Sunwing (Audio Cassette)

In addition, the bats are threatened once again by Goth, the giant jungle bat with the cannibalistic tastes and irrepressible knack for survival of Hannibal Lecter. This time he has a plan for making his god, Zotz, supreme: to be explicit (and Oppel is), by ripping out the hearts of 100 imprisoned bats, owls, and rats. Shade's and Marina's race to save their companions from this two-pronged threat makes for exciting and occasionally terrifying reading.

       Once again Oppel immerses readers in the world view of his tiny flying mammals. It becomes second nature to see things upside down, hide in crevices, squint at the brightness of the sun, and sense danger through sound vibrations. Particularly chilling is his portrayal of the humans' laboratory, with its concentration-camp-like indifference to life. In Sunwing, Oppel offers breathless suspense while eliciting our compassion for these misunderstood creatures of the night. (Ages 9 to 12) --Lisa Alward --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

In Silverwing, Shade, the runt of his colony, defied an ancient law that forbade bats from seeing the light of the sun, igniting a war of extermination against his kind. Owls destroyed the ancient nursery of the Silverwings, forcing them to flee to their winter home, Hibernaculum. Shade, separated from the Silverwings in a storm, met Marina, a Brightwing ostracized from her own colony, and, together, the two set out to find Hibernaculum. En route, they met Goth, an enormous cannibal bat bent on luring the Silverwings to his home in the tropical jungles of South America to be both slaves and food supply to the flesh-eating Vampyrum Spectrum.

Sunwing begins right where Silverwing left off. Shade and Marina have no sooner found the Silverwings than Shade is making plans to search for his missing father. He leads a small group to a strange human building not far from Hibernaculum, where his father had disappeared a year before.

Sunwing is a masterfully plotted adventure that hooks you on the very first page and doesn't let go. It's a roller-coaster ride that throws more thrills and chills at you than you'll ever find at Canada's Wonderland. Following Shade, we find a human-created bat haven that seems a paradise on the surface, and is anything but beneath. Next, we journey to the steamy jungles of South America where Shade and Chinook discover the great Aztec pyramid that's home to the flesh-eating Vampyrum Spectrum, and where King Goth prepares sacrifices for eternal night and the coming of his bat god, Cama Zotz. In the background, we watch with horror as the Owls lay siege to the skies and prepare to wage all-out war on bat-kind. And in the midst of all the excitement, Shade falls in love with Marina!

Sunwing doesn't just have a great story line. Oppel has created an equally exciting cast of characters. Young readers will meet old friends like Zephyr, the albino bat-seer, and the Rat King, Romulus. They'll also meet wonderful new characters like Prince Orestes, son of the Owl King, General Cortez, leader of the rat extraditionary force, and Voxzaco, high bat priest.

Sunwing is sure to be a favourite with Oppel's fans and should gain him a host of new ones as well. Jeffrey Canton(Books in Canada) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.