Review of Wings

Review of Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Pages: 304
Published: 2009
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars


What Goodreads.com says: "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."


Pike's debut novel is unique; she puts a new twist on the faerie archetype.  I'm not sure any other author has done this.  With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed it.   I love an original read and Pike accomplishes that. 


Laurel Sewell has lived an childhood.  She's adopted and is different than the other girls her age.  Up until sophomore year, she was home-schooled.  Her adopted parents decided it was time to send Laurel to public school and yes, you guessed it......now she is a new student.  True, this sounds like the familiar cookie-cutter YA plot; however, Pike pulls it off effortlessly. We follow Laurel through her days as she is trying to adapt and make new friends, and then......a bump starts growing out of her shoulder blades.  At first she thinks... is it cancer? The dreaded backne? A bug bite? Wrong. She finds out that this bump is growing into wings. I know this sounds cheesy, but Pike makes it believable.  In all seriousness, it was a pleasurable read as I have never read a modern YA book about faeries before.  Pike tied in mythology seamlessly.


Like most YA books, there's the infamous love triangle, but this triangle wasn't one that I minded.  Laurel meets the "good guy," (David)  in biology class (sound familiar, Mr. Cullen?) and becomes friends with him instantly.  The love triangle develops between David, Laurel, and the mysterious Tamani who is a faerie.  I think that I was ok with this love triangle, because both romantic interests have their roots in friendship and not some superficial infatuation. If you ask me which team I am on, it's definitely Team Tamani. Lets hope that Pike can keep this love triangle fresh, because there are four books to this series, which is exciting news for Mrs. Pike! 


Aprilynne Pike writes beautifully and her story is enchanting.  It's no surprise that Disney, the place where dreams come true, is going to make it a feature film.  Pike spins a wonderful and original tale. Here's an excerpt.

"Taking a deep breath, she blinked away the dark spots and stepped toward the mirror. She didn’t even have to turn to see the new development. Long, bluish-white forms rose over both shoulders. For a moment Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were beautiful — almost too beautiful for words."

The only thing that I am bummed about regarding this upcoming movie adaption is that Disney picked up the dazzling actress Miley Cyrus to play Laurel. (*barf*).  Even though I am not a fan of Cyrus, I am definitely interested to see how this movie will be portrayed on the big screen.  And let me put it out there--Tamani better not be played by any of the Jonas Brothers. 


I think Aprilynne Pike is an delightful author that my middle school students will love.  All I had to do today was say that Miley (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) is playing the main character in the movie and immediately I had their attention....boys and girls alike! 


Spells, the sequel is coming out in May of 2010 and I look forward to seeing what will happen between Laurel/David/Tamani.   You know I am rooting for Tamani!  I must admit before Tamani and Laurel, faeries were never this cool.  
Buy It Here:

Interview with Aprilynne Pike: