Mini Reviews: Rebelwing and Renegade Flight by Andrea Tang

Hi readers!

Since I wrote this post on February 21…how is it March already?? I almost don’t want to look back and think about what has happened in this past year. Can you believe it, though, this time in 2020 I was probably on spring break watching The Untamed after getting the news that my college classes were going fully remote. Truly did not fully comprehend what was in store. Time is really something isn’t it.

Anyway! That is not the point of this post! Today, I get to share with you some of my thoughts on Rebelwing and Renegade Flight by Andrea Tang. Also, pro-tip for reviewers: if you haven’t read the first book of a series and you have the chance to review the sequel…maybe don’t confidently say that you can read both books before the deadline. Please don’t add more stress to your plate than necessary (this comes from personal experience 😳).

REBELWING

Author: Andrea Tang

Publisher: Razorbill / Penguin Random House

Release Date: February 25, 2020

Rating: 3.75–4 🌟

Content Warnings: death (of a parent), blood, violence, mention of labor camps

mini review.

A disclaimer: I’m not a big reader of sci-fi or even fantasy of late. However, Rebelwing caught my attention, if not because of the cover and the squad this story seems to have (there definitely is #squadgoals). The premise—when reading the blurb and while reading the book—is really cool, and Rebelwing is set in a dystopian Washington, D.C. After the Partition Wars, the area got split between a tyrannical government that’s basically a company that enforces censorship and the freer government that Prudence Wu lives under in Washington, D.C. where she attends New Columbia Prep. Speaking of Pru (Wu), I loved her sharp voice and wit; at times, that was the only thing pulling me through some of the chapters.

I was hesitant to confidently rate this book 4🌟 because there were definitely moments when I wholeheartedly enjoyed the story, particularly in the second half. However, there were too many times when I fell out of sync with the plot and even the characters occasionally. I was really hooked in the middle until about 50 pages from the end, and I found that it got a little more difficult to focus. I think I had trouble finding a rhythm with Rebelwing because it felt like there were some plot and pacing gaps. Sometimes I was full throttle ahead with this story, and other times it took a lot of effort just to say, “Okay, I’m going to read now.”

However, it was neat to see Rebelwing tackling what it means to have the weight of a legacy (especially family legacy) on your shoulders and living up to those generational expectations as well as exposing the elitism prevalent in real prep schools like the fictional New Columbia Prep.

RENEGADE FLIGHT

Author: Andrea Tang

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: March 23, 2021

Rating: 4 🌟

Content Warnings: violence (battle context), blood, physical abuse, allusion to abuse, death of parents (off-age), manipulation, mention of a toxic relationship

*Note: I received an e-ARC of this title via Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

mini review.

I definitely give Renegade Flight a more confident 4🌟 and a firmer stamp of recommendation. Renegade Flight travels around the world to Hong Kong where the GAN Academy is located, the school/pilot training academy Viola Park now attends—in the probationary class. She did this on her own, by the way, by cheating on the entrance exam to the academy. Also, it doesn’t hurt to mention that Viola Park is the niece of Anabel Park from Rebelwing. So Vi has a heavy legacy following her big time mistake, in which she pays for.

From the get-go, I liked Renegade Flight a lot better than Rebelwing. Mostly because of Viola (Vi) Park. She’s definitely a character, I’ll say. I was both intrigued by her and constantly raising an eyebrow at her decisions and thought process (we would not mesh at all). We see her re-evaluating her perception of herself and her ideas of who a hero is, having come from a family basically trained to be heroes. We see her struggling to deal with the new challenges thrown at her and fixing the problems she caused for herself. She’s a pretty messy character, and that’s something I liked about her.

Some other notes: it was good to see some familiar faces from Rebelwing! Renegade Flight takes place 15 years after the first book (they are technically standalones but semi-connected). The romance was okay, but it is not really there as one might expect from the blurb. Great dynamic between the characters, though. Lastly, the ending felt rushed. It was like the tension had been removed, and everything moved too quickly and the issues were resolved too neatly. But otherwise, solidly recommend!

Rebelwing: Recommend! If you’re into dynamic characters, electric banter, and sci-fi/dystopian concepts, go for it!

Renegade Flight: Recommend a little more strongly! All of the above, except set in Hong Kong at an elite academy where a member of a prominent family tumbles to the bottom aka “probie” class of said academy. As Aunt Cat says, “check your ego.”

I’d say read Renegade Flight over Rebelwing. Reading Rebelwing is not necessary to understand Renegade Flight, although it’s definitely neat to see the connections and Easter eggs dropped from having read the first story. So maybe what I’m actually saying is take a chance on both books!