Customer Reviews

Firewing (Aladdin Fantasy)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Griffin, ashamed at the outcome of an utimatly fatal accident, flees into the forest, and is shortly after sucked into a dark void. Frightened and alone, he finds himself in a deadly underworld, run by the Vampyrem and their lord, Cama Zotz. All are dead there, and most oblivious to the fact. And there is no food; no water. Nobody knows he is there.
All but Shade, his father. And Shade plunges into the underworld to seek his son, given but two days by the elders of his colony.
But, as usual, Goth is there. Given orders by Cama Zotz to destroy Griffin, and thus take his life, he is stregthened and cloaked by Zotz.
But Shade and Griffin are not without accomplices. A new cast of characters [including Frieda and another "good" cannibal bat] sets out to recieve sanctuary from a mystical tree created by Nocturna.
This book is fast paced and exiting. Kenneth Oppal knows how to balance: to weigh the readers patiance. The perspective swiftly changes from Griffin to Goth to Shade and then back again, all the time satisfying the reader.

I'm 15 years old and an above average reader for my age. This book is for 12 year year olds, they say.
Yeah right.
After I finish a book, I ususally sit there and digest it; maybe mention it to a friend later, and not conciously think about after a few hours. I finished 'Firewing' almost a day ago now and have not stopped thinking and talking about it. I can't seem to put it down, even though I've finished it!
'Firewing' is the sequel to 'Sunwing' is the sequel to 'Silverwing'. In a nutshell, Shade Silverwing's son, Griffen, is sucked into the Underworld where he has a limited amount of time to find his - dead - friend, convince her she's dead, and try to find a way out. Meanwhile, his father comes and tries to rescue him; he also has to defend himself and his son against his enemy, Goth, but finds that it is rather hard to kill a dead-beast. Oh yeah, and the 'evil' god Cama Zots is trying to take over the Upper World (i.e., land of the living) the entire time. And there's no real food or water. And then...
Well, just read the book and you'll find out all about the horrible accident at the begining, the friends everyone meets, and you even get to ponder if the gaint, canabil bats are really all that evil.
If you have read "Redall," (by Brian Jacques) Shade is remarkably similar to Matthais, as he is small but brave and is trying his best at a new concept: fatherhood, while his son is trying to cope with having a father known for his heroic deeds.
'Firewing' has action, suspense, friendship, and a great ending (though I'm still trying to decide if it's happy or not...) I'd reccomend this book to anyone of any age, wheather you normal read 'furry fantasies' or not.
Gosh, if you like reading at all you'd like this book.

BOY.that was one of the greatest books... until the end! Gosh! First griffin(shades son) is trying to find the tree of life to get back to his normal world,but theres this problem.!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!at the very end, griffin gets bitten by his fathers dead worst enemy and dies, then shade commits suicide!!!??? You heard me right, dead,but since its the underworld hes aliuve but still has a body to uh live in.Right?? I hate thAt part but its not the worst!then griffin and the bat he killed at the very beginning (luna) get his life force, and go back to theyre world,while dead shade,making a stupendously unsatisfying ending flys through the portal and gets back in the world as a sort of nothing that can feel what its like to be anything,but can NEVER COMMUNICATE to anyone(not even other spirits). sounds more like eternal torment than eternal paradise.At the end you can just "assume" that griffin married the bat who he killed!and luna married the bat that she strangled half the life out of(literally)because he killed her.I dont realy understand the happy ending in that.

Lots of reviews on this page give it one star, or five stars. I don't blame them, but I think you should have a realistic approach to this book. It's not awful, or SUPERB, but somewhere between good and disappointing. I finished reading Silverwing, and the sequel that was better than the original, Sunwing. Both books were fantastic, with plenty of emotional moments, great, realistic characters, and an intrigueing plot with a sense of mystery stirred in. So when Firewing came out, I dashed out to the bookstore to buy it, thinking it would be as fantastic as the others. I never expected Kenneth Oppel to let me down. The other two books I gave rating of 4 stars for Silverwing, and 5 stars for Sunwing, but this book is sadly disappointing. The characters are annoying - Luna seems more like an apparition (a ghost that has no feelings) than a person, Shade is shown way too little, Marina (my favourite character) almost disappears completely from the story, when she was actively included in Silverwing and Sunwing, just because she is a female and Shade thinks of her as 'weak' - HELLO? She helped save Shade's guts in Silverwing, and helped in greatly in saving so many lives in Sunwing! Just as bad; Griffin is forgiven with no punishment for accidentally killing a friend, and the worst part of all is not when Shade, our hero, DIES, but when Oppel brings Goth back to life! If you ask me, Shade should be the hero, NOT GRIFFIN, BECAUSE SHADE SAVED THEM ALL (AGAIN) and Oppel probably just brought that annoying cannibal back to life so that Griffin would have someone to battle in a possible sequel. I have to give this book three stars because the book does teach some lessons, such as not all cannibals being bad - it's only their nature to have to eat other varieties of bat, doing foolish things is not bravery, and being willing to sacrifice for one another. The plot could have been better, with more emotion involved in it and in the characters - all the bats do is ram into brand new characters at each turn. As for Zotz, the scene where he challenges the fact Shade had to let the bats back at the temple die (Shade justifies his actions by saying he had no choice - those bats wanted to create eternal darkness) is pretty impressive, but not much more. If you want a great book, read Silverwing or Sunwing, or the great new Kenneth opel novel, Airborn, which won the 2004 Governor General's Award, but Firewing will be a bitter disappointment. I mean - I can handle Shade dying - that is a case that is true to life; not everyone makes it out alive in the end; sometimes even the hero dies. But as for Goth coming back to life - why can't the wicked ones who are dead stay dead?

Alot of people don't like Firewing because it wasn't as good as the other two. It wasn't, but Sunwing was only a little bit better. Firewing was a very good book, and one of the few books I cry and the end. The ending was very sad, and I highly recommend this to anyone who has read the other two books!

This great book contains and interesting plot, in which a young bat named Griffin, half brightwing, half silverwing, journeys into the underworld. Anxiously he searches for an escape rout, at the same time, saving his friend Luna.
I liked to read this book, with the vivid detail and fascinating story. Clear pictures would form in my mind, clearing other thoughts and absorbing me inside the wonderful scenes. Not only does this book contian excitment, it also hooks the reader into the story, creating a fine story.

Oh Oh OH!!
This is one of the best books I've ever read.
All of the characters were well-defined and cute. I loved the gripping begining, action-filled plot, and the exciting (but unbelievebly sad) ending. It was just good! It was the perfect sequil (sorry) to Silverwing and Sunwing. I wish I could write more, but I'd be telling you the ending (and you don't want that).
Kenneth Oppel's SILVERWING SAGA should be made into a movie.
Seriously.

I have read both Silverwing and Sunwing and Oppel has definatley done it again with Firewing. Although it may be hard to understand if you haven't read the first two, it is definatley a wonderful book! The suspense is incredible and makes you want to read more and more! I praise Oppel on another job well done!

(...)
"He was still stunned when Goth struck, slamming him down to the floor, pinned him on his back." Kenneth Oppel countinues to please the fans with another action packed novel of "Firewing", the companion to Silverwing and Sunwing. Shade and Marina have a son named Griffen, and the generation of silverwing bats move on. When Griffen a silverwing gets sucked into the underworld, Shade his father, goes to recue him. With Goth sill in the picture, and cama-zotz trying to take over the upper world, the plots get confusing. But this book has such great detail it paints the images into your mind. This book is filled with wonderful suspence and action, Oppel makes this a "don't stop until you finish it" book. It dosen't matter if you don't like bats this book draws you in with it's description and cunning detail. If you haven't read any of this series, go out and start reading now!

Kenneth Oppel's book is superbly planned out, and that can be seen by the way he piles every event like bricks on a wall.

It is a great read as well, and as soon as you start you can't put it down until the end. If you haven't read the first two books, though, this could be quite the challenge for you to understand.