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A review by billblume
Rebelwing by Andrea Tang
2.0
This review pains me, because REBELWING was a highly anticipated read for me. I’m a sucker for dragons, and this near future setting with a sentient mechanical dragon sounded like a YA, cybernetic DRAGONFLIGHT. I was so excited for this book.
The best thing about this book is Andrea Tang’s voice. For the most part, she has a talent for sneaking in sass and humor into her writing.
The plot is where this book falls apart, because it centers on Pru, who imprints on the supposedly sentient dragon (I say “supposedly” because it displays no sign of independent intelligence throughout the book). Honestly, you could have had this same story if you’d cut out Pru and her mother. Neither of them really make any sense in this story, although you could argue they are the real story Tang wants to write and the rest of the book serves no purpose.
Pru is supposedly vital to the story, because the dragon escapes and imprints on her instead of Pru’s romantic interest Alex. He’s an ace pilot and practically royalty in this story. The dragon’s shining moments all happen with Alex in the cockpit, and Pru never really does anything except act as a human adapter for Alex to do cool shit with the dragon. The instant Alex flies Rebelwing is where I started to really check out. Tang’s decision to let Alex fly the dragon renders Pru to observer status in this story.
The story itself cares less about actually advancing the plot than it does dwelling far too long on the melodrama in Pru’s life. (Side note: while I’m normally a fan of reader Emily Woo Zeller, her performance only emphasizes how overly dramatic the book is, so I’d recommend against the audiobook in this case).
For anyone wanting to read the book, I won’t spoil any of the plot, but I found so much of the book doesn’t make sense. One thing I feel isn’t too spoilery is Pru’s training in the dragon. Everyone around Pru acts as if it’s vital to get her battle ready in the dragon, but her training is a horrible joke. Her trainers make no effort to teach her how to pilot the dragon, and unless the point is that they really want her to fail (this is never stated, but I wondered multiple times), then the way they handle her training makes no sense.
Again, this review pains me. I had such high hopes for REBELWING, but it just never delivers on its promises.
The best thing about this book is Andrea Tang’s voice. For the most part, she has a talent for sneaking in sass and humor into her writing.
The plot is where this book falls apart, because it centers on Pru, who imprints on the supposedly sentient dragon (I say “supposedly” because it displays no sign of independent intelligence throughout the book). Honestly, you could have had this same story if you’d cut out Pru and her mother. Neither of them really make any sense in this story, although you could argue they are the real story Tang wants to write and the rest of the book serves no purpose.
Pru is supposedly vital to the story, because the dragon escapes and imprints on her instead of Pru’s romantic interest Alex. He’s an ace pilot and practically royalty in this story. The dragon’s shining moments all happen with Alex in the cockpit, and Pru never really does anything except act as a human adapter for Alex to do cool shit with the dragon. The instant Alex flies Rebelwing is where I started to really check out. Tang’s decision to let Alex fly the dragon renders Pru to observer status in this story.
The story itself cares less about actually advancing the plot than it does dwelling far too long on the melodrama in Pru’s life. (Side note: while I’m normally a fan of reader Emily Woo Zeller, her performance only emphasizes how overly dramatic the book is, so I’d recommend against the audiobook in this case).
For anyone wanting to read the book, I won’t spoil any of the plot, but I found so much of the book doesn’t make sense. One thing I feel isn’t too spoilery is Pru’s training in the dragon. Everyone around Pru acts as if it’s vital to get her battle ready in the dragon, but her training is a horrible joke. Her trainers make no effort to teach her how to pilot the dragon, and unless the point is that they really want her to fail (this is never stated, but I wondered multiple times), then the way they handle her training makes no sense.
Again, this review pains me. I had such high hopes for REBELWING, but it just never delivers on its promises.