Thank you to Bookish First and the publisher for providing a finished copy of Skyhunter in exchange for an honest review!
To put my rating into perspective, I look at the target age range of the book and how appropriate it is for that group, in this case 12-17 is advertised so younger teens too.
Skyhunter is a pretty exciting YA scifi/dystopia where a conquering nation is taking over it's continent and one free nation, Mara, is left to fight back. Mara presents an elite force of fighters, mainly teens because death forces a high turnover rate, that fights against the war-machine monsters created by the Federation. All bets are off when one of the Federation experiments breaks loose and joins forces with Mara's soldiers, especially with Talin, the main character.
I really liked the plot and scheming and felt like the action remained steady enough to keep me reading. The chapter lengths were perfect too to keep pages turning. Teens should have no problem staying engaged here, even if some of the action and plot revelations happen rather conveniently, i would expect this in books geared for 12 year olds. There is some monster face mashing gore and war scenes that might be a bit much for the low age range but it wasn't too graphic.
I just loved the characters too. Talin can't speak and is a bit of a pariah among the Strikers due to her ethnicity, but she remains strong in the face of it and continues to be a strong fighter. Red the Skyhunter is interesting too, I liked him ever since his little mouse friend popped out. There were a whole host of great ancillary characters too and I liked their little war band family of proximity.
The book remained more action than character driven, which I prefer. More world and action than character/relationship building and I am thankful that any romance remained contained mostly to shy glances and observations.
The ending too, omg the ending. I will need to refresh myself on this book before the next comes out because honestly I'll probably forget it in two weeks but I definitely want to know what happens next!!
To put my rating into perspective, I look at the target age range of the book and how appropriate it is for that group, in this case 12-17 is advertised so younger teens too.
Skyhunter is a pretty exciting YA scifi/dystopia where a conquering nation is taking over it's continent and one free nation, Mara, is left to fight back. Mara presents an elite force of fighters, mainly teens because death forces a high turnover rate, that fights against the war-machine monsters created by the Federation. All bets are off when one of the Federation experiments breaks loose and joins forces with Mara's soldiers, especially with Talin, the main character.
I really liked the plot and scheming and felt like the action remained steady enough to keep me reading. The chapter lengths were perfect too to keep pages turning. Teens should have no problem staying engaged here, even if some of the action and plot revelations happen rather conveniently, i would expect this in books geared for 12 year olds. There is some monster face mashing gore and war scenes that might be a bit much for the low age range but it wasn't too graphic.
I just loved the characters too. Talin can't speak and is a bit of a pariah among the Strikers due to her ethnicity, but she remains strong in the face of it and continues to be a strong fighter. Red the Skyhunter is interesting too, I liked him ever since his little mouse friend popped out. There were a whole host of great ancillary characters too and I liked their little war band family of proximity.
The book remained more action than character driven, which I prefer. More world and action than character/relationship building and I am thankful that any romance remained contained mostly to shy glances and observations.
The ending too, omg the ending. I will need to refresh myself on this book before the next comes out because honestly I'll probably forget it in two weeks but I definitely want to know what happens next!!