The flight mechanism used in the story was so well-realised I could easily imagine myself flying on a pair of metallic wings – I had a perfect picture of what they should look like in my head. Maris and the other flyers’ travels across the ocean from island to island were superbly described: the imagery of crashing waves and freezing thunderstorms was vivid enough to make me shiver. These were the part of the book I most enjoyed, and without them the book wouldn’t have worked at all. The language is evocative and doesn’t spare you any detail: at times it’s almost lyrical, particularly in the flying sequences. Regardless, Windhaven is beautifully written. I’d be interested to read some of Tuttle’s individual work to compare. It didn’t seem that they’d alternated writing chunks of the story, as some co-authors do: I recognised touches of Martin’s writing style here and there, but the narrative didn’t feel disjointed or choppy. Perhaps because of my unfamiliarity with Tuttle, I found it hard to distinguish between the two. Conversely, not being at all familiar with Lisa Tuttle, I was even more intrigued to read this book. Teenage readers might find it a little lacking on the action scenes, but it's a great read nonetheless.Īs a huge fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I love George RR Martin’s writing style and the vivid world and characters he created, and was interested to see what his other work might be like. With a well-constructed plot (with only minor slips in logic) presented in prose that reads as fantasy, the book will appeal to a YA audience in addition to Martin and Tuttle fans.Summary: A standalone fantasy novel. Although Martin and Tuttle make the correct choices rather clear, they never ignore the costs. Establishing competitions to win wings and training academies for students from non-flyer families, and defending a 'made' flyer accused of treason for stopping a war, Maris faces the lifelong consequences of talent come into conflict with privilege. When Maris tries to resolve both quandaries by stealing the wings, she challenges not only flyer law but the basic assumptions of Windhaven society. But when her stepbrother, Coll, turns 13, he stands as first-born to inherit the irreplaceable wings, even as he dreams of being a traveling singer instead. Maris, a land-bound female adopted into a flyer family, loves to fly. Lacking metals to sustain industrial technology, the inhabitants depend on flyers, humans with wings made from the original star sail, to bring news and carry messages, uniting far-flung communities.

On stormy Windhaven, the descendants of long-ago stranded star sailors live on widely separated islands. Rereleased 20 years after its initial publication, this gentle tale of a woman's quest to live out her dream to fly by award-winning authors Martin ( Sandkings, A Storm of Swords)Ĭoncerns the hard choices that come from having a vocation.

Windhaven by George R.R. Martin