Silverwing
By Kenneth Oppel
My book is called silverwing. This book is about Shade, a Silverwing bat. He lives with his mom (Ariel) and his colony and he is a newborn. Shade’s dad had disappeared last spring during the migration down south and everyone says he’s dead. Shade is smaller than all the other newborn Silverwing bats; he is the runt of the colony.
One Fall night while feeding preparing for the big journey down south to a place called Hibernaculum, where he and his colony will hibernate for the long winter, a group of bigger newborns came and they were boasting about how much they knew about Hibernaculum and it was all wrong. They made Shade feel invisible because they were ignoring him. So Shade said he was going to see the sun which he wasn’t allowed to do, and Chinook the biggest and strongest newborn said that he would go with Shade to see the sun. Before the sun started rising Chinook saw an Owl and flew away back to the nursery, where they lived called Tree Haven. All of the sudden the Owl saw Shade just in time when Shade’s mom comes and tells Shade to fly away, Shade starts flying away and the Owl follows them. As Shade is flying back with his mom he catches a glimpse of the sun, and luckily Shade and his mom make it safely back to the nursery. Shade was punished that he could only feed an hour a night for the next few nights. One of the oldest bats named Frieda had a metal band given to her from humans. She showed Shade a room which sings the history of the bats, and Shade learned about a god named nocturna and a promise that someday bats will be allowed in the light of day. Just then owls came because they were mad that Shade saw the sun and they burned down Tree Haven. The Silverwings after losing Tree Haven started the migration. They spent the night in a barn and Shade’s mom sang him a map of what the migration will be like, and he slowly fell asleep. The next night the colony started to go ahead and took a quick rest on a building near the ocean. All the sudden a storm started coming, and the wind picked up, and Shade gets thrown out over the ocean. But luckily he safely lands on a boat and falls asleep in the sail. He arrives at an Island and meets a Brightwing bat named Marina. Just then Shade notices a shiny metal band on her arm just like Freida’s. Marina tells him about being banned from her colony because they thought it was bad luck. Then she agrees to help Shade find his colony and so they set off over the ocean. They go to a city and try to find a certain clock tower but got trapped by pigeons who tried to peck their wings off because they thought that they killed two of the pigeon guards guarding the tower. But really it was two giant vampire bats named Goth and Throbb. Shade and Marina escape and they finally found the right tower. In the tower they meet an Albino bat named Zephyr who can tell the future. Zephyr tells Shade that his dad is still alive but far away. Shade and Marina stay the day in the tower. The next night Shade and Marina head out again, and meet Goth and Throbb. They try to help Goth and Throbb get home because they live in the south. But Marina doesn’t trust these giants. One night Shade finds Throbb eating a brightwing bat and thinks it’s Marina, but he sees the face and it’s not her. Shade quickly finds Marina just when a dart machine comes and a dart hits Goth and he falls. Shade quickly tells Marina about Throbb, but they know they have to keep going on their journey again. Then Shade and Marina fly over mountains, but Goth and Throbb are still alive and they are following Shade and Marina. Shade and Marina make it to another city but Goth and Throbb attempt to get them, but they go under ground. Shade and Marina get trapped by rats, but one of them frees them. Just then Goth gets Shade and Throbb gets Marina. They try to force Shade to show them the path down south. While on the journey Shade tricks Goth and Throbb and makes it down south with Marina in time. When he reaches Hibernaculum the first thing he tells his mom is that his dad is still alive.
I enjoyed this book because I like the different personalities the author gave the characters. I like how there is not just the good and the bad but there is also moments of characters who are just helpful — not going on the journey but helping on the way, and I like how at the end there was half a cliffhanger (they didn’t find the dad but they know he’s alive). If you like books when someone’s life is a mess in the beginning but great at the end you will definitely like this book!
If I was to rate this book one being the worst, five being the best I would rate it a four!
