Book reviews often start with comparisons. “For those of you who loved x, you should really try y,” the reviewers say. But I can’t take that easy path with this review for The Wind Singer by William Nicholson, simply because I can’t think of anything else to which I could possibly compare it. The Wind Singer is the first book of The Wind on Fire trilogy. It concerns ten-year-old twins Bowman and Kestrel Hath, and their long journey to save their city, Aramanth. The people of Aramanth are governed by tests and sorted into castes by the results. In the center of Aramanth stands a strange structure called the Wind Singer; once it made beautiful music, but ever since the removal of its “voice” (a small, silver S), it only creaks. The rebellious Kestrel and the highly empathic Bowman set out to get it back and restore the true spirit of Aramanth. Rounding out the cast of characters are the twins’ eccentric parents and baby sister, and their outcast classmate Mumpo.
The world of this book is highly unlike anything I’ve ever read. Underground mud-diggers, a chocolate button-addicted emperor, eternally battling mobile cities, and the terrifying Old Children are just some of the elements that combine to create a bizarre, often humorous, and extremely vivid setting. A mystical element is introduced with the Morah, which is a great malevolent entity (or entities) bent on destruction. This and the Old Children will send shivers up the back of any reader, especially the very young. However, children readers will also appreciate how Kestrel and Bowman have more insight than many of the foolish or ignorant adults around them, and will be drawn into the fast-paced action. The next two books of the trilogy, Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong, take place five years later, when the twins are fifteen, and are consequently a bit darker and heavier, though Nicholson never loses his propensity for whimsy. All three books have a vast, spiritual thematic landscape, but are grounded by the details of the world and, more importantly, by the intense, immediate emotions of the characters. I highly recommend The Wind Singer and its sequels, and would gladly discuss them with anyone who takes me up on that recommendation!
by Kathleen Kellet, Quiver Editor
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