pictures in school of Old Earth, and this place reminded me of those. Imperious moss-covered trees. Branches like broken arms, twisted and draped with thick vines like power lines. It smelled like the algae vats, only more . . . dirty? Earthy?
Scud. It truly was a jungle--like where Tarzan of the Apes had lived in Gran-Gran's stories. Were there apes here? I'd always thought I'd make a good queen of the apes.
M-Bot hovered up, turning around to take it in. The wall we'd fallen out of was behind us. A flat stone freestanding in the jungle, like a monolith. It was overgrown with weeds and vines, and I recognized the carvings in it. I'd seen similar carvings on a wall in the tunnels on Detritus.
I knew from the delver's impressions that this was the nowhere. That felt right to me, for reasons I couldn't explain. Somehow I had to find answers in this place. Which seemed a whole lot more daunting to me now than it had moments ago. I . . . scud, I had barely escaped the Superiority with my life. Now I thought I could find answers about the delvers, one of the universe's greatest cosmic mysteries?
Not merely about the delvers, I thought. About myself. Because in those moments when I touched the nowhere, and the beings that resided in it, I felt something that terrified me. I felt kinship.
I took a deep breath. First order of business was an inventory. M-Bot looked fine, and I still had my stolen energy rifle. I felt a ton more safe holding it. I wore what I'd escaped in: a standard Superiority pilot's jumpsuit, a flight jacket, and a pair of combat boots. M-Bot hovered up to eye level in his drone, his grabber arms twitching.
"A jungle?" he asked me. To him, the time I'd spent communing with the delver would have passed in an instant. "Um, Spensa, why are we in a jungle?"
"Not sure," I said. I glanced around for any sign of Doomslug. She was cytonic like me--slugs were what made ships able to hyperjump--and I hoped that she'd done as I'd asked, and jumped to safety on Detritus.
To be certain, I reached out with my powers to see if I could sense her. Also, could I jump home? I stretched outward, and felt . . .
Nothing? I mean, I still had my powers, but I couldn't sense Detritus, or the delver maze, or Starsight. None of the places I could normally hyperjump to. It was eerie. Like . . . waking up at night and turning on the lights, only to find infinite blackness around you.
Yes, I was definitely in the nowhere.
"When we entered the black sphere, I felt the delvers," I said to M-Bot. "And . . . I talked to one of them. The one from before. It said to walk the Path of Elders." I rested my fingers on the wall behind us. "I think . . . this is a doorway, M-Bot."
"The stone wall?" M-Bot asked. "The portal we entered was a sphere."
"Yeah," I said, looking up at the sky through the trees. It was pinkish for some reason.
"Maybe we passed through the nowhere and came out on another planet?" M-Bot said.
"No, this is the nowhere. Somehow." I stomped my foot, testing the soft earth beneath. The air was humid, like in a bath, but the jungle felt too quiet. Weren't these places supposed to be teeming with life?
Beams of light filtered in from my right, parallel to the ground. So was it . . . sunset here? I'd always wanted to see one of those. The stories made them sound dramatic. Unfortunately, the trees were so thick that I couldn't make out the source of the light, merely the direction.
"We need to study this place," I said. "Set up a base camp, explore the surroundings, get our bearings."
As if he hadn't heard, M-Bot floated closer to me.
"M-Bot?"
"I . . . Spensa, I am angry!"
"Me too," I said, smacking my hand with my fist. "I can't believe that Brade betrayed me. But--"
"I'm angry at you," M-Bot interrupted, waving an arm. "Of course, what I feel is not real anger. It's just a synthetic representation of emotion created by my processors to present humans with a realistic approximation of . . . of . . . Gah!"
I set aside my own concerns and...
I dropped out of a wall.
Like, I emerged straight from the stone. I flopped forward in a heap of tangled clothing and limbs. M-Bot made a grunting noise as his drone body fell out beside me, but there was no sign of Doomslug.
I scrambled to my feet, orienting myself, looking around to see . . . a jungle? Like, a real jungle. I'd seen pictures in school of Old Earth, and this place reminded me of those. Imperious moss-covered trees. Branches like broken arms, twisted and draped with thick vines like power lines. It smelled like the algae vats, only more . . . dirty? Earthy?
Scud. It truly was a jungle--like where Tarzan of the Apes had lived in Gran-Gran's stories. Were there apes here? I'd always thought I'd make a good queen of the apes.
M-Bot hovered up, turning around to take it in. The wall we'd fallen out of was behind us. A flat stone freestanding in the jungle, like a monolith. It was overgrown with weeds and vines, and I recognized the carvings in it. I'd seen similar carvings on a wall in the tunnels on Detritus.
I knew from the delver's impressions that this was the nowhere. That felt right to me, for reasons I couldn't explain. Somehow I had to find answers in this place. Which seemed a whole lot more daunting to me now than it had moments ago. I . . . scud, I had barely escaped the Superiority with my life. Now I thought I could find answers about the delvers, one of the universe's greatest cosmic mysteries?
Not merely about the delvers, I thought. About myself. Because in those moments when I touched the nowhere, and the beings that resided in it, I felt something that terrified me. I felt kinship.
I took a deep breath. First order of business was an inventory. M-Bot looked fine, and I still had my stolen energy rifle. I felt a ton more safe holding it. I wore what I'd escaped in: a standard Superiority pilot's jumpsuit, a flight jacket, and a pair of combat boots. M-Bot hovered up to eye level in his drone, his grabber arms twitching.
"A jungle?" he asked me. To him, the time I'd spent communing with the delver would have passed in an instant. "Um, Spensa, why are we in a jungle?"
"Not sure," I said. I glanced around for any sign of Doomslug. She was cytonic like me--slugs were what made ships able to hyperjump--and I hoped that she'd done as I'd asked, and jumped to safety on Detritus.
To be certain, I reached out with my powers to see if I could sense her. Also, could I jump home? I stretched outward, and felt . . .
Nothing? I mean, I still had my powers, but I couldn't sense Detritus, or the delver maze, or Starsight. None of the places I could normally hyperjump to. It was eerie. Like . . . waking up at night and turning on the lights, only to find infinite blackness around you.
Yes, I was definitely in the nowhere.
"When we entered the black sphere, I felt the delvers," I said to M-Bot. "And . . . I talked to one of them. The one from before. It said to walk the Path of Elders." I rested my fingers on the wall behind us. "I think . . . this is a doorway, M-Bot."
"The stone wall?" M-Bot asked. "The portal we entered was a sphere."
"Yeah," I said, looking up at the sky through the trees. It was pinkish for some reason.
"Maybe we passed through the nowhere and came out on another planet?" M-Bot said.
"No, this is the nowhere. Somehow." I stomped my foot, testing the soft earth beneath. The air was humid, like in a bath, but the jungle felt too quiet. Weren't these places supposed to be teeming with life?
Beams of light filtered in from my right, parallel to the ground. So was it . . . sunset here? I'd always wanted to see one of those. The stories made them sound dramatic. Unfortunately, the trees were so thick that I couldn't make out the source of the light, merely the direction.
"We need to study this place," I said. "Set up a base camp, explore the surroundings, get our bearings."
As if he hadn't heard, M-Bot floated closer to me.
"M-Bot?"
"I . . . Spensa, I am angry!"
"Me too," I said, smacking my hand with my fist. "I can't believe that Brade betrayed me. But--"
"I'm angry at you," M-Bot interrupted, waving an arm. "Of course, what I feel is not real anger. It's just a synthetic representation of emotion created by my processors to present humans with a realistic approximation of . . . of . . . Gah!"
I set aside my own concerns and...
