The Wall and the Wing
Mar. 6th, 2011 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
booksofafeatherShort review: A girl living in a world surrounded by people who can fly discovers her own power: to become invisible. But many other people are interested in having her power too, and try to capture her. Together with a boy named Bug, who dreams of flying, they flee from criminals and discover a lot of strange secrets. The focus of this story is mostly on the mystery and the weirdness and the strange adventures that the author can put in front of the characters: it's not much on the experience of flying people, and so I think for winged people reading it for that, it might feel beside the point. I think I was also very biased, though, so others may like it more than I did.
Writing: It's a very clever and funny book, in terms of its writing. Like Zahrah the Windseeker, it likes to play with ideas, and I think it has more of a success than that book did. By all accounts, this should be a great book. I just didn't feel it though, I feel that its kind of horrifying comedy-mystery isn't my style. So, I'll say I'm not the best person to review this book. It has received a lot of good reviews, and I think that as a book on its own it's very good... it's just not my style.
From a winged person's perspective...: This is another book where the fliers don't actually have wings... what is with these books? It's a trend now? The main character is a girl who's jealous of those who fly and feels negatively about them, while the teachers seem to worship birds and flight in a way that seems you're supposed to think it's a little obnoxious. It has something of a "sour grapes feeling". A second character wants to be a flier, and there is some exploration of how it feels to fly and the first character comes to understand why you would want to, experiencing its wonder.
Trigger warnings: Some name-calling and bullying in the beginning... sadly, this book couldn't hold my attention and so I can't give details for much further :( I did read it... but not in close detail.
More thoughts...: I kept trying to like this book, because it feels like it has everything in place that would make me like it... a girl feels bitter about the fact that she can't fly, and turns that bitterness on the fliers and all things associated with them. Meanwhile, a boy wants to become a flier, but he isn't quite good enough, until they cooperate and with their powers together they can both experience the beauty of flight. Plus, it has a funny mystery story surrounding it. That sounds like it should be a great book, right?
And I think that it is a great book, just not in the way that I personally like. I think something about this creepy, comedy style is offputting for me. Or maybe... I prefer books that are more about the inside lives of the characters, rather than action stories. So maybe action stories aren't a good thing for me to review. It seems like the main fun of this story is laughing along with the silly appearances and being frightened by them, but really, I want stories that will make me think... about the way the world works, the characters and their feelings. Philosophies, and emotions. I like stories that are full of feeling. And this is more of a fun story. If it had been developed more, the feelings of the girl towards the flying people, and why she feels that way, and the feelings of the boy who wanted to fly, I think this could have been a great story for winged people and particularly otherkin.... but some people, with different feelings for what they want in a story, will like it anyway.
I feel like, since this is very not my type of story, I can't review it well. ^^; So, it doesn't have a score from me. Please make up your own mind... that's the fairest way. Also, if you do like this book, there's a sequel, called The Chaos King, which seems to be similar to the first.
Writing: It's a very clever and funny book, in terms of its writing. Like Zahrah the Windseeker, it likes to play with ideas, and I think it has more of a success than that book did. By all accounts, this should be a great book. I just didn't feel it though, I feel that its kind of horrifying comedy-mystery isn't my style. So, I'll say I'm not the best person to review this book. It has received a lot of good reviews, and I think that as a book on its own it's very good... it's just not my style.
From a winged person's perspective...: This is another book where the fliers don't actually have wings... what is with these books? It's a trend now? The main character is a girl who's jealous of those who fly and feels negatively about them, while the teachers seem to worship birds and flight in a way that seems you're supposed to think it's a little obnoxious. It has something of a "sour grapes feeling". A second character wants to be a flier, and there is some exploration of how it feels to fly and the first character comes to understand why you would want to, experiencing its wonder.
Trigger warnings: Some name-calling and bullying in the beginning... sadly, this book couldn't hold my attention and so I can't give details for much further :( I did read it... but not in close detail.
More thoughts...: I kept trying to like this book, because it feels like it has everything in place that would make me like it... a girl feels bitter about the fact that she can't fly, and turns that bitterness on the fliers and all things associated with them. Meanwhile, a boy wants to become a flier, but he isn't quite good enough, until they cooperate and with their powers together they can both experience the beauty of flight. Plus, it has a funny mystery story surrounding it. That sounds like it should be a great book, right?
And I think that it is a great book, just not in the way that I personally like. I think something about this creepy, comedy style is offputting for me. Or maybe... I prefer books that are more about the inside lives of the characters, rather than action stories. So maybe action stories aren't a good thing for me to review. It seems like the main fun of this story is laughing along with the silly appearances and being frightened by them, but really, I want stories that will make me think... about the way the world works, the characters and their feelings. Philosophies, and emotions. I like stories that are full of feeling. And this is more of a fun story. If it had been developed more, the feelings of the girl towards the flying people, and why she feels that way, and the feelings of the boy who wanted to fly, I think this could have been a great story for winged people and particularly otherkin.... but some people, with different feelings for what they want in a story, will like it anyway.
I feel like, since this is very not my type of story, I can't review it well. ^^; So, it doesn't have a score from me. Please make up your own mind... that's the fairest way. Also, if you do like this book, there's a sequel, called The Chaos King, which seems to be similar to the first.
