Skyhunter (Skyhunter Duology, 1) Hardcover – September 29, 2020

Talin is a refugee from Basea who now lives in Mara, the last free nation not residing within the Karensa Federation’s control. Losing her voice and her home to the Federation, Talin now fights as a Striker against Ghosts, the Federation’s monstrous war experiments, to keep them from taking over Mara. When Mara’s defeat seems inevitable, Red, a mysterious runaway from the Federation, is caught and sentenced to be executed. Talin, however, sees more to this prisoner than meets the eye and saves him from his fate, only to be tied to him in more ways than one. Now Talin and her friends, Jeran and Rooke, work to discover how to save their country and how Red might be the key to saving them all.At this point, I have learned to read (and love) anything that Marie Lu has written and Skyhunter was not an exception. It was full of what I have come to expect and love about Marie Lu’s books – amazing characters, a strong female protagonist, superb worldbuilding, a fast-paced and action-filled plot, and crazy sci-fi elements. I really enjoyed this book and I truly did not want it to end.The WorldbuildingMarie Lu’s worldbuilding in this novel was simply incredible (as always). I do not know where she comes up with such unique, vivid, and believable dystopian worlds, but I hope that she never stops. The world is so masterfully crafted that I truly felt like I was there, and I could picture the world around the characters with ease. I really enjoyed the sharp and distinct contrast that was made between the Early Ones and the people now as well as between Mara and the Federation and the Inner and Outer Cities of Mara, which really worked to demonstrate how different things are in terms of wealth, living conditions, and technological advancements during and within various times, locations, and people. The dynamics and history behind the world of the novel were also well-executed and I really enjoyed learning about both the world in the present and in the past.The CharactersLike with worldbuilding, Marie Lu has a gift when it comes to creating characters in that I cannot help but love literally all of them. I absolutely loved all the characters that Marie Lu introduced in this book. They were all so unique and different, with such varying personalities and backgrounds that I really enjoyed. All of the characters also had multiple sides to them and other things going on in their lives that really helped to create and develop their characters, even if these events were not upfront the entire time.Talin: I absolutely LOVE Talin. She is such a strong character who is willing to fight for her country and do anything to protect it, even if that same country shows no love for her. I love the relationship that she has with her mother and how they are both willing to do anything to protect each other. I always adore strong mother-daughter bonds, and this is one of the best that I have read in a novel before. I also really enjoyed Talin’s relationship with Corian and his role in her life as someone who believed in her, despite being seen as someone “lesser” and not worth the time. I also loved her relationship with Red and how they go from enemies, to allies, to friends, to perhaps something more. There is so much chemistry between them both on the surface and underneath and the bond between them (both literal and physical) is so sweet, I love them both so much! This is also the first time that I have read a book where the protagonist cannot speak and uses sign language to communicate and I really liked seeing this sort of representation in a young adult novel. The use of sign language also played a big role in the world of the novel, which I enjoyed as well.Red: I love Red so much! Like most of the characters, he had a lot of layers that Talin uncovered throughout the story and I enjoyed learning more about him as Talin did. I enjoyed seeing him slowly open up to Talin about his past and his family. I also love that he literally has a pet mouse (but it needs a name, please Marie Lu give the mouse a name!) and how the mouse reminds him of his younger sister killed me. I only wish that we got to learn more about his family as opposed to getting a few things here and there and that Red’s relationship with them was developed more, especially since they played such a major role in his life before fleeing to Mara. Like I mentioned previously, his bond with Talin is so sweet and her kindness and sense of purpose literally gave him a reason to live to fight for her and Mara, which I found adorable.Rooke: Like Talin, Rooke is such a strong female character. I mean, she literally spends her time making and improving weapons, how cool is that? I enjoyed seeing different elements of her personality - the daring fighter, the mom friend, the smart weapon improver/inventor, the one afraid to slit the throat of a fellow Striker attacked by a Ghost, and the vulnerable girl still dealing with the loss of her brother. I loved her relationship with Talin as well as with Jeran (their banter is hilarious). I also greatly enjoyed seeing her shifting relationship with Red and learning to see him not as an enemy (but of course I totally get why she did not like him at first because of the death of her older brother at the hands of the Federation), but as a friend and fellow Striker.Jeran: Jeran is literally my son and if anything happens to him, I am going to cry because I LOVE him so much! I swear that I fell in love with him as soon as we met him, and I never stopped! I really enjoyed witnessing the two sides of his character – the ruthless, tactful fighter and the clumsy, loyal, and sweet friend. I liked his ability to speak and understand multiple languages (which worked well with the climate of the story) and how it impacted Talin and Red’s ability to communicate early on. I felt so bad for him about how his father and brother treat him like dirt and abuse him just because he was unable to test into the Senate and is not up to their “standards.” I loved his relationship with Talin and Rooke and their whole friendship dynamic is superb, I want to be in it! I do wish that we saw more of his relationship with Aramin, especially since we see little of the two of them together despite how close they are described to be.The lesser characters such as Aramin, Talin’s mother, the Premier, etc. were also really interesting, I just wish that we saw more of them and learned a little bit more about their backgrounds. I hope that we get to see more of these lesser characters in book two!The Action & AdventureThis book was definitely fast-paced and full of action and adventure. I really enjoyed the pace of the novel, it was set in tempo with the overall plot which worked well for the story, I literally could not put this book down! I liked the contrast between the high-action fight and battle scenes on the war front and the more subdued ones where the characters just hung out and talked. I also enjoyed the elements of suspense as well as the twists and turns that the novel brought and found that they added a lot to the overall story. And that ending though! I cannot wait to see what happens next and what is in store for the characters in the following book.Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to Marie Lu lovers as well as those who generally enjoy dystopian/science fiction novels. I cannot wait for the sequel!

Reader’s Notes:– this is book one of a duology– this is told from Talin’s point of view– there are creatures (called Ghosts) that sound like a mix of zombies and vampires and are described to have rotting flesh; Ghosts were once human– there is war (so a lot of violence, death, killing, blood, and description of dead bodies- not overly gory detail)– a character is physically and verbally abused by their family (physically is not shown on page, just the resulting wounds mentioned)– there is a male/male relationshipReview:When I first started the book, I debated on putting it down due to the Ghosts because I really don’t do creepy horror-like creatures/stories. But I pushed through due to liking dystopian stories and wanting to read this one. Honestly, I don’t regret it. The creepy feel was mostly contained to that beginning part (there were a few much smaller moments in the story but I found them to be more manageable). As for the rest of the story, I quite enjoyed it! I loved the kick butt characters and the story/world that Marie Lu weaved. I loved Talin’s friends and their interactions together and with Talin’s mother. There were enough questions that needed to be answered in the story as I went to keep me on the edge of my seat and want to know more. I enjoyed the progression of this story and I can’t wait to know what’ll happen in book two.Talin is a Striker, someone trained with deadly skills and tasked to use them to defend Mara, the last free nation. But not everyone that Talin is to protect sees her as one of their saviors. They only see her as an outcast who should have never been allowed to be a Striker. And this is only reinforced when Mara captures one of the enemy and she asks that his life be spared. It didn’t matter that she did it because she believed he had more information than he had given. They just wanted another reason to despise her.But as Talin spends more time with the prisoner, she finds that her instincts were right. There is something more to him than he showed. There is more that he knows that could change the tide of war. But Talin is going to need to dig to find it out. And hope that her search ends before the enemy tries to take Mara with a stronger force.

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This was AMAZING. Just wow. Wow wow wow. I didn’t think I would be a fan of Marie Lu from my memories of reading Legend (which I will have to try again now evidently) but this book has changed everything!!I loved how the main character, Talin, was written so in depth. Her inability to speak and her use of sign language was clearly so well research and executed so effectively it refreshed the YA genre.And omg the enemies to lovers trope is the BEST. More like enemies to best friends here but it’s a work in progress ;)I loved Red so much and I loved how they found each other. They both struggled to communicate to others but found kinship with one another and aaaa 🥺 I wish there were more scenes of them together and their developing friendship.Jeran and Adena were amazing side characters and I loved the little tidbits of their lives. Especially Jeran and Aramin with their clear yearning for each other. So adorable please give us more scenes with them in the next book😭The mother is also SO BADASS like damn. She didn’t feature much but she brought so much to the scenes where she was present.And the ending wowww I really can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next book. I absolutely LOVED it.

Marie Lus Schreibstil hat sich seit ihren letzten Büchern wahnsinnig entwickelt. Ständig bleibt man ein kleinen Sätzen hängen, die einen emotional aus der Bahn werfen und die Spannung erhöhen.Kleine Details in der Geschichte reihen sich nach und nach ein und man erlebt mehrere Aha-Momente.Talin war eine tolle Protagonistin und ihre Verbindung zu Redlen war wirklich wun-der-schön ausgearbeitet. Irgendwie authentisch, zum Mitfühlen, und hat nur einen kleinen Teil der Geschichte eingenommen. Weniger als Talins Verhältnis zu ihrer Mutter, die ich sehr lieb gewonnen habe. Durch diese Momente hat man Talin noch besser verstanden.Es gäbe Kritikpunkte, die mich persönlich nicht gestört haben (sondern mMn zum Genre gehören): Man braucht am Anfang ein wenig, um die Welt zu verstehen, weil wenig erklärt wird. Dadurch dauert es, bis man mit den Figuren mitfühlt. Und wie gewohnt für YA, sind die Protagonisten Teenager und weitaus kompetenter als es realistisch ist und kommen auf Ideen, die die Erwachsenen in den Büchern weder haben noch zulassen wollen ;)Definitiv eine Geschichte für alle, die Legend mochten =)Oder die, die The Young Elites ein bisschen zu "out there" fanden, Marie Lu aber noch eine Chance geben wollen.In Warcross gab es ganz andere Vibes, es hatte etwas Frischeres, hat einen mental mehr aber in die Mangel genommen. Skyhunters Setting ist düsterer, aber der Inhalt leichter verdaulich.

The characters are amazing and the arc they go through is so good. The pain is so raw and the relationships are great

I think that was the best book I’ve read in 2020. No joke, the story is so good and the characters are so interesting. I don’t have words enough to describe this book!