Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson 5 Star Book Review

Hi lovely people! It’s been a while! This year has been… a year to say the least. I’ve mostly been re-reading/re-listening to books I’ve read before. Talk about a slump! However, I had an exciting email asking me if I wanted to be on the blog tour for Book 3, Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson and I just HAD to do it!

I’m also a bit useless at remembering books I’d read a long time ago, so when I say I’ve listened to the first two books in 2x speed to get this finished in time… it’s been a week!

5 Stars to Cytonic

As always I’ll be avoiding spoilers in this review.

Cytonic is the stunning conclusion to a Young Adult Sci-Fi with a strong heroine with a character arc that you can’t help but be invested in.

Spensa's life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary.She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell - the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What's more, she travelled light-years from home as a spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home. Now, the Superiority - the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life - has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant.Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she's able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy. The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.

It took me slightly longer to get into Cytonic than the first two books, but it didn’t disappoint!

As is Sanderson’s way, he really delves into how things work in his world, and why. It’s sci-fi, so there isn’t magic, per se, however there are definitely alien technologies/physiologies that definitely almost feel magical.

As always, I LOVED M-bot’s humour, he is a definite favourite of the series. I really enjoyed where this book took his character development.

It was hard to imagine how Cytonic was going to follow on from the first two books, as they had a pretty similar structure and vibe. I liked the direction it took, it took me completely by surprise.

As always, world-building with Sanderson is spectacular. I really love the different species we encounter, and how they differ from humans. I also really like humans being the hated species of the universe! I love the dione species, and how two combine together to be a draft of a child before committing to creating that person. It’s such an interesting take!

Cytonic starts off right where Starsight ended, throwing us straight in at the deep end. There was no respite or regroup. We immediately meet new people, who have hints and twists around them too. As I mentioned, I did find it a bit difficult to keep focussed at the beginning, but I soon overcame that!

As always, Sanderson’s characters always undergo a metamorphasis! I was a bit sad that there were characters from the first two books that we didn’t see as much, if at all. However, the new characters we’re introduced to definitely make up for that!

Spensa is as great as always, making mistakes, trying to figure things out as she goes. She’s really been through a lot and I’m so proud of her! She is definitely less childish than she was, having faced some real hard knocks.

As mentioned, M-Bot steals my heart. He’s funny, interesting and heartbreaking all in one. I’m not giving away anything else!

I hope you enjoyed this review! I always find it hard to review books I loved and this one was no exception. If you like sci-fi, check out my other reviews of amazing Science Fiction books!

Let me know what your favourite Science Fiction novel is below, or if you’ve read any of Brandon Sanderson’s books!

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