This is essentially a well-told Mulan retelling that links back to our own military's (ex) policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'.
Ramble Review Time
For a book that I enjoyed, I'm having a surprisingly difficult time reviewing it. I wish I could give it a higher rating, I really do. But I can't because it took me longer than expected to actually get through it. I just kept putting it down. I don't know why!
The book uses alternating chapters to follow two different perspectives which represent the micro and macro view of the political world. Genre wise, I wasn't sure where the book fit. It could have been a Science-Fiction, pre-Dystopian kind of an era. In this world, there are Five Dominions, with the Dominion of Safara waging war on the Dominion of Atalanta. In our first perspective, we follow Aris who is a love-struck pilot from a small village called Lux in the Dominion of Atalanta. Our second perspective follows Pyralis Nekos (Ward of Atalanta) and Galena Vadim (Ward of Ruslana).
I enjoyed Aris's perspective more and more as the novel progressed. She starts off as a forelorn love-sick girl (with a wonderful talent for flying) who misses Calix dearly when he departs to work in the military. She chooses to become a military pilot in the hopes that she can be close to her beloved by disguising herself (via technology) as a male, since women aren't allowed to be a part of the military. Throughout the basic training process, she is pushed to her limit but she refuses to give in. As she sees the horror of war, she discovers her role in life separate from Calix. I felt extremely proud of Aris as I was reading her story.
The second perspective dragged for me a little. Even though it was relevant to the story, I found myself getting bored and skimming my way through them.
Last Thoughts
Nothing in this novel surprised me, which I didn't take as a bad thing. I had a decent idea of what was going on, and even figured out who the villain of the story would be. I did wish the author went into a little more detail with the flying scenes. I fly single-engine planes as a hobby, so I would have appreciated seeing what an amazing flyer Aris was instead of being told so.
All in all, once I finish my backlog of other Netgalley books, I will definitely be giving the second book in the trilogy a try. This experience has taught me that small/indie publishers are definitely worth a shot! They do have some amazing titles out there.
Have a relaxing Sunday, everyone! *starts obsessing about which book to read next*
I fly single-engine planes as a hobby.... I fly single-engine planes as a hobby.... I fly single-engine planes as a hobby....
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WHAAAA!!!!!!!
Sierra, you are TOO AWESOME. Please tell me more about this amazing hobby, which breaks your cool meter.
As for how it relates to your reading experience, I know just what you mean when you say you wish the author had shown you HOW the MC was amazing at flying, not just told you that she was. (I feel that way with some books where the MC is an amazing artist.)
Have you read Code Name Verity? Was that book any different in that respect?
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes! Also fun fact, when I tweeted to you about it and mentioned Code Name Verity, I didn't realized you had commented about it here. Great minds ;)
One of the reasons why I loved Code Name Verity is because of her accurate descriptions of the planes used in WWII (which is something I'm fascinated by anyway), and the way she talks about flying. It's clear that the author is also a pilot. And I've actually been lucky enough to fly some WWII aircraft! So I could really experience that aspect of the book.
I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of this series before. Also, you're caught up on NG! Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteNo shame!! This is one of those gems from small publishers. I believe it's free via Kindle Unlimited if you'd ever like to check it out :)
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I thought this was a WW2 Air Force or WASP novel...Guess it isn't!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. Do you know of any good ones? I would love to read them!
ReplyDeleteI recently picked up a copy of Flygirl - I haven't read it yet but it sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteYay for being able to have your netgalley ratio up to 50%! I know how hard that can be sometimes but I am sure you ruling at it now :D And I'm glad that you were able to enjoy this one a little more although it's a shame that there was nothing surprising or really exciting about this book to get you fully engrossed in it so you could race through it...
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