Blightfall
Riftwake #1
by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson
My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi
Soon after winning a decades-long war against alien oppressors, a team from the planet Detritus is sent to another planet, Blightfall, to make contact with a settlement of humans that had been isolated there during the war. But they can’t possibly guess what awaits them even before they land on Blightfall.
I have not read the series that this is an offshoot of. It wasn’t even until I was around 2/3 into the story that I realized this was a continuation of the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson (though I suppose I should have suspected) and, more directly, a series of side novellas in the same world, written by Janci Patterson. But that means that my perspective will be as a complete newcomer, not a veteran, and as such, I did not have too many issues following the worldbuilding. Yes, I was initially lost with terms like cytonics, aliens that are given only cursory explanations, and people that clearly have backstories that I don’t know. I didn’t feel like it was any more difficult to muddle through the early chapters than any other sci-fi book with worldbuilding that hits the ground running though. By the end, I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of everything I needed an understanding of.
I was caught up in the story and the story world, especially when it became clear that there was something strange going on on Blightfall. I absolutely adored the taynix (slug-like creatures), their way of communicating, and their love of scritches and snuggles. There were a few interludes from the perspective of some of the taynix that made me really curious to know more about the world outside of what we’re shown for this story. I have no idea if any of that is part of the previous books in this world or not. Things got a little strange, though, with a couple of romances that felt awkward and unnecessary. And I really wish fiction writers could understand that having characters with they/them pronouns just makes things confusing in fiction, especially when any kind of action is going on. It was so hard to follow.
Despite the fact that I never had a desire to break into any of Sanderson’s epic fantasy/sci-fi works before, I have to admit that this has made me consider starting at the beginning of the series. As I understand it, this book was basically written by Patterson but with some input from Sanderson, which makes me all the more curious to see what his writing is like. (The only other Sanderson book I have read in the past is Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians.) I recommend the book for fans of futuristic, space-themed sci-fi, even if you haven’t read any of the books that precede it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Find out more about Blightfall
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
