Flame

I reviewed Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan about a year ago when it came out, and I just finished reading Flame, which is the third book in the Sky Chasers series. I felt a little iffy about the first book, Glow, but after reading Spark I was hooked. Flame was a little slow to start off, but I loved it every bit as much as the second book. I can't wait to see where Amy Kathleen Ryan decides to take her writing career next. 

Flame Summary:
In the thrilling conclusion to the Sky Chasers series Waverly, Kieran, and Seth struggle to survive on-board the New Horizon—and take down their enemies before it's too late.

Waverly and the other members of the Empyrean have scattered, and their home ship has been destroyed. Their mission to rescue their parents didn't go as planned, and now they're at an even greater disadvantage: trapped with their enemies on the New Horizon, trying to find a way to survive. Kieran has been pulled under Anne Mather’s wing, but is she really trying to make peace, or just using Kieran to build her own power? Meanwhile, Waverly is taken in by a mysterious old man who wants to help her bring Anne Mather down—but the more Waverly cooperates with him, the more dangerous her position is, and the more at odds with Kieran she becomes.
Seth's situation is even worse. After setting out from the Empyrean on his own, with only a vague strategy to guide him, he is a fugitive aboard the New Horizon. He's doing what he can to challenge the power of Anne Mather, but he's badly hurt, and getting sicker.

Will Seth ever see Waverly again? Will his health hold out long enough to help her topple their enemies? And will Waverly find a way to unite with her friends before they all fall? Nothing is sure and every moment is a risk in this explosive finale of the Sky Chasers series.

Flame Review:
Since I was already invested in the characters, it was easy for me to get sucked into the story from the beginning. Since it had been almost a year and a half since reading the previous book, I had forgotten some of the finer points of what had happened, but Ryan did a good job of reminding the reader without spending too much time re-hashing it. 

To be honest, my only complaint is that the book is a little slow at times. But other than that, this book is filled with action and romance, and all of the elements of a good YA novel. I definitely wouldn't recommend reading it without reading the other books in the series, but as a whole, I would highly recommend the series. 

There were a few points in the book where I wasn't sure how the characters were going to make it out of their sticky situations, and I thought Ryan did this in a really great way. She also did an excellent job with character development, not only with the main characters, but also with the villains, who readers will love to hate.

I usually hate it when YA dystopian series wrap everything up at the end just a little too nicely, but this wasn't one of those. In fact, I loved the way it ended. The book's last chapter tells the reader about the character's lives eight years into the future, which is something I love to see in YA series. You spend so much time being invested in the characters and the story that it's always exciting to see what happens to the characters when they grow up. 

Enjoy!