Review by Emily Soroos
Orca Book Publishers, 2023
320 pages. Paperback. CAN. $14.95. 9781459835122.
Young Adult, Ages 12+
Science Fiction
From the plane almost crashing and the arson and the looting to the weapons and even seeing the bodies strewn on the roadside, I could pretend this was just an adventure, a game, a book I was reading. We were the Fellowship of the Ring. We were all playing, all of us just characters.
And now?
Phillip was dead. That was real. Fede had almost been killed. That was real. Tom had been beaten. That was real. I’d had weapons aimed at me and bullets whizzing by my head and people threatening to kill me. And, even worse, I was sure it was going to happen again and again. What we’d been through, what was behind us, was nothing compared to what was still to come, and I wondered, for the first time, deep in my bones, if we were going to make it. Would I ever see my parents again?
Dystopias are infamous for poking and prodding at the weakest points of humanity. Flight Plan by Eric Walters is no different. This book will break your heart, but you’ll love it all the while.
The main character is a thirteen-year-old boy named Jamie. Introduced as your typical self-absorbed tweenaged boy, Jamie grows into a mature pragmatist, undaunted by suffering. His character development is natural, easy to follow, and one of Flight Plan’s shining features.
While Jamie’s apocalyptic circumstances contribute to his growth, much more of his character arc should be attributed to the novel’s other characters. Most notable are Captain Daley of Jamie’s doomed flight, and Tom, an old doomsday prepper. Captain Daley becomes a father figure to Jamie, supporting him along their journey. Tom comes off as a curmudgeonly pessimist, but eventually endears himself to Jamie and readers through his advice and selflessness. Captain Daley and Tom’s experiences complement Jamie’s naivety. They are a formidable trio, the core of the novel’s survival group.
Also important to Jamie’s character development are the rest of the survival group’s main six. There’s Doeun Kim, the co-pilot and sisterly figure to Jamie. Doeun falls in love with Richard, a salesman who at first seems selfish but whom Jamie grows to respect. Another member is Julia, a flight attendant who becomes close with Jamie. These core six form an enjoyable representation of the found family trope.
On a surface level, Flight Plan’s style and worldbuilding seem rudimentary, and younger YA readers will not struggle to comprehend the book’s diction and setting. However, the style and worldbuilding interact in a complex, riveting way that elevates the book. Jamie’s matter-of-fact tone and youthful narration provide a unique lens, one that asks moral questions and attempts to answer them whilst acknowledging that some questions have no answer.
Walters does an excellent job of displaying how people can become desensitized to committing and witnessing violence. At the beginning of the novel Jamie finds it unfathomable that he could hurt an animal, let alone a human being. By the end he has killed several times, and he is not regretful, an indicator of how desensitized he has become.
Eric Walters’ Flight Plan is riveting, endearing, and thought-provoking. This dystopia would fit in with the likes of Neal Shusterman’s Dry or James Dashner’s The Eye of Minds. For readers who want a complex dystopia that challenges society but avoids excessive gore, Flight Plan is an excellent choice. It is a highly enjoyable novel that contains compelling characters, and asks readers contemplate morality and survival in new lights.
Emily Soroos is a first-year student in UBC’s Faculty of Arts, hoping to study psychology and creative writing. She is an aspiring author, a dog enthusiast, and a logistics nerd. You can find her spending way too much time in crafts stores or arguing with one of her fictional characters.
YOUNG ADULTING 