Updraft
The Bone Universe series, Book 1
Fran Wilde
Tor
Fiction, YA? Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In the sky-piercing bone towers of the city, wings are freedom - a freedom Kirit and her wing-brother Nat are on the verge of earning with their wingtest. With her wings, Kirit will finally be able to become a full apprentice to her mother, a renowned trader who visits almost every tower in the vast city, while Nat dreams of becoming a hunter. But just days before this all-important rite of passage, Kirit violates the strict tower Laws and comes under the scrutiny of the Singers, the feared enforcers of peace and order. Torn by duty and honor and other pressures, Kirit makes a desperate decision that leaves her no choice but to join the Singers or be cloudbound, cast out of tower and family, hurled to the clouds below to die. What she discovers within their forbidden Spire is not what she anticipated: forgotten songs, lost histories, family secrets, and a terrible danger that, if loosed, could topple the city.
REVIEW: Updraft creates one of the most original fantasy worlds I've read in some time, a harsh yet somehow beautiful world of silk wings and bone towers and invisible "skymouth" monsters and other wonders and dangers, with a culture bound by Laws that enable survival even as they hobble freedoms and silence truth. Kirit discovers betrayals and secrets from all angles; even Nat and her own mother aren't without them. She experiences real setbacks and misunderstandings, and her struggles are written in blood and scars, torn wingsilk and splintered bone. It moves fairly well and isn't too predictable, and if it starts to feel slightly jumbled in the rush to the climax, it's never dull, nor are victories clean or guaranteed. There are prices to pay for everything, even the truth, and it's often only after she's made a bargain that Kirit learns whether or not she's able to bear the cost. The story feels reasonably complete, though there are at least two more books in the series, continuing the tale of Kirit and the bone city. I'll likely seek out the sequel; this was a pleasant breath of fresh air in a very original setting.
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