Skyward

Skyward is a young adult science fiction novel by the American writer Brandon Sanderson, published in 2018. It is the first of four books and is set in the same universe as an earlier short story of his, which takes place several hundred years before.

The humans of the story live on a world called Detritus, which is under attack from a hostile species known as the Krell. Their defence is a force of fighter pilots, and the social order that has grown up around that defence is not forgiving: reputations are made and lost in the air, and the children of pilots who failed are expected to fail too.

Spensa's father was shot down by his own wingmates after he left his flight during the battle that the defenders still talk about. She has spent her life being the daughter of a coward, and her response is to try for the flight academy anyway, against a system designed to keep her out of it. An accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern gives her a way in, and the novel follows her through training and into the air.