Nearing the end of my pile of SPFBO books! Today I’m reviewing Taking Flight.
To become an airship pilot, Sira must survive her final exam—and the pirates determined to kill her.
Everyone assumed Sira was going to ace the practical exam. Top of her class at the Academy, she’s proven she can fly an airship. What she can’t seem to do is make it home. Shot down in the dead of night, she and James Hawk, the frustrating mage assigned to her exam, are stranded in the Bellever forest. Sira doesn’t trust magic, or the mage she’s stranded with, but they’re the only survivors of the attack and it will take both their talents to get back to the city.
Pursued by mercenaries and low on supplies, Sira and James flee to a hidden Fae village for refuge. There, she realizes this is no random act of piracy. Someone powerful wants to keep them from finishing their journey at any cost.
With a target on her back and a growing sense of uncertainty, Sira must decide who she can trust—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to make it home alive.
Taking Flight is the story of Sira, who is the first girl who has reached the airship pilot final exam at the prestigious Academy. When she is being tested, with the famous mage James Hawk himself aboard the ship, at that, they get shot down and James and Sira find themselves the only survivors, and fleeing from mercenaries.
I enjoyed this book. It was short, quick to read, and while it was often predictable (mostly in the romance elements), I still found myself reading it well into the wee hours of the morning because I was enjoying it so much.
Sira was an interesting character and I wanted her to succeed in her endeavor to become the first female airship pilot. James was an even more interesting character, and while I thought the relationship between the two of them was a bit on the tropey side, I still really liked the way that it played out.
I gotta say though, there was a huge ‘only one bed’ opportunity that was just… absolutely squandered. It was right. there. Honestly >.>
The story wasn’t complicated but as I said, I found it a quick and fun read. Sira really grew as a character as the book went on and I really enjoyed seeing that. There is magic in this world, and Sira and her twin brother have it, and her brother has always pushed her to go to the magic academy like he did. Sira always wanted to be a pilot though, and while her dream is starting to come true, she does find her magic quite useful on their journey, and as the story plays out, she learns more about her magic and how it is a part of her like being a pilot is part of her. James has all kinds of interesting magical bits and bobs that he shows her along the way, and I thought the magic system – and how James uses it especially – was really well thought out and well put together.
I had a solid 7.5/10 stars of fun with Taking Flight. I hope that one day, I can find the time to read the next book in the series, because I’d like to see where these two end up and how they get there. If you like the idea of a steampunk-adjacent magical adventure with some romance included, you just might like Taking Flight.
superstardrifter 
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