Wings by Aprilynne Pike

TL;DR fairies are actually just sentient plants

first read unknown, second read finished Jul 8, 2012

third read finished 8/17/16

I think I first read Wings around the same time I first read Need, so I associate them with each other. I've been looking to re-read Wings for a couple years now, but my library branch only had the subsequent three books and never the first. I got lucky enough that we had an ebook copy that I could download without any wait.

(I'm currently #1, 10, 58, and 60 on four other books I've put holds on. It's so frustrating. I've been at #1 for three days on ACOTAR.)

I'm going to admit that I've got some good nostalgia-goggles with this, too. I remembered more details about Wings than I did Need, but I was kind of unsuccessful in trying to read this whole series before I started using Goodreads, so there wasn't as much to get mixed up in my mind. (The books aren't labeled with their order, so I kept checking the wrong one out and then getting confused by the timeline jumps.)

It's a decent read. The premise has always been interesting to me -- even if now I understand just how scientifically implausible it is. The plot and characters were interesting enough, and now that I have Goodreads at my disposal, I want to see whether the worldbuilding is ever explored with any more depth.

My biggest complaint is the love triangle. I didn't think Tamani was that compelling of a character (honestly, he was kind of a jerk) but I'm pretty sure he plays a big part in the rest of the series. David was such a nice kid and I'm really afraid that he's going to get pushed to the sidelines or otherwise ditched because he's human.

(Also, I wish we got more interactions with Chelsea. I liked what interactions we got but there could've been more, y'know?)

The book in general felt a little childish to me at times, and I don't know if it's because of the premise, or from being published circa 2009, or my own memories reading it for the first time. I can't pinpoint if it was specifically from the characters or the narration. (I'm not sure I agree with the third-person POV, but I'm also more partial to first-person across the board, so I'll admit this might be a problem on my end.)

I also don't remember how the ending of Wings really ties into the subsequent books, so I don't know how I feel about the ending. The ending itself felt pretty open-ended and un-resolving. I'm pretty sure what's-his-face comes back, but I don't remember to what extent.

On a fairly unrelated note, the Kindle version was super easy to get through. I marathoned my way through the book in about a day. It's so much easier to read ebooks on my HTC than my old iPod Touch, and this way I can get more books without having to leave the house! (I'm so antisocial, good lord.)

TL;DR the premise makes it worth the read in my opinion, but I'll admit that it's not perfect, and there's not much worldbuilding depth in the first book compared to what I remember from the sequels.