Skyhunter by Marie Lu

Skyhunter (Skyhunter, #1)

by Marie Lu

A broken world.
An overwhelming evil.
A team of warriors ready to strike back.

#1 New York Times-bestselling author Marie Lu is back with an adrenaline-laced novel about the lengths one warrior will go to fight for freedom and those she loves.

Talin is a Striker, a member of an elite fighting force that stands as the last defense for the only free nation in the world: Mara.

A refugee, Talin knows firsthand the horrors of the Federation, a world-dominating war machine responsible for destroying nation after nation with its terrifying army of mutant beasts known only as Ghosts.

But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front to Mara's capital, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? What secrets is he hiding?

Only one thing is clear: Talin is ready to fight to the death alongside her fellow Strikers for the only homeland she has left . . . with or without the boy who might just be the weapon to save―or destroy―them all.

Loyalty is life.

Reviewed by Jordon on

2 of 5 stars

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When I first read the plot for Skyhunter it sold me on the fact that it sounded like a monster hunting story. The plot had been written making it seem like the main focus of the story was conquering the Ghosts that roamed the land, hunted in packs, and devoured human flesh. Our main protagonist is a strong girl that is a part of the Elite fighting force for Mara called the Strikers, she is one of the best in the force, she moves quickly, silently and is deadly. This sounded super exciting to me. I picked it up thinking this was what I was going to be reading.

Unfortunately for me, this is not what the story is about at all. This summary must have been one of the first summaries written for the book before it was published, and I didn't read it again before I read this book. The Ghosts are a very small part of the story, and you barely see any monster hunting. I was SO disappointed! The first few chapters of the book were great, the Ghosts appeared, and it's exciting and thrilling! Then it became about the prisoner and the war between Mara and the Federation, I kept reading thinking the story would get back to the monster hunting, but it never did.

This summary has now been replaced with the current summary, and the current summary much more accurately describes what the book is actually about.

This story wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't the one I thought I was going to read. If I had seen the new summary, I don't think I would have been interested in reading this book. I got pretty bored in the middle then I ended up skimming the end of the book just to see how it ended. I couldn't seem to push my way through to properly read the last few chapters, but I was so close that I didn't want to DNF it.

Skyhunter isn't a monster hunting story, but there are for sure monsters that are in it. The idea of the Ghosts was pretty intriguing, the world that Talin lives in is an interesting one full of decrepit futuristic buildings that collapsed many centuries ago, the knowledge and power long-lost to the people that live in the world today.

Skyhunter is about a small nation of people fighting for the good against the corrupt and cruel people of the Federation. The main protagonist is pretty badass and the other characters are well-rounded and interesting, I really liked Talin's Striker friends that fight alongside her (Yes, I totally can't remember their names), and Red is mysterious. If you're looking for this kind of story, you should pick this up!

For me, I was looking for a survival story with monster hunting, I was expecting a bit of an adventure story with Talin and her friends having to fight for their lives from packs of Ghosts through the barren lands south of Mara. So in light of what I was expecting and what I actually got, I was pretty bored.

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Reading updates

  • 1 December, 2020: Started reading
  • 20 December, 2020: Finished reading
  • 3 January, 2021: Reviewed