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
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.
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."
Pike's debut novel-a faerie story with a touch of Arthurian legend-offers a botanical twist on the genre. Laurel Sewell, the new girl in town, discovers a strange "zit" on her back, which blooms into a flower. With the help of her friend and growing love interest, David, with whom she entrusts this information, Laurel finds out that she is a faerie, and that faeries are really highly evolved plants (Pike gives readers hints: Laurel prefers to have lunch outside and eats little besides vegetables and Sprite). Tamani, her sexy faerie guardian, completes the love triangle, as he protects Laurel from encroaching dark forces and fills in the blanks about her past. As Laurel and David never muster much chemistry, her rocky journey of self-discovery is the main draw ("It makes me want to go home and go to sleep and wake up to find that all of this is a dream. That the flower, the bump, even public school never happened"). Pike's novel mythology should win fans for this book, billed as the first in a series. Ages 12-up. (May)
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Gr 7-10–Homeschooled Laurel begins public high school as a tenth grader when her adoptive parents move to LA., leaving behind the land that has been in her mother’s family since the Gold Rush days. The many clues that Laurel is different (she is strictly vegan; sunlight seems to shine through her fair skin; she never gets cold; she craves the outdoors; she doesn’t menstruate) culminate in a bump on her back growing to the size of a softball and blooming into a flower that has foot-long petals. Returning to her parents’ land, she meets Tamini, a faerie to whom she is attracted, who tells her that she is not human, but rather is a plant or, more specifically, a faerie. David, her accepting and supportive classmate, tests her tissue and confirms that Tamini is right. When a creepy alleged realtor pressures the family to sell the land, the teens become suspicious, and they are soon fighting for their lives in a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls. Laurel’s struggles to figure out what it means to be human are matched by her struggles to determine what it means to be a faerie, and she is torn between love for David and love for Tamini. The ending allows for many possibilities in the upcoming sequels. The book has a nice mix of danger and romance, the world of magic and the world of high school, with well-developed characters and a quick-moving plot.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
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)
Most teenage girls would be delighted to discover that their perfect looks come from fairy ancestry—but not Laurel. Mandy Siegfried faithfully conveys Laurel’s fear of being different and her disbelief of her magical identity. Siegfreid's credible teen voices will draw in young listeners, who will identify with Laurel’s desire to fit in. It will be Team David versus Team Tamani as listeners meet Lauren’s two potential boyfriends—one mortal, one fairy. Through Siegfried’s voicings, they emerge vividly as the sincere dreamboat and the mysterious stranger in a teenage love triangle. Siegfried manages to smooth over mundane dialogue and plot contrivances to strengthen the story. The tense pacing of Laurel and David’s death-defying escape from thug trolls is especially delicious to hear. C.A. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
