Scan barcode
A review by dtaylorbooks
Rebel Wing by Tracy Banghart
5.0
It sounded like a good book, which is why I requested it through NetGalley, but I didn’t expect to LOVE it. I rarely expect to LOVE a book. It’s such a high honor and only a few books can boast that coveted moniker from me. So, statistically speaking, I didn’t expect to LOVE it. Of course, I LOVED it.
REBEL WING blew my hair back. It really did. Between the romances and the action and all of the tension there was little left not to love. Plus it was light sci-fi; all of the stuff within this world was relatable to me and it didn’t speak to me in this ridiculous science language that only the most hardcore of sci-fi junkies would be able to understand. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t like sci-fi. It’s usually not my thing, the jargon being one of those things that is not mine. But in REBEL WING it wasn’t a reach. It’s set in a vaguely Earth-like world where I often found myself saying Atlanta instead of Atalanta, Russia instead of Ruslana, and Sahara instead of Safara. I’m sure that wasn’t accidental so I’m led to believe this is a future earth that’s been broken apart from the world we now know. All the more relatable to me. So if you are into that hardcore sci-fi you probably won’t like the book so much. The technology isn’t anything you haven’t seen in The Avengers or the more recent Star Trek or anything but it wasn’t overpowering. It stayed out of the way and let me read a fantastic story.
I loved Aris. She was an unapologetic romantic that I did find rather difficult to get on board with at the beginning, especially as she kept pining away after Calix but, as shoes are wont to do, they do drop and instead of curling into herself to bemoan her lost life she channels it into something productive. Sure, she gets lost a bit, but for not very long. She finds herself, brushes off the dust and refuses to bow down to what other people expect of her. She still ends up being a romantic in the end but it’s for a different kind of romance. She’s not the same Aris at the end of the book as she was at the beginning. She’s experienced too much to not have any growth of character. She’s broken out of the shell that people built around her and she’s lost a few people as a result of that. But she swallows it and moves on.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the “disability” angle. It works for character development and the whole shell-breaking symbolism and whathaveyou but Aris wasn’t ever really disabled so I felt the story did a bit of disservice in that regard. She had weak muscles that just needed to be rebuilt. Sure it was difficult and she suffered a lot trying to work through it but truly disabled people can’t just try really hard to get rid of their disability. If that was the angle that the book was going to take I would have preferred a truer disability in her character. Otherwise it’s just a hurdle for her to get over and doesn’t set her apart from other heroines for being “disabled.” She’s not. She was just coddled and thus never pushed herself to fully recover from her illness until Dianthe forced her to. I bring this up because it is a point of contention for a good chunk of the book. The story keeps coming back to her leg and Aris has to push herself around her leg pain constantly.
Outside of that, no complaints. I loved Major Vidar and I may or may not have squealed a little at how his story progressed. I also really loved how Banghart alternated between Aris’s story and the greater political world story going on. It added depth and fueled the action that Aris was carrying out. I liked the cloaking technology too. Those disks that were placed on the backs of people’s necks that basically projected a suped-up hologram of another person over someone. Pretty neat. Not to mention it toed the line of societal roles in this world (but it didn’t give any explanation as to why women weren’t allowed in Military, just that it was just because) and it poked at the concept of people being transgendered but it was brief. Like blink and you miss it brief. Points for including it, though, I guess. I also liked how Aris came to be so comfortable as Aristos and she felt more like him as opposed to her old self. Again, playing on the line of gender roles and can give rise to the question of whether Aris isn’t of a heteronormative state or whether she just enjoys the freedom of really being able to explore who she is and not being afraid of judgment because of her sex. Either way, I liked it.
The story is just fantastic. I couldn’t read REBEL WING fast enough and it kept taking my breath away. The twists, the action, the intrigue, it was all fantastic. This book was previously self-published and picked up by Alloy’s new publishing arm and I’m glad it was. Proof that not all self-published books are lacking in quality. I’m so glad this gem was able to be raised above the slush. Plus I just found out there’s a second story in the REBEL WING world when I went to link to the author’s website for this review. Be still my heart.
5
REBEL WING blew my hair back. It really did. Between the romances and the action and all of the tension there was little left not to love. Plus it was light sci-fi; all of the stuff within this world was relatable to me and it didn’t speak to me in this ridiculous science language that only the most hardcore of sci-fi junkies would be able to understand. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t like sci-fi. It’s usually not my thing, the jargon being one of those things that is not mine. But in REBEL WING it wasn’t a reach. It’s set in a vaguely Earth-like world where I often found myself saying Atlanta instead of Atalanta, Russia instead of Ruslana, and Sahara instead of Safara. I’m sure that wasn’t accidental so I’m led to believe this is a future earth that’s been broken apart from the world we now know. All the more relatable to me. So if you are into that hardcore sci-fi you probably won’t like the book so much. The technology isn’t anything you haven’t seen in The Avengers or the more recent Star Trek or anything but it wasn’t overpowering. It stayed out of the way and let me read a fantastic story.
I loved Aris. She was an unapologetic romantic that I did find rather difficult to get on board with at the beginning, especially as she kept pining away after Calix but, as shoes are wont to do, they do drop and instead of curling into herself to bemoan her lost life she channels it into something productive. Sure, she gets lost a bit, but for not very long. She finds herself, brushes off the dust and refuses to bow down to what other people expect of her. She still ends up being a romantic in the end but it’s for a different kind of romance. She’s not the same Aris at the end of the book as she was at the beginning. She’s experienced too much to not have any growth of character. She’s broken out of the shell that people built around her and she’s lost a few people as a result of that. But she swallows it and moves on.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the “disability” angle. It works for character development and the whole shell-breaking symbolism and whathaveyou but Aris wasn’t ever really disabled so I felt the story did a bit of disservice in that regard. She had weak muscles that just needed to be rebuilt. Sure it was difficult and she suffered a lot trying to work through it but truly disabled people can’t just try really hard to get rid of their disability. If that was the angle that the book was going to take I would have preferred a truer disability in her character. Otherwise it’s just a hurdle for her to get over and doesn’t set her apart from other heroines for being “disabled.” She’s not. She was just coddled and thus never pushed herself to fully recover from her illness until Dianthe forced her to. I bring this up because it is a point of contention for a good chunk of the book. The story keeps coming back to her leg and Aris has to push herself around her leg pain constantly.
Outside of that, no complaints. I loved Major Vidar and I may or may not have squealed a little at how his story progressed. I also really loved how Banghart alternated between Aris’s story and the greater political world story going on. It added depth and fueled the action that Aris was carrying out. I liked the cloaking technology too. Those disks that were placed on the backs of people’s necks that basically projected a suped-up hologram of another person over someone. Pretty neat. Not to mention it toed the line of societal roles in this world (but it didn’t give any explanation as to why women weren’t allowed in Military, just that it was just because) and it poked at the concept of people being transgendered but it was brief. Like blink and you miss it brief. Points for including it, though, I guess. I also liked how Aris came to be so comfortable as Aristos and she felt more like him as opposed to her old self. Again, playing on the line of gender roles and can give rise to the question of whether Aris isn’t of a heteronormative state or whether she just enjoys the freedom of really being able to explore who she is and not being afraid of judgment because of her sex. Either way, I liked it.
The story is just fantastic. I couldn’t read REBEL WING fast enough and it kept taking my breath away. The twists, the action, the intrigue, it was all fantastic. This book was previously self-published and picked up by Alloy’s new publishing arm and I’m glad it was. Proof that not all self-published books are lacking in quality. I’m so glad this gem was able to be raised above the slush. Plus I just found out there’s a second story in the REBEL WING world when I went to link to the author’s website for this review. Be still my heart.
5