The character growth doesn’t make up for the fact that the plot gets out of hand. Kieran, Seth, and Waverly are rebelling in their own ways on board the New Horizon. Kieran is defying Anne Mathers by showcasing her hypocrisy in front of everyone and she’s starting to see it herself. Waverly who finds herself sleeping with the enemy as the council of the ship wants her to help them bring Mathers down and take control of the ship. Most interesting of all is Seth who’s hiding as a stowaway and making friends with Empyrean sympathizers on the New Horizon and is finding new information about who really calls the shots in the vessel’s government. Meanwhile there’s a looming threat in the shape of two psychopaths still traumatized about the death of their unborn baby. Their grief doesn’t make them psychos rather the obsession with getting revenge.
It was a wild ride to get to where the book ends. I ended up hating all the main characters only to feel okay when we read where they ended up at the end. Okay is not good, the author should want me to be crying tears of joy or bitterness because the story is over. I was at peace because I did not care what happened to them when I got to the end.
Luckily all the characters finally churn out the growth that I had been expecting since the first book. Hatchets are buried, decisions are made with more preparation, no one acts more stupidly than necessary, and every works out with a nice little bow towards the end. I still hate the anti-religious agenda because that’s not what makes people go crazy. Mathers is a classic case of a self-righteous person who elevated herself above everyone completely ignoring the main teachings of what she claims to follow: being a humble pie. I’m pleased to see that Kieran learned that lesson…it’s not that hard. Waverly showed a little bit of bitchiness when she started mocking his religious beliefs once more in what would be their last bit of communication since the New Horizon and Empyrean were flying further and further apart and the coms would be out of range. And I hate how magically they both found their twu wuvs the right-under-your-nose trope (Waverly was always threatened by Felicity, Seth had been in love with Waverly first) *gag* I’m just glad to be done with this series. ( )

The Empyrean is destroyed. Waverly has found her mother, but she is not acting like herself. Kieran is in danger, trying to overthrow Anne Mather, and Seth is a fugitive aboard the New Horizon. Waverly, Kieran and Seth all want to reach the same goal: destroy Anne Mather. And if they could work together, they might be able to reach that goal faster. But they are separated, at odds with each other, and Seth is injured and so sick he can hardly take care of himself. Waverly is under guard at all times, as Mather doesn't trust her. And now one of the elders on the council is trying to take Waverly under his wing so she can help him destroy Mather, though it seems he just wants to use Waverly as a pawn. Someone else on board the New Horizon wants to destroy life as it is, and get rid of the leadership as well, and the crew of the New Horizon thinks it is Seth. The last book of the Sky Chasers series, Flame brings to a head all of the conflict which has been building. When values and ideals collide, the world will end. I read this series straight through, and I haven't done that with a series since I don't know when. I loved the characters and the interactions among them, I loved the idea of being in space, I loved the way characters changed and I never knew who to trust or who was trying to do good. The end of the series was a little unsatisfying for me, though; I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason I don't feel like the right characters ended up together. Or maybe something else needed to happen. I don't know. I did like this book, but for some reason it just felt like the series had to end, and so a few events needed to happen for it to end, and so they did. ( )

The Good: This is how you end a trilogy. Exciting and action packed scenes, one right after the other. Always on the the edge of your seat. A completely wrapped up storyline, with an unexpected conclusion. Complete closer with the characters we've come to know and love and/or hate. I absolutely loved every single thing about this book. It absolutely made the series.

The Bad: Not a thing. It was perfect. ( )

Waverly and the other members of the Empyrean have scattered, and their home ship has been destroyed. Their mission to rescue their parents did not go as planned, and now they're at an even greater disadvantage. ( )

4.5/5
A fantastic ending to a fantastic series. I was really impressed.

Full review on my website www.the-book-tower.blogspot.co.uk ( )