Book Tour: Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs by Victoria Williamson

About the Book

When the skies turn deadly, a young heroine must rise from the ashes…

Twelve-year-old Amberley Jain has faced incredible challenges since the crash that took her parents and paralysed her legs. Now, with her best friend Ricardo Lopez about to be sent away and a swarm of mutated insects closing in on the Skyfleet base, the stakes have never been higher. Something monstrous is driving the mutabugs north from the contaminated meteor site known as the Cauldron, and the only plane capable of stopping it – the Firehawk – lies in pieces in the hangar.

Determined to honour her parents’ legacy, Amberley hatches a daring plan. With Ricardo’s help, they stow away on a supply train, trading his most treasured possession for the parts needed to repair the Firehawk. After secret test flights, the legendary jet is ready for action. Now, Amberley and Ricardo must confront the deadly swarm and save their home, discovering their inner strength and the true meaning of friendship along the way.

Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs is a thrilling tale of adventure and resilience, perfect for middle-grade readers.

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My Review

I’m thrilled to be part of the book tour for the latest middle grade book by the extremely talented Victoria Williamson. She is a must-read author for me, so when I heard she had a new book out I knew I had to read it before I even heard what it was about.

Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs is about two twelve year old orphans, Amberley Jain and Ricado Lopez, who want to be part of Skyfleet and defend their colony from giant mutant bugs.

Skyfleet is made up of six superpowered planes and the heroic people who fly them. There used to be seven planes, but six months before the book begins Amberley Jain lost both her parents in the plane crash that also paralysed her legs. She has bonded with fellow orphan Ricardo Lopez (or Ric), who needs opti-kit lenses to see. Orphans get sent to work in the fields at 12. Neither Amberly nor Ric want to be sent to the farm. They hope to show Skipper Maddox, head of Skyfleet, that they are mature enough to be valuable members of the team.

Amberly plans to rebuild her family plane, the Firehawk, and become a pilot. Ric wants to impress Chief Engineer, Whistler McTavish, with his engineering skills.

Fighting giant mutated insects that regenerate after being blown apart is a dangerous business. Can Amberley and Ric convince the adults they have what it takes to be part of the Skyfleet?

Amberley and Ric are great main characters. From reading the author’s other books, I know her characters are always fantastic, and Skyfleet is no different. Amberley and Ric have a believable friendship. They’ve both lost their parents in traumatic ways, and they both have disabilities that makes them different from their peer group. However, their bond goes deeper than this. They are both intelligent, brave children who want to prove their worth.

I loved Amberley’s drive to be a member of Skyfleet. I liked that the negative aspects of her ambition were also shown.

Ric’s enthusiasm and loyalty endeared him to me from the moment he appeared. He’s good at fixing things and looking out for others. His vulnerability beyond his optimism was well shown. It was believable how he could be taken for granted because of his caring and thoughtful attitude. His motivation to stay in Skyfleet and escape the farm was relatable.

All the characters are good, but there isn’t much time spent with the adult members of Skyfleet. I absolutely loved Screwball Sydney and her wombat, Mascot. I want to grow up to be her. With her scarf, clockwork ship and knack for being there at the right time, she is my eccentric ideal!

This is such a fun book. The author says she was inspired by 1980s cartoons, and reading this book was like watching the best episode of a cartoon from that era. I could hear each character being voiced by the actors who seemed to voice every cartoon from that period. I could see the action taking place in cartoon style. The short descriptions and almost spare, direct use of language perfectly captured the gung-ho atmosphere of a heroic team against impossible odds.

If you’ve read a Victoria Williamson book, you will know that she writes about characters with disabilities. I love how she shows that being in a wheelie chair can be difficult for Amberley, especially when it comes to how other people treat her. Her reliance on her zoomer, or wheelie chair, to get about and Ric’s need for opti-kit lenses to see, mean they have extra obstacles to overcome than the other children. However, this doesn’t stop them from finding ways to do things. I absolutely love this theme in Williamson’s books. You may have a harder road in life, but you find better ways to travel it.  

Where the story takes place is a bit vague. I assumed the new world where they are living is another planet, colonized by people from different countries on Earth. There is talk about crossing seas and not being able to communicate with the old world. I’m not sure if the seas in this case are the seas of space, or whether they are literal seas from another part of the planet that has been settled longer than their base.

The locations in the story are fabulous. I loved the treehouse base for Skyfleet. All good super teams need an unusual base, and the enormous tree they live in fits the bill. The jungles teeming with giant bugs and the barren desert around the meteor crash site that caused the mutations are evocative and provide appropriate backdrops for the action.

The story is fast paced. The action zips along and it is easy to imagine the book split up into a series of episodes for a show. It reminded me of the Japanese cartoons that were often edited into a movie in the 1970s and 1980s. While the editing often left important parts out of those movies, there is nothing disjointed about this book. Everything makes sense.

I was highly entertained by this book. It is exciting, feel good and optimistic. It made me want to wrap my Maine Coon cat around my neck like a scarf and run around with my arms out pretending to shoot down giant insects. It isn’t all action though. There is real heart here. Amberley and Ric’s loss and their desperation to stay in Skyfleet, while not overemphasised, does provide emotional depth that rounds out the story in a satisfying way. The mutabugs are also surprisingly frightening. I would not want to eat something that can regenerate after it has been blown apart!

I really loved the notes and reports that fitted in between each chapter. The Scottish engineer, Whistler McTavish, was another great character. I liked reading his report. Details about the bugs were cleverly slipped into the narrative in this manner. The final broadcast by Skipper Maddox at the end of the book is perfection.

There are also great descriptions of the Skyfleet planes and crew with lovely illustrations by James Brown. These things should be on trading cards. There should be a game! Which Skyfleet plane would you be? Throw down your mutabug card and see if your opponent has the right Skyfleet plane to beat it! Someone has to make this happen now!

The focus of this book is very tight on Amberly and Ric, which is good. There were times where I would have liked to learn more about how life worked in the treehouse, what the other orphans were like, and whether this was Earth or another planet. I think the author deliberately chose to keep these aspects vague. The book is about Amberly and Ric, so these details wouldn’t have easily slotted in, and the retro all hands-on deck, humans achieving great things against impossible odds tone of the book wouldn’t suit an overly detailed, slice of life approach.

Victoria Williamson is a talented, versatile author and I love how she pushes boundaries and tries new things with each book. This is unlike her other books in subject matter and tone, but it still has the great characters, deeper themes, and heart that are present in all her books and keep me coming back for more.

This is a middle grade book and is sure to be a hit with both boys and girls. Adults who grew up watching cartoons in the 1980s and 1990s will get a kick out of it as well.

This book certainly reconnected me with parts of my childhood that I haven’t thought about in a long time. It was nice spending time with optimistic heroes fighting monsters without any darkness within the team, and I appreciated the added character depth and layers that Williamson brought into the story.

A fun, exciting story with lovable characters that will be a favourite with your child, or help you reconnect with the child within. I’m serious about wanting a card game with the Skyfleet planes and mutabugs!

Thank you to the author and Tiny Tree for the paperback and extremely cool swag bag that came with the book.

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About the Author

Victoria Williamson grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, and has worked as an educator in a number of different countries, including as an English teacher in China, a secondary science teacher in Cameroon, and a teacher trainer in Malawi.

As well as degrees in Physics and Mandarin Chinese, she has completed a Masters degree in Special Needs in Education. In the UK she works as a primary school special needs teacher, working with children with a range of additional support needs including Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, physical disabilities and behavioural problems.

She is currently working as a full time writer of Middle Grade and YA contemporary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, with a focus on creating diverse characters reflecting the many cultural backgrounds and special needs of the children she has worked with, and building inclusive worlds where all children can see a reflection of themselves in heroic roles.

Victoria’s experiences teaching young children in a school with many families seeking asylum inspired her debut novel, The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, an uplifting tale of redemption and unlikely friendship between Glaswegian bully Caylin and Syrian refugee Reema.

You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

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