This book was awesome!! Quick pacing, intriguing and complex characters, and stunning, almost visual story telling make Skyward maybe my favorite book of the year. There were some sci-fi tropes that felt a little predicable but honestly, having a little predicability was a really great thing because everything else was so fast paced and original. I did not expect to like this book as much as I did, and I wonder whether it quite deserves a full five stars but this was just such a darn fun and exciting book! This took me back to my sci-fi tv days and love of Star Wars and video flight games, and even some more recent dystopian novels but all creative and very much its own thing. And even though Skyward isn’t in the Cosmere, there’s plenty of mystery and, dare I say it, almost “magic” to be figured out and understood that this will appeal to sci-fi and fantasy lovers alike. Go read!