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Summary
Summary
As the sun sets on the time of the dinosaurs, a new world is left in its wake. . . .
Dusk
He alone can fly and see in the dark, in a colony where being different means being shunned--or worse. As the leader's son, he is protected, but does his future lie among his kin?
Carnassial
He has the true instincts of a predator, and he is determined that his kind will not only survive but will dominate the world of beasts.
From the author of the internationally acclaimed Silverwing trilogy comes an extraordinary adventure set 65 million years ago. Kenneth Oppel, winner of a Michael L. Printz Honor for Airborn, has crafted a breathtaking animal tale that reaches out to the human in all of us.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Another prequel, Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel, takes readers back 65 million years, to the prehistoric setting of his Silverwing series (PW called the first title in the series an "absorbing adventure story"). Here, Dusk, the very first bat, must defend his less-evolved brethren from feline attackers and lead them to safety. (HarperCollins/Eos, $16.99 432p ages 10-up ISBN 9780-06-085054-8; Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Natural selection bumps up against established social hierarchies in this bat prehistory (set sixty-five million years ago) that anticipates Oppel's Silverwing (rev. 11/97) and its companions. Newborn Dusk looks different from all the other chiropters in the colony: his hind legs are weak, and his chest is superdeveloped; his ears are exceptionally large, and his ""sails"" look just plain weird. Unlike the rest of the colony, climbing trees and gliding down from them is a struggle for him, but -- he can fly. This talent brings him no end of trouble, but it becomes more and more of an asset in a world where the saurians have been eradicated and the newly liberated mammals realize that predation is the way of the future. Oppel braids Dusk's narrative with that of Carnassial, a felid who has learned the forbidden pleasures of flesh (eating it, that is). Dusk's world may be vastly different from today's, but the social interactions are depressingly familiar: principles yield to the necessity of survival; those who deviate from the norm are cast out. Danger heaps upon danger as Dusk must lead his ever-diminishing chiropter colony to some semblance of refuge. There is little subtlety here, but so much outsized prehistoric action that readers will be happily swept along for the ride. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In his Silverwing series Oppel spun a contemporary fantasy about the world of bats. In this ambitious new stand-alone fantasy, he turns the clock back 65 million years to imagine the world of the bats' earliest ancestors, which he calls chiropters. These tree-dwelling creatures are flightless, using their wings (which they call sails ) to glide through the air, from tree to tree. Only Dusk, youngest son of the colony's leader, has made an evolutionary leap; not only can he fly, he can also see at night, using echo vision. Predictably, the others regard him as a mutant to be shunned all but his father, who wisely considers his son's differences as gifts. Dusk's real nemesis, however, is a beast (a felid ) called Carnassial, who is the first of his kind to be carnivorous and, like Dusk, is shunned by his own. Clearly the world is poised on the brink of remarkable change, and the future belongs to these two. Oppel writes with keen insight and empathy about the condition of being other in the context of a richly plotted, fast-paced story that though sometimes too heavily anthropomorphized is captivating reading from beginning to end.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2007 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-The story of Darkwing is set 65 million years ago, during the early Paleocene era just years after the enormous C-T dieback event. Dusk and his family are chiropters, small arboreal mammals that glide and feed on insects. Changes are coming to their world, and not the least of them are Dusk's abilities of flight and echolocation. Although his family stands by him, most of the colony is very uncomfortable with his flying, fearing reprisal from the birds that live above them in the trees. All concerns about Dusk's oddities or their avian neighbors are swept aside when an outcast prowl of felids, led by the bloodthirsty Carnassial, attack the colony and Dusk's special abilities help to guide his fellows and keep them safe. During their search for a new home, his quick wits are all that stand between the colony and disaster. In their quest, the chiropters encounter deadly predators, from saurian holdouts to shrewlike soricids with poisonous saliva. Betrayals from both within the colony and without add to the excitement in this adventure. Readers will feel for Dusk as he decides repeatedly not to abandon his colony, despite their treatment of him. In Darkwing, Oppel offers a celebration of difference in addition to a wonderful imagining of a pivotal moment in evolution. An author's note highlights some of the actual fossil species that appear. One cautionary note-the descriptions of animals eating each other may be disturbing to sensitive readers.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Dusk is a misfit in his colony, a freak. He has only two claws instead of three, weak legs, unusually strong chest and shoulder muscles and the ability to see in the dark. And where other chiropters glide, he has the urge to flap his sails. He is a pre-bat, perched on a new branch of evolution. In the age when the saurians are dying out and mammals are on the rise, Dusk is a new kind of animal, and his is the story of the misfit finding the courage to spread his wings and fly. When his colony is attacked by a prowl of rogue felids led by the evil Carnassial, Dusk uses his skills to lead the survivors to a new homeland, with many adventures along the way. Rich sensory details bring to life the Paleocene epoch of 65 million years ago--the steamy heat, heady fragrances, giant sequoias and vast grasslands. Lively prose and sheer imagination make Oppel's fourth bat story another winner. (author's note) (Fiction. 9+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.