Review - Blightfall

 

Blightfall

by Brandon Sanderson; Janci Patterson

SeriesRiftwake #1

PublisherDelacorte Press

GenreSci-Fi Fantasy; Teens and YA

FormatKindle ARC

Pages496

Pub. DateSeptember 1, 2026

Rating🌟🌟⭐️🌟🌟

DESCRIPTION

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson comes the first book in a new, high-flying trilogy featuring the legendary Skyward Flight as they undertake a deadly intergalactic mission to explore a mysterious alien world.

After decades of war against alien oppressors, the humans of the Defiant Defense Force are finally free. Yet for Arturo Mendez, leader of Skyward Flight, freedom isn’t what he thought it would be.

His first postwar assignment seems simple: The DDF has found evidence of other settlements of humans who were isolated during their long war against the aliens, and Arturo and his flight of pilots are to escort a team of diplomats as they attempt to make contact. It’s an easy mission—get in, guard the diplomats, and get out.

But no element of this mission turns out to be simple. Blightfall is inhospitable, surrounded by mysterious debris and covered in giant, invasive forests that have swallowed most of the planet. Upon arrival, Arturo’s team is attacked, and it quickly becomes clear that this human settlement isn’t what it appears to be.

Now trapped in an unfamiliar world and unsure who to trust, Arturo and his team must find allies and uncover long-buried secrets if they hope to escape and return home.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS

I’m still a novice when it comes to reading fantasy, but each Brandon Sanderson book I’ve read so far, including The Mistborn Saga, has been incredibly enjoyable. When I saw Blightfall on NetGalley, I requested it and was promptly approved. I quickly realized that this is the first book in the Riftwake trilogy and is set in the Skyward universe. I currently have the first book of that series on hold, but I couldn’t resist reading Blightfall any longer, as this review will be posted on its release date.

Our protagonist, Arturo Mendez, is now the new leader of Skyward Flight. He hopes for a smooth mission, but his team is sent on a diplomatic mission to Blightfall, a human settlement isolated from humanity for decades. Initially, Arturo and his team are expected to escort the settlement, make contact, complete their tasks, and return home. However, things take an unexpected turn when they arrive on Blightfall. What they discover is a hostile world. 

Arturo’s team includes Sadie Chay, a Skyward Flight pilot. As strange events unfold, they become far more involved in the settlement than they ever anticipated. What begins as a diplomatic mission quickly becomes a fight for survival, complete with battles in space, encounters with alien species, and even the possibility of romance. As the first book in a new series, Blightfall sets the stage for what promises to be an exciting continuation.

Although this book is in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genre, I never felt overwhelmed. In fact, the Kindle ARC had a couple of illustrations, and they were helpful, and the book was broken up into sections, with an interlude between each chapter. The first interlude stopped me and I felt it was dry, but by the next one, I felt as if it could have simply been done in report style. Whatever Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson intended, they actually fit perfectly in the story.

Right after composing this review, my librarian emailed me to say that two of my hold requests came in and the others should be there next week. Then they’ll be mailed to me though the library’s loan-by-mail program. I know that I could get the Kindle books on my Libby app, but this is a world that I’d really like to immerse myself in, which is why I requested the hard copies of the Skyward series. 

Many thanks to Delacorte Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brandon Sanderson was born in December 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested for him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This all changed in eighth grade when an astute teacher, Mrs. Reeder, gave Brandon Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. Brandon thoroughly enjoyed this book, and went in search of anything similar. He discovered such authors as Robert Jordan, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card. Brandon continued to be an avid reader through junior high and high school. He liked epic fantasy so much that he even tried his hand at writing some. His first attempts, he says, were dreadful.

The only author to make the short list for the David Gemmell Legend Award eight times in seven years, Brandon won that award in 2011 for The Way of Kings. He has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice award for Best Epic Fantasy twice and has been nominated three other years. His novella The Emperor’s Soul won the Hugo Award in 2013. Brandon has been serving as a judge for Writers of the Future since 2016. He has hit the New York Times Best-Seller List fifteen times, most recently at #1 with Oathbringer, book three of The Stormlight Archive, which is also Audible’s most pre-ordered book of all time. DMG Entertainment optioned the rights to the Cosmere universe shared by his fantasy novels, and Fox acquired the Reckoners trilogy for Shawn Levy’s production company 21 Laps. Brandon’s books have been published in thirty-five languages.

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Janci Patterson writes fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary young adult novels. Janci lives in Orem, Utah, with her husband, Drew Olds, and their children. Janci's f

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