Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

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.

Wings is the debut novel by Aprilynne Pike, and I originally bought the book because of the attractive cover and just because I had nothing else to read, but I have to say I was completely impressed.

The book is about fifteen year old Laurel, who has just started at school after being homeschooled all her life. When Laurel grows a large lump on her back, which sprouts into a giant flower Laurel doesn’t know what to do so she turns to her new best friend David, even he doesn’t have the answers… but does the mysterious boy in the woods?

Laurel is definately one of the most believable female protagonists I’ve ever read. She’s described as beautiful, long blonde hair and model looks but she pulls it off with just the right amount of modesty. She isn’t constantly moaning about every little thing, in fact; for a girl with a flower sprouting on her back she takes it quite well.

David is a great character, he is kind, with a lovely personality. Your typical boy-next-door. I’ll refrain from making any Twilight comparisons but he is one third of a love triangle, in which he plays the part of a boy-in-love-with-his-best-friend-who-is-torn-between-him-and-a-mythical-creature, and he pulls this off in a way that Jacob Black never could (okay twilight comparison ther; sorry).

The last third of this love triangle is Tamani, the faerie that tells Laurel what she really is. He is described as gorgeous with green hair and striking green eyes. From the beginning he acts flirtatiously with Laurel and it is clear theres a background to these two, which is revealed near the end of the book. I absoloutely fell in love with him and his confident demeanor.

Because I have read so many teen titles with a love triangle, I wasn’t expecting anything new. I got the unexpected! Laurel likes both of them and has to make a serious decision at the end. I’m looking forward to seeing how this triangle develops throughout the series.

The plot itself is nice and easy to follow. Pike does well with creating a story that doesn’t follow all the fantasy cliches and a brand new type of faery. I found that Pike went into detail about the littlest things a little too often and some of her explanations didnt add up. For example; when she is describing how large the bump on her bag is (as large as a softball) and then she states that it can be covered up easily. I did find it difficult to imagine these parts.

Pike’s style of writing itself is beautiful and simple enough for anybody over the age of eleven to follow.

All in all, a beautiful book, which just grabs the readers.

Overall rating: B+

(It’s also worth noting that the movie rights to this book has been sold to Disney, and the movie is to star Miley Cyrus as Laurel)

Stand alone/series: First in a series

Released: April 30th 2009

Publisher: HarperCollins Children

Pages: 356

Book obtained via: Bought!