Wings of Ebony - Becca In A Book

Summary

Rue lives in a neighborhood where everyone is family and they would do whatever they could for each other. When her mother dies, she is taken away from that life to live with her father and her life changes forever and she learns that she is a part of something so much more.

My Thoughts

This book was a work of passion and an allegory for a greater and deeper meaning of showing pride in who you are and where you come from. It was a beautiful book, but for a fantasy it wasn’t what I was expecting. I honestly was a little disappointed and I cringe when I say that. I really enjoyed the story and I liked most of the characters A LOT, but as a fantasy, it was meh at best….. I feel so guilty for saying that, but it is my real and honest opinion.

I appreciated and really liked a lot of the aspects of the book. First of all, I loved the sense of community that this book brought forth. OMG can I live there? Everyone was just so loving and open with one another it was so amazing. Rue may not have been related to any of these people, but everyone treated her like family in the neighborhood and EVERYONE had her back no matter what. No wonder that girl never wanted to leave, I sure wouldn’t have.

I also really enjoyed most of the characters in the neighborhood. They also had such a sense of pride and being yourself. Most characters were so proud of who they were and where they came from and it was so heartwarming. This book also had such a beautiful and strong message of strong Black voices and it was so beautiful. They were loud and so proud and I was cheering them on the entire time.

Rue was such an interesting main character to me. I mean, to be honest, I didn’t really like her at first. I thought she was extremely immature to me and I thought her self-sacrificing tendencies made me cringe and caused more problems than solved. However, I ended up really liking her in the end because she is so passionate and such a strong presence and force of nature. SHE NEVER GIVES UP. She just kept on pushing and it was such an inspiration for me.

That said, there were elements of this book that I didn’t really dig. For example, I sort of wish that the world of Ghizon and its magical elements were better explained and we spent more time there. I felt the majority of the book took place in East Row so I didn’t feel a true connection to the magical world as I wanted. I also felt the magical element itself lacked detail and I honestly was confused most of the time. However, the knowledge wasn’t really necessary because we spent so much time in the majority of the time in the human world. So that was a big let down for me.

Another example of something I didn’t like was the time jumps in the plot. The book would jump back and forth between the past and the present and they honestly didn’t make sense to me. I wish the plot would have been told in order because it would have made more sense and wouldn’t make me crazy.

Overall the book was a good read and I will be continuing, but I had some small and petty issues with it.