Review of Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Stephenie Meyer, the author of the famous Twilight series has defined this book “an exceptional story fantasy enriched by a very sweet love story”. This story is like this for us as well. We are speaking about Wings, the bestseller written by Aprilynne Pike, the young American author also reviewed by The New York Times. Wings is the story of Laurel, a 15 year teenager who just moved to another country and another school together with her parents.

One day, the girl finds out a strange lesion appeared on her shoulders. After a few days, the mysterious lesion becomes a beautiful couple of wings. However, by looking them better, the wings seem like flowers. Laurel is shocked and confesses her trouble to her new friend David. This guy likes biology and helps Laurel to understand the origin of her wings. The real cause and origin of the wings on the back of Laurel is fully revealed by the strange Tamani, a handsome boy whom Laurel met in the wood of the country where he lived along with her parents.

Tamani reveals Laurel is not human, but a plant, or rather a fairy coming from a magic world. The girl, indeed, was abandoned by her true parents and adopted by her current parents. Thanks to some spells of Tamani, who, in turn, is another fairy, Laurel’s parents doesn’t remember that her daughter is a supernatural being. From here, the book of Aprilynne Pike takes a tone of great literature, with many surprises and unforeseeable events.

This work explores vicissitudes and love stories among teenagers and the difficulty to accept the diversity. Wings, also thanks to the skills of its author, overcomes brightly the problem of diversity and shows that being different can be also a gift. This important meaning appears very clear when David accepts to help Laurel to discover her true origins. The boy, in fact, falls in love with Laurel. The girl doesn’t know if she loves David because she is also attracted by the allure of Tamani. At last, the three teenagers make friends and fight to free an ancient wood from the trolls, the monsters which want to destroy the reign of fairies.

The book shows Laurel attracted to both the two boys and conflicted between a torment of love and a hard choice: who will give her heart? The end of the book leaves readers with the same question: who would I have chosen instead of Laurel? Wings ( buy here) was the first novel by Aprilynne Pike, a compelling tale to be read in one breath. For her debut, the author revealed an extraordinary mastering of narration, by mixing feelings, adventure and fantasy.

Excellent also the style of writing, arranged with effective sentences who manage to inspire impalpable emotions. Aprilynne Pike has always loved fairy tales and she is the real living example about how it is possible to turn a passion into a successful novel. Before writing the book, the author also got the degree in creative writing. This experience proves that talent, combined with education and training, can be a good strategy to create excellent novels like Wings. The book was released in 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Rosalba Mancuso

Rosalba Mancuso is the journalist, born in Sicily, who founded three online magazines in English. On Advicebooks Book Reviews, Rosalba shows her great passion for books, helping readers and book lovers choose and buy the best books she read and reviewed. She also worked as a contributor to print and online magazines and as a bilingual Italian-English writer. Here, Rosalba also offers room to authors and publishers who want to get their books reviewed through the voice of an avid reader like her. You must also know that this book review magazine lives thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you buy books through the affiliate links you find in her book reviews. This book review magazine is also funded by services of editorial reviews and book press releases.