Mail-Order Wings
Mar. 4th, 2011 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
booksofafeatherShort review: A fun book about a girl who orders a pair of "Wonda-Wings" from her comic book that turn out to give real flight, with a good writing style and some nice descriptions of flying. Some parts are very realistic, others are not and might make you laugh. At the end though, I'm not sure what the story is trying to say, if anything. It ends sort of out of nowhere and it didn't really feel finished. It wasn't good or bad in message... it just didn't have one. I don't know if that's good or not... it just left me with an odd feeling. Better than a bad ending. It felt jarring though.
Writing: It's well-written and it moves along quickly. Some silly stereotyped plot at the end... but it can also make you think. The end was weak, but the book is strong in writing other than that.
From a winged person's perspective...: There's a lovely extended description of flying that lasts for some pages. The main character seems to have an affinity for birds and flying that comes out in the reason she wants wings. The sorrows and joys that she has mostly seem to be right from my perspective... though she seems to be uncomfortable with transformation also which many otherkin will find strange. Some of the bird behaviours feel accurate. She has a negative reaction to food made from birds too, which feels realistic. Some things about the flight are not realistic though.
Trigger warnings: Wings being lost; going numb and falling off. Casual treatment of the fallen wings afterwards.
More thoughts...: For the first three quarters or so you feel like this book is simply a fun but rather simple adventure of a girl with wings. Everything seems to be going well and she seems to be really enjoying herself. The story begins with a warning that all is not well though... in a story like this, it's easy to see that when it begins with the main character reading a comic, where someone is being changed into a monster whose family doesn't recognise them, and they find it really scary and hope that it never happens to them... you know that is going to happen. And in the end, the story takes that turn, where the girl begins to turn into a bird and has to try and save herself, by going to the doctor who made the wing serum (who is actually a bad mad alchemist of sorts ^^;; Not a good stereotype...).
I felt a little anxious as soon as I started reading this part... what's the message going to be? That it's wrong to want to be winged? Or will Andrea regret turning back to human? In the end, it didn't seem to be either, or rather it was both, which was both strange and a relief. She does turn back, but she feels really broken-hearted about it... but also in the very last line, she seems happy to have ended her adventure. That last line was jarring in a way. I'm not sure where that feeling suddenly came from... and then it ends, so you don't know any more.
It feels realistic somewhat, because sometimes an experience does end like that, full of conflicted feelings. But it made for a very downbeat ending I think, with no resolution. Andrea didn't want to be a bird, but she didn't want to lose her wings either, and then she did lose them, and she was sad... ending like that makes it a very tragic story. There's not even a feeling of "well, she had one beautiful experience, even if she had to go back to normal, and she could be glad about that". You just had this feeling of her being pulled away from the wreckage of an accident and being relieved she was at least going home.
It's a strange note to end on. And then you have the speech of Mr. Vogel when Andrea destroys the wings, which I guess is supposed to be evil but I rather sympathised with to be honest....
I think I might have felt a little the same....
On other notes, I did like a lot of the realistic bird reactions that she had... it seemed quite well thought out. I don't have a desire to go south or eat weeds, but I have been known to flap and cry like a bird when I'm scared and the body changes seemed to make sense. Although the distance that such a girl can fly feels quite unrealistic... if you think you can't walk that distance, you surely can't flap that distance, and even gliding is tiring... do you think it takes no energy? It really doesn't, imagine that you are holding out your arms to the sides and constantly shifting and balancing your weight on them on a moving current... and you can't put them down... tiring. It's a beautiful feeling... but the first time I flew I didn't even go for a single city block, and I was panting, and exhausted, and hot all over.... Otherwise it seemed realistic though, once she got out of doors at least. I don't think I'll be flying in my room any time. How would you have the space?? Also, being able to pull out some soda, a map, and food while flying, and handle these things... I don't think so. You need all your effort to focus on flight.
So... I guess it's a really mixed book. There's a lot of good in it. And a lot that just doesn't work, and some bad stereotypes. On balance it's well-written though. I'd say that I liked it, and there are much worse books about flying out there. I guess I'd give it three and a half out of five... even if the ending feels unfinished, it does make you think, for example, in terms of considering "was she right or wrong, and was Mr. Vogel right or wrong?" Since it doesn't quite answer those questions, it's left up to you.
Writing: It's well-written and it moves along quickly. Some silly stereotyped plot at the end... but it can also make you think. The end was weak, but the book is strong in writing other than that.
From a winged person's perspective...: There's a lovely extended description of flying that lasts for some pages. The main character seems to have an affinity for birds and flying that comes out in the reason she wants wings. The sorrows and joys that she has mostly seem to be right from my perspective... though she seems to be uncomfortable with transformation also which many otherkin will find strange. Some of the bird behaviours feel accurate. She has a negative reaction to food made from birds too, which feels realistic. Some things about the flight are not realistic though.
Trigger warnings: Wings being lost; going numb and falling off. Casual treatment of the fallen wings afterwards.
More thoughts...: For the first three quarters or so you feel like this book is simply a fun but rather simple adventure of a girl with wings. Everything seems to be going well and she seems to be really enjoying herself. The story begins with a warning that all is not well though... in a story like this, it's easy to see that when it begins with the main character reading a comic, where someone is being changed into a monster whose family doesn't recognise them, and they find it really scary and hope that it never happens to them... you know that is going to happen. And in the end, the story takes that turn, where the girl begins to turn into a bird and has to try and save herself, by going to the doctor who made the wing serum (who is actually a bad mad alchemist of sorts ^^;; Not a good stereotype...).
I felt a little anxious as soon as I started reading this part... what's the message going to be? That it's wrong to want to be winged? Or will Andrea regret turning back to human? In the end, it didn't seem to be either, or rather it was both, which was both strange and a relief. She does turn back, but she feels really broken-hearted about it... but also in the very last line, she seems happy to have ended her adventure. That last line was jarring in a way. I'm not sure where that feeling suddenly came from... and then it ends, so you don't know any more.
It feels realistic somewhat, because sometimes an experience does end like that, full of conflicted feelings. But it made for a very downbeat ending I think, with no resolution. Andrea didn't want to be a bird, but she didn't want to lose her wings either, and then she did lose them, and she was sad... ending like that makes it a very tragic story. There's not even a feeling of "well, she had one beautiful experience, even if she had to go back to normal, and she could be glad about that". You just had this feeling of her being pulled away from the wreckage of an accident and being relieved she was at least going home.
It's a strange note to end on. And then you have the speech of Mr. Vogel when Andrea destroys the wings, which I guess is supposed to be evil but I rather sympathised with to be honest....
"How dare you, you whimpering little human girl. You have received the most precious gift ever offered a member of our species--and you have flung it away like trash."
I think I might have felt a little the same....
On other notes, I did like a lot of the realistic bird reactions that she had... it seemed quite well thought out. I don't have a desire to go south or eat weeds, but I have been known to flap and cry like a bird when I'm scared and the body changes seemed to make sense. Although the distance that such a girl can fly feels quite unrealistic... if you think you can't walk that distance, you surely can't flap that distance, and even gliding is tiring... do you think it takes no energy? It really doesn't, imagine that you are holding out your arms to the sides and constantly shifting and balancing your weight on them on a moving current... and you can't put them down... tiring. It's a beautiful feeling... but the first time I flew I didn't even go for a single city block, and I was panting, and exhausted, and hot all over.... Otherwise it seemed realistic though, once she got out of doors at least. I don't think I'll be flying in my room any time. How would you have the space?? Also, being able to pull out some soda, a map, and food while flying, and handle these things... I don't think so. You need all your effort to focus on flight.
So... I guess it's a really mixed book. There's a lot of good in it. And a lot that just doesn't work, and some bad stereotypes. On balance it's well-written though. I'd say that I liked it, and there are much worse books about flying out there. I guess I'd give it three and a half out of five... even if the ending feels unfinished, it does make you think, for example, in terms of considering "was she right or wrong, and was Mr. Vogel right or wrong?" Since it doesn't quite answer those questions, it's left up to you.
