Sunreach Reactions

[Use the Falchion]

Sunreach comes out in three days, and there isn't a thread yet, so here is one. 

Post your thoughts below when it's out, or post your excitement/hesitation about it beforehand!

[Regent]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHSBDUDVHSHEUSVSUDGHSVDHSVSJSBKSJDHEVSIEBSJSVSBEHSVSVZNAK

Can't wait to see my gurl FM :') The trailer was so cool, I really love the narration.

"Skyward Five, ready"

"My father had taken to saying I was skysick—but it was the opposite. The sky terrified me."

LITERAL CHILLS MANNNNN OMEJDBEUSBHES. I've loved FM since day one and I really can't waittttt. Unfortunately as much as I want it the audiobook's a bit out of my budget right now but I did preorder the ebook so HYPEEEEEEEEEE

ok done.

Edited September 26, 2021 by caramel_

[Chaos]

Hi friends, I've made a Sunreach spoiler board and moved this topic there. 

[Shard of Reading]

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!! This book was really good, but it also kind felt incomplete. I definitely need the next novella. I can’t wait a month! It was nice to learn that you don’t need to scare the slugs to make them teleport. Really I liked this book just because of what it sets up for the next one. 

[Use the Falchion]

Just finished! It was a good read, and did well to compact the story it told in as small a format as it did. Although it's different from the first two books so far in a lot of ways. 

Sunreach has a larger focus on a romance subplot that was brought up in Skyward (one directly, one indirectly and almost so subtle that I didn't catch it on my first readthrough) and then quickly forgotten by the time Starsight rolled around. It makes the novella feel "cute" in a way that the books are. It also makes the novella feel more YA, for better or for worse. 

Next up is the plot. This feels more like a continuation of plot threads in Starsight than it does expanding the universe. It feels like watching Black Panther or Spider-Man: Homecoming after watching Captain America: Civil War - you know these characters, their main gist, and some of their relationships; now go explore it in-depth. Meanwhile I was expecting it to be more like Doctor Strange or Shang-Chi or even Black Widow, where we explore a different part of the world in-depth. THAT BEING SAID, Sunreach told the story it needed to tell, and I'm happy it did. ReDawn is offering a bit more in terms of worldbuilding, and I'm really liking Janci's influence on the Cytoverse, so I'm very excited. 

Overall, this is a vital read for fans of Starsight who wanted more Skyward Flight, and just for fans of the series who were upset with how Starsight ended. 

[king of nowhere]

i enjoyed the books, but i have to say, FM feels a bit off.

not on the big parts; she still is a pacifist who has to fight against aliens who won't accept diplomacy, and some of her shifting there came from having seen the issue from the military perspective.

but FM always had a distinctive way of speaking. she used big words. like "“Constantly amazed by the toxic aggression omnipresent in Defiant culture”. And she was impeccably dressed. those parts of her are never mentioned in sunreach. she missed a bit of her unique voice.

[Rosharan Chicken]

32 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

i enjoyed the books, but i have to say, FM feels a bit off.

not on the big parts; she still is a pacifist who has to fight against aliens who won't accept diplomacy, and some of her shifting there came from having seen the issue from the military perspective.

but FM always had a distinctive way of speaking. she used big words. like "“Constantly amazed by the toxic aggression omnipresent in Defiant culture”. And she was impeccably dressed. those parts of her are never mentioned in sunreach. she missed a bit of her unique voice.

I agree, she sounded much like a calmer Spensa.

I found to be an enjoyable read. The slugs were nice.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Spoon

[Mage of Lirigon]

15 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

i enjoyed the books, but i have to say, FM feels a bit off.

not on the big parts; she still is a pacifist who has to fight against aliens who won't accept diplomacy, and some of her shifting there came from having seen the issue from the military perspective.

but FM always had a distinctive way of speaking. she used big words. like "“Constantly amazed by the toxic aggression omnipresent in Defiant culture”. And she was impeccably dressed. those parts of her are never mentioned in sunreach. she missed a bit of her unique voice.

I kind of took that as part of her having changed since becoming a full pilot. Most of the time we see her use fancy words is when she's talking about Disputer stuff. She didn't really feel the the need to talk like that now for obvious reasons.

[ftl]

Oh hey, a romance! Feels like Janci's influence to me! I liked it.

[king of nowhere]

7 hours ago, Mage of Lirigon said:

I kind of took that as part of her having changed since becoming a full pilot. Most of the time we see her use fancy words is when she's talking about Disputer stuff. She didn't really feel the the need to talk like that now for obvious reasons.

possibly so. And we know under cobb's leadership the ddf is already tackling most of its internal problems.

but I'm missing old FM with her bombastic political commentaries anyway.

[fammann]

I loved it. Great payoff in the end. Home. 
 

I loved the romance. And the slugs. 
 

Can‘t wait for ReDawn. 

[Sparks]

I feel like if you intertwine the novellas with Cytonic it would have made its own Stormlight Archive-sized Skyward novel!

For the most part I loved it.  We get to explore FM the person, and I feel like both FM and Jorgen get some significant character growth.  Although it felt a little off that Jorgen seemed to be taking out some of his frustration on the taynix slugs at the beginning.

I missed Nedd's humorous Eeyore routine - he had a lot more to say in Skyward than in Sunreach.

I felt the one piece that was really missing from Sunreach was FM's family.  We know she must have an interesting family background - growing up into a Disrupter from the privileged Deep Caverns.  I wish it could have taken more of a front seat in FM's story.  Spensa's family obviously played a huge part in Skyward.  I bet Jorgen's family will play a big part in Evershore.  Shoot, Jorgen's family played a much bigger part in FM's story than FM's family!

 

[Crylorenzo]

I liked FM here though I agree she's less political than before, but the change is also somewhat understandable based on the circumstances.
The romance was cute - I've always liked Rig as a character, so was nice to see things go his way.
Jorgen had good growth moments.
Arturo had a great Adolin/Oathbringer moment.
The slugs were awesome and I wish we saw EVEN more with them, especially Boomslug - reminds me of the air blades from Defending Elysium. This felt like the magic exploration part of the world.
Agreed that the ending felt a little abrupt - Sunreach itself feels like an odd title because it felt like such a small part of the actual novella - if anything I would have liked a little more lingering on that area of the novella.
Overall a welcome addition to the story - looking forward to seeing the Spensa Jorgen scene from Spensa's perspective in the novel.

[ftl]

Yes! Good point about boomslug's powers. Sounds like there's one slug for each cytonic power - we've seen the ones that hyperjump and the ones that do ftl communication, but boomslug might do the equivalent of mindblades.

Definitely agree about Sunreach... all I really remember of the interior of sunreach was one room with all the people in it, and one corridor, and that's about it? The outside was very distinctive but the inside could have just been any random space station anywhere.

[Use the Falchion]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:23 AM, Sparks said:

I feel like if you intertwine the novellas with Cytonic it would have made its own Stormlight Archive-sized Skyward novel!

Humorously, if all novellas are roughly the same size as Sunreach, it would have only been about 250k words! 

 

20 hours ago, Crylorenzo said:

Sunreach itself feels like an odd title because it felt like such a small part of the actual novella - if anything I would have liked a little more lingering on that area of the novella.

Definitely agreed, but it also makes a weird amount of sense, given Brandon's collaboration titles this year. Lux was originally named Deathrise, and that only became important at the very end of the novel... Then again, nothing else revolving the story has that snappy of a title. Cytonic probably could have worked had the third novel not been called that, and Slugsearch just doesn't have that punch. Maybe Taynix? But would that give stuff away...?

[notsawerd]

I thought the pacing was good.  The Romance definitely made the novella feel like it was in the YA category.  The ending seemed a bit abrupt.  It was more of a setup than a stand alone novella.  Overall I enjoyed it and it made me look forward for the next installment which means it did its job.

[Karger]

Felt a bit like a low budget trailer but a worthwhile read.  Objective score B/B+.  Brandon adjusted score C/C+.

[Sandra]

Unofficial title: How to Train your Slug.

I quite liked it, but after all, it's just a novella and can only have that much plot. I guess I'm getting used to Brandon's 1000 pages books.

I'm excited for the other novellas and Skyward 3 though.

[Regent]

Alright. I enjoyed this novella! It was great seeing the flight again, I adored the slugs, and f- Jeshua.

Also, FM and Rig were so cute! Granted, reading their romance buildup felt kind of weird to me since I've never read anything like that before and I feel waaaay too akin with Spin's line of thought and her POV, but I still enjoyed it. Can't wait to see more of them : D

Admittedly, this one definitely felt like it wasn't completely written by Brando (which it is lol)--I dunno if it's with the prose or the tone--so that shift from the main novels to this one kind of caught me off guard. But overall I really liked this novella. Looking forward to ReDawn.

Edited October 5, 2021 by caramel_

[#1 Taln Fan]

My reactions can be summed up like this: 

 

THE SLUGS ARE ADORABLE

RIG+FM IS GREAT

JESUA DIE IN A HOLE!

That is all. 
 

p.s. the correct ship name is Fig and not Frig, no matter what the beta readers say. 

[Govir]

I really enjoyed it. The repeated use of "I have a perfect record of not dying in battle" kept making me feel that FM may not make it out of this one alive. It was a great feeling throughout the book. Also, the interactions with the slugs was great and reminded me of (Stormlight Archive Spoiler) 

Spoiler

Pattern

 

[Philomath]

I’m late to the game on this one. I had to get through my re-reads of Skyward and Starsight first. So here’s my random non cohesive thoughts. 
I really enjoyed this book. Even though we didn’t get lots of FM in Skyward, I always liked her and was excited to get more of her. There were parts of this book where I actually laughed out loud. I am happy to get lots more with Skyward flight again. I loved the Taynix. I’m glad Rig and FM got over their awkwardness quickly. I hate it when there is drama caused by people just not talking to each other. I think they are cute together and I’m glad they grew into it even if it seemed a little quick. I’m also glad that their relationship wasn’t the whole point of the story. I’m all for a little romance, but I like it as something that adds depth, not something that is the only point. People and life are more complex than who they have crushes on. I am a science and animal/nature nerd so this book really was right up my alley. I was really nervous for the rest of the flight at the end of the book. I didn’t think Brandon would kill them off in what is technically a side novella. So glad that was the case, but I still worry for them in the long run. I’m very excited for Evershore and Cytonic now. I already finished ReDawn so I’ll do a post on that one too. These novellas made me far more excited for this series than Starsight did. I didn’t dislike that one as much as some people, but it is good to get Skyward flight back. Their dynamic is really what I loved. 

[Wit Beyond Measure]

On 10/13/2021 at 1:19 PM, Govir said:

I really enjoyed it. The repeated use of "I have a perfect record of not dying in battle" kept making me feel that FM may not make it out of this one alive. It was a great feeling throughout the book.

The sole narrator typically has plot armor because if the narrator dies, the story ends midsentence and we never know if she's really dead.  I guess there could be exceptions if they cheat and add a second narrator at the very end.

[Govir]

3 hours ago, Wit Beyond Measure said:

The sole narrator typically has plot armor because if the narrator dies, the story ends midsentence and we never know if she's really dead.  I guess there could be exceptions if they cheat and add a second narrator at the very end.

Fair point. But we’ve seen different PoVs in the books before. So I could have seen a late death with an epilogue from a different POV.

[Mage]

Okay. I'm listening to sunreach for the first time and am about halfway through. I just had my mind blown when I realized that boomslug is doing the same thing that defending elysium dude was doing (jason was it?). The mind blades.

Sorry for all the typos and lack of capitalization. I was exercising and then had my mind blown and I just had to vent that somewhere. Thanks!