26.2.05

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

This is my second time reading this book, because I read this trilogy a long time ago, and they’re a really good trilogy. Yesterday, the author, Kenneth Oppel was in Winnipeg! I talked to him at MTYP, saying that I really love his books and I’m looking forward to a sequel to one of his books “Airborne”. Interesting little tidbit of irony, if you would call that ironic.

The book Silverwing is about bats, or at-least the world from their point of view. It’s main character is a newborn named Shade. He was born very small, and struggled to stay alive for the first few weeks of his life. I think his struggle for life is a major defining point for his life, because it gave him many of the personality traits he has. One of his first endeavors to prove his worth is a competition with a jock-like newborn, Chinook. Chinook was really well off from the beginning, having a really good body and strong wings. You see for about four million years, bats have been banished from the daylight. If they’re found flying around in it by the owls, then they face the risk of death or great loss for their colony. Shade’s rebellious and curious mind comes up with an idea to challenge this stupid law. He sees who will actually have the courage to see the sun. Shade wins, but with an owl catching him. This ends up with Shade almost dying, and the colony’s home being burnt to a crisp.

Shade also has a remarkably similar personality with his long-lost father. His father got lost (as I remember from reading this previously) in a quest to see the sun. Shade’s mother is a real worrier, but is also a very good mother.

Now for my weekly identification with the main character part! It’s really easy to find similarities between Shade and me. Shade is very, very curious, which is unique for the newborns because none of them are really authentically curious. Shade finds himself picking up tidbits of conversation. He quickly makes friends with a very knowledgeable and kind colony elder, which both have a love for curiosity. I like to be curious, and am most of the time. I find myself piecing together information tidbits, and I love opening electronic things to see what’s on the inside of them. I also love to know how things work. Shade also has the capability to make really good friends, partly because of his curious and inquisitive nature. I try to do that, and I think I succeed at it for the most part.

From my current and previous knowledge of this book, I’m gonna explain what the meaning is. For the most part, I think the books message is to be courageous, even in the face of grave danger and death. Its also about being loyal to your friends, and also believing what is right, and not just following blindly what others have done. Curiosity is also a message, saying that its good to question things if you have good motives behind the questions.

I’m not really into this book yet, but I know I will be, and I have been before. I’m really looking forward to this, because after this I have two more books in the series to read. Yesterday, Kenneth Oppel also said that he’s thinking of doing a trilogy of three books that explain things leading up to Silverwing. That would be really interesting.

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