Book Review: Cytonic (Skyward, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
Review copy provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by Sam Green
Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Skyward (Book #3 of 4)
Genre: Sci-fi
Pages: 432 pages (Hardcover edition)
Publish date: 23rd of November 2021 by Delacorte Press (US) & Gollancz (UK)
Cytonic was not as underwhelming as I expected, which is good, but it felt like reading a middle-book syndrome despite it being the penultimate installment of the series.
“Sometimes it’s too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”
I found Cytonic, the third main novel in the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson, to be an odd reading experience. Before reading it, ever since the release of Cytonic, I kept hearing how bad and underwhelming the novel was. Sanderson himself even admitted that Cytonic was one of the two most difficult books he has ever written, and if you know Sanderson’s output, he has written a LOT of books. He mentioned that it took a lot out of him to feel satisfied with writing Cytonic. Then there is also the significant drop in average rating from Starsight. Now, if we are taking average ratings on Goodreads into account, Starsight was slightly lower than Skyward in average ratings, which is relatively rare in a series. But thankfully, Starsight was an upgrade for me. I consider it the most engaging book in the series so far. It is, however, even more infrequent for an average rating in a sequel to drop as hard as Cytonic does. And again, unfortunately, I have to agree with the sentiment. Although not as bad as I thought, Cytonic is my least favorite installment in the Skyward series. Not counting Defending Elysium prequel novella.
“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance we gain strength, for potential can be refused. Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road.”
In my opinion and analysis, I believe the main reasons why Cytonic received such a mixed reception are two-fold. The first one is that this is an incredibly Spensa and M-Bot-centered installment. I personally think Spensa and M-Bot have always been the best parts of The Skyward series, and because of that, I enjoyed reading all the character developments they went through in Cytonic. We dived deep into Spensa’s motivation and inner conflicts. And the same notion is applicable to M-Bot as well. The novel deals with themes of memories, identity, duty, freedom, choices, and understanding. And honestly, despite some of my qualms with Cytonic, I did not feel bored reading it. Sanderson’s writing was easy to read, as always, and I found the narrative relatively engaging. I read the first 200 pages of Cytonic in a day, after all, and I think the ending sequence set up the book nicely for the final installment of the series: Defiant. However, as a penultimate installment, Cytonic is plagued with a glaring issue.
“I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as human, then allow myself to become something more.”
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, Cytonic did not feel crucial. The pirate plotline in the novel felt like fillers to prolong the book longer than necessary. Skyward quartet is not a long series, but somehow, despite its relatively short length, the series does feel much longer due to Skyward Flight companion titles and Cytonic. This is something that I noticed since I finished Starsight and started reading the Skyward Flight omnibus. It felt like the main story was deliberately paused, and before we could continue, readers were forced to read, almost in total, 300,000-word long books with minimal plot progression first.
“Get better. Learn to accept that sometimes what you feel isn’t invalid, but that it doesn’t mean you have to act according to those feelings either.”
To put this into comparison, Skyward is about 141,000 words long and Starsight is roughly 136,000 words long. That’s a total of 277,000 words where storyline, characterizations, and world-building are all progressing at an entertaining and comparatively rapid pace. But Cytonic at 115,000 words long and the addition of the mandatory Skyward Flight companion omnibus at 181,000 words long (the biggest in the series) did not offer many substantial revelations for their length. I have not read Evershore yet, but cumulatively, that is an almost 300,000 words long book where the main story resumes so little. This is what I felt from reading Sunreach, ReDawn, and also Cytonic.
“You cannot be defined by your questions. Only by what you do with them.”
Overall, I do not think I can accurately describe what I feel about Cytonic and the Skyward Flight omnibus so far. I did not feel bored reading it, but the closest assessment for them, in my opinion, would be popcorn entertainment. Although they were good enough and engaging, they were not memorable or impactful. They lack emotional depths. This doesn’t mean Cytonic and Skyward Flight are skippable, but considering their sizes, too few crucial events and revelations happened. What can we surmise? The slugs were integral, the characters developed, and everything was prepared for the hopefully major confrontation. I just described the core of Sunreach, ReDawn, and Cytonic in one short sentence. I hope Evershore and Defiant will be a return to the fun, memorable, and page-turning reading experience provided in Skyward and Starsight.
“Because every path we walk changes us, Spensa.”
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