Book Review: ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2) by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson
ARC provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by Sam Green
ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Skyward (Book #2.2 of 4)
Genre: Sci-fi
Pages: 227 pages (Hardcover edition)
Publish date: 26th of October 2021 by Delacorte Press (US) & Gollancz (UK)
ReDawn is a necessary installment to read before Cytonic.
Similar to Sunreach, the first of three novels compiled in Skyward Flight omnibus, I read ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson in the omnibus edition. And as far as importance goes, I think ReDawn felt more important to read than Sunreach. ReDawn is told from the point of view of Alanik, and the story takes place after the events of Sunreach. In Sunreach, we learned more about the developing relationship between FM and Rigs. This, sadly, was my least favorite part about the title. But more importantly, we witnessed more information about the slugs. I am happy to say the slugs, once again, became one of the highlights of ReDawn for me. They’re just so adorable and handy to have. Although I haven’t read Cytonic yet, the character development and conflict in this title felt very important and quite unmissable to read before reading Cytonic and probably Defiant. Unfortunately, it did take me a while to get used to Alanik as a main character.
“A prisoner could be convinced that they lived in a paradise, if the prison was pretty enough.”
My minor issue with Alanik at first is that we’re near the end of the series now, and it felt a bit late to introduce her as one of the main characters. Plus, her voice did not feel distinct enough. The way she is written is so similar to FM that I sometimes forget that I’m reading Alanik’s POV. Speaking of FM, I don’t know her purpose in the story now other than to show she’s lovey-dovey with Rigs. Her story arc definitely did not click with me, and surprisingly, by the end of ReDawn, I ended up—despite the rough beginning—loving Alanik more than FM. Reading Alanik trying her best to understand human politics and behavior, and to learn what it means to be in a team was satisfying and engaging. In a way, the second half of ReDawn reminded me of reading Spensa’s journey in Starsight as Spensa struggles in a new environment. And I enjoyed that.
“I didn’t know enough about human politics to know who was correct, but I did know enough about politics in general to guess that everyone would interpret the law in the way that best suited themselves.”
At the moment, I am unsure how crucial these Skyward Flight titles are. They felt unmissable, but the actual novel, on their own, was good but nothing outstanding. Personally, even though they are relatively short novels, I do not think Sunreach and ReDawn needed to be this long for the content they have. They are definitely not novellas but short novels. After the cliffhanger ending of ReDawn, though, I am certainly curious to read how Sunreach and ReDawn will enhance the reading experience of Cytonic. I am told to read Evershore after I finished reading Cytonic, so I will do just that. For ReDawn, I will give it a 3.5-star rating, the same as my rating for Sunreach. Here is hoping Cytonic and Evershore will provide me a superior reading experience.
“A warrior fights. She does not yield, and she does not abandon her people.”
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