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A review by a_mae13
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
2.5
โIt didn't matter to her that Tamani only had weak magic, he was magic.โ
This was a super quick and cute read. Though it's more middle grade than YA, I think it had a unique take on fantasy. Laurel is a high school girl who has some odd eating habits. She only eats vegetables and only drinks Sprite. Her family recently moved from their estate to a suburban area in California. She starts school and becomes friends with David and Chelsea. As she grows closer to David, she tells him how she's adopted, but her biological family left her in a basket at the age of three. Her adoptive family took her in and raised her as their own. She has no memories of her adoption.
Suddenly, Laurel develops a giant bump on her back that eventually blossoms into a giant blue flower. She doesn't tell her parents (why would she) but confides in David. He takes a look at her "wings" under his microscope and determines that it's a flower, but it's shaped like wings. The two do their best to conceal the growth from friends and family. During all of this, her parents are in the process of selling their previous estate. They take a trip back to the land where Laurel is pretty much lured into the forest and meets Tamani. He remarks on her flower, telling her that she is a faerie and that this forest (and the land with the estate) is her rightful property. The lore in this story is that faeries are highly evolved, sentient, plants.
She breaks down and tells David everything that happened with Tamani and he's somehow very accepting that she's a walking, talking, plant. The suspension of belief is STRONG with this one. With some further "tests", David discovers that her blood is clear (like xylem) and that Laurel doesn't have a heartbeat. They also figured out that Laurel exhales oxygen and inhales carbon dioxide. The two go to the school dance together and her blossom starts to wilt, leaving petals everywhere. Laurel heads back to her family estate to find Tamani and get answers about this flower and her powers as a faerie. Tamani lives on the land because he's guarding one of the portals to the Faerie realm, which is conveniently located on her family estate. He also tells Laurel that she was sent to live with her adoptive family so that she could inherit the land, and keep the portal safe.
And then, chaos.Laurel's father becomes very very sick. Nothing is helping and the family breaks down and takes him to the hospital. The potential buyer of the estate turns out to be a troll, and trolls hate faeries. David and Laurel try to investigate the buyer but get caught. The trolls chain up the kids and throw them into the river to drown. But! Laurel expels oxygen! So the two can survive long enough to make it to the surface alive! ๐๐ The trolls poisoned Laurel's dad to force him into selling the land, as they want access to the fae world. Laurel explains the chaos to Tamani, and he sneaks into the troll's house and kills the other trolls by snapping their necks, but Barnes (the buyer) discovers him and shoots him in the leg. Laurel shoots Barnes in the shoulder but he escapes. The fae world gives Laurel a cure for her father and some diamonds to offset the cost of moving, keeping the land in their family.
This was a super quick and cute read. Though it's more middle grade than YA, I think it had a unique take on fantasy. Laurel is a high school girl who has some odd eating habits. She only eats vegetables and only drinks Sprite. Her family recently moved from their estate to a suburban area in California. She starts school and becomes friends with David and Chelsea. As she grows closer to David, she tells him how she's adopted, but her biological family left her in a basket at the age of three. Her adoptive family took her in and raised her as their own. She has no memories of her adoption.
Suddenly, Laurel develops a giant bump on her back that eventually blossoms into a giant blue flower. She doesn't tell her parents (why would she) but confides in David. He takes a look at her "wings" under his microscope and determines that it's a flower, but it's shaped like wings. The two do their best to conceal the growth from friends and family. During all of this, her parents are in the process of selling their previous estate. They take a trip back to the land where Laurel is pretty much lured into the forest and meets Tamani. He remarks on her flower, telling her that she is a faerie and that this forest (and the land with the estate) is her rightful property. The lore in this story is that faeries are highly evolved, sentient, plants.
She breaks down and tells David everything that happened with Tamani and he's somehow very accepting that she's a walking, talking, plant. The suspension of belief is STRONG with this one. With some further "tests", David discovers that her blood is clear (like xylem) and that Laurel doesn't have a heartbeat. They also figured out that Laurel exhales oxygen and inhales carbon dioxide. The two go to the school dance together and her blossom starts to wilt, leaving petals everywhere. Laurel heads back to her family estate to find Tamani and get answers about this flower and her powers as a faerie. Tamani lives on the land because he's guarding one of the portals to the Faerie realm, which is conveniently located on her family estate. He also tells Laurel that she was sent to live with her adoptive family so that she could inherit the land, and keep the portal safe.
And then, chaos.