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Brandon Sanderson: Cytonic - Skyward Book 3

 I think this is the book that I was the most excited to read. I got it for Christmas, but I had to reread the first two in the series. It took far longer than I wanted because, as I said in my last post, I took a slight break to read The Hawthorne Legacy in the middle.

Cytonic picks up right at the end of Starsight, and overlaps a little to refresh the cliffhanger that Starsight ends on. Spensa jumps through the portal into the nowhere, but instead of going home, she makes a decision that plants her in the Belt, the very edge of the Nowhere that borders the Somewhere. She is told that she must find the Path of Elders and learn about the Cytonics and the Delvers. Upon arrival, she is immediately attacked by pirates who occupy this portion of the Belt, ever looking to increase their numbers. Unable to escape, she's captured, but before they can take her prisoner, a man rides through the jungle on a dinosaur-like creature to save Spensa. He introduces himself as Chet Spears, M-Bot's former pilot. As they journey toward the Path of Elders, their Cytonic abilities are expanded, but so is the notice of the Delvers.

I loved this book. I was grateful for the way Sanderson overlapped the ending of Starsight with the beginning of Cytonic. I was still glad I reread Starsight before starting this one. This book also did not go in the direction I thought it was going to. I loved the exploration of Cytonic powers and what Spensa was capable of. I also enjoyed the twists surrounding Chet, and the development of M-Bot's character and personality. This book is carefully crafted toward the big reveal at the end, which was exciting.

I didn't love this book as much as the first two, and again, I can't quite put my finger on why. I was frustrated again with the cliffhanger ending. These kinds of shocking, cliffhanger endings are not what I typically associate with Brandon Sanderson, so I think that's what's frustrating me about this series.

Haha, I still rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


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