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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Black Wings Beating by Alex London
3.0
The intriguing start to a high fantasy series starring cutthroat falconry, owl cults, and brutal survival against the odds.
I love London's series "Proxy," so when I saw this series at my library, I couldn't help but grab them. They seemed like an interesting fantasy starring birds, which seems to be its own subgenre this day. As I began reading it, I found the concept interesting but the overall pacing to be incredibly slow. This caused me to try out my first audiobook when I got halfway through because I kept drifting off.
Let's start with the positives. I really love the bond between the twins, Brysen and Kylee. They would do anything for one another and I'm always down for strong sibling relationships. The abuse they suffer at the hands of their parents is brutal, but it is so uplifting to see them work through this together. I also love how attached Brysen is to his hawk, Shara. He is a bit demanding of her, but in the long run cares deeply for her and is willing to risk his life for this bird.
The world in this one is super interesting and unique, if a bit confusing. There is a complex political system in this one featuring kyrgs, spies, and assassins. I kind of drifted of during the major lore dumps when the perspective changed to the outside forces rather than Brysen and Kylee's POV, but hopefully that doesn't bite me too much in the books to come. I also love the magic surrounding the birds and nature in this one. There are giant ghost hawks that people strive to capture, trees that give people unique abilities, and a magical language devoted to talking to predatory birds.
Unfortunately, this book did have a bunch of downfalls for me. It took me a long time to truly like any of the characters. They all seemed really selfish and most of their early development depended almost entirely on them just trying to survive. Once we hit the point in the book when they are starting to meet other people on the mountain, I found it to get more interesting, but that was a large portion into the book. I did come to really like Jowyn as a character and I can't wait to see how he is implemented into the rest of the series.
The pacing in this one dragged on and on to me. I kept having to remind myself why I cared about any of the characters and I often found myself zoning out. I really dislike Brysen's boyfriend, Dymian, so it really made me mad that the entire beginning plot stemmed around him. He makes me so angry. Dymian=red flag alert.
Mostly, I just found this book to be rather long for no reason. I'm hoping this gets better in the next book, due to the fact they no longer have to lore drop and hopefully they'll have bigger problems from the get-go that makes the plot more interesting. This book also contained a bunch of fight scenes and survival scenes, which I tend to quickly lose interest in. Nothing against these types of books, but it tends to be a struggle to hook me. The one scene on the mountain starring Brysen and Jowyn was very well done though, and I enjoyed that one immensely.
Overall, I think my expectations were just too high going into this one. I loved one of London's previous works and expected the same euphoria, but that just wasn't the case. The start to the "Skybound" series has loads of promise though, so I hope that I can find myself enjoying the rest of the series more.
Additional audio book notes:
I thought that both the narrators, Michael Crouch as Brysen and Brittany Pressley as Kylee, both did a very good job. I found it especially hilarious when they made bird noises; they almost always had me laughing out loud. This story is often quite violent and gory, and I feel that they pulled of the somberness of the book excellently. This was my first audiobook, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I hope to listen to many more in the near future. 4/5 narration.
I love London's series "Proxy," so when I saw this series at my library, I couldn't help but grab them. They seemed like an interesting fantasy starring birds, which seems to be its own subgenre this day. As I began reading it, I found the concept interesting but the overall pacing to be incredibly slow. This caused me to try out my first audiobook when I got halfway through because I kept drifting off.
Let's start with the positives. I really love the bond between the twins, Brysen and Kylee. They would do anything for one another and I'm always down for strong sibling relationships. The abuse they suffer at the hands of their parents is brutal, but it is so uplifting to see them work through this together. I also love how attached Brysen is to his hawk, Shara. He is a bit demanding of her, but in the long run cares deeply for her and is willing to risk his life for this bird.
The world in this one is super interesting and unique, if a bit confusing. There is a complex political system in this one featuring kyrgs, spies, and assassins. I kind of drifted of during the major lore dumps when the perspective changed to the outside forces rather than Brysen and Kylee's POV, but hopefully that doesn't bite me too much in the books to come. I also love the magic surrounding the birds and nature in this one. There are giant ghost hawks that people strive to capture, trees that give people unique abilities, and a magical language devoted to talking to predatory birds.
Unfortunately, this book did have a bunch of downfalls for me. It took me a long time to truly like any of the characters. They all seemed really selfish and most of their early development depended almost entirely on them just trying to survive. Once we hit the point in the book when they are starting to meet other people on the mountain, I found it to get more interesting, but that was a large portion into the book. I did come to really like Jowyn as a character and I can't wait to see how he is implemented into the rest of the series.
The pacing in this one dragged on and on to me. I kept having to remind myself why I cared about any of the characters and I often found myself zoning out. I really dislike Brysen's boyfriend, Dymian, so it really made me mad that the entire beginning plot stemmed around him. He makes me so angry. Dymian=red flag alert.
Mostly, I just found this book to be rather long for no reason. I'm hoping this gets better in the next book, due to the fact they no longer have to lore drop and hopefully they'll have bigger problems from the get-go that makes the plot more interesting. This book also contained a bunch of fight scenes and survival scenes, which I tend to quickly lose interest in. Nothing against these types of books, but it tends to be a struggle to hook me. The one scene on the mountain starring Brysen and Jowyn was very well done though, and I enjoyed that one immensely.
Overall, I think my expectations were just too high going into this one. I loved one of London's previous works and expected the same euphoria, but that just wasn't the case. The start to the "Skybound" series has loads of promise though, so I hope that I can find myself enjoying the rest of the series more.
Additional audio book notes:
I thought that both the narrators, Michael Crouch as Brysen and Brittany Pressley as Kylee, both did a very good job. I found it especially hilarious when they made bird noises; they almost always had me laughing out loud. This story is often quite violent and gory, and I feel that they pulled of the somberness of the book excellently. This was my first audiobook, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I hope to listen to many more in the near future. 4/5 narration.