Silverwing

This graphic novel adaptation of the first book in Kenneth Oppel’s beloved “Silverwing” series tells the story of Shade, a young silverwing bat who gets separated from his colony as they migrate south for the winter. Shade’s journey is fraught with danger as he and his new companion, Marina, are forced to navigate distances, storms, and enemies who would rather see him fail than find his family. It’s a classic journey story, with a hero embarking on a great adventure against all odds, and readers will be rooting for Shade right till the end.

To be completely (and rather embarrassingly) honest, I have never read the original Silverwing. That’s not to say I’m unfamiliar with it; I know the gist of the story and have successfully recommended it to dozens of students over the years. Fans of Richard Adams’ Watership Down, Suzanne Collins’ “Underland Chronicles”, and Brian Jacques’ “Redwall” series all seem to love it. It also appeals to Tolkien fans as well as those who have read Oppel’s other books. All this is to say that, between those readers and folks who are fans of adventure-themed graphic novels, I can safely predict that this graphic version won’t last long on the library shelves.

Looking at just the illustrations, there is a lot to appreciate. The characters of Shade, Marina, and any other bats that were “good” (for lack of a better word) weren’t overly precious and sweet-looking; after all, they are still bats! Those who were not good, though? Utterly terrifying. The enemy owls look exactly as fierce and intimidating as their characters should, and the rats that appear later on look every bit the mean and heartless creatures they are meant to be—with one significant “don’t judge a book by its cover” exception (no spoilers here!). The other thing I found incredibly well done was the balance between the backgrounds and the characters. Since the entire story is focused around nocturnal animals, I expected more dark gray and black backgrounds, but the use of purples, blues, and greens made a huge impact.

Speaking of those colours, Silverwing is definitely a graphic novel to display with the cover facing out. Eye-catching, with an electric colour scheme and that famous lime-green that indicates a villain, it’s a perfect representation of what readers will find inside.

Overall, Silverwing is an action-packed adventure. I do feel like I might have missed a little bit of the plot at times as I am more of a words-over-pictures reader, but there’s an easy solution to that: I’ll be heading over to my fiction section to grab the full-length novel, and I think other readers will be encouraged to do the same.