Wings

New author Aprilynne Pike will entrance teens with her brilliant debut novel Wings. Fifteen-year-old Laurel has started her first year in a new city and at a new school. Adjusting to these different surroundings is going surprisingly well, until Laurel wakes up one day with a giant flower growing on her back. The petals are beautiful, almost like wings, but Laurel is naturally concerned about this new development. She and her new friend David run a series of simple tests and conclude that Laurel may not be human, but rather a highly developed species of plant. A trip back to Laurel's old home brings her into contact with Tamani, who reveals that Laurel is actually a faerie who was sent on a mission as a young seedling to inherit the land from her adoptive parents so that the gateway to Avalon can remain under faerie protection. Laurel must do what she can to ensure that her parents do not sell their land to the creepy Mr. Barnes, all the while balancing her growing feelings for both David and Tamani.

This book just sucked me in. It's quite a page-turner, elegant and exciting at the same time. It will easily appeal to fans of Twilight since the two books have such a similar writing style and few like elements (the blending of our modern world with the fantastic, a heroine torn between two loves). The way that science was used to support the fact that Laurel is a faerie was very well thought out, and the scenes where Laurel and David worked together to figure out what was happening to her were some of my favorites from the book. The romantic tension was brilliant, and I loved the slowly budding romance between Laurel and David. And readers, if Laurel's draw to Tamani seems a little sudden and unwarranted, just keep reading - a reason will present itself in the end!

Overall Grade: A



I'm really hoping that there's a sequel in the works. The book was wrapped up in a satisfying way, but there's enough loose ends and romantic tension that this could easily turn into a short series. I haven't been able to dig up a reliable confirmation that Pike is working on a sequel, but I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for one.

EDIT: Not four hours after I posted this review, Aprilynne Pike herself found it and left her comments! Many thanks to her for confirming that yes, there are sequels in the works for us to look forward to. Feel free to see what she had to say by reading the comments to this entry. While you're there, follow the links back to her blog to see what she has to say about writing, her family, other books and authors, and being a best-selling author.