ReDawn – Brandon Sanderson (2021)

ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, published in 2021, is the second novella in the Skyward Flight trilogy, a companion series to Sanderson’s Skyward saga. This gripping installment focuses on Alanik of the UrDail, a determined cytonic pilot from the planet ReDawn, who becomes entangled in the escalating conflict between her divided people and the authoritarian alien regime known as the Superiority. As political intrigue, rebellion, and the shadows of war converge, ReDawn delivers a fast-paced, character-driven narrative that expands the cosmos of Skyward with new perspectives and urgent stakes.

Plot Summary

In the deep miasmic skies of ReDawn, beneath the curling branches of sentient trees that floated in gaseous red and violet heavens, Alanik returned home a failure. She had left with a mission to bring back the secret to hyperdrive technology and instead returned empty-handed, the humans of Detritus having succeeded where she could not. The planet she loved had changed while she was away. The Independence faction, her people, had lost political power to Unity, a faction more eager to bow to the Superiority than resist its grasp. Alanik watched the games at the Stadium Tree unfold, her mind far from the dazzling aerial sport and fixed instead on the quiet war for her people’s freedom.

Beside her stood Rinakin, her mentor, once a councilor, now a symbol of rebellion. Though their Independence team led the match, the crowd was filled with yellow pennants – Unity’s color – as if to mock the score. Nanalis, the new Council President and Unity High Chancellor, appeared in a broadcast that twisted patriotic fervor into thinly veiled threats. Alanik knew what the winds whispered. Her people had forgotten how to fight.

Their flight from the stadium was quick. Rinakin, with his steady resolve, suggested they speak away from watchful eyes. But their journey to Industry Tree was interrupted by a telepathic summons from Quilan, a cytonic of Unity and Alanik’s contemporary. The call was dressed in politeness, but the meaning was sharp – attendance at the Council was required. They were being watched, cornered, and the trap was closing fast.

Alanik refused the summons. The Council Tree had its own dangers, not least of which was the ability of multiple cytonics working together to generate a cytonic inhibitor – a null field through which she could neither escape nor teleport. Her refusal was met not with silence, but pressure. Quilan warned of military consolidation. Unity was tightening its grip.

The seeds of resistance could still grow. Rinakin revealed that a few bases – particularly the one on Hollow – had refused to unify. Alanik’s brother, Gilaf, was stationed there. But if left alone, they would fall. What was needed was hope. Allies. And Alanik had one potential path: the humans she had left behind.

Her relationship with the humans was complicated. They had healed her, but also imprisoned her. They needed help but were reluctant to trust. Still, their fighting spirit, their refusal to submit, made them the closest thing to kindred spirits ReDawn had left in the stars.

But Unity moved faster than expected. As Rinakin and Alanik attempted to return home, Quilan arrived with a security escort, masks of diplomacy discarded. Rinakin offered himself up to protect Alanik, but it was not enough. A burst of cytonic energy stunned him, and guards pulled him away. Alanik tried to reach him through the realm of thought and shadow, but an inhibitor aboard Quilan’s ship blocked her. She was helpless to save him.

With her ship locked down and options closing, Alanik escaped through the negative realm – the treacherous space through which cytonics traveled – and hyperjumped to Hollow. But even there, the colors of Unity had spread like rot. The base had already fallen. Superiority ships hovered above, and inhibitors were in place. She had been too slow.

Pursued by voices in her mind and boots in the halls, Alanik reached out to Jorgen, the human cytonic she had encountered on Detritus. He did not understand that their planet now emitted its own inhibitor. He didn’t even know he had the key to unlock it. She taught him how to reach within and transmit the mental code. With that, she escaped once again into the negative realm and emerged in the infirmary of the human base.

There, FM and Jorgen welcomed her with caution. She demanded no titles, only an audience. Slugs – the taynix, with strange telepathic power – bounced around the room, hyperjumping at will. These creatures, Alanik quickly realized, were the humans’ hyperdrives. In their hands lay the technology she had failed to acquire.

Alanik explained the peril her people faced – a government leaning toward surrender, a resistance hunted by their own, and an enemy growing bolder with each breath. The humans were wary. They had been burned before. But Jorgen and FM listened. They offered to take her to their leaders.

Admiral Cobb, Jeshua Weight, and Minister Cuna awaited her. The room was lined with caution and skepticism. Jeshua eyed her as a threat. Cuna, a Dione defector from the Superiority, spoke of nuance and complexity. Alanik cut through it all – her people were under threat, and they needed help. In return, she could offer training in cytonics and shared knowledge.

The offer was tentative, the risks high. Jeshua doubted the value of an alliance. Cuna preached cooperation. Cobb remained calm, evaluating, weighing. But it was clear – Alanik brought information, opportunity, and a sliver of something stronger than strategy: a shared enemy.

They asked what she truly wanted. Her answer was simple. She needed aid to take back Hollow, rescue Rinakin, and reignite the spark of rebellion among her people. The humans needed allies as much as she did. Together, they might prove stronger than the Superiority had calculated. Perhaps even strong enough to change the course of fate.

The decision was not yet made, but the meeting set things in motion. Alanik had stepped into a den of strangers and managed, at least for now, to leave as a potential partner. The road ahead remained treacherous, but for the first time since her return, the air around her seemed to shift.

Hope, stubborn and wild, began to grow again among the stars.

Main Characters

• Alanik – The protagonist and narrator of ReDawn, Alanik is a skilled UrDail cytonic and one of the few with teleportation abilities. She is fiercely loyal to her people, particularly the Independence faction, and struggles with the weight of failure after a mission to obtain hyperdrive secrets ends with her captured. Her arc is one of resilience, moral clarity, and a growing awareness of political complexity. Through her, readers witness both the oppressive mechanisms of the Superiority and the internal fractures within ReDawn.

• Rinakin – Alanik’s mentor and a key figure in the Independence movement, Rinakin is a former Council member who now leads the resistance against Unity’s appeasement policies. Wise and composed, he serves as Alanik’s political and moral compass. His decisions reflect the burden of leadership and the sacrifices required to preserve dignity and freedom in a world succumbing to authoritarian control.

• Quilan – A cytonic aligned with Unity, Quilan embodies the danger of collaboration with oppressive powers. He is manipulative, strategic, and deeply entrenched in the Superiority’s influence. His confrontation with Alanik symbolizes the betrayal of their shared heritage for the illusion of stability.

• Jorgen – A young human cytonic from Detritus, Jorgen is uncertain but principled. His burgeoning powers and responsibility reflect the human struggle to understand and wield cytonics without falling into the same traps as their enemies. Jorgen’s interactions with Alanik develop mutual trust, offering a glimmer of interplanetary alliance.

• FM – Jorgen’s fellow pilot and confidante, FM provides warmth, empathy, and open-mindedness. Her role as a mediator and observer helps humanize the potential alliance and reveals how even among warriors, kindness and listening are strategic strengths.

• Jeshua Weight – A human leader and bureaucrat, Jeshua is skeptical of alliances and prone to antagonism. She represents institutional caution and the internal division among the humans about how to handle external threats.

• Minister Cuna – A Dione formerly loyal to the Superiority, now in exile, Cuna is pragmatic and ideological, pushing for reform rather than destruction. They symbolize the possibility of change from within and embody the moral ambiguity of navigating oppressive systems.

Theme

• Resistance vs. Appeasement – The central tension of ReDawn lies in the ideological divide between those who would fight for freedom and those who would sacrifice autonomy for peace. This is explored through the fractured politics of ReDawn, where Unity’s complicity with the Superiority contrasts sharply with Independence’s desperate bid for sovereignty.

• Power and Control – The Superiority’s pervasive influence serves as a backdrop for examining how control is maintained – through propaganda, forced technology limitations, and political manipulation. The use of cytonic inhibitors and forced loyalty illustrates how power operates insidiously and overtly.

• Identity and Loyalty – Alanik’s journey is deeply personal, shaped by questions of who she is, what she owes to her people, and how far she will go to defend them. Her decisions highlight the theme of identity being formed not just by heritage, but by action and belief.

• Communication and Understanding – Across cultural, species, and ideological boundaries, ReDawn explores how dialogue, empathy, and mutual understanding can create the foundation for alliances. The cytonic connection becomes a metaphor for deep, nonverbal understanding that transcends surface conflict.

• Hope in Desperation – The characters constantly grapple with impossible odds, yet continue to act because hope itself is a weapon. Whether through bold escapes or careful diplomacy, the novel insists that resistance must be born from a vision of something better.

Writing Style and Tone

Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson craft ReDawn with a precise, accessible style that balances sharp action with introspective depth. The prose is clean and purposeful, often leaning into vivid sensory detail – from the swirling miasma of ReDawn’s skies to the hard edges of political confrontation. Internal monologue plays a strong role, especially from Alanik’s perspective, giving the reader close access to her emotional state, strategic thinking, and evolving relationships. The narrative is fast-paced, with crisp dialogue and tight chapter transitions that reflect the novella’s urgent tone and compact scope.

The tone is serious but not devoid of levity. The interactions between human characters, particularly involving the taynix (teleporting slugs), inject light-hearted moments that prevent the story from becoming overly grim. This tonal balancing act enriches the narrative, showing that humor and humanity endure even amid rebellion. There is also a layer of ethical complexity to the tone – neither the humans nor the UrDail are idealized, and ReDawn treats resistance not as a romanticized crusade, but as a difficult, often painful, necessity.