Skyhunter - Marie Lu | Book Review

Skyhunter (Book 1 of Skyhunter series)

Marie Lu

Reviewed 12/5/2024 (i have a lot of backlog i will slowly be posting)

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review (NO spoilers)

The dynamic of the all-consuming empire and the one remaining free kingdom is not anything particularly new for YA, but it’s enjoyable when well-written (which this was). The world at its baseline reminds me of the show She-ra and the Princesses of Power, but Skyhunter’s characters and story retain a unique identity regardless.

The technology of the Federation is intruiging. The main characters are quite compelling, especially considering their complex pasts. However, I didn't enjoy the side characters, they served more so as plot devices.

Much of the plot was fairly predictable. However, the book is fairly action-packed and full of tension and fighting, which is well-written. It was an enjoyable read, and I am excited for the next book. 

Scroll down for review with FULL SPOILERS

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Review (SPOILERS)

I can't say I was necessarily expecting the betrayal of the Speaker, mostly because he had fairly minor appearances throughout the book; not enough for me to form much of an opinion about him. However, I wasn't surprised, and I felt it didn't change much (his deal with the Federation really only accelerated Mara's inevitable fall). Having a spy in Mara makes a lot of sense for the Federation, and made an easy way to completely foil their plan. 

Talin and her friends definitely underestimated the Federation going in, but they also didn't really have much time to figure out what they were doing due to having to escape Mara at the last minute. 

I found it a little bit unbelievable how quickly Adena came up with a genius idea after experimenting with Red's blood. I understand that it's a resource they did not have access to previously, but you'd think someone would have at least had similar theories after years of fighting the Federation and their clearly remotely controlled Ghosts. They even had a Ghost in captivity to experiment with.