Firewing by Kenneth Oppel
Firewing is the sequel to Sunwing and Silverwing. I suggest you read my previous responses on the series to understand this one to the fullest extent.
Firewing in a nutshell starts off with Griffin, the son of Marina and Shade. Griffin is a shy little bat, and wants to prove himself to his friends, and his dad. He envies his dad a lot, and thinks he has to prove his worth to his dad, so he won’t be disappointed with Griffin. One day, Griffin is with his friends, trying to think of something that will impress them, when he spies a few humans sitting around a fire. He steals the fire, and by accident ends up killing his friend Luna with it! Consumed by grief, Griffin goes into the base of his colony’s tree, and stays there. An earthquake occurs, trapping him in, but a fissure opens up in a rock and Griffin cautiously dives down into the earth, unsure of what’s going to happen.
Shade’s dad comes rushing to the colony, and dives down after Griffin into the underworld, the world created by Cama Zotz, or basically Oppel’s perception of hell (I would assume). The underworld that the majority of the book is spent in is as interesting as it is creepy. It’s a lot like our own lives at times, scarily enough.
The majority of the bats that have died, and moved on to the underworld are tuned out to reality, and believe in the false world that they have been put in. Many of them deny that they have died, and keep on existing, acting as if nothing is wrong in this world of the dead. There are the pilgrims, which circle the world and convince the bats that they’re dead, and to travel with them to the tree, which they promise is what they’re meant to do. How is this like our own lives at times? Sometimes we tune out of reality, and exist in our little worlds, unaware of what’s really happening outside of us. We make bad decisions in this mentality, and fail to do what we set out to do. When you’re in this state of delusion, we’re easily distracted because we have temporarily forgot ten our goals. Hopefully, we get out of this harmful state, and most people do.
Griffin’s dad, Shade is an interesting character. He has integrity, soul, determination, courage and a mind for others. He is also a Christ figure.
On Shade’s journey to find his son in the underworld, he meets a fellowship of pilgrims journeying to the tree. A unique thing happens to this group though. A vampire bat (the basic enemy of all flying beings) approaches the group, and asks to join since he wants to go to the tree with Shade’s group. This is unusual because vampire bats are enemies, and rarely make talk about working together with other bats. The pilgrims are wary, but Shade convinces them that this bat has every right to join the pilgrims. The fellowship travels to the tree, and the vampire bat even protects Shade’s life at times! Everyone in the book, including me was suspicious of the bat, even though I’ve read Firewing before! It just goes to show how convincing and suspicious of a character an author can create!
As there is a version of hell integrated into Firewing, there is also a version of heaven. When Shade enters the tree, he ends up near Tree Haven, where Griffin and Luna ended up after going through the tree. Shade doesn’t have a physical form though, he’s a spirit now. He can enter objects, like a blade of grass, and live as that object, feeling, seeing, and being that object. That might be a bit confusing, but simply put, Shade has complete freedom and even though he can’t communicate with any other beings as a spirit, he can feel that everyone else is content like him with living like this. I like this view of heaven. The bats enter hell for a while after their death, but if they’re strong enough to resist the many temptations that Cama Zotz puts in their way of getting to the tree, and you finish that last final journey, then you reach heaven. It’s a deeply satisfying ending.
Overall, this has been a great series, the best in the series in my opinion. I highly recommend this to you, but suggest that you read the first two books first. I would rate this book a 10 out of 10.
Firewing in a nutshell starts off with Griffin, the son of Marina and Shade. Griffin is a shy little bat, and wants to prove himself to his friends, and his dad. He envies his dad a lot, and thinks he has to prove his worth to his dad, so he won’t be disappointed with Griffin. One day, Griffin is with his friends, trying to think of something that will impress them, when he spies a few humans sitting around a fire. He steals the fire, and by accident ends up killing his friend Luna with it! Consumed by grief, Griffin goes into the base of his colony’s tree, and stays there. An earthquake occurs, trapping him in, but a fissure opens up in a rock and Griffin cautiously dives down into the earth, unsure of what’s going to happen.
Shade’s dad comes rushing to the colony, and dives down after Griffin into the underworld, the world created by Cama Zotz, or basically Oppel’s perception of hell (I would assume). The underworld that the majority of the book is spent in is as interesting as it is creepy. It’s a lot like our own lives at times, scarily enough.
The majority of the bats that have died, and moved on to the underworld are tuned out to reality, and believe in the false world that they have been put in. Many of them deny that they have died, and keep on existing, acting as if nothing is wrong in this world of the dead. There are the pilgrims, which circle the world and convince the bats that they’re dead, and to travel with them to the tree, which they promise is what they’re meant to do. How is this like our own lives at times? Sometimes we tune out of reality, and exist in our little worlds, unaware of what’s really happening outside of us. We make bad decisions in this mentality, and fail to do what we set out to do. When you’re in this state of delusion, we’re easily distracted because we have temporarily forgot ten our goals. Hopefully, we get out of this harmful state, and most people do.
Griffin’s dad, Shade is an interesting character. He has integrity, soul, determination, courage and a mind for others. He is also a Christ figure.
On Shade’s journey to find his son in the underworld, he meets a fellowship of pilgrims journeying to the tree. A unique thing happens to this group though. A vampire bat (the basic enemy of all flying beings) approaches the group, and asks to join since he wants to go to the tree with Shade’s group. This is unusual because vampire bats are enemies, and rarely make talk about working together with other bats. The pilgrims are wary, but Shade convinces them that this bat has every right to join the pilgrims. The fellowship travels to the tree, and the vampire bat even protects Shade’s life at times! Everyone in the book, including me was suspicious of the bat, even though I’ve read Firewing before! It just goes to show how convincing and suspicious of a character an author can create!
As there is a version of hell integrated into Firewing, there is also a version of heaven. When Shade enters the tree, he ends up near Tree Haven, where Griffin and Luna ended up after going through the tree. Shade doesn’t have a physical form though, he’s a spirit now. He can enter objects, like a blade of grass, and live as that object, feeling, seeing, and being that object. That might be a bit confusing, but simply put, Shade has complete freedom and even though he can’t communicate with any other beings as a spirit, he can feel that everyone else is content like him with living like this. I like this view of heaven. The bats enter hell for a while after their death, but if they’re strong enough to resist the many temptations that Cama Zotz puts in their way of getting to the tree, and you finish that last final journey, then you reach heaven. It’s a deeply satisfying ending.
Overall, this has been a great series, the best in the series in my opinion. I highly recommend this to you, but suggest that you read the first two books first. I would rate this book a 10 out of 10.
posted by featheredtar at Monday, April 11, 2005
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