Kenneth Oppel

Reviewed by Bill Capossere

At age fifteen Kenneth Oppel wrote his first children's novel, Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure, and sent it to his favorite author, Roald Dahl. Dahl recommended the book to his own literary agent, and it was published in 1985. After graduating from high school Oppel attended the University of Toronto, where he studied English and cinema. He worked briefly as a children's book editor before deciding to write full-time. He writes in different genres for children and young adults. Oppel lives in Toronto with his wife and their children. Learn more at Kenneth Oppel's website.

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Silverwing — (1997-2007) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Shade is a young silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. But he's determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south. During a fierce storm, he loses the others and soon faces the most incredible journey of his young life. Desperately searching for a way to rejoin his flock, Shade meets a remarkable cast of characters: Marina, a Brightwing bat with a strange metal band on her leg; Zephyr, a mystical albino bat with an unusual gift; and Goth, a gigantic carnivorous vampire bat. But which ones are friends and which ones are enemies? In this epic story of adventure and suspense, Shade is going to need all the help he can find — if he hopes to ever see his family again.

children's fantasy book reviews Kenneth Oppel Silverwing 1. Silverwing 2. Sunwing 3. Firewing 4. Darkwing

Darkwing

My nine-year-old son recently read Darkwing, an older book by Kenneth Oppel, and has been after me to read it myself because he thought I’d enjoy it and because he wanted to share the experience and talk about it. I’m glad he kept on me, because Darkwing was one of the best middle grade books I’ve read this past year. My son clearly thought so as well, since he had me read it aloud to him (including a two-hours-straight stretch) from the halfway point on, even though he’d just read it a few weeks earlier. That’s perhaps the best recommendation I can give.

Before Darkwing Oppel had already penned a contemporary fantasy series with bats as characters: Sunwing, Silverwing, and Firewing. One could call Darkwing a prequel, but it’s got to be the earliest prequel I’ve ever seen: it’s set way back in the Paleocene epoch, just as the dinosaurs are dying out. This prehistoric setting is a great choice.

The main character is Dusk, a young member of a colony of small mammalian tree-gliders called chiropters, who live on a small island connected at low tide to the mainland by a sandbar. Dusk is something different than a chiropter though: his “sails” are hairless and in usage act more like wings, and he also can see at night using echoes. His colony shuns him as a freak, save for his loyal sister, his loving mother, and his stern father, who is also the colony’s leader. At first Dusk hides his differences as much as possible, then he is forbidden to use his new gifts. The early part of the story deals with his attempts to find his place in his society.

Meanwhile, other changes are rocking the world. As mentioned, the dinosaurs are dying off and along with disease and changing climate, one of the reasons given is the Pact — an agreement made by many of the beasts to work together to break (or eat) all the saurian eggs they could find. With the dinosaurs gone, the other beasts’ populations are quickly growing and territory and food are becoming issues. Among the felids — small cat-like weasels — one named Carnassial has, like Dusk, evolved. He has become a meat-eater. When Carnassial splits off with his own pack, this event, along with the growing tensions over food and space, starts to weaken the alliance among the beasts.

Soon, Dusk and his colony are fighting for their lives: against birds grown suddenly aggressive, against Carnassial and his pack, and against new threats never seen before. Forced to leave their island refuge, the colony must make a journey to a new home where they can find safety again. And Dusk must figure out where he belongs.

The setting is absolutely fascinating as drawn. The creatures are all interesting in their own right, but especially so as nearly all are precursors of some well-known animal today, so part of the fun is in cataloging the differences between these early versions and our modern ones. Oppel does an excellent job as well in depicting a world in turmoil, one where the old rules no longer apply and new ones must be forged.

The plot is filled with suspense throughout as Dusk and his colony face danger after danger. Sometimes the danger is short, dramatic and action-packed, such as an attack by carnivores on their tree home. Sometimes it is drawn out in terrifyingly slow fashion, as when they must try and make their crossing to the mainland (remember chiropters cannot fly; they can only glide short distances and then must find another height to launch themselves from). Sometimes the danger is obvious; sometimes it is hidden. But it is always present. And it is real — Oppel doesn’t shy away from death in this book; characters die and their deaths are painful, both physically for them and emotionally for the reader. There is also real depth to this plot, as the journey unfolds complexities of morality and ethics, challenging the characters and the reader with difficult situations and refusing to offer up easy or blithe answers.

But by far the strongest aspect of Darkwing, which is saying something since the setting and plot are so good, is the characterization. Dusk is simply a wonderful creation: caught in a literal in-between world of youth and adulthood and chiropter and bat. It’s a great dual construction. You never forget he is a bat (true of all the animal characters btw) — he revels in the crunch of insects, for instance — but he feels like a fully realized human character in most of his fears and hopes. You feel his pain at being shunned, at losing “people” important to him, his exhilaration at flight coupled with shame and dismay at how it makes him different, and so on. His coming of age is filled with all the pain and stutter steps backwards and forwards and joys and heights and depths of a real person; it never makes a false move.

The other characters are equally strong. His father could have been the stereotypical stern father — and he is stern — but he has many layers to him, both good and bad, some surprising. His sister too is a delight in her richness of development, always loyal to Dusk even while she disagrees with him (and her father) on most issues. Carnassial could have been a simplistic villain, but Oppel, as he does with Dusk, makes him come alive in three dimensions. One of the sharpest pangs I had in the book involved Carnassial. That’s a skillful move by an author and a sign of success. Smaller side characters, no matter how briefly we meet them, are treated with the same degree of craftsmanship. Oppel takes no lazy shortcuts here.

I find myself wanting to go on here, to detail other characters, specific plot points, and I could go on and on and on, so I won’t. Suffice to say that had this been a 2011 book, Darkwing would have shot immediately to the top of my Best of the Year YA/children’s list and would as well be in my Best of the Year general list, which is not easy for a children’s book to break into. I’ll offer up just one more sign of how good this was. The copy my son and I read was a library book on which, because he had read it first and it took me a while to get to, we had maxed out our renewals. After we finished it (remember, his second time around) and we got ready to return it, he wanted to know if we could return it on whichever library card we’d maxed it out on but check it out again immediately with one of our other family cards. I told him I’d just buy it. And I did. —Bill Capossere

Matt Cruse — (2004-2009) Young adult. Publisher: Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow's nest, being the ship's eyes. We were two nights out of Sydney, and there'd been no weather to speak of so far. I was keeping watch on a dark stack of nimbus clouds off to the northwest, but we were leaving it far behind, and it looked to be smooth going all the way back to Lionsgate City. Like riding a cloud... Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious. In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

YA fantasy book reviews Kenneth Oppel Matt Cruse 1. Airborn 2. Skybreaker 3. Starclimber

The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein — (2011- ) Young adult. Publisher: Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures... until the day their adventures turn all too real. They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula. Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

YA fantasy book reviews This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein Kenneth Oppel

This Dark Endeavor

This Dark Endeavor is the first in a YA series of Frankenstein prequel books by Kenneth Oppel. To be honest, when I first heard of the book, I was a bit skeptical of the concept, unsure of what a prequel would offer that wouldn’t either be simply Frankenstein retold (“see the first time Victor creates life and how it goes bad!”) or wouldn’t trivialize Frankenstein’s characters and themes (“see young Victor try to resuscitate a beetle!”) But when I learned Oppel was the author, I was more than a little interested, as his Darkwing was one of my best reads of last year. And while not as good as Darkwing, This Dark Endeavor is well worth the read.

The storyline details, with one large exception, mesh well with the Frankenstein background. Victor lives in Geneva with his father and mother, his cousin Elizabeth, and his two brothers Ernest and William. Spending a lot of time in the Frankenstein household is Victor’s best friend, Henry Clerval. Victor has a curious mind and a passionate fire to go along with it, and when he discovers ancient alchemical texts his mind is opened to possibilities. So far so good in terms of matching what Mary Shelley tells us about his younger years. What Oppel adds to the mix is Victor’s twin brother Konrad, born two minutes earlier than Victor and always just a little bit better at everything — better in his studies, better at fencing, a better rider, a natural leader. And worst of all, it eventually turns out, better at getting the girl — in this case, Elizabeth. But early on the three and Henry are a wonderfully tight-knit group, though the seeds of Victor’s jealousy are always subtly present.

When the three family members discover a secret library in their home filled with alchemical tomes, little do they know the path it will send them down. For soon afterward Konrad takes ill and when the doctors can seemingly do nothing, Victor, Elizabeth, and Henry take it upon themselves to seek the Elixir of Life written about in one of the library’s books. They are aided by a local man, Polidori, who had years ago seemingly cured someone via alchemy but had also apparently killed someone by the same means. Polidori was barely saved from being executed as a witch and so went underground (he also suffered an accident that left him wheelchair-bound). The Elixir needs three arcane ingredients and soon the trio is off adventuring in search of each, racing against time to save Konrad. Motivations become muddled, however, once Victor discovers Konrad is in love with Elizabeth.

The plot moves along quickly at the start, becomes a bit formulaic though still enjoyable during the “quest” part, then picks up quite a bit with a suitable increase in urgency and tension in the last 60 pages. One really feels Victor’s obsession growing and for those who know Frankenstein, it’s easy to see that older Victor growing out of this younger one. There are some unexpected twists and turns and some clever little inside references (Polidori’s name, for one). And Oppel does a nice job of creating a very readable version of that lush romantic/gothic language.

Even better than the surface plot, though, is the underlying character tension. The love triangle is a bit of a cliché, especially in YA. But while the triangle itself is a bit thin, what really works here is Victor’s self-examination of his jealousy rather than the jealousy itself, the way in which his jealousy calls into question his motivations and finally, how it creates tension in the reader’s mind as to just what Victor will do at the end. As they near their goal, Victor becomes a more complex character, deepening the story. It helps as well that he is not painted as a boy genius, but has some serious flaws, including arrogance and pettiness.

The other characters aren’t nearly as interesting, unfortunately. Konrad is a bit pallid; Henry is barely on stage and offers mostly comic relief. Elizabeth is more strongly drawn than either of those two, but doesn’t really stand out much beyond the standard “spirited young woman” mode. But that’s OK as this is really Victor’s story and his voice that carries us through. That isn’t to say that this wouldn’t have been a better book if the other characters had been more three-dimensional or that I’m not hoping they get fleshed out in the sequel; it’s just that in this first book we’re mostly concerned with the always driven and sometimes dark character of Victor and that’s mostly enough.

Beyond the major plotline, there are nice little tangents into plot points or themes dealing with religion and science. Elizabeth is a practicing Catholic, which offers up some conflict with Victor, who takes on his father’s atheism. When one of the doctors called for Konrad turns out to be much more scientific than the first few, and in fact is on the cutting edge of science and medicine, one can see how Victor is torn between this new science and the grand claims of alchemy. And, similar to Shelley’s work, Oppel examines the duality of human nature — the animal and the civilized.

Though it has room for improvement, This Dark Endeavor is a strong opening to the series and one which sets Victor clearly on the path toward the man who would create the famed Creature of Mary Shelley’s vision. And sets the reader well on the path to wanting to pick up book two. Recommended.
—Bill Capossere

Author Photograph: Peter Riddihough

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