We have moved from the land of enslavement to the troubled border between worlds. This is not the paradise of Ji-ji's dreams. It is flooded and swampy. Many of the familiar landmarks have been relocated to glorify the corrupt "Mayor." Refugees living in abject conditions cover the remaining geography, deeply entwined with MLK, mostly familiar to most Americans. Corruption reigns, patrollers are everywhere to reenslave who they can capture.

This book tackles both the idea and reality of borders and interdependence in Antebellum America as well as questions of Reconstruction and Jim Crow. How does one respond to freedom? How free are they? How do you redefine your relationship with people and groups (races) that oppress(ed) you?

We are still among nearly every violence you can imagine. This book comes with an author's note of warning, an important addition. I believe that its lack in Book 1 contributed to lower ratings for that book. This series does not have the distance that the Hunger Games does, despite book one feeling similar in many ways.

I can't wait for the next book!!! I know it doesn't say there is a next book, but we still have an idealized place to visit in this new world. Is life in the Super States all it's cracked up to be? The glimpses of these places sound familiar. Cell phones and tablets, other creature comforts unheard of by seedlings on plantings.

Can you tell I loved the sequel? Honestly- I don't even know if "loved" is the right term here, because there is a lot of awful that happens. But I appreciate this book beyond measure, that is certain. And I am so completely invested in the characters and the world that I was legitimately bummed when the book ended. And am desperate for the next one.

Like I said, I really was a fan of The Freedom Race. Like, a lot. But this sequel? Blew it right the heck out of the water. Honestly, the emotional journey I had while reading this novel simply cannot be overstated. My heart of course broke for the characters, many times over, but there was also so much hope and love and friendship woven through the pages that though my heart hurt, it was constantly being mended along the way.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot or characters, mostly because I am imploring you to read the first book and therefore don't want to give anything away. But the characters you will unequivocally come to love in The Freedom Race will certainly be back to recapture your hearts in this one. The immensely important commentary is obviously still present, and feels more relevant than ever. The author does such an outstanding job of weaving both the past history of slavery and current injustices together into a story that feels horrifically plausible and closer than ever.

Truly, I was consumed by this book. The whole world drew me in, and I found myself thinking about the characters and story all day- whether I was reading it at the time or not. If you need any more reasons to read, it features a ton of morally complex questions, along with incredibly high stakes. When I tell you I couldn't put the book down, I mean it.

Bottom Line: This series is such a gem, complete with incredible characters, brilliant plotting and worldbuilding, and extremely necessary social commentary and relevance.

Ji-ji has wings and is living in the Dream City. Everything should be great, right? Of course not. Flying is something that Ji-ji has to work hard at, and racists slowly take over Dream City.

This is another painfully beautiful entry into The Dreambird Chronicles. Reading about white supremacist rioting in DC was a little too realistic to the point of pain. The book's pacing is slow-building until the halfway point, which is when it became hard to put down. Ji-Ji and Tiro are interesting and fleshed out, but my favorite character is Afarra. She illustrates the book's mythology.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5 stars--As a sequel, "Flying the Coop" was better than I expected it to be. The world created in this speculative fiction is terrifying, yet also beautiful because of Roy's ability to place a reader firmly alongside the characters as they experience terror, hardship, hope, and even the nightmarishly grotesque. The story is compelling, and the characters are believable. The pacing does slide into the slow lane occasionally, but the action quickly picks it back up. Finally--At times, I did find the narration and dialogue a bit confusing, and I would have to go back and reread a bit, which is why my rating isn't a bit higher.

Overall, yet another well-written, thoroughly thought-provoking, work by Lucinda Roy that I feel will be enjoyed by a variety of readers that enjoy speculative fiction, sci-fi, tales of triumph, rebellion, and simply good storytelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eGalley of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Sequel to The Freedom Race. Story continues, good follow-iup. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

You need to give yourself time and space to read this series. It is hard, in the way that the subject matter is devasting and so utterly believable that it will break your heart, but Roy writes this horrible world with such poetry, love, and hope that you will be sucked in. It's a good second installment, in that we advance Jellybean's story, mainly through her having a ton more personal agency than in book one. She gets to run towards something, not just away. If Freedom Race was about escape, Flying the Coop is about the realization that freedom isn't free without genuine equality. It digs into the issue of how hard can you realistically push against an oppressive system without it pushing back and becoming more oppressive. True to Roy's discussions of race and justice, there aren't easier answers. I continue to love this series and will keep giving each novel space in my reading list to devastate me.