Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Spensa has dreamed of being a fighter pilot like her father ever since she can remember. Unfortunately, her father fled from a pivotal battle and was shot down by his own squadron and branded a coward, so the likelihood of her being allowed to attend flight school, much less pilot a spacecraft, seems pretty low. Spensa knows that her father was a hero, not a coward -- and she also knows that she could be the best pilot on the planet if they would just let her. Can her sheer determination to find a way or make one get her where she wants to go?

This is a fast, gripping read. I never liked Spensa much, but in spite of that, I found myself wanting her to succeed. (And many of the secondary characters were a lot of fun.) The plotting is all you might expect from Sanderson, with twists and turns galore. Improbable points in the worldbuilding turn out to fit perfectly within the book's internal logic later on, and the book is wrapped up satisfactorily, though the promised sequel can't come soon enough. If you enjoy sci-fi, or Sanderson's other books, don't miss this one.

(Reviewed from an advance copy, courtesy of the publisher.)