Review by Booklist Review
The Freedom Race brought Ji-ji, Afarra, and Tiro to the legendary Dream City with hope that things would improve for them and their enslaved loved ones. Ji-ji, having sprouted impossible wings, must learn how to fly. Afarra encounters the sinister secessionist elements that lurk everywhere in the supposedly free city. Tiro, now a famous flyer in the Dreamfleet, struggles with substance dependence. When Ji-ji learns that her sister Charra might still be alive in the Madlands, she must choose whether to abandon allies in the Dream and risk potential support from the SuperStates for open rebellion in the Homestead Territories. Meanwhile, all signs point to the Secessionists planning a bold move of their own. This second volume in Roy's Dreambird Chronicles (after The Freedom Race, 2021) broadens the political scope of the narrative while keeping the focus on the three young protagonists. Ji-ji, Afarra, and Tiro encounter belligerence, violence, systematic oppression, deliberate ignorance, and death at nearly every turn. What carries them forward are seeds of hope, anger, and history and the belief that they can force change. With strong connections to current events and an unflinching look at how things could be, Flying the Coop is an essential read.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Roy packs a punch with this heart-wrenching sequel to The Freedom Race, set in a dystopian near-future America that has reinstituted slavery. The cost of freedom remains just as steep as in the first book, but the protagonists now have far more to lose if they fail. Ji-Ji Silapu has made it to the free Dream City. It's both exactly and nothing like she fantasized about back on Planting 437. To get there, she faked her own death, and now she relies on her friends, Tiro and Afarra, together with mentors, coaches, and trusted leaders of the abolition group Friends of Freedom, to keep herself hidden. Ji-Ji and Afarra adjust both to their new home and to Ji-Ji's newly sprouted wings in relative secrecy. But the more time they spend in Dream City, facing setbacks and disappointments, the more they realize that freedom isn't just a place, it's a movement, a process, and a story. When secessionists threaten the tenuous free status of Dream City, Ji-Ji must decide who she can trust and what her role will be in the coming revolution. As harrowing as it is gripping, this will leave readers anxiously awaiting the series finale. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
With this follow-up to The Freedom Race, the multi-genre author Roy's first foray into speculative fiction, a search for Freedom brings former Muleseed Jellybean "Ji-ji" Silapu to the Dream City, formerly the U.S. capital. It's risky business--no person of color is safe in Ji-ji's world--but with her new-found ability to fly she and friends Tiro and Afarra, struggling to lay aside their own ghosts, could all find their dreams. With a 125,000-copy first printing.
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