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Flightless
PRAISE FOR FLIGHTLESS:
"This was the book I needed. The fun, heisty bits create a tasty coating for real conversations about revolution. Intimate, sweeping, and full of flight.”
-Mary Robinette Kowal, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Calculating Stars
“Memorable characters, a fascinating world, tons of action, and deep political intrigue: Flightless has it all. Readers seeking a fresh voice and skilled storytelling need look no further.”
-David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson, author of the Thieftaker Chronicles
Riff is a disgraced, low-class thief. All of his hopes hinge on Ascension, so he can rejoin the elite, upper-class thieves guild he belonged to as a youth. When he’s offered a rare, lucrative job to steal an artifact and prove himself to the guild, there’s no question he’ll take it. But his crewmates grow skittish, and one of his usuals refuses to join the operation, making Riff wonder what they know that he doesn’t.
As his crew prepares, they face sabotage and betrayal. The only way out is forward, because the artifact is their sole bargaining chip. Riff must discover how far he’s willing to go to improve his station and confront his ambitions. This job has the potential to fulfill all his dreams… or end his career.
Marie Parks is a New Mexico Book Awards winner. She was a finalist for the Futurescapes Most Promising New Author Award for Flightless.
"This was the book I needed. The fun, heisty bits create a tasty coating for real conversations about revolution. Intimate, sweeping, and full of flight.”
-Mary Robinette Kowal, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Calculating Stars
“Memorable characters, a fascinating world, tons of action, and deep political intrigue: Flightless has it all. Readers seeking a fresh voice and skilled storytelling need look no further.”
-David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson, author of the Thieftaker Chronicles
Riff is a disgraced, low-class thief. All of his hopes hinge on Ascension, so he can rejoin the elite, upper-class thieves guild he belonged to as a youth. When he’s offered a rare, lucrative job to steal an artifact and prove himself to the guild, there’s no question he’ll take it. But his crewmates grow skittish, and one of his usuals refuses to join the operation, making Riff wonder what they know that he doesn’t.
As his crew prepares, they face sabotage and betrayal. The only way out is forward, because the artifact is their sole bargaining chip. Riff must discover how far he’s willing to go to improve his station and confront his ambitions. This job has the potential to fulfill all his dreams… or end his career.
Marie Parks is a New Mexico Book Awards winner. She was a finalist for the Futurescapes Most Promising New Author Award for Flightless.
334 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2026
About the author
Marie Parks
3 books9 followersMarie Parks is the multi-award-winning LGBTQIA+ fantasy author of The Grigori Cycle supernatural thriller series and Flightless, a social justice fantasy heist. Marie lives in New Mexico, where she loves to camp, hike, and eat green chile.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 30, 2026
3.75 stars
Review forthcoming
Review forthcoming
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June 11, 2026I truly love reading a good heist book. Going in, I expected this to be a fun, lighthearted read. And it was definitely fun. However, there is an underlying current of deeper, more serious issues. It’s this combination that made Flightless such a compelling book.
Riff is a great character. He’s a rogue with a heart of gold, “robbing the rich” to support his family. It makes him an easy character to feel for, even though his moral compass swings wildly on occasion. His found family of ne’er-do-wells elevates the story. Each character brings their own special something to the story, and I loved all of them. As far as side characters go, I think my favorite might just be Rasaria. I love a bit of snark and Rasaria has that in spades.
The heists are fabulous and so exciting. The best part is when they go wrong, and the characters have to adapt. The author brilliantly showed how the characters think in the midst of a mess. It elevated the already-high stakes. Because, of course, there’s much more than Riff’s hopes at stake. Things snowball as they tend to in good books, taking a small self-contained need or want and turning it into something much bigger.
The worldbuilding is great. I can’t decide if this book is more science fiction or fantasy, but it really doesn’t matter. Elements of both genres mix beautifully and go in new and fun directions. I read the author’s note in which she says the book originated as fanfiction for the game Gloomhaven. I love seeing the origins of a book, but I have to say that whatever the origins, Flightless is one of the most unique books I’ve been privileged to read.
I recommend this book to readers who appreciate a good heist and anyone who likes nuanced social commentary in their fantasy.
You can also find my review on my blog: https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
Riff is a great character. He’s a rogue with a heart of gold, “robbing the rich” to support his family. It makes him an easy character to feel for, even though his moral compass swings wildly on occasion. His found family of ne’er-do-wells elevates the story. Each character brings their own special something to the story, and I loved all of them. As far as side characters go, I think my favorite might just be Rasaria. I love a bit of snark and Rasaria has that in spades.
The heists are fabulous and so exciting. The best part is when they go wrong, and the characters have to adapt. The author brilliantly showed how the characters think in the midst of a mess. It elevated the already-high stakes. Because, of course, there’s much more than Riff’s hopes at stake. Things snowball as they tend to in good books, taking a small self-contained need or want and turning it into something much bigger.
The worldbuilding is great. I can’t decide if this book is more science fiction or fantasy, but it really doesn’t matter. Elements of both genres mix beautifully and go in new and fun directions. I read the author’s note in which she says the book originated as fanfiction for the game Gloomhaven. I love seeing the origins of a book, but I have to say that whatever the origins, Flightless is one of the most unique books I’ve been privileged to read.
I recommend this book to readers who appreciate a good heist and anyone who likes nuanced social commentary in their fantasy.
You can also find my review on my blog: https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
April 24, 2026
A destitute, one-eyed thief with a big heart goes all in on the biggest heist of his life in this sensory, fantasy world in which people are stratified based on their ability to fly.
Parks crafts a tactile and odorous fantasy world full of thieves, political strife, and a touch of steam punk. Riff is a glider, technically middle class, but everyone is looked down upon by the winged Divians. To make matters worse, Riff is in poverty and all his ill-gotten gains go toward supporting his family's ailing farm. But when the flying aristocrats dishonor his dead sister's memory and reject his petition for upper class status, Riff is forced to take on a sketchy last minute job---robbing the museum of antiquities for a haughty Divian---in order to save his family.
The plot is as snappy as an Ocean's Eleven film and Parks infuses the world with rich detail. This is a lived-in world and Riff has the dirt under his nails to prove it. Riff's backstory and entanglement with the broader problems of society gradually unfold until the reader is rooting for the bruised and hungry hero with all their heart.
Readers will eat up this fantasy heist that's given depth by its social conscience and heartfelt hero.
Parks crafts a tactile and odorous fantasy world full of thieves, political strife, and a touch of steam punk. Riff is a glider, technically middle class, but everyone is looked down upon by the winged Divians. To make matters worse, Riff is in poverty and all his ill-gotten gains go toward supporting his family's ailing farm. But when the flying aristocrats dishonor his dead sister's memory and reject his petition for upper class status, Riff is forced to take on a sketchy last minute job---robbing the museum of antiquities for a haughty Divian---in order to save his family.
The plot is as snappy as an Ocean's Eleven film and Parks infuses the world with rich detail. This is a lived-in world and Riff has the dirt under his nails to prove it. Riff's backstory and entanglement with the broader problems of society gradually unfold until the reader is rooting for the bruised and hungry hero with all their heart.
Readers will eat up this fantasy heist that's given depth by its social conscience and heartfelt hero.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A heist story is good. A fantasy or sci-fi heist story is better. A fantasy or sci-fi heist story with a social justice edge rises to the heights!
The jobs main character Riff and his friends pull are fascinating in their complexity and the skills needed to make them go off smoothly. It just gets more interesting when things go wrong and the crew has to improvise. It was easy to root for these criminals as they helped themselves to the wealth of snooty Divians—winged people at the top of a stratified society based on the ability to fly. I especially liked the idea of thieves and rogues organizing for equity and justice for all. Riff, a glider, is in the middle tier but not doing much better than the flightless ground-bounds. He wants riches for all the right reasons and accepts an almost impossible job that would solve everything…unless it’s a trap. Who it might be a trap for shifts as the story goes on.
I received an advance-reader ebook from the author.
The jobs main character Riff and his friends pull are fascinating in their complexity and the skills needed to make them go off smoothly. It just gets more interesting when things go wrong and the crew has to improvise. It was easy to root for these criminals as they helped themselves to the wealth of snooty Divians—winged people at the top of a stratified society based on the ability to fly. I especially liked the idea of thieves and rogues organizing for equity and justice for all. Riff, a glider, is in the middle tier but not doing much better than the flightless ground-bounds. He wants riches for all the right reasons and accepts an almost impossible job that would solve everything…unless it’s a trap. Who it might be a trap for shifts as the story goes on.
I received an advance-reader ebook from the author.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews