Book Review: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson

Defiant is the 4th novel in the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson. This is the epic conclusion to a series of young adult sci-fi novels Sanderson has been leading. There's even a secondary series that includes author Janci Patterson, though I haven't read those yet. Here is the book blurb:

Spensa made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to face with the Delvers, and finally got answers to the questions she’s had about her own strange Cytonic gifts.

The Superiority didn’t stop in it’s fight for galactic dominance while she was gone, though. Spensa’s team, Skyward Flight, was able to hold Winzik off, and even collect allies to help with the cause, but it’s only a matter of time until humanity–and the rest of the galaxy–falls.

Defeating them will require all the knowledge Spensa gathered while in the Nowhere. But being Cytonic is more complicated than she ever could have imagined. Now, Spensa must ask herself: how far is she willing to go for victory, if it means losing herself–and her friends–in the process.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This was a grand conclusion to both the main conflict of the series and to Spensa's personal arc. There's a lot that happens and the book even starts with a short recap about what the other series has been up to, revealing a lot of extra events I was not aware of. Overall, though, the book is action packed with familiar faces but new challenges as the stakes are ever higher.

Plot

The story picks up shortly after the events of the prior novel, Cytonic. In the prologue, we see Spensa recollecting and learning about all the other events Skyward flight has been up to. There are a lot of things in the other series of books that bring the humans up to the galactic stage along with their new allies. Going from there, it's a big preparatory struggle as both human and Superiority know that there is an inevitable showdown.

Characters

Sample art from the book,
more available here 

Spensa is center in this novel, as she is in the other Skyward books. In this one, she finally comes to grip with her bold and warrior nature, questioning if that is the right response to everything. Her struggles are of a more personal nature, not only because of how she changed cytonically, but also how she changed by being away from her friends for so long.

Setting / World Building

The setting is much the same as we saw previously. The humans are in Detritus, but now occupying the various defense platforms. There are space battles with humans accompanied by Kitsen and UrDail and a few glimpses into the nowhere as Spensa struggles with her powers and worries about the delvers. From the prior book, we know what the delvers are and it's a frequent topic that Spensa tries to understand in a way that she can use to defend themselves. 

Probably the most major addition with this book is that of the slugs. As we learned in book two, these are used for faster-than-light travel, but now we learn they have many more uses, including communication and inhibiting other cytonics. It feels very Sandersonian to have a whole system surrounding the slugs and how cytonic powers work.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun book and a great way to end the series. It had an explosive finish and managed to tie up pretty much all the major plotlines going through (though as a young adult novel it was fairly straightforward). The characters were interesting and the plot very fast paced. Overall, an enjoyable science fiction/fantasy series. Apparently there is more to continue in this universe which sounds exciting to me!