Synopsis:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson comes the first book in a new, high-flying trilogy featuring the legendary Skyward Flight as they undertake a deadly intergalactic mission to explore a mysterious alien world.
After decades of war against alien oppressors, the humans of the Defiant Defense Force are finally free. Yet for Arturo Mendez, leader of Skyward Flight, freedom isn’t what he thought it would be.
His first postwar assignment seems simple: The DDF has found evidence of other settlements of humans who were isolated during their long war against the aliens, and Arturo and his flight of pilots are to escort a team of diplomats as they attempt to make contact. It’s an easy mission—get in, guard the diplomats, and get out.
But no element of this mission turns out to be simple. Blightfall is inhospitable, surrounded by mysterious debris and covered in giant, invasive forests that have swallowed most of the planet. Upon arrival, Arturo’s team is attacked, and it quickly becomes clear that this human settlement isn’t what it appears to be.
Now trapped in an unfamiliar world and unsure who to trust, Arturo and his team must find allies and uncover long-buried secrets if they hope to escape and return home.
Review:
Confession time!
OK…here goes…the first Brandon Sanderson book I read was a Young Adult novel. Soon after he published Steelheart back in 2013, I found it and devoured it. At the time I was a teacher just about 6 years into my teaching career and I was trying to read books like my students. But the bug bit hard and within just a few years it felt like Sanderson was all I was reading and was eagerly awaiting the next Stormlight tome or Mistborn title. But a certain part of me will always associate Sanderson with young adult works like Steelheart and the Skyward series.
I loved his Skyward series and had the privilege to read it alongside my (then) teenage daughter, so I was thrilled to get a chance to read the continuation in that universe — Blightfall by Janci Patterson and the man himself. Now Patterson already has a bit of a foothold in this universe, penning some novellas about the side characters in Skyward while Spensa was off doing her thing. Here, she takes the reins of the popular YA sci-fi series for herself with Sanderson acting as a guide and I think Blightfall was really successful in many ways. It had a grounding of familiarity from the previous books and novellas, yet it had a new voice that felt fresh.
Not to say that everything worked for me. There were some moments in the book that dragged a bit and a certain plotline felt a little out of place to some degree. Now, I also fully realize I am far from my Young Adult or Middle Grade days (although I spend every day trying to teach history to junior high kids, so who knows?), but the book didn’t always flow for me. But, on the YA front, the “will they/won’t they?” romance subplots are very much on display with more than one coupling as a possibility from Arturo’s Flight, and I actually thought that worked really well for me, almost giving me similar feelings to Spensa and Jorgen’s relationship.
Patterson and Sanderson do a good job separating this story from the Skyward series, making Arturo Mendez, the new leader of Skyward Flight and the new lead protagonist. At the same time, due to the events of the last series, there are new and different characters joining in, and a new understanding of the universe as a whole. Throughout the whole last series, Sanderson left some huge unanswered questions, and I’m thrilled those questions are answered and that they are central to the plot of this novel as well as books to come. It isn’t just an info dump that means nothing, but deepens our understanding of the universe and creates new challenges and opportunities for our characters.
There is a bit of a Sanderlanche towards the end, but at the same time, Patterson definitely handles the characters and the plot in her own way. There are moments where the book feels completely from the brain of Brandon Sanderson and then other moments where it feels totally fresh — and it all works. It isn’t jarring or disjointed, even with the co-author situation.
If you loved Skyward and the YA elements that went into it, you’re probably going to really enjoy Patterson and Sanderson’s work on Blightfall, the first entry into the Riftwake series.
Thank you to Random House Children’s Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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