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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
“Wings” was a very interesting novel about love and a young girl going through some very interesting changes in her life. This debut novel from author Aprilynne Pike is a wonderful debut at that. The story unfolds quite nicely with a cast of interesting characters and some wild twists
When I first started this novel I had no idea what was in store for me. The plot is believable in terms of what happens but at times I had a hard time relating to the main character Laurel and the decisions she has to make and her thought processes for example when the facts come into place that she is a faerie she resists and doesn’t want to believe it, if I found out I was a creature and different from everyone else I would be ecstatic.
I also find it very upsetting what the faeries did to her adopted family, just placing her there and plotting for them to take her in so they could get this land, I also see that they did this because they need this land to survive but there are other ways to get around it for example asking instead of giving them a daughter just for her to be taken away when they get what they want.On the other hand they did watch over the family and provided protection.
I did like the “love triangle” it was very believable and in this book it hasn’t evolved that much but it has gotten to a place where it is interesting for the reader and keeps them holding on waiting to see, that is also a good aspect of this book Pike keeps the reader wanting to know what will happen next.
All in all this was a good book with a story unfolds quite nicely with a cast of interesting characters and some wild twists. I may not have related to Laurel all the time but she proved her self in the novel and I have come to terms with what the faeries did and have come to love this book.
When I first started this novel I had no idea what was in store for me. The plot is believable in terms of what happens but at times I had a hard time relating to the main character Laurel and the decisions she has to make and her thought processes for example when the facts come into place that she is a faerie she resists and doesn’t want to believe it, if I found out I was a creature and different from everyone else I would be ecstatic.
I also find it very upsetting what the faeries did to her adopted family, just placing her there and plotting for them to take her in so they could get this land, I also see that they did this because they need this land to survive but there are other ways to get around it for example asking instead of giving them a daughter just for her to be taken away when they get what they want.On the other hand they did watch over the family and provided protection.
I did like the “love triangle” it was very believable and in this book it hasn’t evolved that much but it has gotten to a place where it is interesting for the reader and keeps them holding on waiting to see, that is also a good aspect of this book Pike keeps the reader wanting to know what will happen next.
All in all this was a good book with a story unfolds quite nicely with a cast of interesting characters and some wild twists. I may not have related to Laurel all the time but she proved her self in the novel and I have come to terms with what the faeries did and have come to love this book.
My long-time book bashing buddy and I were discussing books we used to love as young teens but now have realized how terrible they are. “Just wait,” she said, and a few seconds later she’s back, saying, “I’m going to mail you this book if you promise me a review.”
How could I say no? Getting to read one of my friend’s favorite books when she was 13? Let’s just say, I’m glad she has improved her taste in reading material over the past five years.
Plot: Laurel Sewell is the new girl, going to a high school in a new city after being home-schooled until the 10th grade. Unused to the chaos and disruption of life in public school, she meets a kind boy on her first day and the pair soon become inseparable... until Laurel sprouts a set of floral wings from her back and a visit to her old home brings even more questions to head. Who is Laurel really? And how long can she keep her secret safe?
This is literally Twilight with faeries. Think I’m joking? Pike is friends with Meyer, and I heard a rumor Meyer got Pike published, so that explains how this monstrosity got into the public’s hands.
Laurel is a faerie in this AU, but not the bad, scary kind. Oh no, think more along the lines of Disney and the cutesy little figurines you’re sure to find in any antique shop. David is the Edward of this story, I guess, though, unlike Edward, he is human and doesn’t actually do much beside swoon over Laurel and provide exposition… so, yeah, I guess he is Edward. And Tamani—angle C of this love triangle—is a fae, like Laurel, who provides support in the I’m-stalking-you-but-it’s-okay-because-I’m-hot-and-live-in-the-forest-outside-your-house-and-we-knew-each-other-as-kids department. He also wears a lot of tight, muscle-exposing clothes, so he’s Jacob here.
I’d like to say more about the plot, but it was literally a Twilight AU, with a slightly different climax andBella Laurel had it all: two HAWT bois, two SWEET parents, and one AMAZING deed to her old family property.
Characters
LAUREL: I feel like there’s this competition to see which author can out Mary Sue the other with their protagonist. And I feel like Laurel might win, because at the very least Bella was clumsy. The following is Laurel being described as the epitome as Eurocentric beauty:
Adolescence had been kind to her. Her almost translucent white skin hadn’t suffered the effects of acne and her blond hair had never been greasy. She was a small, lithe fifteen-year-old with a perfect oval face and light green eyes. She’d always been thin, but not too thin, and had even developed some curves in the last few years. Her limbs were long and willowy and she walked with a dancer’s grace, despite having never taken lessons.
She’s also vegan and kind and everyone loves her and is too nice to hurt the people who want her dead!
”It’s not your fault, you know. Tamani is a trained sentry and he takes his work very seriously. But you, you were made to heal, not kill. I think I’d have been disappointed if you were able to kill someone, even a troll.”
WHAT!? The troll wanted her dead and was planning to destroy Avalon, and this elder faerie is peachy and pleased that she wasn’t able to kill an enemy in a situation where he could have taken advantage of that and killed her? Isn’t that…dangerous? But no, because Laurel was designed to be sweet and nonaggressive and kind and take care of others, just like all women are.
DAVID: Ugh. Ugh. UGH. I hate reading a book where the male lead is super creepy and horrible and how it’s romanticized is SO much worse after you’ve been on “Let’s Not Meet”. The whole time I was expecting him to invite her over (he does so when his mom is gone so Laurel and him can “study” “biology” ) and trap her and use her for her magical faerie powers or something. Honestly, THAT would have been interesting, as horrifying as it would be. But no. Of course we want to teach little girls that stalking + invites when parents are gone = gr8 bf!
He’s so bland and boring. If you have to pick your favorite male angle in the love triangle, I’d pick angle C, because he was more interesting and I always get sort of creeped out with human/non-human pairings.
TAMANI: Ah, angle C. He was better than David in that he provided more exposition and stalking, but aside from that? I supposed he did a super job of attempting to guilt Laurel in to staying with him, à la Rory Williams style.
I preferred him to David, mostly because he had actual “answers” for Laurel and wasn’t afraid to have a bit of a backbone…until she came around and he threw himself at her feet by their second meeting. It’s cool, y’all, faeries are softies again!
Science
Honestly, had I read this two years ago, I probably would have questioned the scientific aspect of this book a lot, but now that I’m a biology major? It was, at times, physically painful to read. Let’s get started.
First off, faeries are plants. Yes, you read that correctly: plants. To quote, “An incredibly evolved, highly advanced plant.”
Lemme start here by dropping some science in the form of evolutionary niches. Basically, in every environment there are niches to be filled by different organisms, and if one niche is filled, competition usually goes on until a species goes extinct, migrates to a new area where their niche needs to be filled, or evolves to fill another niche. What I’ve gotten from this book is that faeries and humans are filling the same niche, in the same area, at the same time. One of them is going to have to go.
But Emily, you whine, the faeries live in Avalon! And they’re plants! Not primates or animals! Sorry, kid, but Lauren is a chemoheterotroph, and before you can say “photosynthesis”, I’ll tell you why.
There is absolutely no way that Lauren can perform photosynthesis. What? But! The sun! She makes oxygen! Plants can do that! Humans can’t! Photosynthesis!
Photosynthesis is how plants take an unusable, inorganic form of energy and turn it into chemical energy other organisms (including themselves!) can use. Neat-o stuff. The problem is, certain pigments are need for photosynthesis, usually chlorophyll or other accessory pigments, which give plants their green, red, yellow, orange, and purple leaf colors. Remember above, when we got to see how white and perfect Laurel is? She doesn’t have these pigments, which means that to survive, she has to take in chemical sources of energy and almost certainly cannot perform photosynthesis under any circumstances.
There was a scene in which Laurel decided she was going to see if she really was a plant, by attempting to perform some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with David. This scene was a sad excuse to get their young, star-crossed mouths to touch, but the worst part was this:
"…the only way to tell if I was exhaling oxygen would be to see if you could inhale it without any problems."
FYI: Humans don’t exhale just carbon dioxide, which is why mouth-to-mouth works. It’s natural to take a breath before, because there’s more to push out and it’s easier to do so, but the air you normally exhale with every breath still contains a decent amount of oxygen. And nor do plants produce pure oxygen, which is another myth (sorry! Biology ruins everything, I know). Plants “accidentally” make carbon dioxide a fair amount of the time, so she still could have breathed more of that into him.
And, finally, STOP SAYING SHE’S COLD-BLOODED OR IS ABLE TO HANDLE COLD TEMPERATURES. The cold freezes water, and plants need to use liquid to transport nutrients. Because they don’t produce nearly as much heat as, say, a mammal, they will cut their losses, lose their leaves (if they’re broad-leafs), and go dormant for a while to avoid nasty ice crystals from moving through their systems and cutting them apart. Honestly, plants already have enough to worry about. A more realistic scenario would be that she would get tired and start to go dormant in cold temperatures, not that she would be okay at any temp.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
#"I guess that’ll keep me from being one of those girls who kisses everyone.” Ah, slut-shaming. What a classic when paired with the not-like-other-girls trope. Very refreshing.
#Why didn’t the medical professionals give her dad a transfusion or dialysis? Or both? Once they found out the toxin wasn’t caused by a pathogen that should have been their next step.
#REPEAT AFTER ME: Plants are not perfectly symmetrical.
#The evolutionary history of the trolls was so poorly done. If you’re that deformed, your species going to be kicked out of existence so fast. So. Fast.
How could I say no? Getting to read one of my friend’s favorite books when she was 13? Let’s just say, I’m glad she has improved her taste in reading material over the past five years.
Plot: Laurel Sewell is the new girl, going to a high school in a new city after being home-schooled until the 10th grade. Unused to the chaos and disruption of life in public school, she meets a kind boy on her first day and the pair soon become inseparable... until Laurel sprouts a set of floral wings from her back and a visit to her old home brings even more questions to head. Who is Laurel really? And how long can she keep her secret safe?
This is literally Twilight with faeries. Think I’m joking? Pike is friends with Meyer, and I heard a rumor Meyer got Pike published, so that explains how this monstrosity got into the public’s hands.
Laurel is a faerie in this AU, but not the bad, scary kind. Oh no, think more along the lines of Disney and the cutesy little figurines you’re sure to find in any antique shop. David is the Edward of this story, I guess, though, unlike Edward, he is human and doesn’t actually do much beside swoon over Laurel and provide exposition… so, yeah, I guess he is Edward. And Tamani—angle C of this love triangle—is a fae, like Laurel, who provides support in the I’m-stalking-you-but-it’s-okay-because-I’m-hot-and-live-in-the-forest-outside-your-house-and-we-knew-each-other-as-kids department. He also wears a lot of tight, muscle-exposing clothes, so he’s Jacob here.
I’d like to say more about the plot, but it was literally a Twilight AU, with a slightly different climax and
Characters
LAUREL: I feel like there’s this competition to see which author can out Mary Sue the other with their protagonist. And I feel like Laurel might win, because at the very least Bella was clumsy. The following is Laurel being described as the epitome as Eurocentric beauty:
Adolescence had been kind to her. Her almost translucent white skin hadn’t suffered the effects of acne and her blond hair had never been greasy. She was a small, lithe fifteen-year-old with a perfect oval face and light green eyes. She’d always been thin, but not too thin, and had even developed some curves in the last few years. Her limbs were long and willowy and she walked with a dancer’s grace, despite having never taken lessons.
She’s also vegan and kind and everyone loves her and is too nice to hurt the people who want her dead!
”It’s not your fault, you know. Tamani is a trained sentry and he takes his work very seriously. But you, you were made to heal, not kill. I think I’d have been disappointed if you were able to kill someone, even a troll.”
WHAT!? The troll wanted her dead and was planning to destroy Avalon, and this elder faerie is peachy and pleased that she wasn’t able to kill an enemy in a situation where he could have taken advantage of that and killed her? Isn’t that…dangerous? But no, because Laurel was designed to be sweet and nonaggressive and kind and take care of others, just like all women are.
DAVID: Ugh. Ugh. UGH. I hate reading a book where the male lead is super creepy and horrible and how it’s romanticized is SO much worse after you’ve been on “Let’s Not Meet”. The whole time I was expecting him to invite her over (he does so when his mom is gone so Laurel and him can “study” “biology” ) and trap her and use her for her magical faerie powers or something. Honestly, THAT would have been interesting, as horrifying as it would be. But no. Of course we want to teach little girls that stalking + invites when parents are gone = gr8 bf!
He’s so bland and boring. If you have to pick your favorite male angle in the love triangle, I’d pick angle C, because he was more interesting and I always get sort of creeped out with human/non-human pairings.
TAMANI: Ah, angle C. He was better than David in that he provided more exposition and stalking, but aside from that? I supposed he did a super job of attempting to guilt Laurel in to staying with him, à la Rory Williams style.
I preferred him to David, mostly because he had actual “answers” for Laurel and wasn’t afraid to have a bit of a backbone…until she came around and he threw himself at her feet by their second meeting. It’s cool, y’all, faeries are softies again!
Science
Honestly, had I read this two years ago, I probably would have questioned the scientific aspect of this book a lot, but now that I’m a biology major? It was, at times, physically painful to read. Let’s get started.
First off, faeries are plants. Yes, you read that correctly: plants. To quote, “An incredibly evolved, highly advanced plant.”
Lemme start here by dropping some science in the form of evolutionary niches. Basically, in every environment there are niches to be filled by different organisms, and if one niche is filled, competition usually goes on until a species goes extinct, migrates to a new area where their niche needs to be filled, or evolves to fill another niche. What I’ve gotten from this book is that faeries and humans are filling the same niche, in the same area, at the same time. One of them is going to have to go.
But Emily, you whine, the faeries live in Avalon! And they’re plants! Not primates or animals! Sorry, kid, but Lauren is a chemoheterotroph, and before you can say “photosynthesis”, I’ll tell you why.
There is absolutely no way that Lauren can perform photosynthesis. What? But! The sun! She makes oxygen! Plants can do that! Humans can’t! Photosynthesis!
Photosynthesis is how plants take an unusable, inorganic form of energy and turn it into chemical energy other organisms (including themselves!) can use. Neat-o stuff. The problem is, certain pigments are need for photosynthesis, usually chlorophyll or other accessory pigments, which give plants their green, red, yellow, orange, and purple leaf colors. Remember above, when we got to see how white and perfect Laurel is? She doesn’t have these pigments, which means that to survive, she has to take in chemical sources of energy and almost certainly cannot perform photosynthesis under any circumstances.
There was a scene in which Laurel decided she was going to see if she really was a plant, by attempting to perform some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with David. This scene was a sad excuse to get their young, star-crossed mouths to touch, but the worst part was this:
"…the only way to tell if I was exhaling oxygen would be to see if you could inhale it without any problems."
FYI: Humans don’t exhale just carbon dioxide, which is why mouth-to-mouth works. It’s natural to take a breath before, because there’s more to push out and it’s easier to do so, but the air you normally exhale with every breath still contains a decent amount of oxygen. And nor do plants produce pure oxygen, which is another myth (sorry! Biology ruins everything, I know). Plants “accidentally” make carbon dioxide a fair amount of the time, so she still could have breathed more of that into him.
Spoiler
Honestly, they both should have died underwaterAnd, finally, STOP SAYING SHE’S COLD-BLOODED OR IS ABLE TO HANDLE COLD TEMPERATURES. The cold freezes water, and plants need to use liquid to transport nutrients. Because they don’t produce nearly as much heat as, say, a mammal, they will cut their losses, lose their leaves (if they’re broad-leafs), and go dormant for a while to avoid nasty ice crystals from moving through their systems and cutting them apart. Honestly, plants already have enough to worry about. A more realistic scenario would be that she would get tired and start to go dormant in cold temperatures, not that she would be okay at any temp.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
#"I guess that’ll keep me from being one of those girls who kisses everyone.” Ah, slut-shaming. What a classic when paired with the not-like-other-girls trope. Very refreshing.
#Why didn’t the medical professionals give her dad a transfusion or dialysis? Or both? Once they found out the toxin wasn’t caused by a pathogen that should have been their next step.
#REPEAT AFTER ME: Plants are not perfectly symmetrical.
#The evolutionary history of the trolls was so poorly done. If you’re that deformed, your species going to be kicked out of existence so fast. So. Fast.
Definitely a guilty pleasure read. Story was good, writing was eh, but a quick read so I will give it one more book in the series and see what happens.
A light fun romantic book. Laurel has always been pale, never eats anything but salads, water and fruit juice. Her parents found her in a basket; you'd think this would raise her suspicions about herself, but no, it takes til she's 15 and a lump on her back shows up--and turns into floerlike WINGS! Very cool. Yes folks, she's a faerie. Her best friend David helps her experiment to see what's happening to her, but she also meets a gorgeous dark mysterious guy in the woods who reveals the truth. And she's drawn to him as well as to David. The plot thickens with the appearance of trolls and stuff but I won't spoil it for you!
3.5*
It was originally 5 stars read, but reading this after 4 or 5 years I see things in a different way.
And what I really don´t like is some of her choices in the end (specifically, her love choice), although I agree with her living situation (with the living with her parents, not David) because I know that it is the right choice, the better choice.
But I also really like Tamini as a character, he has loved her for years and he loves her because he knows her. And although David is a good friend for her, as a love interest, which he is pushed as, it feels like he is here for the sake of a love triangle (and he could be an even better character if almost all of his arc weren't focused in the love sphere), and there is just so much drama in the love section already, and it's only the first book.
All in all, I like the world the author is building and most of the characters, but the love triangle, in general, is something I´m really not a fan of (honestly, no matter the genre), they are really not for me.
And now that this review is all over the place I'm off to read the second book. (which as I´m editing this review is something I have not done yet, but maybe in the future, and I´m also curious to see if and how my opinion further changes if I would to reared it now, in contrast to 5 years ago.)
It was originally 5 stars read, but reading this after 4 or 5 years I see things in a different way.
And what I really don´t like is some of her choices in the end (specifically, her love choice), although I agree with her living situation (with the living with her parents, not David) because I know that it is the right choice, the better choice.
But I also really like Tamini as a character, he has loved her for years and he loves her because he knows her. And although David is a good friend for her, as a love interest, which he is pushed as, it feels like he is here for the sake of a love triangle (and he could be an even better character if almost all of his arc weren't focused in the love sphere), and there is just so much drama in the love section already, and it's only the first book.
All in all, I like the world the author is building and most of the characters, but the love triangle, in general, is something I´m really not a fan of (honestly, no matter the genre), they are really not for me.
And now that this review is all over the place I'm off to read the second book. (which as I´m editing this review is something I have not done yet, but maybe in the future, and I´m also curious to see if and how my opinion further changes if I would to reared it now, in contrast to 5 years ago.)
ALA book. Very easy read. About a girl who finds out that she is actually a faerie. Series.
I recently re-read this book it has been almost 10 years since I first read it. I was obsessed with this book then and I am now! April Lynne Pike took the idea of a faerie and created something new and unique and to this day I have yet to read something quite it. When I finished reading this for the second time I took a chance by looking at the reviews here on Goodreads. I wanted to see how people were taking the book now with this new surge in reading with COVID. The reviews to say the least were disappointing. Yes, there were some aspects of the book that did not age well. However, the extraordinary imagination it took to come up with a faerie book that didn't follow the same path as others is something else.
Laurel, the main character, is a ordinary girl that moves to a big city after being homeschooled in her families cabin for most of her life. She should be worried about puberty, starting a new highschool and making friends. For Laurel, this is not the case. She wakes up one morning with a bump on her back thrusting her into a world she never could have dreamed of. With the help of her new friend David she is able to figure out what she is. Then there is Tamani the handsome man in the woods who makes her feel at home. Laurel, Tamani, and David have to discover why a man wants Laurels family cabin so badly and how to refute him.
The writing for this book is easy to read. The descriptions are not overly complicated and it is easy to sink into the book. Laurel as a character is exactly how you would expect a teenager to be. There are times when she is annoying and other times where it's easy to wish to live her life. The plot itself is good. I personally don't think that the story was to fast and I got relevant information when it was necessary. The innovation of the background of faeries and the stories the author weaved into the book both made sense and were individual in a suprising way.
5 out of 5!
Laurel, the main character, is a ordinary girl that moves to a big city after being homeschooled in her families cabin for most of her life. She should be worried about puberty, starting a new highschool and making friends. For Laurel, this is not the case. She wakes up one morning with a bump on her back thrusting her into a world she never could have dreamed of. With the help of her new friend David she is able to figure out what she is. Then there is Tamani the handsome man in the woods who makes her feel at home. Laurel, Tamani, and David have to discover why a man wants Laurels family cabin so badly and how to refute him.
The writing for this book is easy to read. The descriptions are not overly complicated and it is easy to sink into the book. Laurel as a character is exactly how you would expect a teenager to be. There are times when she is annoying and other times where it's easy to wish to live her life. The plot itself is good. I personally don't think that the story was to fast and I got relevant information when it was necessary. The innovation of the background of faeries and the stories the author weaved into the book both made sense and were individual in a suprising way.
5 out of 5!
adventurous
mysterious