I know I keep saying this, but there is so much world building that it interrupts my reading slightly...all these new aliens, and I forgot which was which! (Maybe that’s just my sleep deprived brain though...) Sometimes it's too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.” Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the Legion series, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. There’s a lot of material to go around! And that is the setting for this book. The setting of this book is Definitely one of the best things about this book. we get a lot of lore and mystery we’re delving into what it means to be cytonic and stuff. And we got some answers and they are pretty fantastic.

All of Spensa's new acquaintances are vibrant and add something that was needed to understand the world at large... as well as being enjoyable to be around. I feel Cytonic fell into the dreaded middle book syndrome. I originally thought that it would be a trilogy and I think it should have been one. I was a bit confused about how the main story will continue given the important events of the novellas. Turns out that the novel takes place mainly in the nowhere following Spensa and a new set of characters veering once again far from the main story. I’m not exactly a ‘there are nuances to this situation’ type of girl. I’m more of a ‘if it’s stiAnd, naturally, most of this book's laugh-out-loud moments are credited to our favorite not-so-artificial intelligence spaceship personality, M-Bot. These books wouldn't be what they are without him, and much of the reason why Cytonic was my favorite is his comedic relief. After the events of Starsight, M-Bot is dealing with a lot of new feelings- being an AI, emotions aren't something he's accustomed to, and he takes every opportunity in this book to bother Spensa about having them. It had me clutching my stomach in a fit of giggles, and yet by the end his humor turned into something I didn't expect, but appreciated nonetheless: an elaborate study of emotions and how/why we react to them. It shouldn't be possible for a robot to have character development, but it seems BrandoSando makes the impossible possible. And seeing M-Bot try to understand jokes and insults had me deceased. Sometimes it’s too easy to forget the things you should remember – and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.” In conclusion, this book had some really positive aspects, and I enjoyed the last part, which made me excited for Defiant. I got the feeling that all the characters will come together again finally, and I crave that! Delvers have a strange relationship with tangibility -- while the delver maze has discernible, unpassable walls and floors, the delver itself can seemingly pass through physical matter, allowing it to envelop entire planets. [3] [10] However, standard shields, such as ones mounted on starfighters, can stop the delver from passing through, at least for a time. [17] 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.

Delvers are incapable of most emotions; rather, they reflect all that they sense outside. [11] This being said, they can hear and perceive any intrusion into the nowhere. It appears to cause them immense pain; as such, they utterly despise cytonics, and grow more hateful the longer one holds their attention. [13] [14] Extreme and prolonged cytonic "screaming" can and will cause them to transition to the physical world in an attempt to quiet it down. [15] Superiority scholars speculate that a species needs to develop particularly skilled or powerful cytonics for delvers to pay attention. [16] And if we're being honest, none of us are surprised because, well, we expect masterpieces and only masterpieces from him, and he has yet to let me down. In fact, my expectations were already sky-high for Cytonic, and BrandoSando managed to exceed even that. I still don't know how he does it, but I am content to accept it and be left to devour every book he has ever published. I am so excited to finally be getting to this book. I feel like I've waited ages for it. The fact that I can buddy read it with the amazing Aoife will just make the whole experiene all the better.I’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers. Spensa begins to lose her memory and sense of time as a result of being in the nowhere and only remembers her identity because she has an "icon" resembling her father's pin and memory dust. She is caught trying to steal a ship by the Broadsiders pirate organization and becomes one of their members. Spensa starfights a mysterious figure from the Cannonades, a rival pirate gang, and becomes the pirate champion. She also discovers that the Cannonade's representative is actually Hesho, who has completely lost his memory. So far it feels its just been a repeat every book: Spensa finds a new group of people which leads into bonding & training with them. Skyward it made sense to have that, and then I could understand why it happened again in Starsight since she was infiltrating it, but then to recycle it again in Cytonic??? Ngl I got pretty tired of this pattern, like I don't have an attachment to any of the new characters introduced since Starsight except for Chet, Hesho, and Alanik (and even them—compared to Skyward Flight...). The first half was a little slow, with EVEN MORE WORLD BUILDING—but I guess, when it’s sci-fi there’s lots of different worlds, so you need more world building?—anyway, nearing the midpoint, everything started happening...different plotlines merged, twists were revealed, and more information was learned...

M-Bot: Spensa's advanced AI of unknown origin. He is highly talkative and frequently ponders whether he is truly alive or not. Originally housed in a starship, M-Bot's ship was deconstructed for parts and he is now located in a small drone.

The revelations given in this book were some of my favorite in the series so far and definitely something I'll need to revisit time and time again. Along with that, we don't get to see a lot of old cast members. It's essentially the same issue you could have had in Starsight. I love the Skyward Flight crew a lot! The interplay with them and Spensa was fantastic in Skyward, and I did miss them in Starsight, which had a different crew who I liked, but didn't like as much as the old side characters. The delver mind resides within the heart; while its true shape is uncertain, it seems to take the form of the person who interacts with it. [11] Abilities and behavior [ edit ] Hatred of cytonics [ edit ]

M-Bot brought up such a good point in trying to understand emotions and Spensa's answer was so perfect. I swear these amazing quotes will be the death of me. The setting was definitely a plus, Brandon Sanderson's mind and imagination is just incredible! I love how he expanded the universe even more in this book.

While she sleeps, Spensa is able to commune with Jorgen and eavesdrop on Winzik and Brade, who she finds successfully making a deal with the delvers to assert the Superiority's authority in exchange for killing all the cytonics. 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. The novel was originally intended to be released in Spring 2021 as part of a trilogy and later a four-book series. However, its release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rigidly set for November or December due to paper shortages and printing delays from the publisher. Sanderson originally explored the idea of having multiple point of views, [4] an idea that was seemingly scrapped sometime during the writing process. In January 2021, Sanderson finished the first draft. Sanderson has stated that he feels the novel is a "little bit of a diversion" from the main story set to focus specifically on Spensa's arc in the aftermath of Starsight's last chapter. [5] Reception [ edit ]