Skyhunter is an amazing novel. I was immediately taken aback by the scope of the world-building and how EPIC the world felt. I was completely immersed in this book from the very beginning. I felt like I was dropped into this world on the very first page. It gave me such a clear mental image of the battle for the this world the characters were facing and the consequences if they lost. That is one thing about Marie Lu's writing style that I really adore.

The Game of Thrones series is the only other series I know that clearly depicts what it is like to be a poor refugee fleeing the war. Skyhunter did that so well, with Talin and her mother's journey. I also liked how even the supposed bad guys were given reasons as to why they acted this way. Marie Lu paints in shades of grey, no clear black or white moralities.

Marie Lu has proven once again why she is one of my favorite authors.

TW: abuse, inhumane scientific testing/experiments

Wow this book was a roller coaster, but I just want to say, for my first Marie Lu book, I was pretty impressed and satisfied. As most books go, I didn’t know much going into this one. I was immediately hooked from the beginning scene in which our main character Talin is facing a lot of grief and uncertainty within herself. I thought the atmosphere of war was captured really well. There was nothing too extreme that made me want to put down the book, but it 100 percent felt like a war novel.

I adored this world because even though many aspects of it reminded me of dystopia and The Hunger Games, it had it’s own unique twists and scientific spins (something I wish was explained a little in depth, but maybe this was the STEM major in me wanting a little more haha). The world building was done at a really steady pace so I didn’t feel overwhelmed with the information. The world itself wasn’t too intricate that it needed a lot of time to understand it fully so that was also nice.

The characters all had their own back stories and layers that were slowly revealed as the novel went forth. Talin was a solid main character, but I felt like her and the author just kept repeating certain memories and phrases in such similar ways that it got a little boring/annoying to read. I did enjoy the majority of this book, but there were definitely some moments where I was like “Again?” I also thought that the gradual connection that Talin should have been forming with Red almost happened abruptly. I understand that she had a lot of mixed emotions towards him and in that I think I was confused as to exactly how she did feel. I think Red was also a pretty solid character, just nothing special. Like all the characters he had a backstory that was brought up many many times (a bit too many for my liking). To be completely honest, I was more curious and invested in Jerad and his love interest, hehe (not a main plot point of this book, something on the down low that I just appreciated).

One thing that I probably enjoyed the most about this book was that even though it’s a science fiction/fantasy book, the world is very much like our own. There’s classism, racism, etc. especially towards the refugees who had to flee their own countries and homes for a place in Mara. Lu did a phenomenal job weaving this into the plot and through certain character’s actions.

This ending though. First, I thought this book was a standalone so when I finished I was like shut up, there’s no way it ended like this. I understand why it did now because it’s meant to be a series. However, personally, I wish it had been a standalone? I really disliked this ending. I didn’t hate it or anything. It was pretty realistic the way it ended, it’s just the choice that Talin made at the end seemed to contradict her character and values. It didn’t make sense to me.

Nonetheless, I still do recommend this book. Very atmospheric and full of action. It just came out a few days ago so you can definitely either buy a copy or borrow it from your library.

Characters: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Plot: 7/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

Rating: 7.0 or 4 stars

Marie Lu is such a masterful storyteller and one of my favorite authors! Even though her stories might have some elements of YA tropes, she still finds ways to make them fresh. This was definitely one of those times! It is a dystopian world where a group of teens must save the city from an evil leader, but she adds plenty of twists I didn't see coming, heartbreak that I am still not over, and a diverse cast including the main protagonist who is a mute. Surprisingly (but honestly refreshing) there is no romance, and I must say I didn't miss it. Unfortunately, there were times when I felt it dragged a bit, but those times did build up the story. Thankfully, once things got moving it was thrilling enough to keep me on the edge of my seat!

All in all, this is another home run and will fly off my shelves. I can't wait for book two, and I would definitely recommend you get your hands on a copy!

Marie Lu creates an elaborate world in this new fantasy novel. I’ve read her other books and she somehow creates these worlds that suck you right in. This one is no different.

Talin is a striker. She’s in a specialized force of fighters. She’s had a rough life and wasn’t accepted because of where she is from and the fact that she doesn’t speak. She proved herself to be a great fighter and won her spot as a striker. They are trained to kill Ghosts (zombie like super creatures).

The story gets more detailed but I don’t want to give anything away. It was interesting to see the story progress and learn the backstory of some of the main characters, Jeran, Rooke, Aramain and Red.

Two characters had a very deep connection that really added a lot of interest to the plot.


Of course since this is a series it ends with you wanting more.

It was such a blast for me to be a part of the Street Team helping to promote the book! I received a digital arc in exchange for my honest review. Thank you netgalley, Marie Lu and Fierce reads.

I cannot wait for the next book.

Ah, Lu did it again! I’d heard this series is reminiscent of her Legend series and that is a favorite of mine.

What I loved about this one right from the start is that they live far in the future, but the Early Ones (aka: Us) have mysteriously died off but left technology and more. The leadership has turned it into a dystopian society and they’ve created mutant human monsters that are quite believable. Even their war machines are humans that have been experimented on and added to. The ideas behind these make it so much easier to grasp but also adds a level of creepy because, can that happen?

Talin is a fabulously flawed, loyal, tough, smart lead who is mute due to throat damage from poisonous gas. Lu incorporates her sign language beautifully into the novel and it flowed well. Not only that, but Talin and her mother are refugees that fought hard for their freedom and are continually looked down upon for it. All these elements combined make the novel feel so real because it is possible in many of our lives.

It’s full of action, adventure, intrigue and all the exciting descriptive words I can use. I highly recommend!

The content is high in violence for fighting. They are at war so they are fighting the enemy, there is blood and there is death. Intense themes was higher than most books due to the war and what has happened in the war. Check the content review here:

https://www.theopenbooks.net/2020/09/young-adult/skyhunter-skyhunter-1/

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and Roaring Book Press for the copies in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Macmillan Children’s for the opportunity to be on the street team!

My first Marie Lu. And wow did she not disappoint. The story is dark, full of pain and suffering but also in a way hopeful.

The main character Talin, is mute - the only way she can communicate is through sign language. I really appreciated a character like that - that's capable but disfigured. We see the story from her perspective alone, and I feel like that was such a smart choice. She is the one that sees and hears everything around her, as speaking is not a distraction for her and she has to have other senses honed. I really appreciated Talin's skills too - her being a skilled killer in an elite army. The country she lives in is full of classism, racism, xenophobia but Talin moves through it with grace. She was just a favorite overall - a character you feel for, and understand as you read more of her story.

The story starts off as painful as can be. Showing how much pain and suffering Talin and her people are suffering. Killing the enemy on the daily, but also living every day as their last almost. Going to battle knowing they might not come back. Losing her best friend and partner right away, ripped my heart out, even though I still didn't know much about Talin herself. You could feel her pain jumping from the page.

And then we're introduced to Red. And we get a bigger picture of this cruel world. It is not just the Talin's side that suffers, but also the side they are fighting against. Their side might have even worse. (Like I said, this book was full of pain and darkness). I appreciated the growing friendship between Talin and Red, as well as other Strikers. It growed through trust and example, rather than instalove (which always makes me roll my eyes).

Overall I really appreciated this book. It didn't hold back. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next to these characters.

Very few authors build a world like Marie Lu and can make a reader like me sign up for space dystopia! A whammy of series introduction, Lu proves that she deserves to be on the list of reader favorites and an auto-buy for our library.

Another stellar book by Marie Lu! So why only 3 stars? To me, 3 stars means I'm glad I read it once but I'm not necessarily sure I'd see myself re-reading it. A few factors of the plot seemed awfully convenient to me, but I will definitely read the sequel and I have no doubt my students will be clamoring for this book like they do all of her others!

I adored this book, and if you enjoy sci-fi with fantasy elements, high stakes, and a slow burn romance, you will, too.

Marie Lu filled the Skyhunter world with believable, relatable characters that you want to cheer for. I love the way she handled Talin's muteness, the way she seamlessly incorporated sign language into the conversations between characters, and the way that she built a world that is both imaginative and uncomfortably familiar.

Talin is the kind of protagonist that I aspire to be like, and it's not because she's a strong fighter. It's because she makes choices based on her own values even when the world around her makes it difficult. Her story gives me hope and inspires me to keep fighting to make the world a more generous and inclusive place.

This book had me from the first chapter. Talin can no longer speak after being poisoned with gas when the Federation took over her county. She is a Striker for the country of Mara. Her partner Corin is her Shield. They are great team until Corin is bit by a ghost and Talin must do the unthinkable kill her shield. During that attack they found a person escaping the Federation and Talin feels something when they go to execute him and ends up saving him. As her punishment he is not her Shield.

This one started a bit slow for me and then picked up and I didn't stop reading until I was finished with the book. The ending.......oh, my!!! No spoilers here!! Another hit for Marie Lu.

Talin is a Striker. She fights for Mara, the last free territory, against a conquering empire called the Federation. The Federation turns people into Ghosts, beasts that know nothing but the hunger for blood and death.

This is a dystopian future, where we have somehow annihilated ourselves and our ancestors are left to build cities upon our remnants of our infrastructure, with little knowledge other than what we have left behind. Human nature has little changed, despite whatever lesson we were given in that destruction. We still feel the need to conquer and dominate. Those that escape as refugees are still treated poorly, our governments are toxic and power driven. Talin fights anyway, for her life and her future.

The battle scenes in this book are my favorite part. They are almost poetically drawn and pulse-pounding. I loved the moments with Talin and her mother. Marie Lu has put together my favorite story from her. There were parts that were a bit uneven for me, especially in the journey portion of the story. 3.5/5

Thank you to Fierce Reads for making me a part of their street team and providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Marie Lu has done it again! I received an ARC of Skyhunter as a member of the Street Team! Once I picked up the book I absolutely could not put it down. The world building was amazing and I fell in love with the characters from the moment I met them. Red and Talin were such a fun duo to read about. Their characters were so much more complex and different than I expected. The camaraderie between Talin and her Striker crew were also some of my favorite scenes to read. This book was full of action along with some heartfelt moments, lighthearted fun and classic Marie Lu twists. Skyhunter is an amazing addition to Marie Lu’s spectacular lineup of books. I had such a fun time reading Skyhunter and I cannot wait to see where Marie Lu takes us in the Skyhunter world in the future!

Skyhunter was my first experience with a Marie Lu book and now I want to go read them all!

This is the first book in a bit that gripped me and had me feelings things from the very start. Literally 5% into the book I was shocked and trying to figure out what was happening. From then on, I was completely invested with this story.

First off, a five star for me means I loved the characters, connected with them and was terrified for their lives. From the very start, I was drawn to our main character, Talin and her partner. As the story went on, I found myself being attached to all of the side characters and was so nervous for them every step of the way. Even though there were definitely some budding relationships in this book, they were completely out of the focus and didn’t take away from the story and Talin wasn’t made to fall head over heels for her main interest like most YA novels. That felt very refreshing to me, especially since I don’t enjoy insta-love!

Skyhunter definitely gave me dystopian vibes but felt very original even though I could predict certain elements coming up since I read a lot of YA. There also wasn’t any huge plot twists which was a bummer since I live for them BUT I loved the creativity with the creatures and monsters in this story and also the element of sign language and also a small bit of LGBTQ rep!

I adored the fast paced writing style of Marie Lu’s! This story never dragged for me and kept me interested from start to finish! I’m so excited to see where Lu takes our girl Talin next!

I was so excited to read this book for several reasons, one being that I love Marie Lu. The cover is beautiful and the summary sounded promising. I read an excerpt and was immediately hooked. The world is described in detail and I was drawn in by the events and characters. Speaking of characters, I really enjoyed all four of the main characters. They were well-written and each had their own distinct personality and arc. The only things that really bothered me about the story (and the reason that I cannot give it a solid 5 stars) are more related to the fact that the story is written to a young adult audience and therefore included things that just weren't believable to me. Otherwise, this was a great story and I would recommend it to anyone who previously enjoyed Marie Lu's books or YA fantasy in general.

I absolutely adored this book and if you're a fan of fantasy books you need to read this! I will be posting my review on my blog this week so feel free to keep an eye out for it. linktr.ee/AmaniSalahudeen.

Marie Lu has never disappointed me with any of her books and Skyhunter actually went above my expectations. I loved every single thing about this book, the world building was phenomenal as were the characters. It is sci-fi fantasy, but also post-apocalyptic and it was just incredible. I don’t know how Lu does it, but her writing is so beautiful and unique. Even though this reads like a dystopian novel, it was 100X better.

“It’s what I have trained my whole life to do. My name is Talin. I am a Striker for Mara, the last free nation on this side of the sea. We are legendary bringers of death, assassins of monsters. And the only thing standing between our home and annihilation.”

Talin, our main character, is a refugee in Maran the only free nation left. Her homeland got overtaken by the Federation and Maran is the only nation left standing. Talin is a striker who risks her life to protect Maran from Ghosts, the Federations monsters that they use in war. Even though fellow Maran’s think of Talin as trash because she comes from a fallen nation, she still puts her life on the line to protect them. I really love and felt for the main character. I liked her almost instantly and became attached, as I did with all the other characters.

“Rooke nods grimly. In her eyes is the reflection of her brother. “We will leave them with what they leave behind for the rest of us. Nothing”

I think what really made me love this book were the cast of characters and how well developed they were. We have a band of strikers who would do anything for each other and all have had some horrible life experiences, but they continue to fight. Talin, Rooke, Red, and Jeran are some of the best characters I have ever read about. I love each and every one of them and I was feeling all the feels reading this book. I just loved how even though Talin and Red are the main characters, the side characters really made this story what it is.

I don’t want to give out too many details of the plot because going in just knowing the synopsis made this book a wonderful experience. I am not one for sci-fi usually, but it’s Marie Lu so I knew it was going to be exceptional. Skyhunter has become one of my top ten favorite books of the year. If you haven’t read any Marie Lu yet, what have you been doing?

"𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒆𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.

𝑻𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒖𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑨 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆...

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕." 🌱

Yet another 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 dystopian series from the writing goddess of heroines, @marieluthewriter , has done it again with the start of her new series, Skyhunter, which will be available on September 29th!

All Talin knows is pain and loss: the loss of her father, her homeland, her freedom, and even her own voice.

Talin finds her chance to avenge it all by becoming a Striker for her refugee nation of Mara; the last stand against the tyrant nation called The Karensa Federation.

She knows the chances of overcoming the Goliath are slim. But meeting one of its projects gone awry, The Skyhunter, may prove to be their last chance at freedom.

I rate this first book of the series a ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5 for its gripping backstory of Talin, and her fight for freedom in a grim world. And for the belief that no one is too far past redemption. Here's to hoping my heart doesn't get broken to pieces at the end of this series too! 💔

I was quickly absorbed by the world of Skyhunter. Marie Lu writes incredible characters, and Talin in Skyhunter might just be my new favorite! A skilled fighter with a big heart, Talin is also a refugee; her mother lives in a shantytown outside the city walls and they face a lot of racism. Despite this, Talin fearlessly fights for Mara, the last free nation, against the Federation, and takes on a difficult mission. I loved Talin's friendships with Corian, Rooke, and Jeran, as well as her relationship with her mother, and they brought so many moments of warmth and joy to the story. Red is another major character in the book, and he reveals important details about the manipulative tactics of the Federation. After that ending, I can't wait for the sequel to find out what Talin and the Federation will do next!

Thanks to Macmillan and Net Galley for sending me an advanced copy of this to review! I love Marie Lu and not only does this have a gorgeous cover, but the story sounded right up my alley. Fast paced and set in a unique world, this one is sure to meet all your dystopian fiction desires.

One of the things I love about Marie Lu is the way she writes action sequences. They're on full display here, pulling you right in at the beginning and adding on as we learn more about this world. Mara is plagued by Ghosts, which are zombie-like creatures that spread by bites. They're the Federation's best weapon against Mara, and the sequences fighting them are really well written.

Lu also incorporates sign language throughout this book, adding another element I thoroughly enjoyed. Talin cannot speak, and the Strikers are required to keep silent when hunting Ghosts, so most of the population knows sign language. Not many action books incorporate sign language like this. Honestly, I thought it was so well done. It also added another element to the world building and made it all the more immersive.

Now, we haven't even gotten to the characters! Talin and Red are definitely my favorites, and their connection was apparent from the beginning. They have a lot of great chemistry, and the side characters were developed as well. You really come to care about the whole cast of characters, making the book all the more engaging.

Overall, if you're looking for a new world filled with great characters fighting to save their country, this one is for you!