Wings, Spells and two more

My mom happens to work for a pretty impressive school district, especially when compared to today's typical state of slashed budgets where kids no longer have physical education, let alone music, art or foreign language. But at the middle school where she works, they actually still get to go above and beyond and have authors, artists and speakers visit. Amazing, eh? One of them that visited this spring was Aprilynne Pike. And being the awesome person that she is, my mom gave me copies of her books.

Pike debuted in May 2009 with "Wings," the first in a series of four (tetralogy?) centering on Laurel, a girl who discovers she's a fairy at 15. The storyline should be familiar to anyone who has read any YA fantasy book published in the last 3-4 years. However, I have to give Pike some credit because she at least *tried* to make her plot slightly different, combining a few of the traditional tales to give the typical Avalon/fantasy/fey line a bit of a face lift.

Yep, fairies in Avalon. And trolls. And plants that look like humans, and all kinds of stuff.

"Spells" is the second installment and gets a little more into the dramatic/romance oh how do I choose between two boys crap (or ... a wolf and a vampire/human boy or fairy), but you know: that's what happens when you're friends with Stephenie Meyer. But don't worry: she doesn't wallow nearly as much as Meyer, nor does she show the same sappy attachment to her characters. For me, that is what ruined the Twilight series. Meyer so fell in love with her own characters, and she refused to let them make harsh choices or have partially tragic endings. So far, Pike seems to be avoiding the trap that her well-known friend fell into.

Worth checking out, if you're looking for a quick fantasy read.