Sunday 21 December 2014

Review: Wings Series by Aprilynne Pike




"If the time comes and your dream doesn't seem worth it, then maybe it was the wrong dream."

Just to be clear. I am reviewing these books as an overall quartet. I am not reviewing each book, so keep in mind that it wasn't just one book that left me with these impressions. It was all of them.

The initial reason I picked up the first book in this series was because I had just gotten another lecture from my most book-obsessed friend, complaining to me and questioning me as to why I never enjoyed the books she recommended to me. My reasons were simply because I didn't enjoy her taste in books; they seemed to follow a singular formula that had been repeated over and over. The themes in the books she would usually recommend to me were tired, to say the least.  Because of this, I was so utterly determined to read something that I knew my friend would most certainly never read, or call 'stupid', that was when I spotted this series, lined up neatly on the shelves at my local library, and decided to read them.

Now I realise that my reasons for reading this series were less than justified, however, I feel that this added to my experience with the book series. I was blown away. Now it did take a while to become fully immersed in this series, the first two thirds of 'Wings' were a trifling mess, leaving me quite irritated at the amount of information being dumped on me. Luckily though, I did finish this book, and could not have been happier for it. The first book is essentially 300 pages worth of setting up the scene for the series and world building. A risk, but if you continue reading this series, it is completely and utterly worthwhile. Motivated solely by the admittedly overly-romantic quotes on the back cover of the second book, Spells, I was able to march through this first book and start the second addition to the series immediately afterwards.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. I did not expect a series to take the jump from mediocre to straight up amazing. Spells blew me away with its gorgeous detail to scenery and character development. The romance in this novel was so much more prominent and I loved it all the more for it. Whilst some frustration with Laurel did nudge me the wrong way a couple of times throughout this novel, it was measly in comparison to the sheer beauty of the world elaborated on in the book. I couldn't have asked for a better sequel. I completely fell in love with this book, and the series was no longer something that I had to 'work' my way through. It became something I looked forward to and I could barely sit through any other activity without picking up the book within a few minutes. The book became a sort of escape for me by this point, I had become so suddenly immersed in this magical world and was not too keen on leaving it any time soon. Thankfully, Aprilynne Pike seemed to have noticed this; writing two more fantastic books.

This book had me squealing out of sheer delight more often than not. The book starts off with Tamani making his appearance at Laurel's school. Now let me repeat that, in case you didn't catch that. At Laurel's school. Tamani. At Laurel's School. Ahem, now that that has sunk in, let me get back to the book review. Not only had I been completely enchanted by this series by the second book, but by the time I read Illusions, I was completely in love with the characters. Tamani's loving and intimate nature towards Laurel left me feeling all warm inside; occasionally sitting there like a maniac in the middle of class and saying "Awww." Not my proudest moment, but not my worst moment either. In my head, I was quite literally in Faerie Land, so I didn't mind it too much. Despite the great amount of affection I held for this book, that did not distract from the horrors lurking within. The introduction of Yuki. At first, Yuki's character didn't bother me all that much, it was only when Aprilynne Pike unnecessarily added Yuki's personal dramas into the mix that I began to cringe. To me, Yuki felt like a placeholder. Another element thrown into the book to create enough substance for Aprilynne Pike to get another good 400 pages in. Or, in this case, another 800 pages; continuing on into the fourth and final book.

Destined. Oh, Destined. How could you have pissed me off so much for a good 80 pages and then reel me right back in with the sweet promise of a fantastic conclusion? I'll be honest, the end of Illusions did leave me a little bit sour towards the series, but once I got past the resolution to the main conflict in that book, I was amazed by how much I was reminded of why I first fell in love with this series. Faeries. Tamani. David. Laurel. Chelsea. They all made an astounding comeback, character-development-wise, in this book. All the elements from the first three novels are brought together in this masterpiece, and by the end you are left feeling content with the ending. That is, unless you read the epilogue. Let me tell you something, when Aprilynne Pike writes in her Author's Note that those who want a happy ending shouldn't read the epilogue. She means it.

I'll leave with two thoughts left to think of:
Yes, I did cry at the end of the last book, due to the fact that I had to leave a world I was so in love with, and also due to the epilogue.
The second thought I'll leave you with is that in the end, that friend I was complaining about at the start of this review had read the series. And loved it. It just goes to show that even if you aren't a huge Fae fan, this series can still be a wonderful read.



Overall rating: 5/5 stars




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