When Iolani Bearse was five years old, she lost her father to war. When she was nine, her mother died in a freak car accident. When Lani was fourteen, eerie green lights invaded, tearing her from the only home she had left.

Living as a runaway, dragging a horse and her cousin Eleanor across the countryside, Lani must learn to survive. Now Lani is the only person between the horrible, greedy lights and the last bit of family she has left. Her own heart is barely beating, but powerful memories pull her to Malcolm St. John. She fights what she feels, buried deep within her shattered soul.

Malcolm St. John always held his feelings in, especially about Iolani. So when she shows up on his doorstep, desperate and determined, Mal must decide if the wild tales she spins are the fragments of insanity or the last hope for a dying nation. This Lani is different from the child he knew. Something is coming for her, for him, and will not be stopped

If the cousins and Malcolm can’t escape the grasping hunters who hound them, the future of a broken America will be destroyed. Everything Lani has ever loved will burn with them. Somehow, she must find a path through friendship and loyalty to save them all.

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Flying Away is the first in a new series and it is very different. The concepts you read and the idea presented are odd but compelling. This book oozes creativity. There are so many intriguing themes and ideas all seen together in one story that will either leave you curious, confused, or overwhelmed. I will admit that I bounced around in all three of those areas. The writing in this story is beautiful. The descriptions allow for some very unique ideas to unfold in a way that plays out cinematic. You see ideas that seem far-fetched unfold in a way that is magical. The drawback is that there is SO much happening that you might get lost. When a  new idea is introduced it over takes the story. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does shift the entire feel of the story, and that shift happens several times. I felt like I was hopping from one idea to another. They are great and exciting ideas but it seemed to overwhelm me at times. At first I thought the story would be more like a fairy tale idea with magical themes having to do with nature and the flies. It does. But them it morphs into something different and they are running for their lives from Soul Stealers then it becomes somewhat dystopian in theme.

The main character, Lani, transforms completely in this book. She goes for a timid abandoned girl to a strong and capable young woman. Her transformation is seemingly abrupt but when you step back and realize how much time passes in a few of the chapters, the reader can understand how this change would naturally occur without the details. She has been through so much tragedy and witnessed countless terrible things. She learns to fend for herself and fight the ugliness around her in a way that is believable for a teenager with the ability to talk to flies.

This book is in a contestant state of movement. Lani never stays in one place too long and it helps the book to flow well. Lots of danger in many different facets takes place in this story. We go from the Pacific Northwest to Arizona to even Syria. We jump through portals and see everything tilted on its access. Personally, I felt like some of the many themes could have been left out or better introduced in the next book of the series. However, the writing is so well done that you continually flow from one fantastic and seemingly crazy idea to another, wondering where the story is going and what could possibly happen next. While it may be a bit overwhelming to read, this book is intriguing and different, something I very much appreciated.