Nose in a Book

Firewing by Kenneth Oppel

Griffin Silverwing has heard all the stories about his famous father’s adventures and feels he will never match up to him. So when his friends dare him to steal fire he does it. Unfortunately, it results in one of his friends dying and Griffin being sucked into the underworld during an earthquake. When his father, Shade, finds out what has happened he follows Griffin into the underworld where they must make a pilgrimage in order to return home. And of course, Goth is back causing all kinds of mischief.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first two, if not more. This one was definitely darker and was written with older audiences in mind. I don’t know if this was intentional but there seemed to be a lot of religious symbolism which added some depth to the novel.

As with the previous two stories, the novel was full of adventure and although it followed a well established pattern for adventure stories, it was completely unique because of the nature of the adventures. I don’t want to say too much more because to do so would give away the story but trust me when I say that the adventure never stops and it’s really quite a captivating novel.

Once again, I can’t find enough good to say about Oppel as an author.  Not only does he tell a fascinating story but he writes it beautifully as well. I’ve found that reading books aloud to my son (as I did this one) has given me a greater appreciation for they way a novel is written. Some books are much harder to read aloud than others but never Oppel’s. His words just flow off the page and are a great pleasure to read out loud.

My son and I both enjoyed this book. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I liked that the book was about bats. I liked everything about the book. Griffin was my favourite character because he was brave and he saved his friends. I would give this book a 10/10.”

Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Those who read my blog regularly will already know this, but I love Kenneth Oppel.  He’s definitely one of my favourite juvenile authors.

In this novel, a companion to Silverwing, Shade Silverwing is still longing to find his father.  He begins by travelling to the human building with a few other silverwings and his brightwing friend, Marina.  And that’s when the adventure begins and doesn’t stop until the very last page.  I can’t do much more than that for a summary without giving away some major plot details!

I don’t know how many more of Oppel’s books I can review because I find myself saying the same things over and over but I do love his writing.  I read this one out loud to my son and I always find that to be a really good test for the writing.  Sometimes I read books aloud to my son and I find the wording trips me up and doesn’t seem to flow but not with Oppel, and this book was no exception.  It was so fun and exciting to read and even though this one took us quite a while to get through (because we haven’t had much time for reading, not because it was boring) we never lost the momentum of the story.  Every time we picked the book up again after a long break, we were both swept up into the story again within seconds.

And even though the story was packed with action and adventure, it never seemed like too much.  It was just fun and entertaining.  My son and I loved this book and we can’t wait to read the next one!

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.

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

Oh, how I love Kenneth Oppel.  I was unsure about this one to start, but I should not have doubted!

Ben’s dad, a behavioural psychologist, has just transfered from the University of Toronto to Victoria to start a new, exciting research project.  The plan is to raise a chimp as part of the family and see if they can teach him ASL.  At first, Ben wasn’t too thrilled about having a new little brother or being that weird family with the chimp.  But very quickly, Zan (the baby chimp) became very important to him and he to Zan.  (I feel like this is a bit of a spoiler but it’s right there on the book jacket so here goes…)  Eventually, Ben’s dad decides that the project isn’t going as well as he had hoped and he decides to shut it down.  Of course, the question now becomes, what will happen to Zan?

I loved pretty much everything about this book.  First, I loved the characters – they were so real.  I’ve never been a teenage boy so I can’t say for sure, but Ben seemed pretty typical to me.  There were parallels between Zan and Ben that were so fun and at times funny to read about.  With Ben starting at a new school he decides that in order to survive, he’ll have to become the alpha male.  And it actually seems to work for him.

Ben’s dad was also a strong character.  For the most part, he was pretty unlikeable but that was the point.  He had a hard time relating to his son and that was made even harder by the fact that after telling Ben that Zan was going to be a member of the family, he proceeded to treat him as nothing more than an experiment while Ben was busily bonding with him.  When they shut down the project, for reasons that Ben couldn’t understand, he was extremely unsympathetic to Ben’s protests and alienated him even more.  I can’t say whether or not they worked that out without any spoilers but I’ll just say that it was real.

This story was about so much more than just a chimp living with a human family (which, really, could be a pretty interesting story right there).  It’s about relationships, Ben’s relationship with his parents, his friends, Zan.  It’s a coming of age for Ben and for Zan.  It’s about the issue of animal testing and where to draw the line.

I just have to address one more issue.  The book takes place in 1973 and I read a review in the Globe and Mail that stated that the book may be inaccessible to teens because of the absence of cell phones and facebook.  First off, I don’t think that gives teens enough credit.  It’s pretty lame to say that they might not be interested in the book because there are no cell phones in it.  But more importantly, I hardly noticed.  The time period really wasn’t all that important to the story.  There was only once that I thought “Why don’t they just use their cell phones?”  and then remembered that they didn’t have cell phones in the seventies.

Overall, this was a great read, of the quality I’ve come to expect from Kenneth Oppel.

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel (sequel to Airborn)

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

This one was almost as good as the first one.  Right from the first page it was action, action, action!  This time around the legendary ship Hyperion has been spotted in the air and Matt is the only one who knows the coordinates.  The Hyperion is rumoured to be carrying a fortune in gold.  And whoever gets to it first gets to keep the riches.  The Hyperion is also said to contain quite a nice collection of animal artifacts, which surprise, surprise, Kate is dying to get her hands on.  The only problem is that the Hyperion is drifting at an impossible height so Matt and Kate have to find someone to help them who owns a very specialized ship.  And of course, Matt, Kate and their two new companions aren’t the only ones on the world searching for the Hyperion. So you can imagine all the action and adventure that is packed into this novel.

If I hadn’t just read the first book I don’t think I would have found this one to be lacking at all.  But since I did just read it, yesterday, I remembered the suspense and tension I felt while reading Airborn.  But Skybreaker was still amazingly entertaining.  I’m already deep into the third book of this trilogy and loving it just as much.  Of course, there’s a little bit of romance thrown into these books, but it’s done well.  There are no over-the-top declarations of love and it doesn’t seem to be an add-on to the plot.  It flows well with the story, without taking over.  And I love Oppel’s writing.  He has a way of describing things that allows me to see the events unfolding in my mind without getting too bogged down in long, flowery explanations.  This one gets a 10/10 too.

Other Reviews:

• Canuck Librarian
• A Book a Week
• Goddess Librarian
• The Inter-Galactic Playground

Did I miss yours?  Please post a link in the comments.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

Why haven’t I read this sooner?!  I loved the Silverwing books and somehow I just forgot about Kenneth Oppel.  Then just last week I read a review somewhere (sorry, I can’t remember where) for the third book in this series and remembered that Oppel is Canadian and realized I’d better get on these books! I read this book in a day and I couldn’t put it down!

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on a luxury cruise ship but this cruise ship doesn’t float in the ocean, it floats over the ocean!  From the first page Matt and the crew on the Aurora are in for some major adventure.  And just when one mishap (or worse) seems to be just about cleared up, something else comes along to cause more mayhem and definitely some of the most captivating story I’ve read in a long time.  I don’t want to give anything away about what happens to Matt and the rest of the crew so I guess that’s going to have to be my summary for this one!

Not only was this book very well written, it really was adventure from start to finish.  And I just felt like I was right there in the middle of it.  And it was truly unpredictable, I was never sure what was going to happen next.  As I read, my heart was pounding, I was chewing on my thumbnail the suspense was so great!  (And it’s not often a book can do this to me!)

Overall this book was amazing.  My library had it shelved in the juvenile section but I’m not sure it should be there.  Not that there is any mature themes or anything, I’m just not sure a younger child could understand everything that went on.  (And there were people killed in the book.)  All I’m saying is that I wouldn’t read it to my 6 year old.  I remember the Silverwing books to be aimed at a younger audience.  Overall I would give this book a 10/10.  I’m so glad I have the next two sitting on my night stand waiting to be read!

Other reviews:

• Bart’s Bookshelf