Book Review |
||
Silverwing |
||
| . | By
Kenneth Oppel |
. |
| Kenneth
Oppel lives in Canada and he has written many books apparently but this series is the
first I have seen by him. It is a series of books about bats. It is a bit like Redwall or
Duncton Wood or Wind in the Willows where the animals are like people and they have
adventures and problems just like people. In this case, the animals in the story are bats
which is unusual and good because me and my Mum like bats very much. The main character is called Shade, he is a "silverwing" bat and he is the runt of his colony. He many be small but he is very brave and daring and he has lots of clever thoughts and ideas. He wonders WHY bats cannot be allowed to see the light of day, he wonders why some bats have metal rings given to them by humans, he wonders what has happened to his father who disappeared before he was born. On a journey south to hibernate for the winter, Shade becomes split from the rest of his colony. He has never travelled south before. It is a long, hard journey full of many surprises and unexpected dangers as he struggles to reach his family. He teams up with another bat - a female "Brightwing" - called Marina, who was thrown out of her colony because they did not like the fact that she had a human band on her wing. Shade and Marina make a good team and together they make their way slowly south. But why do the owls suddenly declare war on all bats? Who can they trust now and what is the eerie whistling noise that seems to follow them over the snow-tipped mountains? This is an excellent book. I loved the cover by Andrew Hutchinson and the story itself was full of suspense. I kept thinking Shade would die at any minute and you could feel his panic and desperation as he struggled along. Shade was my favourite character but Marina was very good too and I liked the way they needed each other but they could not quite get along and they kept quarrelling and being jealous and things. I thought Zephyr (an albino bat) was a good but odd character too and of course Goth and Throbb were excellent, but the less said about them the better! The author's note was interesting too and it was when I read this that I realised that the whole book had been written without any mention of colours because bats see in black and white. All the different shades and descriptions did not make it seem like a black and white world. It was cleverly done. Go and read it - it's great! Iestyn Evans - September 2000 |
||