Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

All her life, Spensa's dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she's a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing. The rumors of his cowardice are true—he deserted his flight during battle against the Krell. Worse, though, he turned against his team and attacked them.

Spensa is sure that there's more to the story. And she's sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars—and it was terrifying. Everything Spensa has been taught about her world is a lie.

But Spensa also discovered a few other things about herself—and she'll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to.

Loved every single page, can't wait for the sequel, this series is becoming one of my favourite ever.

Brandon Sanderson remains one of my favourite authors. His ‘voice' is distinctive but very easy to read and always providing a brilliant level of engagement for me. Starsight is the second in his YA scifi series. It does follow some standard YA tropes (youthful person being super heroic) but he does manage to play them in an interesting way. This time we get introduced to a bit more of the wider universe hinted at in the first story. Our heroine, Spensa, gets the opportunity to infiltrate the ‘Krell'. Here she ends up on a pilot evaluation course and gets the opportunity to meet some of the other species inhabiting the universe. Sanderson has a deft touch for creating unique creatures and clever politics and it shows well through this story.

My main criticism of this story is that the deus ex machina mechanism of allowing this infiltration is a bit forced. It makes the suspension of disbelief required a bit more challenging. Once we get passed that though teh story is very entertaining