Review: Wings

Title: Wings
Author: Aprilynne Pike
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult
Pub Date: May 2009, Harper Teen
Hardcover, 290 pages

Synopsis (from Booklist)

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

My Thoughts

I've seen a few mixed reviews on this book but decided to give it a shot, since I seem to be so into fairies/faeries these days. Personally, I really enjoyed this story! To give a bit more information than the dust jacket of the book, Laurel has certainly discovered something inexplicable about herself. Having been homeschooled her whole life, high school was hard enough without having to worry about the "wings" growing out of her back. She ultimately turns to the one friend she has gotten close to, David, and tells him the whole story. Miraculously, the very scientific and practial David believes her and does everything he can to help her figure out what's going on. Ultimately, it's another faerie, Tamani, who holds all of the answers, though...

Ah, do you sense a love triangle? As much as they can drive me crazy at times, they certainly add to the story. Aside from that, what I appreciate the most about Pike's book is its originality, but I also have to confess that I have a very limited background when it comes to faeries. I thought it was interesting to learn more about the folklore and mythology behind the faeries and faerie realm, but I won't give any of that away to those of you who have not read this book. In general, I thought Pike did a nice job with the characters, too. Yes, David may seem to good to be true, but you know what? This is YA fantasy, fiction, so why shouldn't things seem better than they might be if it were, say, real life?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice, easy read and well-paced. Pike's writing is good, but perhaps not great, though I see a lot of potential for this series. One thing that struck me, and normally I don't think much of 1st vs. 3rd person narrative, but I have to say that I think this story could have benefited from being told straight from Lauren's mouth. It only would have helped to make the details and story more vivid and provide more of an emotional attachment for the reader. It must be that I've been reading so much in 1st person lately that I realized that was part of what was keeping me from completely loving this book. But in my opinion, if you enjoy reading about faeries, you'll like Wings.

As a random aside, does it bug anyone else that there are so many ways to spell fairy/faerie/faery or fey/fae? :-)

My rating:



Other reviews of Wings:

Reverie Book Reviews ~ My Favorite Author ~ About Books

Reading Keeps You Sane ~ The Book Muncher

In Search of Giants ~ A Patchwork of Books ~ The Book Zombie

Wondrous Reads ~ Karin's Book Nook ~ TheBookBind

Tales of a Ravenous Reader ~ Teen Book Review

The Story Siren ~ Reader Rabbit ~ Carrie's YA Bookshelf

The Book Blogger ~ The Book Reader ~ Frenetic Reader
It's All About Books ~ The Zen Leaf ~ GreenBeanTeenQueen
Charlotte's Library ~ Melody's Reading Corner
Bookluver-Carol's Reviews ~ Life In The Thumb
The Book Smugglers ~ A High and Hidden Place

If you have reviewed this book and don't see your site listed above, please leave a comment with the link to your review below and I'll add it to the list. Thanks!