Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel
Shade is a silverwing bat. It’s nearing the end of the summer and it’s time for Shade and his colony to travel to Hibernaculum where they will spend the winter hibernating. Unfortunately for Shade, he is swept out to sea during a storm and separated from his mother and the rest of the silverwings. Shade is lucky that his mother sang him the colony’s sound map before he was separated and he and a brightwing bat named Marina undertake to find Shade’s colony. Of course there are obstacles along the way the biggest ones being two vampire bats named Goth and Throbb who plan to follow them to the colony and eat the silverwings over the winter.
Now, I know what you’re thinking because it’s exactly what I thought before I read it the first time – “Who wants to read a book about bats? It’s so weird!” But actually the book is amazing. As anyone who regularly reads this blog will know, I think Kenneth Oppel is brilliant. His stories are always captivating and well written. And this one is no exception. It’s definitely intended for a younger audience than anything else of his that I’ve reviewed on this blog but that did not affect the quality of the novel at all. I remember loving this book when I first read it (as an adult) and I loved it again. I read it to my seven year old (who is already a huge fan of Oppel’s) and he liked it too.
The other thing I like about Oppel’s books is his ability to write to different age levels. As I mentioned before, this one was aimed at a younger audience and the language reflected that. But it wasn’t unreadable for an adult either. The same goes for the story. The target audience is children but it’s still an enjoyable read for adults.
A book with a bat as the main character could very easily be a difficult one to get into and feel a part of but not with Silverwing. I felt just like I was there with Shade, soaring way up above the forests or roosting in the giant tree they called home. It was simple things like measuring distance in wingbeats or the imagery of echo vision that made me forget that I was human for short periods of time. My son and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Sunwing.
Tags: Kenneth Oppel