Book Review of Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Title: Wings

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: May 5, 2009

Goodreads Review: “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 Review: I wanted to start off by saying the reason I am reviewing this a year after it came out is because the sequel to this book, Spells, comes out May 4th, so I wanted to review the first book in this series before I put up my review of Spells.  As many of you know I am a teacher who works part time in a book store, so my “to read” list is never ending since I am constantly surrounded by books!  This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine from the bookstore who shares my love for faerie stories, not the Tinkerbell goodie-two shoes faerie, faeries the way they are depicted originally.  In Wings, Aprilynne has put a whole new spin on faeries, in this world faeries are more closely related to plants, meaning the bleed a substance like chlorophyll not blood.  Another new element are the “wings” that the fairies have, the main character Laurel grows a blossom every year that starts in the center of her upper back and grows down. This quote explains it very well:

“Petal-like strips sprouted from where the bump had been, making a gently curved four-pointed star on her back.  The longest petals-fanning out over each shoulder and peeking around her waist-were more than a foot long and as wide as her hand.  Smaller petals-about eight of nine inches long- spiraled around the center, filling the leftover space.  There were even a few small green leaves where the enormous flower connected to her skin.  All of the petals were tinged a dark blue at the center that faded to the softest sky blue in the middle and white at the ends.  The edges were ruffled and looked eerily like the African violets her mother painstakingly grew in their kitchen.  There must have been twenty of the soft, petal-like strips.  Maybe more. ” -Wings, by Aprilynne Pike

Turing into a faerie is just the beginning of Laural’s worries though, because there is a serious love triangle going on in this story between Laural, David, the human, her best friend and classmate and Tamani, the fae who helps guard the entrance to Avalon.  David is supportive, steady, and understanding of everything that is happening to Laurel, but Tamani is mysterious and holds knowledge to Laurel’s past and future as a faerie.  The first third of this book for me moved a little slowly, but after that it picked up significantly and I could not put the book down.  Laurel is thrown into a battle between the fae and the trolls that has been going on forever, she has the power to protect Avalon, but many obstacles slow her down on her journey, not to mention the distraction of the two guys in her life both fighting for her attention.

Overall, this book was a great read.  If you want fresh spin on fae then I would read Wings by Aprilynne Pike, plus if you read it now, you won’t have to wait that long for the sequel.