Skyhunter

Skyhunter is in a dystopian world where sometime in the year 2164,there were once nations that had fallen to the clutches of the Federation. Mara is the last remaining free nation from tyranny. Talin immigrated from her country Basea to Mara, after their nation had been conquered. She and her mother become new citizens of Mara,and Talin alone,vows to serve Mara and becomes their hope for destiny,desire,devotion,and above all... freedom. Corian who had been her comrade, unexpectedly dies and becomes a causality of the Ghosts. One of the Federation's war experiments; they're simply humans turned unnaturally into creatures. To be controlled by their captors in combat. Talin then is put in one of the most difficult positions that she must make. Overcoming of her being discriminated because she is Basean,and not just being a mute,she must make a choice in that order to do with it takes to become a Striker,an elite warrior. To fight for Mara. And to trust her unfamiliar new comrade,Red.

This book really drew me in with the first description of a beleaguered land (Mara) trying to fight off the Karensa Federation that has conquered the rest of the area with their twisted use of the Early One's advanced technology. The Federation uses Ghosts to do their dirty work but Mara has its Strikers and Shields to fight back. And that is what this story is about, from the viewpoint of Talin. Talin is a strong character that does her best as a Striker, to defend Mara, the land that she and her mother fled to after their country was conquered. I think it is cool that she can do all that, even with the inability to speak. She is a very capable fighter, yet still compassionate like when she stops the execution of Red. Her friends, Adena and Jeran are great too. Red is totally awesome! His secret is really big and cool and that is all I will say about it. I do have to mention the cover, which I thought was pretty with all the streaks of color but it did not make sense and I thought it was all lines with a person in the middle. When all is revealed later on in the story though, the cover made perfect sense and is a really cool piece of art. This is a really good book but it ends on a major cliffhanger! I still recommend it though.

i've loved all of marie lu's previous books, so i was so happy to be able to get my hands on a copy of skyhunter! the cover is so gorgeous and the synopsis immediately caught my eye. the book starts off with talin kanami and her striker partner, her shield, corian, fighting ghosts that were created by the Federation in the the warfront. unfortunately, he dies, which puts talin in a difficult position as she was always racially discriminated, even among the strikers, as she is Basean. as a war prisoner was brought in, talin is the only one that stops everyone calling for his death and he gets made her partner. his name is red, short for redlen, and is the Federation's first Skyhunter. together, they figure out a way to stop the Federation from creating more Ghosts, but their mission fails and they go to war. overall, skyhunter is a solid ya fantasy novel, with good plot and action. however, it is slightly predictable and there seems to be no real struggles for the characters. the relationships between talin and her friends are super cute and i really enjoyed reading about their friend group. i enjoyed reading it although a lot of parts didn't feel very fleshed out. i would recommend for anyone looking for an easy ya novel to dive into.