Silverwing (The Silverwing Trilogy)

I'm a big fan of the Red Wall series and I enjoy reading a lot young adult fiction. So when I saw this book that revolved around bats I quite interested. I'm very glad I decide to give it a chance because Sliverwing turned out to be a very fun read.First of all, this book was extremely well written. The main characters are all very interesting and they all have their own stories to tell. As the protagonist Shade struggles to work his way back to his tribe he comes across many unique characters. Some try to help him like his friend Marina who was cast out from her tribe. Others like Goth, the prince of the royal vampire bat family, just wish use him. As the reader you get to go back and forth between seeing both the stories of Shade and Goth. Its in this sense that I'm very much reminded of the way Red Wall switches between the hero and villain.Also, the author is very clever with the way he portrays the mythology of the bats. He uses to explain why bats only go out at night and sets up this idea that they have been promised that one day they will be able to go back into the sunlight. Many of the bats believe that the metal bands they have been given by the humans have something to do with this promise. They all have different interpretations of what exactly the bands mean but after Shade finds out his missing father had one he becomes quite jealous and really wishes he would be banded too. As story unfolds Shade, band or no band, becomes quite the brave hero.To conclude, this was a really enjoyable book. I think anyone who is looking for a fast paced adventure that has something exciting around every corner will have fun reading Silverwing.

As a reading teacher and huge fantasy fan, I am always on the lookout for books like this. At a reading level near Harry Potter and Redwall, this book fills a great niche for emerging readers looking for stories that take their them seriously.There are many rich themes to this book, including community, loyalty, coming of age, war, and diversity, but my personal favorite was its take on religion. The bats hold a certain reverence for the humans in this world, believing that those they "band" have been chosen for a special purpose--a blessing to some, a curse to others. It's a brilliant way to deconstruct religion, as the reader knows first hand that there is nothing supernaturL about humans. Seeing the many interpretations the bats have about the bands provides a potent allegory for the way humans, too, use spirituality in an attempt to explain that which lies beyond their understanding.There is magic in Silverwing, but it is subtle. A blind bat elder tells a fortune by "listening" to the future, and a few other bats are able to create illusions through their mastery of their "echo sense." The real-life scientific inspiration behind these powers delights the reader with their verisimillitude, and it is beautifully easy to get lost in the sounds and smells of this fantasy adventure.

I first read the Silverwing series when I was much younger, and I loved it then. I turned 19 not too long ago and in a fit of nostalgia I ordered all the books in the series. I enjoyed them immensely again, and have decided to hold on to them because I'll surely read them again in the future.It's another book where the protagonist learns who he is, and Oppel does a fresh take on it by making the main characters bats. He keeps fairly realistic (of course, there are some creative liberties, but I wont ruin that) by characterizing each bat through their species. Another interesting note on the same topic, is that Oppel keeps with bats having no colour vision and manages to write the entire book with no reference to colour (black, grey, white, and silver are used but not technically colours). For a child, the series provides plenty of thinking material, and knowledge. I was the only kid I knew growing up who knew the Latin names of several bat species!

A book I started reading to my daughter but couldn’t put down so I finished it myself. The wonder and detail of this world is remarkable! Such a deep and intricate web is woven in this adventure tale and I can’t wait to read the next installment.

Now that he has read this book and its sequel, Sunwing, my son is obsessed with studying bats. This was the perfect book choice for the month of October/Halloween in our homeschool literature unit. It is wonderful for incorporating into a classroom study, because the author's web site has an in-depth novel study a teacher could use daily over the course of a whole month. The author employs every type of literary device - similes, metaphors, personification, foreshadowing, symbolism - so it's an English teacher's dream. The book also could generate good classroom discussions about differences in culture and religion. Although the book is aimed at children ages 8+ I would caution parents that some events and themes in the book could be upsetting to a younger or sensitive child. I think children of about 10 to 12 are the perfect audience for the book.

Just loved this book! I bought it for my (then) eleven year old son. It took him a while to get around to reading it...the blurb isn't really that inspiring - but once he did, he was blown away. He insisted that I read it soon after, and I was so glad he did. I'm currently reading the second in the trilogy, and he is about to start the third. An exciting story, part coming of age, part adventure, which is unlike any other animal tale I have read. This book isn't so well known on this side of the Atlantic, but it deserves to be regarded as a children's classic.

My son loves Kenneth Oppel books and this book is no exception. He read it in 2 days and loved it!

Just started reading it, and it has me hooked.

I loved this book. It was very interesting to see the world from a bat's point of view. Great for boys and girls 9 to 11 years old.

good book