Customer Reviews

The Wingless Boy (The Clouded World)

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I do get frustrated with books that are not clear as to their target audience. This one sat on the SF/Fantasy shelf but was not clear that it was aimed mainly at 'young adults' which (as I knock on the door of the big 5-0) is clearly not me.

Having said that, this was easy reading and while a little simplistic for an old git like myself, would probably appeal to the younger audience. Very short and engaging chapters, quite fast paced and with an interesting range of characters.

The story is around a society of winged humans that live in sky cities connected to the ground by a central coumn. They are oblivious to the 'groundlings', non flying beings, who provide most of their food and supplies. In turn the Groundlings think of the winged race as Gods and aspire to join them after death. Into this mix we have Az who is a rarity because he was born in a sky city but has no wings and as such is seen as almost disabled. This does however, make him ideal to investigate what life is like 'down below'.....

So we have a fast moving adventure as the two cultures discover each-other and how this will change the status quo. Bang in some very gentle insight on disability and religion/faith and this is a not taxing but entertaining read.

This book is a collection of the first two books in the series, The Fledging of Az Gabrielson and Pirates of the Relentless Desert

I should add that having bought this almost by mistake, the characters were sufficiently engaging that I am considering buying the follow up.