REVIEW: Iain Rob Wright - Wings of Sorrow

Genre: Horror / Young Adult

Publisher: SalGad Publishing Group

Publication Date: 18^th Oct 2015     

Pages: 152

MY REVIEW:

So this is the second book from Iain Rob Wright I have read this month. The first was The Gates and you can read my review of it here. I thought it was wonderful. Outstanding. It was a fresh horror book at its best. Wings of Sorrow is, as far as I know, his first attempt at a young adult book so this was intriguing for me to see if he could pull it off. After finishing reading it, I’m still undecided which is a first for me with one of his books.

Scarlet, is a young sixteen-year-old girl, living in Redlake. Everything seems to be quite normal. She lives with her father and has an interesting job in a local curiosity shop. All very smooth, until she comes across a naked stranger lying by a lake.

This is where the strangeness starts. The stranger claims to have been sent to protect her. Against what, she doesn’t know, until The Saint appears. He is out to destroy Scarlet.

Unbeknown to her, it appears she is the central figure in an age old prophecy. A prophecy where the central figure has the power within her to destroy the world. It appears she is the bad guy. It appears the only way for the prophecy to be broken is for Scarlet to die.

So characters wise in this one, Scarlet is obviously the main one. The important one. She is a normal sixteen-year-old girl, with not a care in the world. She seems to be responsible enough. Now. When the news breaks for her she is thrown into a world of turmoil and must make some very hard decisions and do some serious growing up. Very fast! Her father is a bit of a non-entity for much of the story and seems to be a bit of a wimp, but comes good in the end.

Sorrow, and The Saint, are two other worldly beings on opposing sides of the fence. Both equally determined to carry out their missions, they are strong and seemingly undefeatable. Mr Chester is the owner of the shop Scarlet works in and turns out to be the holder of many a secret and quite an enigma.

The plot is something I don’t really want to go into any more than I already have. It would give too much away. It’s basically a battle between good and evil to prevent the destruction of the world. But, normally you, as the reader, are on the side of the good. Not with this one. That was a good move on Mr Wrights behalf. It certainly twisted things around a bit and got you wondering at times should you be cheering for who you are cheering for.

This is a young adult book therefore not written in the exacting horrific style that we are used to with Iain Rob Wright. This disappointed me. To be brutally honest, after the first third of this book, I didn’t like it. I loved the idea, the thought behind the story and the imagination to come up with such a plot. I didn’t like the writing. Shock, horror I hear you gasp! Nev Murray didn’t like an Iain Rob Wright book! Well, not strictly true. What I had to do with this one was change my mind set and read it as a young adult. Not easy to do for a forty-seven-year-old man but I tried. Once doing this it did start to read a bit better. Flowed a bit smoother. I still found it difficult to read though.

It doesn’t possess the smooth, free flowing narrative of normal Wright horror stories. Normally they can go from calm, serene scenes, to scenes of bodies being torn apart and blood and guts everywhere. Didn’t get that in this one. I know, I know, it is a young adult book but to be honest, I would expect young adults to be reading all about blood and guts anyway.

So, putting my young (forty-seven-year-old) head on and being objective, yes this is a good book. Like I said before, the plot and story line is imaginative and unique in the sense of how it is twisted a little bit. It just didn’t read like an Iain Rob Wright book to me. Even with it being written for a younger audience, I felt the narrative was at times a bit stuttering and not very free flowing. The dialogue at times was a bit over childish for me as well.

I think I will try an experiment and ask my fourteen-year-old to read this and see what he thinks. Maybe it will get a fair review then.

To summarise: a young adult story that is original in the twist in the plot but probably not for an old codger like me to be reading. I will get my son to read it though and see what he thinks!

General rating:

★★★ probably unfair as I am 47!

Fantasy / Horror rating:

★★★ and again.


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Book Synopsis:

A captivating fantasy that brings the supernatural thrills of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to a new generation.

Growing up is hell.

Scarlet is a sixteen-year-old girl with no friends living with her single father. The one thing her life has none of is excitement. That’s until she meets a naked stranger beside the lake. Then everything changes.

Scarlet discovers that she is not just an ordinary sixteen-year-old. In fact, the fate of the world rests on her shoulders, and it seems like she’s one of the bad guys. A weapon.

Pretty soon, Scarlet is going to miss her old, boring life, but will have to accept that it is gone forever. At least she’s made a friend –a demon named Sorrow. He’s one of the bad guys too.

Only evil can save her now.

Iain Rob Wright is from the English town of Redditch, where he worked for many years as a mobile telephone salesman. After publishing his debut novel, THE FINAL WINTER, in 2011 to great success, he quit his job and became a full time writer. He now has over a dozen novels, and in 2013 he co-wrote a book with bestselling author, J.A.Konrath.

The three most important things in his life are his wife, his son, and his fans.

His work is currently being adapted for graphic novels, audio books, and foreign audiences. He's an active member of the Horror Writer's Association and a massive animal lover. Join his mailing list and receive five FREE books, as well as all the latest news and releases.

And for more about Iain, visit his site or find him on social media:

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