Review copy provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by Sam Green

Sunreach by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Skyward (Book #2.1 of 4)

Genre: Sci-fi

Pages: 177 pages (Hardcover edition)

Publish date: 28th of September 2021 by Delacorte Press (US) & Gollancz (UK)

---

Sunreach expanded upon the secret of the hyperdrive and the characterizations of FM and Rig.

I read this title in the Skyward Flight omnibus. Sunreach is the first out of three novellas contained in Skyward Flight, and this marked the first time I read anything by Sanderson co-written with another author. As Sanderson’s empire of books continues to grow, I predict this kind of collaboration will happen more often. Skyward Flight is written by both Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, and it takes place after the end of Starsight. After the revelations about the hyperdrive that Spensa discovered, Sunreach seeks to elaborate more upon this revelation. And I think the novella did its job nicely. I had a wonderful time reading about these details.

“But I still wondered: if we didn’t matter as individuals, then what were we saving the group for?”

In my opinion, Sanderson and Patterson did a great job in keeping the voice and tone of the narration in tune with Sanderson’s sole writing in Skyward and Starsight. Sunreach never felt like it was written by a different author. I will, however, say Sunreach has the most YA novel voice out of the three titles in Cytoverse that I read so far. Due to my own reading preference, this definitely decreased my reading experience of Sunreach. I liked FM, but her inner thoughts and relationship development with Rig, although adorable, felt too YA for my taste. Generally, I am not a fan of reading a character constantly thinking something like, “Aw… he/she is so cute or beautiful,” while dangers are looming. And this, unfortunately, happened quite a lot in Sunreach.

“There was safety in being the one everyone else looked to. I felt everything, but I didn’t want anyone to know it.”

Thankfully, this is only a minor issue. Sunreach was entertaining enough. I imagine readers who missed reading about the crew of the Skyward Flight in Starsight will at least have a good time reading this novella. Honestly, I am slightly reluctant to call this a novella, though. Sunreach has a total word count of almost 60,000 words long. That is the length of a small novel. But anyway, it is marketed as a novella. And more importantly, I undoubtedly enjoyed reading about the slugs. Oh my god. The slugs definitely stole the spotlight of Sunreach, and I cannot get enough of them. I look forward to reading the next title in Skyward Flight: ReDawn.

“I feel like I should tell you… that I now have a slug on each shoulder and three on my lap, all seeming vaguely uncomfortable that I’m touching them. I blame you, FM.”

---

You can order this book from: Amazon | Blackwells (Free International shipping)

I also have a Booktube channel

Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!

My Patrons: Alfred, Aliysa, Ambrosius, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Arliss, Barbara, Biskit, Brad, Cade, Chris, Cullen, Dan, David, Dernerror, Donna, Donuts, Dylan, Edward, Elaine, Elias, Ellen, Francesca, Frank, Garrick, Gary, Gregory, Hamad, Helen, Jenn, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lara, Lourdes, Luis, Melinda, Michael, Michael, Mike, Miracle, Mordie, Nicholas, Norbert, Radiah, RCT, Redmischief, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Tori, Tracy, Trish, TS, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.

View all my reviews