Customer Reviews

The Wind Singer

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If you have read and liked The Giver or Gathering Blue, you like this better. Complete fantasy- well thought up- suspenseful and hooking- I couldn't stop reading it. This book has tons of challenges in it and the characters are always in danger- the plot moves fast and it never gets boring- I STRONGLY and HIGHLY recomend this wonderful book!!!!

I checked it out of the library just because I liked the title. I wound up reading it in two days!! I couldn't put it down. This is a definate page turner.

The city of Aramanth is run by a rating system. Every year the head of the family (the father) takes something called the 'high-exam'. His score on this test determines the family's rating for the next year. The first exam is done when a child is 2. Every year after that, each child is rated on how well they do in school and that contributes to the family's rating, also.

The city is made up of districs, with Grey being the worst, and White being the best. Also in there you have Marron, Orange, Scarlet, White. (I believe this is correct). Your family rating depends on where you live.

Now that that's over with, our heroine, Kestral Hath, doesn't like this system and she decides to rebel against it with her brother, Bowman. It starts off nice and simple. She moves to the back of the class, skipping school, and disgracing the town's sacred Wind Singer by climbing up it and yelling out profanities.

The town doesn't like this at all. They decide to run her out of the town, but they don't succede. She winds up finding the emporer that no one had ever seen. He tells her that she must be the person that he and his father and his father's father (and so on) must have been looking for. He gives her a map and tells her that she must find the Wind Singer's voice.

She takes the map and finds Bow and tells him about that. He volunteers to go with her, along with their class mate, Mumpo.

They leave and set off on this perilous jouney. They almost drown in quick sand, almost die in the desert, almost get hanged on a ship, almost get attacked by wolves, Mumpo gets turned into an old child, Bow gets corrupted, and all in all, it's a pretty rotten trip.

Meanwhile, their parents are also rebelling against the town. Their mother, who thinks she's a prophetess, starts spreading the evils of Aramanth, rebels by wearing a colour other than her designated one, and winds up getting her youngest daughter, Pinpin, taken away.

Their father rebels by deciding not to take the regular High Examination. Instead, he plans on writing about things that he actually knows about. And he talks the rest of the class into that also.

The parents wind up getting threatened. The powerful people tell them that if they don't make a public apology for their actions, then they'll take Pinpin and list her as a ward of the city.

Yup, this is a great book. Sorry, I'm not very good at summaries. I love it. If you like books like Redwall, Tamora Pierce books, and other things like that, you'll definately love this one.

The Wind Singer is a wonderful book filled with adventure, suspense, and imagination. If you liked Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, there's a good chance you'll like this book, too. Kestrel, a strong individual, is unhappy with the perfect, orderly society she lives in. The wind singer, a peculiar structure that was supposed to at one time sing and bring happiness to the people of Aramanth, has always been a special interest of Kestrel's. The wind singer's voice was taken away long ago by the evil Morah in exchange for his army of Zars to leave Aramanth. Armed with determination and courage, Kestrel, her brother Bowman, and a classmate Mumpo, are set off on a quest to bring the wind singer's voice back and restore happiness and good will to Aramanth.

Wow! This book is great! It's so witty and charming, it should be a hit with both kids, as well as adults. It's storyline similar to "The Giver", as well as it's sequal, "Gathering Blue" in the sense that people are being controlled, walled in to their city, and given no sense of freedom whatsoever. This book is about a girl, Kestrel, who dares to rebel. Along with her brother, Bowman and new "friend", Mumpo, she sets off on a journey to find the voice of the Wind Singer, which will bring an end to the controlled life she and her people know.
Her journey is both exciting and terrifying, and I found it difficult to put it down, once I had started to read. It has a witty and engaging style of writing. The clever imagination of the author has come up with an interesting storyline, and very well thought out characters and plot.
When you are done this book, you may find yourself saying, "Wow, is this it? I'd love to read more!" Never fear! All you need to do is grab yourself a copy of the second installment in the trilogy, "Slaves of the Mastery".