Book Review: Silverwing- Kenneth Oppel
Apr. 15th, 2017 02:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
niori_1709I have to admit that this is not a book I ever would have picked out myself. It’s a young adult fiction novel that has bats as the main characters. Yes- bats. I don’t know what possessed Mom to look at Silverwing, let alone pick it up as a gift for me, but I’m glad she did.
Silverwing tells the story of Shade, a newborn runt of a silverwing bat. He’s one of those kids that just won’t take ‘because’ as an answer. The question in this case is why bats are forbidden to see the sun (to sum it up: a long time ago there was a war between the birds and the beasts, and the bats decided to play Switzerland and stay neutral. When the war ended, they were punished by not being allowed to see the sun on pain of death). Shade catches a glimpse or it and is (of course) caught. Instead of turning him over to be killed, his clan takes the consequence- the complete destruction of heir nesting area. They’re forced to leave for their hibernation site earlier than normal and Shade gets separated from the group on the journey. Now he must find a way to get there without getting killed along the way. He picks up Marina, a redwing bat who was chased out of her clan, and Goth and Throbb, two tropical bats who double as psychopaths. All three were captured by humans and given mysterious metal bands that nobody knows the purpose of and adds a level of mystery to the classic journal story.
Yes, the main characters are bats. Those bats happen to be written better than quite a few human characters I’ve read. Oppel gives these bats personalities. He gives them history, culture, and all those things you don’t think would go with bats. Most impressively, he makes two distinct bat cultures (Shade vs. Goth’s) and then takes it a step further by making distinctive cultures for other animals as well, most obliviously the rats and owls. I was honestly surprised that I enjoyed this book, especially that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It might not sound like a book you’d pick up your own, but I’m hoping you’ll take my word for it and give Silverwing a try.
Silverwing tells the story of Shade, a newborn runt of a silverwing bat. He’s one of those kids that just won’t take ‘because’ as an answer. The question in this case is why bats are forbidden to see the sun (to sum it up: a long time ago there was a war between the birds and the beasts, and the bats decided to play Switzerland and stay neutral. When the war ended, they were punished by not being allowed to see the sun on pain of death). Shade catches a glimpse or it and is (of course) caught. Instead of turning him over to be killed, his clan takes the consequence- the complete destruction of heir nesting area. They’re forced to leave for their hibernation site earlier than normal and Shade gets separated from the group on the journey. Now he must find a way to get there without getting killed along the way. He picks up Marina, a redwing bat who was chased out of her clan, and Goth and Throbb, two tropical bats who double as psychopaths. All three were captured by humans and given mysterious metal bands that nobody knows the purpose of and adds a level of mystery to the classic journal story.
Yes, the main characters are bats. Those bats happen to be written better than quite a few human characters I’ve read. Oppel gives these bats personalities. He gives them history, culture, and all those things you don’t think would go with bats. Most impressively, he makes two distinct bat cultures (Shade vs. Goth’s) and then takes it a step further by making distinctive cultures for other animals as well, most obliviously the rats and owls. I was honestly surprised that I enjoyed this book, especially that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It might not sound like a book you’d pick up your own, but I’m hoping you’ll take my word for it and give Silverwing a try.
