Book Review: Flame

Flame (Sky Chasers #3)

By: Amy Kathleen Ryan

Published By: St. Martin's Griffin

Publication Date: January 16, 2014

Page Count: 336

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: Purchased by Reviewer

Audience: Young Adult - Science Fiction

Review of Book #1: Glow

Review of Book #2: Spark

I started reading this trilogy a long time ago, when I got an advance copy of the first book, Glow. I was engaged by the idea of a bunch of kids being left helpless aboard a spaceship; I enjoyed seeing how they built their society while trying to cope with the loss of all their adults. Then in Spark (#2), the kids found they were not so alone, when a seemingly friendly sister ship, the New Horizon, arrived. However, they soon found out that all was not as it seemed when the girls were pretty much assaulted so that their eggs could be harvested to benefit the barren women of the New Horizon. 

In Flame, the child crew are splintered apart, with the majority residing on board the New Horizon. A few are left on the Empyrean, hiding out and trying to restore its functionality after a series of explosions rendered it crippled. The New Horizon is gripped in the middle of social unrest - with two warring leaders grappling for total control and using both Waverly and Kieran (leaders of the child crew) as pawns in their power struggle. 

 I wasn't a fan of the political game the kids found themselves in the middle of; both sides were equally unappealing, and neither option seemed to offer any kind of real safety. The New Horizon felt at times extremely unsafe, and bizarrely normal, depending on which part of the ship the scenes were playing out in... it all gave a feel of a very secret struggle for dominance with most inhabitants being either too scared or too ignorant to be involved. 

 I felt that the action moved very slowly, and there wasn't much to keep my interest throughout. I wanted to find out what happened, but I didn't really care that much. I didn't like any of the main characters - Kieran was a fool, Waverly was weak and Seth was a little pointless. He ran around as a sole insurgent, gradually getting sicker and sicker as his broken hand began to fester, and he achieved very little. 

 The end of the story was alright I suppose, in that it seemed reasonably happy, but I found it a bit silly. That might be how I'd describe this entire trilogy! Started off with lots of interesting things to think about, had some good pace in the middle, but then got lost in a political mire. It was an enjoyable series, but nothing to rush to.

Summary:

In the thrilling conclusion to the Sky Chasers series Waverly, Kieran, and Seth struggle to survive on-board the New Horizon—and take down their enemies before it's too late.

Waverly and the other members of the Empyrean have scattered, and their home ship has been destroyed. Their mission to rescue their parents didn't go as planned, and now they're at an even greater disadvantage: trapped with their enemies on the New Horizon, trying to find a way to survive. Kieran has been pulled under Anne Mather’s wing, but is she really trying to make peace, or just using Kieran to build her own power? Meanwhile, Waverly is taken in by a mysterious old man who wants to help her bring Anne Mather down—but the more Waverly cooperates with him, the more dangerous her position is, and the more at odds with Kieran she becomes.

Seth's situation is even worse. After setting out from the Empyrean on his own, with only a vague strategy to guide him, he is a fugitive aboard the New Horizon. He's doing what he can to challenge the power of Anne Mather, but he's badly hurt, and getting sicker.

Will Seth ever see Waverly again? Will his health hold out long enough to help her topple their enemies? And will Waverly find a way to unite with her friends before they all fall? Nothing is sure and every moment is a risk in this explosive finale of the Sky Chasers series.