Praise for Steelstriker:
Instant New York Times Bestseller!
"A brutal but satisfying conclusion to a strong dystopian duology." - School Library Journal
Praise for Skyhunter:
A New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller
“My favorite YA of 2020.” —Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ember in the Ashes series and National Book Award Winner All My Rage
"Cinematically imagined... An exciting, layered, action-filled tale." - Kirkus Reviews
"Paradoxes abound and readers will glory in them all." - Booklist
"Suspense and high-action fights make this plot-driven story both fast-paced and brutal." - School Library Journal
"Lu (The Kingdom of Back and Legend) creates a devastating, war-torn world, built upon the wreckage of a technologically advanced society. Readers will eagerly await a follow-up to this engrossing dystopian novel, which searingly interrogates traumas of war, immigration, and imperialism." - Publishers Weekly
"Lu ably balances lightning-fast action and stirring battles with romance, weaving in enough bits of cultural history to give the story some grounding... This hearty but small group of Talin, Red, and a few more allies face formidable odds in the next outing, and readers will likely eagerly await news on how they fare." - The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books (BCCB)
"The high-stakes action (including graceful, deadly combat) more than once has readers fearing for the characters’ lives...In addition, Lu brings in themes of disability and prejudice to this science fiction tale with many of the markers of traditional fantasy." - The Horn Book
10/01/2021
Gr 9 Up—Six months after the fall of Mara, the Karensa Federation works mercilessly to absorb the formerly free nation into its sprawling empire. Mara's artifacts are carted to Federation museums and sculpture gardens, their heritage erased. Prisoners await execution or transformation into Ghosts—the hideous monsters the Federation uses against its enemies and subjects. Talin, hostage to the Premier, watches helplessly. Once an elite Striker, Talin tried to stop the Federation's invasion but she and her friends were too late. Now she stands at the Premier's side as a Skyhunter—a human turned war machine with lethal strength and steel wings. Red escaped the Federation once, but now, his wings damaged, the first Skyhunter knows he will need more than rage and regret to help his new friends. Chapters alternate between Talin and Red's first-person narrations as they try to find their way back to each other and continue fighting the Federation. Seeds of rebellion and resistance spark action in this story which expands on the sophisticated and nuanced worldbuilding from the first installment. Questions of who is fit to run a nation and how power is bestowed add further depth to the book's political landscape. As the Premier tries to harness (presumably nuclear) technology from the Early Ones, it becomes clear that sometimes mistakes are doomed to repeat. Lu once again delves into the brutality of war and invasion as Talin, whose vocal chords were damaged in the invasion of her birthplace, and Red, who was recruited by the Federation as a child soldier, reflect on what brought them to this point. VERDICT A brutal but satisfying conclusion to a strong dystopian duology.—Emma Carbone, Brooklyn P.L.
2021-09-01
A group of young rebels struggle against tyrannical forces in this sequel to Skyhunter (2020).
Resuming the tale shortly after the fall of Mara, the last nation that had been holding out against the murderous Karensa Federation, the story is vividly told in the first person alternating between Talin’s and Red’s perspectives. Talin, who uses sign language to communicate, has now been forced by the deeply evil Premier Constantine, as Red was, to become a Skyhunter, with huge metal wings grafted onto her body, steel armor implanted under her skin, and her emotions accessible to him. Constantine uses the threat of ending her mother’s life—he holds her captive—to control Talin, thus ending her ability to work with her friends against Karensa. The menacing Constantine is an effective villain whom readers will rail against as Talin and Red slowly discover the complicated web of burgeoning resistance and betrayal that exists in the bleak new world they inhabit. Detailed sabotage plots, action-laden fights, and even some romance are interspersed, but Talin’s psychologically taut internal battle against Constantine’s suffocating control is front and center throughout. The novel wraps up with a satisfying conclusion. The first novel noted characters’ differing skin tones; there are several secondary characters who are queer.
A slow-burning, introspective end to an emotionally powerful duology. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)
