Pushing the Limit

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
New York : Ember, 2019.
513 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

A number of years ago a book club we had at the high school read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I recall that I really liked Sanderson's writing - even though I'm not a huge fan of high fantasy.  So I was interested when  student recommended Skyward to me.  The student had it on his reading list for student readers working on the Lincoln Award for this year.     

I enjoyed reading this science fiction adventure tale, but didn't love it.  The strengths of Skyward are many, though.  Sanderson is great at plotting, character development, and descriptive action.  The story is also good for having a believable, strong central female character.

The basic plot of the story revolves around Spensa who goes by the name "Spin." She lives on a planet where humans crash-landed a few generations before and where they are under threat from the mysterious space-craft flying Krell.  Humans on this planet depend on skilled fighter pilots to protect them from the alien Krell who frequently launch attacks from space using their sophisticated and deadly spaceships.  The humans have capable space/jet fighters but seem to be losing a war of attrition.  Spin - whose father was a superb pilot until a pivotal battle where was lost and accused of cowardice - wants to be a fighter pilot and redeem her family name.  She enters the prestigious fighter training academy and the story unfolds from there.

There are some surprising plot developments, and the battle sequences are thrilling.  The parts that didn't grab me are the banter between the pilots in training and their crusty trainer, and the revelation that Spin comes from a group of humans that seem to have supernatural powers on which the survival of Defiant may depend.

In spite of my not being wowed by the book, I would still recommend it to science fiction fans.

Reckoning the Experience of War

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes
New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, c2011.
xii, 256 p. ; 22 cm.

I bought this book after reading a positive review of it in Leatherneck, the magazine of the US Marines.  I was interested in it since the author had been a US Marine in Vietnam and a Rhodes scholar and a novelist.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm really very opposed to war, except as a last resort and have no interest in books that romanticize or glorify combat.

This book is a thoughtful, honest account of the experience of deadly combat on a young, intelligent person.  The author takes exceptional pains to be honest about his behaviors, motivations, fears, successes, and what he as learned of war and combat through both experience and study.   He is not interested in glorifying combat or vilifying enemies that the US has waged war with.  His goal seems to be to try to convey what the life-altering and profoundly destructive nature of war is like to anyone who will read his book.

Whatever one's opinions are on the military adventures of the United States, anyone working with young people knows that many of the students we work with choose the military as an option after high school or are considering it as an option.  With that in mind, a book such as What It Is Like to Go to War would be a very beneficial book to get into the hands of any thoughtful student who wants to wrestle with the idea of war and his or her possible participation in war or who asks if there is an account of what war is like.