Wings (Laurel Series #1)

by Aprilynne Pike

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061859083
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/05/2009
Series:	Laurel Series , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
File size:	501 KB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Aprilynne Pike has been spinning stories since she was a child with a hyperactive imagination. She completed her BA in creative writing at the age of twenty at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Aprilynne currently lives with her husband and children in Arizona.

What People are Saying About This

Stephenie Meyer

“Aprilynne Pike’s WINGS is a remarkable debut; the ingenuity of the mythology is matched only by the startling loveliness with which the story unfolds.”

Editorial Reviews

At first glance, Laurel is an ordinary girl, unexceptional in any visible way. But Laurel harbors a secret both wondrous and dangerous: She is a faery who has been called upon to guard the gateways of Avalon. Aprilynne Pike's first novel casts its own deep spell: Stephenie Meyer called it "a remarkable debut."

In the current crop of supernatural romances, this one stands out for pleasant, non-angsty prose but also for a blunt, archaic equation of physical beauty with moral goodness. Tropes fulfilled-new school: check; hidden ancestry: check; mysterious hottie knowing more about the heroine than she does: check-never encumber the silky narration as 15-year-old Laurel finds a blossom growing from her back. Scientific experiments with cute mortal David and explanations from steamy faerie Tamani reveal that Laurel's a faerie-and faeries are plants. She was placed with unknowing human parents to inherit the land that holds the faerie gates to Avalon. Overly idealized physical descriptions smack of wish-fulfillment (flawless, zit-less Laurel needs no shampoo to keep her blond hair perfect) and over-ripen into absurdity when the text insists that (light-skinned) beauty embodies goodness. Glimpses of Avalon are painfully cliched but short ("an emerald-green tree, a sliver of cerulean sky, rays of sunshine that sparkled like diamonds"). Woe unto readers with facial or bodily asymmetry, but the overwritten passages pass quickly and the rest is delicious escapism. (Fantasy. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

Aprilynne Pike’s WINGS is a remarkable debut; the ingenuity of the mythology is matched only by the startling loveliness with which the story unfolds.” — Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga

“In the current crop of supernatural romances, this one stands out. Silky narration...delicious escapism.” — Kirkus Reviews

“The book has a nice mix of danger and romance, with well-developed characters and a quick-moving plot.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher