Firewing [Paperback]

Kenneth Oppel (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Canada (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 000639194X
• ISBN-13: 978-0006391944
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,913,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide, and been adapted as an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn was winner of a Michael L Printz Honor Book Award, and the Canadian Governor General's Award for Children's Literature; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children's Novel of the Year by the London Times. His most recent book is HALF BROTHER. Born on Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, England, Ireland, and now lives in Toronto with his wife and children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kenneth Oppal is brilliant!, January 27, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Firewing (Hardcover)

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.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Furry Fantasy, March 17, 2003

By 

Roger Steinbach (IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Firewing (Hardcover)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Firewing, September 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Firewing (Aladdin Fantasy) (Paperback)

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.