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Defiant (The Skyward Series Book 4)
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes the final book in an epic series about a girl who will travel beyond the stars to save the world she loves from destruction. Spensa made it out of…
- Release Date
- 2023
- Length
- 433 pages
- Publisher
- Delacorte Press
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Our Review
About the book
The concluding Skyward novel brings Spensa back to her friends as the war against the Superiority and the threat of the delvers reach their climax. With alliances shifting and her cytonic abilities growing, Spensa must decide what kind of hero she wants to be as the fate of Detritus hangs in the balance.
Our review
Sanderson lands the Skyward saga with a crowd-pleasing finale that brings the team back together and pays off years of setup.
The reunion is a joy. After two books apart, Spensa returns to the Skyward Flight crew, and the banter and camaraderie immediately restore what the series had been missing. Sanderson juggles multiple viewpoints, including Jorgen’s and other returning characters, to show the war from several angles, and the climactic battles are among his most cinematic. Spensa’s arc, from blustering cadet to a hero who understands the cost of violence, concludes gracefully.
The book feels rushed in places. So many threads need tying off that some characters’ arcs get compressed, and certain resolutions arrive with less buildup than they deserve. The mythology can also get dense, leaning on revelations from Cytonic and the novellas that casual readers may have missed. But as a send-off, it’s generous and emotionally satisfying, and it returns the series to its strongest asset: friendship under pressure.
What we loved
- The reunion with the Skyward Flight team
- Cinematic, high-stakes climactic battles
- A satisfying conclusion to Spensa’s arc
Keep in mind
- Some character arcs feel compressed
- Relies on lore from the novellas and earlier books
Read it if you like
Fans of the Skyward series, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, or Sanderson’s Mistborn finale.
The verdict
A rousing, heartfelt finale that brings the series home, even if it hurries to tie every thread.
