Starsight (Skyward, #2)

by Brandon Sanderson

“But never try to be who you aren’t; you don’t have nearly enough practice to pull it off.”

“You know the worst part about being in charge, Spin?” “No, sir.” “Perspective. When you’re young, you can assume that everyone older than you has life figured out. Once you get command yourself, you realize we’re all just the same kids wearing older bodies.”

Humankind had existed on the brink of extinction for so long that survival—by necessity—trumped expression.

“So that’s her,” Hesho said, hovering near my head. “She doesn’t look so dangerous. Still, a blade that has slain a hundred men may not shine like one freshly forged. Danger, sweet like a forbidden perfume. I will know thee.”

Warriors who have fought return home, but find they no longer belong. The battle has changed them, warped them, to the point where they are strangers. They protected the society they love, but in so doing made themselves into something that could never again belong to it.”