books of a feather

So sorry about the absent reviews recently m(_ _)m My problem in doing it, is, I have a very bad memory. And so, reading any book I want to review, I have to take notes constantly. Somehow, this is taking away from the enjoyment of the book... so... I have not been doing the reviews so much recently.

But, I decided that to do it in a different structure is better than nothing, right? So, this review is a little different from normal, not so much structure, but, just writing about it. I hope you like it anyway m(_ _)m

I'm going to talk about three books here: Murkmere and Ambergate by Patricia Elliott, and, The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson.


All three of these books focus on swan maidens (though, Ambergate is the companion book to Murkmere, and, follows the character Scuff from that first book, but, the swan maiden plot also returns in it). And, they are all very beautiful in writing, with some dark haunting feeling and some fascinating ideas. Particularly, the bird-focused religion in Murkmere and Ambergate is very interesting, unique, and, gives an atmosphere to the books, as well as being the frame for much of the plot.

All the books also have a strong and interesting female as the main character, and, particularly, I like the character of Leah in Murkmere, a high-born but wild-hearted girl with a personality and nature that is an exact echo of the swan. Any swan-kin out there, will see something from themselves definitely in her I think, in her fierce and dangerous beauty that cannot be tamed. Doucette in The Swan Maiden is also similar... a kind girl, and yet, she has that alien, swan nature, that pulls her away from human life and human love, afraid to be trapped.

The other thing that all of these books have in common is a very strong and positive idea of what a swan maiden is like. Like I said before, the swan maiden characters in the books have a feeling about them that rings true... being a swan maiden myself, I know this. Unlike some characters in certain books I reviewed, who don't react in any strong way about losing their wings, the swan maidens in both books are fiercely possessive of their swanskins, and, over many threats to take it from them, you can see and feel the pain in their hearts. (This might be quite triggering, in all three of the books I mention.) The swanskins, the wings, the flying, are treated like their souls... if you have ever read His Dark Materials series, and you know how the armoured bears treat their armour, then, you have some idea of how it is in these books. As it should be, as it should be.

I'm also happy to say, that none of the books end with messages about giving up your swan nature to be with someone you love. ( Some spoilers for the endings, trying to keep it mild ) That is part of what makes me review all these books together... they all have such heart and understanding, about being a swan girl who is not really human, about needing (not just wanting, but, needing) magic, about the fear of being trapped without the skin, how they will not give it up for anything.

There is an absolute wild heart in all of these books, and, they are definitely worth reading. I will say, that The Swan Maiden does have some slightly negative thoughts on magic, but, also some very positive ones, and, the transformation parts are beautiful, and will give you shivers for sure. I don't think there's anything to regret about Murkmere, and Ambergate is fun to read with only a handful of small parts that feel a little slow. I can definitely say, that these books all deserve five out of five... that score does not mean "perfect", because, no book is perfect, but, it means "this has so much deep content about being a bird person, you shouldn't miss it if you are one". Especially for any other swans out there, but, also bird people in general.

Short review: A beautiful picture story, this book has no words at all so it's up to the reader to decide what is happening. It's a lovely book with no bad messages, although the flying part is short and makes the book not very relevant to this theme.

Writing: No writing! The pictures are lovely though, great for children (and adults) to sit and stare at, finding all the little details and how they follow the main character from page to page.

From a winged person's perspective...: The birds in this book are the only winged people... the boy does fly for a short time, but, he is riding on a leaf-bird, more than flying. The page where the leaves turn into swans is very interesting to look at, and there are some beautiful drawings of swans on the next page (they're trumpeter swans if you're curious ^^), but, this book is not really about flying.

Trigger warnings: None.

More thoughts...: There isn't a rating for this book, because it isn't in the theme. Sometimes I review books like this: they don't meet the theme even though I had some information that says they do (usually, these are books that were tagged with "flight" or "wings" in a library system or on Librarything), so, I review them anyway just to let people know. It's a very nice book though, nothing wrong with it (and very beautiful swan pictures if you like that ^^) Good for any age, from tiny children to adults, because it's only pictures.

Short review: For Jonathan Livingston Seagull, flying is the most important thing in life. Unlike to his kin, who think flying is only a tool. Armed with this philosophy, Jonathan makes some surprising discoveries about life... and beyond. This is an amazing philosophical story that is a slot similar to classic fables and allegories. On the lteral level, as well as philosophical metaphor, many winged people I think will enjoy it... it's about living in the way that is important to you even if it's not the custom, the spiritual things that follow from that, and much more.

Writing: I didn't really notice the writing in this book... I guess the sign of a good book, is when you focus on the story so much, you don't notice how the writing is like at all! As for the plot though, it's great, and builds more and more on itself... it starts out being about one thing but, always has more to teach. The book also has seagull photos at some points in the story, which helps you feel the characters are real and makes you feel like you are being drawn into the story a lot.

From a winged person's perspective...: Well, the book is about flying of course ^^ Although in a way you can see it as a metaphor, the story is also very much about "the things YOU feel joy doing... are important and will change you". So, if you want it to be about flying, the book isn't going to tell you, that itself is not about flying. For a book all about learning to fly, there is not much description of the feeling of flying... it's more about the Jonathan character achieving his goals. But, he does focus much on "flying for the sake of flying is the important thing".

Also, all the characters are seagulls ^^ So, there are no issues to worry about like, "is this book going to call me a freak for wanting to read about wings?"

Trigger warnings: Being outcast. Also, this is just my personal view but some things at the beginning of the book were a little ED triggering for me (it depends on what ED is to you), though, by the end of the book it actually turns around in a nice way and might actually be a support in that way. If you're not suffering from ED you probably won't notice this, but, it is just a small thing I noticed.

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Short review: Alison wants wings, and nothing else will do... not flying with a cape or even in a plane. This is a short little children's book, almost a "half picture book" (it has more writing than a picture book, but it has lots of pictures and it is still very short) meant for 2nd grade children. It's interesting and a little circular... the story ends where it begins. I'm not sure what to think of it at all, but, it's a nice book for very young children.

Writing: It's quite average and simple... nothing too good or bad. The ending is very blurry and there is no real message, leaving the story open where it's hard to say what a person might get from it. The pictures have a touching feeling to them, and, you can see the longing that is in Alison. It also has nice small details like, the feather print on her night shirt ^^

From a winged person's perspective...: This book is almost the opposite of the last book I reviewed, Eucalyptus Wings. In that book, flying with wings is a dream that you can swap for flying on a swing. In this book there are swings too, in strange coincidence, but, it's very clear all through the book... nothing is like flying with wings. Alison's dream of wings isn't described very much so we don't know why she wants them, but, it still has a feeling that many winged people will identify with. It's a short book and not much detail though, better for younger children who are just learning to read.

Trigger warnings: Feelings of longing for wings, and, the feeling of wings itching under skin and pushing through skin.

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Short review: A boy discovers he's growing wings one day and is horrified, but learns to understand their beauty... in a way. This is a harsh book with a lot of negative feeling aimed towards winged people, and although the book tries to have a good message, there's too much that's negative in here for the message to really shine out. Also, after the way the book is written, the ending feels like a bad betrayal. This book tries, but it's shaky, there are better books out there.

Writing: Average... other from a couple of writing errors, there's nothing much to say good or bad about the writing.

From a winged person's perspective...: For most of the book there's nothing to make a winged person happy. The main character hates his wings, his family hate his wings (and abuse him for it), he sees nothing good about his experience. But he does learn to "love" the wings (I say "love" for a reason you see later) and the descriptions that happen at this point are quite strong and positive. There is some very realistic flying and they take into account things like the kinds of tiredness you would feel, the beauty of thermals, and there is a part where it feels like he is "chased into the air" in a helpful way that really feels like they are treating him like a baby bird, trying to fly. People describe him as "feeling like he's being made ready for something" and a lot of winged people will sympathise with that feeling. It doesn't really describe how it feels to fly, at the time, but there is a lot of talking afterwards about how it feels like something you can't put in words. The main character's attitude around this time also has a strong positive message, about how he will decide about his body for himself, not let someone else's feelings affect what he does with it. There's beauty in this, but, it all gets let down again later.

Trigger warnings: Very bad treating of a child by his parents because he's different: abandoning and emotional abuse, described in a vivid way. Every word you can think of is used to insult him and his wings and it's used constantly. Threatening to remove wings in surgery. Threatening to rip off wings. ( May spoil the story ) Some slight ED triggers.

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Short review: A girl discovers she is part faerie, and is taken to the faerie world, but starts finding it's not so beautiful and happy there.... This book promises a lot in the beginning, but, the story is very predictable, the non-humans are treated in a negative way, and it feels not serious enough or emotional enough to catch your heart. The "wings" in the title are also in the book hardly at all. Disappointing, for winged people and for general readers.

Writing: Not so good... the main character emotions aren't described very much or very strongly so you don't understand why she does the things she does, and often, she contradicts herself. The silly humour feels very empty and keeps you from taking the story too seriously. The story is an obvious one, but the writing makes it even more predictable. It's fun and fast to read, but by the end I was getting bored.

From a winged person's perspective...: In the beginning it seems like it might be a good book for winged people. The main character begins to awaken to her faerie self, feeling the strong need to dance under moonlight, and then begins to grow wings. The itching sensations of wings coming out are described strongly, maybe too strong for some, as it might trigger feelings of longing, but winged people will feel understood about the longing to move and grow in certain ways. There are a few interesting things, like how she notices three-dimensional space more when she can fly, and there is some beautiful winged dancing. But, most of the book doesn't have any talk about the wings at all. It's like they just disappear, which is the worst thing you can do writing this kind of book! It also shows non-humans as bad and scary, including bird people. And, her feeling about having wings is mostly "I'm special". No descriptions of beautiful flight, or how she feels happy to come home. In the end, it isn't that good for winged people, and there are much better books that do better all the things that it does.

Trigger warnings: The main character using words like "weird" and "mutant" for herself because of what she is. Showing non-humans as ugly and frightening.

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Short review: As it says, this is an anthology of many flight stories. I thought because of the title that it would have a mixture of stories, from winged people to planes. But, there are only a couple of winged people stories, which are the classic Greek myths. Everything else is about planes... mostly war stories. The Greek myths aren't a very good translation either. So... there's really nothing in this book for winged people sadly, disappointing....

Writing: It's an anthology so the writing is varied. I admit that I skimmed-read a lot of the stories because they didn't seen relevant so I don't have a good impression but... the writing didn't connect with me. I guess maybe it's not my type of writing.

From a winged person's perspective...: This book contains a couple of the Greek myths about winged people but otherwise it's not relevant... I couldn't even find any good stories that were about flying in a plane, but had that "joy of flying" feeling. The stories about winged people skim over the details.

Trigger warnings: Horrors of war.

More thoughts...: There isn't much additionally to say about this book since it's not relevant to my theme... but... looking at the title, you might think that it is, so I add this review so people would know. Since it says "flight stories", I expected a mixed spread. But, this is really not "the right kind of flying". So, I can't really give it a rating.


This was a quick review sorry m(_ _)m I was disappointed that this book had nothing for me. But, I'm soon going on a trip and taking many of my books so there will be a lot more reviews in the near future!! ^^

The books I have with me are these, so you can expect some, or all of these reviews soon:

Wings, by Bill Brittain
Signs of Life, by M. John Harrison
Flying Out of this World, by Peter Greenaway
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach
The Book of Flying, by Keith Miller

Please, I hope you enjoy it! m(_ _)m

Short review: This is an amazing book... it feels claustrophobic, and vast at the same time, gloomy and hopeful, full of pain and full of light. It's a story about a mystery man, a lot of birds, and the flickering dreams of two children... and that really gives you all you need to know about it. There's much philosophy, and many interesting, inspiring questions asked, and the book holds birds and bird-people in high esteem, touching on the dreams that we have all had about them. It's wonderful.

Writing: The writing here is great. The story is written like shadows, only revealing itself halfway, and the story builds up and builds up like a rolling thunderstorm until it almost hurts to read.

From a winged person's perspective...: The winged person in this book is never shown quite directly, but only in hints. But those hints are worth ten of what's in many other books. Through all of the book, his presence provides a feeling of magic and mystery that touches everything in the story. You don't see him fly, but you will feel the power of flight through all the references to birds and flying that feed on each other and make the story feel like it's very tightly knitted. He's shown as beautiful not monster, even though he is crippled. There is lots of talk of myths, birds as evolution, and a somber kind of magic... I only want to hint at it, because it's lovely to see it, itself, but it truly is great for winged people, and a little bit of a different story from the usual ones about people who want to fly. Though, one of the main characters in it is someone who has a strong love of birds and desire to fly, and wants to protect them, which is nice too. It's shown in one place as a temporary love and not something she deeply felt from the beginning, but other than that one line, it's a very beautiful picture of someone who feels connected to birds.

Trigger warnings: Some mentions of dead birds. Threats of cruelty to birds. The winged character is shown as suffering and in pain clearly. Lots of reflections on death.

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Short review: A story that continues the traditional fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm, The Six Swans, following the life of the youngest brother in the story who is left with a swan's wing, after being released from a curse that turned him to a swan. Because it's based on that story and can't change from it, in the beginning, the swan curse is seen as a horrible thing. But then, the story tells that the youngest brother's swan wing was "on the left side - the side closest to the heart". And this is where the tale really begins, as next we are plunging into a world of joyful flight, and pain, and spiritual wonder. This book is very descriptive which is both a blessing and a curse... it's lovely that it goes into such details about what it is like to be part-bird, and what it is like to be a swan, but because it feels so real this book can be painful to read. But, if you can handle that, I very much recommend it.

Writing: The writing is absolutely beautiful... I said about Gwinna that the descriptions of flying are the most detailed you would see, but about being a bird-person, the writing in this is even more descriptive and has equal poetry. It's a very serious story mostly but even then there are little funny moments, clever-funny though and not cheesy funny as a lot of these books... I actually laughed out loud in parts. At the ending, it starts to get a little slow and drawn out but the very end is worth it.

From a winged person's perspective...: Where do I start?? Usually, what is a good guide of how good the book is on this matter, is how long my notes are. For this book they were two pages long. I think that's the longest I ever had. I would describe all the little details, and I really want to, but that would just spoil it... but, for a character with only one wing, he's more well described than ten two-winged people in other books. The book always notices the wing in an extremely realistic way. His connection to swans is painful and beautiful. So much thought has been put into the whole thing. There are moments where he hates and curses the swan side of himself but you always see the beauty too in ways that make up for that. If you can put up with it not being 100% positive about him, but more like 70%, then you will love this book.

Trigger warnings: Threats of cutting off wings and actual cutting off wings, cruel murder of animals, abuse of birds, use of words like "freak" and "thing" by the main character towards himself and by others towards him. Lots of detailed description of the longing for flying and the longing to belong.

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Short review: A powerful story about the power of change, flying and dreams... unlike many "mutant stories" the magic and powers are not treated as a bad thing, except by ignorant people. It's quite violent and some people will find it triggery because there is almost constant abuse. But if you can stand that, this is a great story, that asks the question "is being normal so important to you that you would give up joy?"

Writing: Quite good... although it has a number of cheesy jokes that make it feel less serious.

From a winged person's perspective...: This is another of the books where people fly without wings, but I think that most winged people won't mind as the story is so positive in other ways. The main character is someone who longs to fly in a way that is described really well and in detail (sometimes so much detail that it feels painful to read!) and feels that the sky is her natural home. The descriptions of what it feels like to fly are very magical and will make you shiver... it becomes her most important thing very quickly and she loves to see that other people are interested in it too. Like many characters in these books she has a dream to find the secret people she belongs to. And when things get tough, she fights to defend her dreams and her friends' dreams.

Trigger warnings: Religious abuse and emotional abuse to fliers and others. Animal cruelty and torture. ( May spoil the story ) This story also describes the feeling of longing for flight in a way that might make some people feel twitchy and needy.

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