Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

Chet stole the show. Spensa is great, but her search for her heritage and the fear she might be more related to the villain is a little overplayed in the genre. Actually, this whole novel was a bit pros/cons. For all the good things I loved about M-bot's life as a drone, Chet's introduction, and the idea of space pirates, there were an equally matching list of cons. 

I'm not sure if this spells doom for the series. Let's be honest. Brandon Sanderson is a prodigious author. He writes 1,000 page epic fantasies, one of the most inventive magic systems I've ever come across, and kids books simultaneously. Then he moved into movie production and publishing. And then he started his on convention. It actually seems like it is time to say enough, where is your focus.

I feel angsty about the direction this is all going. There was always some hesitation about his projects diverging in so many directions, but each new novel continued to hold that essence of growth and provocation so I continued to devour what was published. I'm starting to become concerned, starting with Cytonic, that this trend is unsustainable. I don't feel like I walked away as attached to this series. I'm not as excited for the fourth book.

And yet, I do recommend reading a story that really does capture the argument of artificial intelligence so wonderfully. The essence of exploration and pirating were so moving and captivating. Peg kept the story twisting and turning enough to compel me to finish reading when the cliche parts got a little dragging. Such high positives and low negatives. We land with a completely average novel.