Blog Tour Review - Skyfleet by Victoria Williamson

 Blog Tour Review - Skyfleet by Victoria Williamson

When the skies turn deadly, a young heroine must rise from the ashes...

Twelve-year-old Amberley Jain has faced incredible challenges since the crash that took her parents and paralysed her legs. Now, with her best friend Ricardo Lopez about to be sent away and a swarm of mutated insects closing in on the Skyfleet base, the stakes have never been higher. Something monstrous is driving the mutabugs north from the contaminated meteor site known as the Cauldron, and the only plane capable of stopping it - the Firehawk - lies in pieces in the hangar.

Determined to honour her parents' legacy, Amberley hatches a daring plan. With Ricardo's help, they stow away on a supply train, trading his most treasured possession for the parts needed to repair the Firehawk. After secret test flights, the legendary jet is ready for action. Now, Amberley and Ricardo must confront the deadly swarm and save their home, discovering their inner strength and the true meaning of friendship along the way.

Skyfleet is a very fun new middle grade story by Victoria Williamson, one of our favourite authors here at BookWormHole. 

It's an exciting sci-fi tale of life on a new world, where a small group of pilots and technicians are trying to keep villagers and farmers safe from hordes of deadly, mutated, giant insects. It's a fairly short book, so there's not room for an awful lot of world building. It's definitely not your two-inch thick adult sci-fi with a fully mapped out geography and ecosystem, but it never pretends to be. This is a short, thrilling middle grade that drops us straight into the action. However, it is the start of a new series, so I'm hoping to learn more about the setting in future books.

One touch I do really love, though, is the way each chapter is separated by either a ship schematic or a report of some kind. It's a wonderful way to add depth and world building into the story, and the illustrations by James Brown are very cute and full of character.

The characters are strong and believable. Amberley and Ric are a wonderful central pair, and I really enjoy the various ways they find to get into trouble, the dilemmas they face and the ups and downs of their relationship. The other pilots are all interesting and very different, also full of character, and I really want to see more of all of them! "Screwball" Sydney in particular is just awesome. 

The hordes of giant bugs really reminded me of Starship Troopers, with vast numbers of terrifying alien creatures attacking innocent civilians and jet fighters alike. The action was very exciting and felt full of peril and danger! The writing really brought the scary swarms to life and made them particularly scary! 

There's also a lot of disabled rep here, as Amberley is paralysed below the waist and Ric is blind. There's a lot in there about them depending on technology to help them, and the importance of their aids to them, and it feels like it was well done and sensitively handled.

All in all, Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs is thrilling action and adventure, with fantastic jet fighters engaging with swarms of giant, mutant bugs. I can't wait for more in the series!

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Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs by Victoria Williamson is published by Tiny Tree Books and is out now.

I was given a review copy in exchange for this honest review and participation in this The Write Reads blog tour.