Announcing Skyward!

[ChazBolt]

https://brandonsanderson.com/officially-announcing-skyward/

 

So it looks like its gonna be non-cosmere but about dragons!

[MistbornAlpaca he/him]

47 minutes ago, ChazBolt said:

So it looks like its gonna be non-cosmere but about dragons!

1

Not quite... I think you misread. Brandon is taking the "boy and his dragon" trope and turning it into "a girl and her starfighter" 

So not dragons, but it does sound as if the starfighters are sentient, and have feelings similar to those in the "boy and his dragon" archetype. (namely the dragon) It sounds very much like How To Train Your Dragon, in that the girl finds a broken starfighter, similar to the injured dragon Toothless, and has to gain the starfighter's trust and save the world from an invasion of alien starfighters, similar to the dragons in HTTYD.

And although it's not Cosmere, it is related to another, non-Cosmere work of Brandon's, which is super exciting! Which one is it though? I guess we'll have to wait and read it, but my guess is Rithmatist, although it could be Alcatraz (haven't read Alcatraz yet)

Edited December 18, 2017 by MasterJack

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

2 hours ago, MasterJack said:

And although it's not Cosmere, it is related to another, non-Cosmere work of Brandon's, which is super exciting! Which one is it though? I guess we'll have to wait and read it, but my guess is Rithmatist, although it could be Alcatraz (haven't read Alcatraz yet)

Actually, I think it's probably Defending Elysium. It could also be Firstborn, but I find that much more unlikely based on the story and world. You can read them both online, which I very much suggest you read. 

http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/12/firstborn

http://brandonsanderson.com/defending-elysium

Edit: I'm adding Perfect State to the list of possibilities, but I think it's less likely than the others. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by thegatorgirl00

[MistbornAlpaca he/him]

1 hour ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

Actually, I think it's probably Defending Elysium. It could also be Firstborn, but I find that much more unlikely based on the story and world. You can read them both online, which I very much suggest you read. 

http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/12/firstborn

http://brandonsanderson.com/defending-elysium

Edit: I'm adding Perfect State to the list of possibilities, but I think it's less likely than the others. 

Oh! I forgot about these  I haven't read them so I didn't even consider them. 

Thanks for the links 

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

3 hours ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

Actually, I think it's probably Defending Elysium. It could also be Firstborn, but I find that much more unlikely based on the story and world. ... Edit: I'm adding Perfect State to the list of possibilities, but I think it's less likely than the others. 

Those were the ones I was thinking of too, especially Firstborn but that's prob'ly just because it's set on a spaceship.

The plot for Skyward immediately reminded me of another of my favorites - the Jon and Lobo series by Mark van Name (First book is https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/385460.One_Jump_Ahead ). It's about a nano-enhanced man who "meets" and teams up with a sentient spaceship. It's not YA, but as "adult" books go they're about on the same level as Brandon's re: violence, sex. etc. - not gratuitous at all but lots of action. There are 5 books so far, but we've been waiting (sigh) 4 years for #6. I can't fault the author though - he runs a tech company as his full-time job and just writes in his spare time. Hard to get mad at a guy who provides 100+ folks with good-paying jobs.

I'll be looking forward to November for Skyward!

Edited December 19, 2017 by old aggie
italics

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

1 hour ago, old aggie said:

Those were the ones I was thinking of too, especially Firstborn but that's prob'ly just because it's set on a spaceship.

I thought Defending Elysium because there are aliens, which I don't recall in Firstborn and because

Spoiler

the end implies there's a war coming. We also see an alien use Cytonics to put their mind in a human. I was thinking the Starfighter's soul could be a product of similar mechanics. It would also allow Brandon to do the traditional rediscovering lost magic plot that is often in a boy and his dragon stories, with the Starfighter as the mentor. 

 

[ccstat he/him]

After reading the sample chapters that were posted with the cover reveal (news post here) I still can't guess what continuity the story is in. As much as I love Defending Elysium it just doesn't fit, in my opinion. Firstborn is a possibility, but also doesn't feel right. 

I am excited about the book, though. Those sample chapters paint a good picture of where things are expected to go, and I'm having fun imagining the twists Brandon will throw into the mix. (I also like that Peter gets an starfighter maneuver named after him this time, instead of a location. The McCaffrey nod is obvious, but I'm wondering if any of those other names are also tributes to authors. Anybody recognize them?)

[EddyJ he/him]

If I remember correctly, Defending Elysium references Earth while Firstborn doesn’t, and that could be another clue pointing towards the former rather than the latter. Please correct me if I’m wrong, though. 

[Argent he/him]

Let's use the cover announcement as a hub for general conversation, at least for now.