Genre: Fantasy | Faeries
Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things. 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.
Laurel's life is the very definition of normal . . . until the morning when she wakes up to discover a flower blooming from her back. As it turns out, nothing in Laurel's life is what it seems. Now, with the help of an alluring faerie sentry who holds the key to her true past, Laurel must race to save her human family from the centuries-old faerie enemies who walk among them.
Review:
I believe my love for faeries began when I first watched Labyrinth, starring David Bowie. While I have always loved fairy tales (thanks Disney), I found the world of fae intriguing. I have read many books incorporating faeries, and I find Wings a refreshing twist on the typical faerie mythology. The female faeries actually have flower blossoms on their back in place of wings. Pike takes a scientific approach to the mythology while simultaneously building the romance that the teens are looking for.
However, despite this new take on an old myth, I found several things that annoyed me as an older reader. I have no sympathy for characters who are so beautiful that no one wants to be their friend. Except, they do have friends they are just too self-centered to acknowledge them. Laurel has this mentality and it is annoying. The first 30+ pages are focused on how Laurel has a difficult time fitting in not only because she was home schooled, but also because she is unnaturally beautiful. Yet, within those same pages she gets a new set of friends and a boyfriend. Yeah, some struggle. Furthermore, because she is so beautiful, Pike felt the need to insert a love triangle. I HATE love triangles. I understand that a key component of adolescent literature is a love triangle; however, I'm over it. When every YA novel has a love triangle the ingenuity and originality is gone.
Despite these aspects that annoy me about the YA genre, once you get past the first 30-40 pages the story picks up and is very entertaining. It is easy to become attached to the characters, and the story has a steady pace. Check it out, it's worth the read.
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| Rating: 4 out of 5 owls |
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