Reviews

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

heidi_may91's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

graveyardpansy's review against another edition

4.0

4.5?? love a nostalgic one-day read — pleased to report this holds up pretty well. it’s a little bit of a predictable hero’s journey, and i did find one typo. however, the world building and interlacing of different lore and bat-cultures is really cool, the characters are strong (though their characterization is sometimes exceedingly obvious) and i think the pacing is pretty decent. i also deeply appreciate the attention to detail by the author in terms of descriptions — so many things are described with really wonderful vivacity, but it’s never done with colour! there’s brightness and texture and sound and echoes, but because bats don’t see in colour, there isn’t a single colour-word used in the whole book and i just think it’s executed really well.

b0hemian_graham's review against another edition

4.0

reminded me a lot of Watership Down, only with bats. I'm also not big on audiobooks usually, but this is probably the best one I have heard, due to the fact that Cumberbatch does like twenty different voices. No lie. If only more narrators would put as much as an effort into their readings.

monchies's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

blue200th's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

cienmari's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

gma2at's review against another edition

4.0

This would have been one of my favorites when I was a kid! It was thrilling, kept me reading, and I didn't feel like it was a waste of time. I'm putting this on a shelf for my grandkids to read one day.

kelleemoye's review against another edition

4.0

*I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed a book about bats; though I shouldn't be because I have enjoyed everything I've ever written by Kenneth Oppel. This book is not just about bats, but about an underdog overcoming. It is adventurous, filled with twists and turns. Definitely would be loved by fans of animal fiction like Redwall or Erin Hunter books.

literallykalasin's review against another edition

4.0

In Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel has created a quasi-fantasy world about bats, which sounds crazy, but it absolutely works. It tells the story of Shade, a young and runty Silverwing bat, who gets blown out to sea on his first winter migration south. Suddenly without any of his colony and only a song-map to guide him, Shade acquires a new friend and more than a few enemies as he tries to follow his mother's directions and rejoin his family before winter overtakes him.

If this book had been out when I was in elementary school, I would've absolutely devoured this. It's got everything: animal story? Check! The little-character-that-could? Absolutely! Adventure? Yes, please! Your book also comes with: world-building, mythology, spunky side-kicks, and evil villains.

l44l's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0