I absolutely love reading this sampler! The book sounded so exciting and good. I can not wait to read the whole book!

From the very first chapter alone, my heart was completely devastated. Marie Lu has not disappointed me yet and I have a feeling that this book will be an emotional roller coaster

Marie Lu is a very popular author who everyone seems to love, and I really feel like a black sheep. I loved Warcross/Wildcard, but I’ve not had any luck getting into any of her other books. Unfortunately Skyhunter is added to the others. I know this is only a sampler, but it just was nothing there to catch my attention. I think I thought the book was more then what it actually is, not the theme I thought it would be.

I really enjoyed the excerpt I read. The world was clearly explained at the beginning and an interested scene was set up. There was a lot of action right away which immediately caught my attention. I am interested to read the rest of the book to see how conflict that was set up plays out.

This chapter sampler got off to a great start. There's a really thrilling action scene that begins almost right away, so it feels easy to get sucked into the story. The dystopian theme is described well so that the world of "Skyhunter" is established immediately. The setting and some of the characters reminded me a bit of "Divergent" - there's a theme of trying to fight the powers that be and being held down by an oppressive government. The main character is also interesting - a young girl from the 'wrong side of the tracks' who has been trained to kill the monsters that roam around the city. What happens on one of these kill missions in particular sets off a string of events that make the novel feel compelling and exciting. I'll have to check out the book to read the rest of what happens because I'm definitely intrigued!

I love Marie Lu's books so I had to read this! Although this is just an excerpt of Skyhunter and it was only 52 pages long, it is realy interiging and I cannot wait to read the rest of the story!

Skyhunter is definitely a book that draw my attention. Though it was only a excerpt the story is quite intrigued. This is my first book that I got my hands to read Marie Lu’s writing style and i have decided to get my hands on all her works.
This is going to be a one hell of a ride .. just be ready to dig in and I’m sure fantasy and Sci-fi lovers going to love this book.
#skyhunterCHAPTERSAMPLER #NetGalley

This excerpt is only the first 4 chapters or so of the book, so I don't have a lot to say about it other than being intrigued. I think I'll probably pick up the rest of the book at some point. I can already tell that the world building here is spectacular.

This excerpt of Skyhunter was only 52 pages long but already I know I'm gonna love the book when it is published soon! What a powerhouse of a book, Marie Lu definitely made 2020 even better!

I always enjoy Marie Lu books, especially ones set in a sort of sci-fi world, as that is where her creativity thrives. Marie Lu's writing style is comfortable and familiar, and her colorful characters match her colorful settings. The plot is nothing spectacular, especially not for YA where similar plots have been done a dozen times, but the execution is still enjoyable due to the characters and the nuance of the conflict. Overall I would recommend this to anyone looking for a quick sci-fi YA fix even if it wasn't my favorite.

3.75 stars.


“I feel like the phantom that I’ve trained all my life to become – a Ghost killer, a weapon of destruction, an invisible outsider in every way.”


This was a complicated book to get through. I'm not just saying that because it took me a long time to read it but because, for one, it left my feelings in a jumble that has taken me a little while to untangle and, second, because it deals with difficult themes that opened me raw and that took a lot out of me mentally speaking.

I've read most of Lu's works and I always know that she is about to introduce me to something extraordinary and so well written that is gonna be just plain delightful to read. I can not ignore that Skyhunter is her best-written book to date.

Still, it just seemed to miss the mark for me.


“You have spent your entire lives sneering at the ground I walk on. The style of my clothes and the tint of my skin. The food that I eat. The language of my people, the signs I use because I cannot speak aloud. You have wished for the death of my loved ones by barring them from the safety of our doors, even as you take from them what you like – their jewelry, their customs and food, their traditions. You have taken advantage of my silence in every way, robbed me of my dignity and my pride. You have used me for your own gain. Now, in your hour of greatest need, you will use me again. And yet, I will still risk my life to save yours. I swore and oath to this country on the day I donned this coat, to protect you and every other citizen from harm so long as there is breath in my body.”


This book deals with some very heavy subjects that made me need little breaks from my reading in order to be able to process them and, well, not murder them all. Discrimination and racism are never easy to see represented, they always make my blood boil and my rage feel overpowering, so reading it here was complicated.

Lu writes about it with amazing respect and understanding and the grace of a queen making it feel like a complete, irreversible, all-consuming part of the story without it becoming the absolute focus of it all. Because, at the end of the day, it was just a part of what is going on and what forms the decisions Talin takes.

The way it came to be felt very real and so frighteningly easy to see and made me fall in love with the world and all the shades it has.

Because, without a doubt, the world in which everything is set is my favorite thing of this book. Well, let's not forget the characters - to whom we're gonna get in a second - but I'm counting them into the world-building.


“That he had taken so much from me – my words, my home, my world – and yet could not take everything.”


The mutism added little detail was something that surprised me greatly for how much I wasn't expecting it to be a thing. Or, well, such a beautifully narrated thing.

It has so many little revelations and moments and it adds such a great depth to the story that I couldn't help but fall in love with it. It made sense in an aching sort of way and, at the same time that it reshaped the world all around and gave it different flavors it didn't change anything at all. Because it was a part of the story and not something that felt out of place.

It was different and yet common in its own world and the way that it shaped Talin and all those around her was most interesting to see.


“If we’re going out, then I’m grateful to be alongside this team. Rats, orphans, disgraced children. We are Maras’s saviors.”


A very important part of any story is its characters and I can say that the cast we have here made my heart hurt and added all the pressure and weight needed to the story. Everything else was just background noise.

I mean, just give me a good bout of chemistry and interactions between any given assortment of characters and I will be happy, and this book was littered with them. The pull of every page was given by them and I am not complaining one bit.

We have the Strikers who are so brave and deadly. War machines that have the grace of dancers and the speed of gazelles. The last line of defense between a wartorn world and the innocent and wicked that are left free. And I loved every single one of them for so very varied reasons.

Talin is a character that I think I'm gonna admire for a long time coming. Finding strength where everyone told her she shouldn't and having the courage to protect and defend those that would not repay her in kindness ... it just sets my heart on fire for her. Lu knows how to write female protagonists in a way that always intoxicates me.

The rest of them doesn't fall behind for a second. Adena with her passion and wits, it always made me think she was a little overeager, but in a nice way. Jeran with all those scars and insecurities but the heart of a lion and the grace of a deer. He deserves the world and more. Aramin dear pragmatic, Aramin, who has to take such difficult decisions in order to keep everyone alive. Red who never let his traumas and pain stop him from doing what must be done.

And, my personal favorite, Talin's mother. Because I have the biggest weakness for mother's that do the impossible for their children and give without expecting anything in return. And, well, she IS a badass regardless so there is a lot from where to choose when it comes to her.


“I am sworn, until death parts us, to protect him, to lay down my life for him, to be there when he needs me.”


The whole idea - and practicality - of the Shields was also something that I loved and think it's totally brilliant.

Strikers are the most elite soldier Mara has left and, therefore, their positions are terribly dangerous, so it makes perfect sense to have someone watching your back. Someone that you know so intimately that you know their every move and they know yours. Someone that is closer than anyone else will ever be to you. Someone that is your perfect complement. It just... it warms my heart and makes me really happy.

Those kinds of deep connections are always rewarding to see and the fact that it's something chosen and not dictated by nature, biology, or whatever just makes it more precious because choosing it adds so many layers to that relationship that nothing else could.

The training endured to get there, the commitment, the passion both parts must put into it. I don't know, it's already so incredible to see all that becoming a Striker entails and just the thought of not being alone through it makes me happy.


“I’m going to find a way to walk through life with courage seared into my bones.”


Of course, there were also a few things I did not appreciate half as much. Well, it's not so much that I didn't appreciate them as it is more that I don't think they quite reached their mark. Which is not the same but very close.

The whole Skyhunter side of the story was just out there for me. And that is something that physically pains me to say seeing as how the whole book revolves around it.

In the beginning, I was largely unimpressed and maintained the firm belief that it was muddling the parts of the story I loved. Not quite because I thought I didn't teach it fitted the story - because it certainly does - but because there was this feeling of incompleteness that permeated it all. Like I was seeing it through a dirty glass that distorted the edges and warped the image just so.

As the book progress it cleared and came into focus a little more but it never quite got the alignment quite right as it always felt like too much or too little.

Sure, it was mostly introduced and we didn't get to really play with it too much but it still left me wanting something that was not delivered. Like a lazy eye opened in the bottom of a canyon.


“Here, to me, is the part of Mara I understand, the people that Mara had allowed into its borders even as the Federation pushes in from all sides. We’re still here and alive. It’s enough of a reason to defend this place.”


The ending, as satisfactory as it felt, it was also something that just left me wanting.

It was really epic and I could see it playing in slow motion and all. The first part of it was a building crescendo, a bubble of a scream that tinted the world in red and seared it with smoke but it ended falling flat and dull at the very last second.

Sure, it opens many opportunities and makes me curious and anxious for the next book but it didn't take my breath away or left me shock... which really felt like a speeding car stopping suddenly and violently after the building pressure we had behind us.

It makes the most simple logic that it would happen. It was something I saw from the very beginning, and it really should have felt like more than how it felt.


“This is what the Federation does to us. It plants these horrifying memories in our minds until our hearts have turned hollow.”


On another note, the Federation is a really cool villain that gave me chills and unsettled me in the most basic of ways.

I love it when a villain can take simple control of the page and seemed to fill the whole world with their beliefs and their actions. A villain that can steal my attention from everything and everyone else is a villain that I can get behind and the eerie Federation has top marks over it.

They are such an integral part of the world-building at the same time that they are central to the plot and every second where I was learning more about them was a second I was happy.

A self-righteous and domineering nation that wants absolute control because it's their right is something that will live in my nightmares from now on and that may even become one of my favorite villains to date.


“Mara refuses to let her into their walls. They call us rats. We are seen as the invader. But Mara had been the country to open her doors for us when we were at our most desperate, when she had a nobler leader. She had saved us from our fates in the Federation. We may be rats here, but we are alive. And here I am, wearing the sapphire coat of a Striker. Mara is imperfect, but it is not the Federation.”


Skyhunter may not be one of my new all-time-favorite books but I do believe that it'll go into the list of worlds that made an impact on me and, if not be remembered forever, at least, it can be said that it was worth reading

Yes, even after all the struggles I had with it, I believe it is something where you'll find something to like.

That being said, I'm pretty sure I can wait patiently till the next book comes out - I'm in no hurry here - but I'll receive it with open arms and a smile when the time does come.


“For Mara, for its citizens, for the wealthy and the wicked and the poor and the suffering, I am going to give my life today on the battlefield. And maybe it won’t even matter.”

Need to finish reading this book, this was an excerpt and it was interesting enough to get me to read the rest. I love Marie Lu books and will look forward to the book and perhaps audiobook.

ARC Chapter Sampler provided by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review and opinion.

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What an excellent start to - what I’m sure will be - a phenomenal series.
The story grips you immediately and keeps you gripped until the end.

Though it is only a chapter sampler, the characters seem to come to life on the page, with immediately established backstories and personalities.

Marie Lu has not disappointed me yet and I expect this one to be no exception.

I will eagerly be waiting to get my hands on a finished copy.

I received a free partial advance copy for review. I'm intrigued by the storyline so far and will likely read the entire book.

Update: I got the rest of the book and could hardly put it down. I will say the plot at times doesn't fit with the characters, but as this is fantasy anyway, I didn't mind too much. Can't wait for the next in the series.

This was just an extended excerpt, but I really enjoyed it! I adore Marie Lu's writing style, and I can't wait to read the rest of the book.

Ok, so I THOUGHT I got the e-arc from NetGalley, but no-it was just an extended excerpt!!! But luckily I had time to wait for the book’s release and snag it from the library. For some reason (maybe it’s the cover, the word “Sky” in the title??) I was expecting a space opera. LOL it isn’t. It’s more like a zombie apocalypse book but in the best way. Talin, a Basean refuge in Mara, is a part of the elite Strikers, a highly skilled group of soldiers trained specifically to take down the Karensa Federation’s “ghosts” (read: zombies). This book had me on the edge of my seat! I loved all the characters, and I did not see the end coming, although I’m not sure if others might have. I really loved the prominence of sign language in this book and how it is such an integral part of the Striker’s survival but also Talin’s only form of communication. Talin’s friends are the epitome of awesome side characters. The book cover is a work of art once you read the book and can fully appreciate it and Marie Lu’s writing is to the point, attention grabbing, and rich in detail without getting bogged down by flowery descriptions. Overall this was a highly enjoyable read!

Excellent piece of master storytelling. I wish I could have get a full book to read but even these chapters were enough to grasp the thrills that the author created. Will get and read the full book very soon.

This was SO good! I pre-ordered Skyhunter as soon as I finished this preview. I'm a huge Marie Lu fan but this is shaping up to be my favourite so far.

The preview made me even more excited for Skyhunter!! I can't wait to learn more about Talin and the Ghosts and uncover whatever secrets and lies exist in this world!!! It's been long since I last dived in a dystopia and I'm excited to dip my toes in that pool once more.

Marie Lu is a fantastic author and world builder. This was a great excerpt but it was disappointing that I did not receive the whole book. After the exciting first chapter I've put this book on hold with my library and I look forward to reading it all.