Huge thanks to Netgalley and Saga Press for the e-ARC and wow — you do NOT want to miss this one.

Background:
Flight of the Fallen picks up where Road to Ruin left off, but with none of the stumbling blocks or awkward exposition of its predecessor. We last saw Yi-Nereen and Kadrin reunited at last, Jin Talentless and self-isolating, a city partially destroyed, and two jilted lovers (yes, Sou-Zell and Falka, my favorite spiteful outcasts) left behind. And it all just gets wilder from here.

Synopsis:
The storms are getting worse, and the Kerinas are in crisis. Secular politics meets its perennial foe, a powerful religious order, and our ragtag group of disgraced royals and chaotic commoners (side-eyeing you, Falka) get tangled up in pursuing a myth that might save them all while grappling with their own demons and ambitions. And if they can’t get their shit together long enough to be the first to uncover the Road Builders’ secrets, they might be too late to stop the emergence of a powerful and vengeful new god.

Review:
There is so much to adore about this second installment of Magebike Courier. Yi-Nereen’s struggle to contain her own desire for power leaps right off the page, and everyone’s favorite Talentless princeling graduates from lovable himbo to … well, lovable himbo with humanizing fears and a surprising knack for talk therapy. His endearing friendship with Sou-Zell is an absolute highlight, as is the peculiar dynamic between Sou-Zell and Falka of two survivors stuck together sort of by accident but also kind of by choice. We also have a new arrival, the aspirational artificer Orrin, whom I love to pieces and won’t say more about. Our purported heroine Jin gets a bit overshadowed by this star cast, as most of what she does is in support of her royal paramours, but her journey from the slums of Kerina Sol to a key role in the attempt to save all of the Kerinas is a satisfying one.

The worldbuilding is also fantastic here, as Lee does something really cool with their quasi-elemental magic system and class/wealth differential. The raincallers of the Kerinas don’t simply manipulate water: they are its only source. Bloomweavers don’t just move plants around: without them, there wouldn’t be any plants at all. And none of them can do this without infusing mana, a drug or fuel-like substance that simultaneously empowers and poisons them. While we knew this in RtR, it didn’t have the impact it does in FotF, where it’s hugely significant to the politics of the world. What to do when the very stuff that has made life as we know it possible, that has brought so many benefits and comforts and amenities necessary for survival, is the same stuff that’s slowly killing us?

The answer isn’t easy, but Hana Lee deftly weaves the threads of each character’s personal journey into a beautifully developed narrative that tackles the tough questions about sacrifice and survival and brings us to a conclusion that is both heart-wrenching and satisfying in equal helpings. I for one can’t wait to see what Lee comes out with next.