Skyhunter by Marie Lu

Summary from Goodreads:

In a world broken by war, a team of young warriors is willing to sacrifice everything to save what they love.

The Karensa Federation has conquered a dozen countries, leaving Mara as one of the last free nations in the world. Refugees flee to its borders to escape a fate worse than death—transformation into mutant war beasts known as Ghosts, creatures the Federation then sends to attack Mara.

The legendary Strikers, Mara's elite fighting force, are trained to stop them. But as the number of Ghosts grows and Karensa closes in, defeat seems inevitable.

Still, one Striker refuses to give up hope.

Robbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows firsthand the brutality of the Federation. Their cruelty forced her and her mother to seek asylum in a country that considers their people repugnant. She finds comfort only with a handful of fellow Strikers who have pledged their lives to one another and who are determined to push Karensa back at all costs.

When a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? Or could he be the weapon that will save them all?

Review:

As I mentioned on Goodreads, this is my favorite Marie Lu book cover, but my least favorite Marie Lu book....It wasn't bad. The story just wasn't as suspenseful as her others. It had a rather typical YA plot with not a lot of new ideas....I loved the characters and the concept. It was just missing the fast-paced, on the edge of your seat story-line I come to expect from this author, and was a little too easy to put down.

The war-torn world was a world I’ve read about many times before. And I guess with such a cool looking cover and such a past of writing unique worlds, I was expecting more from this author. That being said, Marie Lu writes the story really well. She develops this war-driven world well. And I definitely connected with the characters. You can certainly connect the refugee experience of our own current society with that of this fantasy one.

I also kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like I almost didn’t think this could be the whole story. What was the twist? Maybe I’ve just been reading a ton of other suspense books lately. I don’t know…I didn’t hate this book. I enjoyed it enough to finish the whole thing. I wanted to see if the character would succeed. I enjoyed the side characters too. It just didn’t live up to my high expectations. If it was my first Marie Lu book I’d probably enjoy it more.

All in all, the world building is great, the characters are good, and the refugee story rings true. There’s just nothing super new about the story that makes it stand out against other YA books. And it doesn’t live up to the author’s other books. I give it a 7/10.