Starsight by: Brandon Sanderson

 

It’s always funny when you review a book with a very specific complaint as to why it didn’t perhaps work as well as you thought it would and then the sequel comes along and you actually get exactly what you’re asking for.  One of my big issues with Skyward by Brandon Sanderson was that the worldbuilding was incredibly limited for a series which has an entire universe to explore, but the sequel Starsight almost immediately expands from the planet Detritus to fill out the universe and planets.  Sanderson has clear delight in creating several species of aliens, all living under the Superiority, a sort of evil Federation subjugating the galaxy and expanding their technological and imperial power.  The main thrust of Starsight is Spensa impersonating an alien emissary to the Superiority using M-Bot’s hologram technology to disguise herself and her voice.  This is especially fascinating since Spensa is still a teenager and she’s being forced into an intricate political situation where she knows she is going to be revealed as a liar.  The eventual reveal is far more tactical from Spensa than I would have expected, coming across as a moment of both genius and desperation due to being cornered by a superior who has clearly been spying on her.

 

Sanderson excels at having Spensa make mistakes, the banter between her and M-Bot still being one of the highlights of Starsight.  M-Bot has his own plot philosophically debating whether he is alive, while Spensa ends up unravelling one of the reasons why his orders involved looking for mushrooms, something that has almost become a running joke at this point.  Sanderson implies three parameters for life, even artificial life, as this is a world where artificial intelligence is essentially advanced enough to pass the Turing test and be considered alive.  M-Bot is also kind of relegated to an almost background player for much of the middle of the novel, with this recurring upgrade motif of several clicks indicating almost changes in his systems.  Alanik, the alien Spensa is masquerading as, is also a fascinating character who deserves way more scenes than just being a minor supporting character, crashing to Detritus essentially to kick start the plot of the book.  Sanderson does some excellent worldbuilding here with exploring what it means to be cytonic and the fact that multiple species have the capacity for cytonic awareness.  The team Spensa has to integrate herself with is fascinating, if the plot itself feels a bit close in places to Skyward.

 

There is this fascinating look at what humanity has become in the eyes of the rest of the universe, a savage and angry race that cannot be trusted.  There is one human member of Spensa’s team here and she has been brainwashed into believing that she’s genetically more aggressive.  Sanderson seems more interested in having a villain who wants power over the galaxy, essentially pulling what might be a young adult trope than perfectly examining the discrimination, fear, and bigotry that humans face in this world.  It could be an interesting exploration of how bigotry would evolve in a society with aliens as well as a deconstruction of the effects of imperialism, however, Sanderson writes this at a younger audience and doesn’t quite fulfill these themes.  There is also the struggling with romance, Spensa has a love interest in Jorgen who may also be cytonic, and while he gets a great interlude about having to learn to relax and live, the relationship honestly just isn’t there.

 

Overall, Starsight’s significant improvements on the worldbuilding kick things up a notch, however, there are several elements that come up here that don’t quite work.  There are sections which become a bit too repetitive, especially if you have just read Skyward and especially Sanderson’s romance here leaves something to be desired.  It’s also just very nice to see Sanderson do some explicit science fiction once again and the young adult audience is never dumbed down enough despite some moments that feel tonally limited.  8/10.