I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I did end up reading this series out of order, which was okay, there are some characters and such you wouldn’t realize had been in the first book but otherwise it pretty much stands on its own feet.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing of this book but I loved all of the sass and diversity.

I’d definitely suggest this author!

DNF - I started reading this book, but I just couldn't finish it. I have not read the first book and I was just too confused to continue. The plot sounds incredible and the world Tang has built sounds so cool that I definitely think if you have read the first book this book should not be missed!

I love the characters and I love this book. The world building is phenomenal and so is the character development.

When I first heard about Rebelwing, the first book in this series, I couldn’t wait to read it. Giant mechanical dragons, book smugglers, and political intrigue? Rebelwing was everything I’d hoped it would be and more.

Renegade Flight is a good sequel that shifts to more of a boarding school setting with high-stakes competitions and a murder mystery. Viola is an interesting protagonist, who grows significantly during the course of the novel. I liked her relationships with her friends and with Nicholas, although I wish the romance had been developed more. I also loved how diverse this novel is! While the majority of the novel was well-paced and incredibly engaging, the ending was a bit rushed, particularly given everything that is revealed.

Overall, I’d recommend this series if you’re looking for a fun YA series with plenty of adventure!

Renegade Flight is the sequel to Rebelwing and it does not have second book syndrome! Coming back into this mecha dragon world was exactly what I needed. Viola Park is caught cheating on her pilot-academy test and her family convinces the school to allow her to continue on but on probation. It doesn't take long before she gets caught up in the drama of the academy, gets involved with rivalries, starting a relationship with the *bad-boy*, and begins working hard to prove her worth as a pilot. Suddenly, another pilot goes missing and people begin to suspect Viola. There's so many twists and turns, it was hard to put down. Because this is a sequel I don't want to divulge too much, but let me say, it didn't disappoint!

Renegade Flight was good, but lacked the depth and intensity of it's predecessor, Rebelwing. This standalone novel, set 15 years after the events of Rebelwing, is an odd duck in the YA realm. The focus on violence was extreme and never felt like it was fully explored in a way that made it meaningful. With the story so focused on Vi and the competition, the story lacked the higher stakes of Rebelwing that made it such a great read. The mystery of the plot never felt like it had time to grow into an actual mystery and the resolution was abrupt. I never fully felt like I knew what the core of the story was supposed to be.

All that said, I still enjoyed the story. Vi was a good main character and I felt for her. I wish the secondary characters had been given more time to shine though.

And this doesn't factor into my review, but I found it interesting that this YA novel said "fuck" with more frequency than I do in my daily life, which is really saying something because I curse A LOT. It was almost jarring to hear the characters drop quite so many f bombs.

I live for novels like this one. Each time I read and amazing YA thats packed with all the great genre bending activities, I automatically request my Librarian to house several copies of the book in our school library!!

I'm a huge fan of Rebelwing, so I was really excited for this new novel set fifteen years later. Renegade Flight has a different vibe from Rebelwing, and is set primarily at GAN Academy. There's less of a focus on worldbuilding, and more of a focus on its characters. Although I miss Prudence Wu, Viola Park is an easy character to root for and I loved her determination and sense of humor. It was a delight to see friendships form between Vi and her classmates, and the romantic tension between Vi and one of her competitors was enjoyable as well. I'm so glad Andrea Tang brought us back into this world and will be keeping an eye out for her next book!

Renegade Flight
Andrea Tang

Renegade Flight is Andrea Tang's second book of the Rebelwing series which I read last year and enjoyed a lot!

Vi is being haunted by a mistake that cost her big time! Viola Park comes from a family of pilots with a legacy she must be able to carry - but luckily, due to desperation from the Academy she is allowed back in but as a probationary status. Now Vi has to work harder to prove herself to be able to pilot the legendary dragon mechs. In a tournament for a spot in the Peacekeeper corps, she discovers a mystery to the disappearance of the Peacekeepers.

This story was set fifteen years after the first book with whole new characters, adventures and challenges. I love that the main character was a Korean and lots of representation from the Chinese, Black and Latinx characters. I enjoyed the strong characters and the plotting of the story. I also swooned over Nicholas Lee and Vi Park, I thought the small bit of romance really added to the story. This was fantastic!

Academy/school settings are some of my favourite and this book was SO GOOD. The worldbuilding is exquisite and seeing the expansion and development in book two was amazing. Vi's characterization is incredibly fun to read and her chemistry with the rest of the cast is so enticing to read. The romance to top it all off is DELIGHTFULL. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this!

I found this to be a great second installment! This is an underrated series that I think fans of star wars would love. Really engaging characters and a fun, fast paced plot. It's overall just a fun series that I think more people should pick up.

I loved diving back into Andrea Tang's futuristic world of mecha dragons, rebellious teens, and high stakes competitions in this companion novel to Rebelwing. When Viola Park is caught cheating on her entrance exams to the prestigious pilot-academy, her family finagles her a spot as a student on probation. Soon she's caught up in school intrigues and complex rivalries, while trying to prove her worth as a pilot and a fighter. When established pilots go missing, Viola finds herself on the trail of the villain, while getting caught up in a fraught relationship with the resident bad-boy. All in all, a really fun read with twists and turns, action, and romance.

I definitely give Renegade Flight a more confident 4 stars 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!

Thanks to PenguinTeen and Net Galley for the ARC!

I was very excited to read this because it’s the second book in the series. Most importantly, I love the res presentation in these books! There is a Korean main character as well as BIPOC characters and queer representation. It’s so good to see this all in one story and know that this is the type of material that is marketed to young people.

I loved the rivalries in this book too and the character development. Very exciting!

I haven't picked up a sci-fi novel in quite some time, but I have never been so glad that I did! Rebelwing and Renegade Flight is perfect for people who love a blend of fantasy and sci-fi.

I absolutely LOVED Rebelwing, but I don't usually love when a series picks up later with a different main character. While Renegade Flight follows Vi instead of Pru, after a few pages I was just as immersed and devoted to Vi's story as I was with Pru's! The amazing part of a new spin-off is the introduction of more amazing characters!

THIS PLOT. If you're looking for an action-packed story this is the one! While I was able to predict one pretty large plot twist there were plenty more that caught me off guard. This is a book that once you get into, will be so hard to put down! (AKA I finally had a bit of time to rest after a busy week and I still stayed up to finish the last 40% because I could not wait till the next morning!)

Last year, Rebelwing quickly made its way into my heart, so I was so excited for the companion book! It did not disappoint; in fact, I think I loved this book even more. Renegade Flight involves a bloodthirsty competition at an elite academy, a sarcastic protagonist, and a romance that I simply adored.

After technically-but-not-entirely cheating on the entrance exam for the GAN Academy, Viola Park is devastated when she realizes she might not become a mech pilot after all. However, her aunt Anabel pulls some strings and gets her admitted under one condition: Vi must attend as a one of the probationary students, who are social pariahs. She begrudgingly accepts after Anabel tells her of the Peacekeepers going missing around the world. At the Academy, Vi meets the mysterious Nicholas Lee, a seemingly unbeatable student, and makes acquaintances with the other probies as they are entered into a competition for a guaranteed mech pilot spot.

The plot of this book was very intriguing. I love elite academy books for whatever reason, so it was fun to see Vi trying to navigate this environment while also trying to win the conscription bracket and to solve the mystery of the missing pilots. She also has to get over her sudden mech fright, which makes her doubt herself and lose her ability to bond with the sentient mechs.

The worldbuilding is mostly set up in Rebelwing, so I liked that we focused more on the technology aspect. In the past ten years, they’ve created sleeker sentient mech dragons. We explore the bond between a person and a sentient more too.

I would also just say this is a fun book because Vi is sarcastic and maybe a little selfish, but she’s also kind in the ways that matter. Her witty comments add plenty of humor to an otherwise serious plot, and I really liked her slow-growing friendships with the other probationary students! I think if you liked the tone of the first book like I did, you’ll love this one as well.

The other characters were great as well. Vi is wary of the other probie students at first, but they quickly show her that just because they are labelled as criminals, they aren’t bad people. We also get to see some of the previously introduced characters, such as Anabel and Cat, who are Vi’s aunts and guardians, and Alex, who is her music teacher and an uncle figure. I always love when characters return, if even for a little bit, and this was no exception. And then there’s Nicholas, who I could write a whole essay on at this point.

This brings me to what was probably my favorite aspect of this book: the romance. I should clarify that it’s definitely not the main focus of the book; I just really loved it. Nicholas is the seemingly cold bad boy who pretends not to feel anything, but in reality, this is just a mask because he’s been hurt too many times before. Vi feels some weird urge to protect him, even though they’re technically rivals in the competition, because he obviously doesn’t care about getting hurt anymore. It all adds up to a dynamic that I adored, and I would do anything for another book involving them. Please! I’ll take another companion book where they show up as cameo characters!

Renegade Flight was a thrilling expansion of the world we saw in Rebelwing. The plot was fun, the characters were hilarious, and the romance lovely. I loved our protagonist, and I think if you enjoyed the first book, you’ll definitely love Renegade Flight too!