Product Description

Oriel, a strong and remarkable young boy taken into captivity as an infant by a cruel man, decides to escape from his life of hardship and betrayal and takes Griff, his loyal companion, with him. Reprint. K. SLJ. PW.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #165754 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 467 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Continuing the sequence begun with Jackaroo and On Fortune's Wheel, Voigt tells of two boys who embark on a series of fantastical adventures; citing the author's "gift for storytelling and the effortless beauty of her prose," PW's starred review added, "Each section of this novel is riveting, mined with powerful surprises." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
In the mythical land of Jackaroo (1985), another long tale crowded with action and driven by its themes, with well- individualized characters carefully devised to enact them. Slaves Oriel and his loyal friend Griff are reared by the brutal Damall in his island stronghold. Courageous and quick-witted, Oriel survives this vicious society's intricacies of betrayal and trust to be chosen the Damall's heir, a role he evades by fleeing. He and Griff settle near the mainland town of Selby--an oasis in an endless, bloody war of succession--where they persuade the people to give up their divisive allegiances and choose leaders to rule in concert. Then, still in their teens, the two are captured by Wolfers--lawless predators whose cruel abuse they escape to enter the Kingdom to the north, where an earldom is to be won in mortal combat. Oriel's rare gifts bear fruit when he persuades several fine contenders to support one of their number, preventing a wasteful carnage--but the outcome is not so simple. A betrayal transforms the political landscape; and power falls, surprisingly, to a wise and compassionate man who has never imagined himself a leader. Voigt skillfully sustains a heroic tone while challenging heroic models at every turn. In scene after scene, with nobility and charismatic ‚lan, Oriel confronts the terrible choices men demand of each other; but this superhero also has a true sense of justice and strives for a rule of law that is tempered, in the end, with more mercy than he has envisaged. Grand, thought-provoking entertainment. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece
I must somehow acquire the hardcover edition of this book, because all I have now is the paperback, and I have gripped it so tightly and opened and closed it so many times that I have broken the binding.

The Wings of a Falcon is one of the key books of my life. It takes elements of traditional fantasy -- a journey, friendship forged in adversity, legendary lands -- and weaves them into a character-driven novel that transcends these components so utterly that they disappear seamlessly into the story. The book is, in fact, not fantasy in any definable way -- no fabulous creatures or supernatural forces appear -- but it retains the sense of wonder and exploration that is at the core of what draws readers to the fantastic.

Cynthia Voigt accomplishes this sublime transcendence by keeping the focus on the characters, with the faintly fantastic elements judiciously employed as background and environment. The emphasis here is on human interaction, and Voigt describes that interaction carefully and naturally. The structure of the story is such that the two main characters come into contact with various others under various circumstances and thus assume various roles: slave, stranger, captive, lover, leader. Voigt is able to clothe her characters in many habits without obscuring their fundamental personalities, the foundations which underlie all of the attitudes they assume.

Ultimately, the environments through which the characters travel, and the situations they find themselves in, are not as important in themselves as in how they illuminate the characters. By watching as the two companions move from one place and one set of people to another, we see them from different angles, and in the end we are presented with character portraits breathtaking in their complexity and completeness. (Though it pains me to lend legitimacy to petty complaints by addressing them, I must add that "the plot twist" referred to so derisively by various readers is just such a thing: an event whose causes and effects reveal things about the characters.)

Books as perfect as this are rare. I have read The Wings of a Falcon at least four times -- maybe more -- and each reading has been a fulfilling rediscovery of its delicate power. It's one of my favorite books of all time.

Indescribable
This book is really indescribable, but I'm going to try anyway. It is moving, touching, heartening, heart-breaking, real, and pretty much everything I could ask for in a book. And thank you on behalf of all the people who haven't read this book yet to the braniac a few reviews down who decides to give away pretty much the most shocking twist in the book (Hint: don't read Emilyjane's review!!! Stay away if you're planning on reading the book!) Also, I have to disagree with the person who says that reading the other two books in the series, Jackaroo and On Fortune's Wheel, doesn't make reading this one more fun. The three books are VERY loosely connected, and she's right that the book is great on its own, but when you've read the other two books, it creates an entire world and you really get to know it well. It makes it all the more real. You can't just dismiss is a "just a book" when you've been completely wrapped up in Cynthia Voigt's universe for three whole books. Also, if you read carefully, you can pick up subtle refererences to the other books that you will really love. It's kind of exhilerating to recognize an allusion to a character you absolutely loved and thought you would never see again (eg: Orien). I can't reccomend this book enough. Reading it is an adventure. I promise.

I Hate This Novel
I give this book 5 stars because it is a compelling, well-written, engrossing novel, not because I like it. For the first 25 chapters I loved this book and its main character, Oriel. I read it voraciously, eager to witness the adventures of this brilliant, indomitable soul and his wise friend and (at times) conscience, Griff. However, after reaching the "plot twist" contained in chapters 26 and 27, I quickly lost all interest in the story. I only continued reading so I could see how the author attempted to redeem this unholy mess. As was perhaps inevitable (given the circumstances), the concluding chapters turned out to be predictable and unsatisfactory. I do not argue with an author's right to defy convention or to shock his or her readers; however, an author's "surprises" ought not to ruin the rhythm of the novel, nor should they seem artificial or forced. Sadly, this particular plot twist was guilty of the above charges. After reaching chapter 27, I could see how the novel must end; I realized how conveniently the preceding chapters had placed each of the characters in preparation for the "unexpected event"; I could divine what touching messages of hope, friendship, etc. the rest of the book had in store for the reader; and I gritted my teeth. I could feel no sympathy nor affinity for characters the author had never bothered to develop -- characters who, in the absence of the one person who had breathed life into this story, now seemed like static, uninteresting puppets whose only purpose was to plod along to the story's unsurprising, yet self-satisfied, conclusion.

But despite all these failings, I am compelled to give this book 5 stars. A character as brilliant and vital as Oriel deserves no less.