Reviews for Silverwing

"A tour-de-force fantasy starring a chiropteran hero trying to make his way back to his home colony. A can't-put-it-down adventure for readers around age 8 all the way to adult." -- Smithsonian Magazine A 1997 Notable Book

"Readers with a penchant for losing themselves in fantasy worlds will revel in Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing.... This is a richly imagined work that begs for a sequel." -- The Globe & Mail (Toronto) A 1997 Best Book for Young Adults

"Replete with appealing characters, scary adversaries, bat lore, natural history, unanswered questions, and conflicting theologies, the story takes on a promising epic sweep; readers will look forward to the sequels that Oppel's ending guarantees." -- Kirkus Review

"Oppel's bats are fully developed characters who will certainly earn readers' sympathy and respect... an intriguing microcosm of rival species, factions, and religions." -- The Horn Book

"A Jonathan Livingstone Seagull of the bat community... this epic journey is gripping, and details of bat life are inventively and convincingly imagined." -- Publisher's Weekly

"The plot of this books sounds like the perfect adventure for a noble hero: a dangerous journey with a cryptic map and a trusty companion. But here's the catch: the hero is an undersized bat.... The greatest strength of this story lies in its fast-paced, cliff-hanging action and its setting within the hollow trees and bell towers of the bats' monochromatic nighttime world. Recommend this one; they won't be disappointed." -- School Library Journal

"Do not miss this rip-roaring adventure by a talented young writer." --VOYA, A 1997 Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Book

“There are fantasy sequences capable of captivating both children and adults, and one of the newest is by Kenneth Oppel. Oppel’s achievement in this book is to have created much more than an action adventure involving bats. In anthropomorphising them, he explores their collective dreams and aspirations, as well as their individual characters. This first powerful novel successfully creates a new fantasy-world, and a convincing simulation of bat life.” – Michael Thorn, Literary Review (UK)