Rowan, alone and grief-stricken after his entire family is killed by the plague, barely makes a living by playing music on his button box, until he forms an uneasy alliance with Samik, a violin player who claims to have the Sight and sees Rowan's dead sister. TitlePeek
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
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Redwing by Holly Bennett is a 208 pages paperback novel. It was published in September, 2012 by Orca Book Publishers. The age range for this book is 11-15 and it is a fantasy fiction book. The book is about a boy musician and she wrote it because her husband and three sons all play music.
ReplyDeleteRowan is the only survivor after his whole family is struck by the plague. He travels from places to places in his caravan and makes money by playing music with his button box, until he meets Samik. At first Samik becomes competition for Rowan but they decided to play and travel together since they can make more money that way. Another reason they travel together is because Samik has the Sight and is able to see Rowan’s dead sister, Ettie; Rowan doesn’t want to let that go. When they finally decide to separate, Samik gets into serious trouble and Rowan must rescue Samik.
The characters in the story were very well developed and made it really seem like they were real people. Rowan is a great musician that is dedicated and dependable. He is also very caring and looks out for others. Samik on the other hand is only dependable and dedicated when it comes to trade and bargaining, he isn’t actually into music. He is also caring, and charming.
Setting of the book is in the medieval times and the place is somewhere Holly Bennett created herself. She even includes a map in the book. The world is really different from ours in a sense that it has monsters and creatures; also it is set in the medieval times. Bennett does a good job of describing the setting, it really does make you feel as if you are there; you can totally picture it in your head.
What I liked the most about the book is the way Bennett would alternate the perspective of the book between Samik and Rowan. Occasionally it would the perspective of the warlords which gives it a more ominous feel.
What I disliked about the book is there weren’t many intense and interesting parts to the book. When you finally thought Bennett wrote something fascinating, it ended really fast. The ending to the book was like that, it was like the author was in a hurry to finish the book. It was like she had a deadline for the book and if she didn’t finish he book in the next hour she would miss that deadline.
Holly Bennett has written other teen novels such as Shapshifter, The Warrior’s Daughter, and the Bonemender series. Bennett is also a freelance editor and writer. Now she lives with her husband and three boys in Peterborough, Ontario. She has gotten many awards and honours for her books, such as Sunburst Award honorable mention for The Warrior’s Daughter, and White Pine Award Honour Book for The Bonemender.