Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Although the world building and the plot are primary, I found myself recollecting how the heroine, Spensa, reminded me of an employee I once had in my bakery. Spensa is charismatic and manufactured from a wonderful assortment of vim and vigor. If you’re her best friend, you need fear nothing. She is a character that will have readers screaming for more. POV: First person. BLUSH FACTOR: No worries here. Suitable for all ages and genders. STAND-ALONE OR CLIFFHANGER ENDING? The main story of this volume is complete. It is clear, though, by the ending that more, much more is to come. In other words, if you read to the end of this novel, you will crave for the next. ADVENTURE: YES, with exclamation points. THE WRITING AND EDITING is professional throughout. I found it nearly difficult to take a break while racing through this tale. Having stated the positives, I need to balance it with my single concern that, other than the hero, or heroine, being female, much of this story did seem just a touch too familiar. Oh, and I would like to have seen more of the weak points of young Spensa, to balance her character. EXCERPT ‘…About ten minutes before the start of class, three young men walked in together. They were obviously friends, as they were talking and joking softly. I didn’t recognize two of them, but the one at the front—with brown skin and short curly hair—was distinctive in a kind of baby-faced, pretty-boy way. The guy from the test, I realized. The son of a First Citizen who had gotten free admission. Great. We were saddled with a useless aristocrat, someone who lived in the lowest—and safest—of the Defiant caverns. He’d be in flight school not because of any skill or aptitude, but because he wanted to sport a cadet’s pin and feel important. Judging by the way the other two talked, I instantly pegged them as his cronies. I’d have bet anything that all of them had gotten in without taking the test, so our cadet group had three people who didn’t deserve to be there. The tall, baby-faced guy walked to the center of the ring of seats. How could a boy have a face that was so extremely punchable? He cleared his throat, then clapped his hands sharply. “Get to attention, cadets! Is this how we want to present ourselves to our instructor? Lounging about, making idle chitchat? Line up!” Kimmalyn, bless her stars, jumped up and stood at a kind of sloppy attention. His two cronies stepped over and fell into step as well, doing a much better impression of real soldiers. Everyone else just kind of looked at him. “What gives you the right to order us around?” asked Hudiya, the athletic girl from my own cavern. She stood leaning against the wall, arms folded. “I want to make a good first impression on the instructor, cadet,” Jerkface said. “Think how inspiring it will be when he comes in to find us all waiting at attention.” Hudiya snorted. “Inspiring? We’d look like a bunch of suck-ups.” Jerkface ignored her, instead inspecting his line of three cadets. He shook his head at Kimmalyn, whose version of “attention” involved standing on the tips of her toes and saluting with both hands. It was ridiculous. “You look ridiculous,” Jerkface said to her. The girl’s face fell, and she slumped. I felt an immediate burst of protective anger. I mean…he was right, but he didn’t have to belt it out like that. “Who taught you to stand at attention?” Jerkface asked. “You’re going to embarrass us. I can’t have that.” “Yeah,” I said. “She’d be stealing…’ Sanderson, Brandon. Skyward (pp. 62-63). Random House Children's Books. Kindle Edition. BOTTOM LINE Unlike so many other Kindle books, the Audible Edition is not discounted. In fact, it is quite spendy, so I did not purchase the audiobook yet. Four stars out of five. I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid. With your help, my improvement will help you and me improve book reviews on Amazon. Together, you and I can build a great customer review process that helps everybody. Will you join me? It is people such as you who have helped me improve over the years. I'm still learning, and I have a great deal yet to learn. With your help, I'll improve every day. One request: Be respectful and courteous in your comments and emails to me. I will do likewise with you. Thank you so much for indicating if this review helped you, or for your comment.