Conclusion to My Blog

Finally, after many weeks of reading this book, I have finished it. Kenneth Oppel, as always, has written a great book that was fun and interesting to read. I still felt though, to be honest, that this book wasn't as great as his other works, which is obvious given the fact that this book was written in the shadow of the Silverwing Saga. I am grateful that he has written one final book (hopefully) for this series though.

If someone who had never heard of Kenneth Oppel before asked me whether or not I recommend this book to read, even as a prequel to the Silverwing Saga, I would not recommend it to them. I would rather they read the Silverwing Saga first, and after wards read Darkwing to complete their reading experience with the Silverwing Saga.

The book to me seemed very short, especially compared to other books by Kenneth Oppel. I wished there was more character development, especially between Carnassial and Dusk (even though they changed a lot). I felt it was not enough, and that the characters weren't as dynamic as I hoped they would turn out to be. The climax and ending was also not as exciting as I thought it would be. I wished more things happened, and that the book was longer.

Despite that, as a big fan of Kenneth Oppel, I found Darkwing very enjoyable to read for what it was. Being introduced to new characters was refreshing, as well as learning about a new world unlike the one in the other books. The world that Oppel portrayed in this book did capture my imagination, as I wanted to learn more. I enjoyed reading it lasted.

Hopefully you also enjoyed reading my blog posts. As I am now done my blogging assignment, I will no longer be making any more blog posts, this being my last one.

Thank you, for taking the time to read all of this (if you did read it)

-Paul

Chapter 24 - A New Home

Dusk and his colony finally reaches the new home he has found for them. Life, although greatly changed from what has happened, begins to return to normal. New leaders and elders are appointed, and Dusk is officially accepted by his colony for his actions. Chimera returns though, and talks to Dusk. She convinces him to go and live in her colony with her, because although the colony accepts Dusk now, they still view him as different. The book finally ends, with Dusk leaving his colony to live with Chimera's colony.

Finally, the book is over. Like I said in the previous blog post, this story relates very well to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and Primary and Secondary concerns. This is shown in the very last chapter, as Dusk expresses a desire to belong to a group, finally giving into his internal desires, and goes to live with the colony of bats, as they are called. Part of what contributed to his decision was also the fact that Slyph would not be able to live with Dusk forever. She would eventually mate, and have her own things to deal with. Dusk, being different, would not be able to mate within his colony. He would become very lonely, with no companion to satisfy his need of love. This shows how he desired the need for love and companionship.

Chapter 22 - Alone in the Grasslands / Chapter 23 - Birthplace

As the chaos within the hollowed tree trunk began to die down, Dusk and Sylph, separated from their colony, attempt to find them. Dusk soon finds the colony, somehow miraculously regrouped, and plans to meet them at a nearby tree after he went back and got Sylph. Dusk and Sylph though, end up lost as they try to find their colony again. They are then found by Carniassial and the hyaenadons, and attempt to hide in a large saurian skeleton they find.

The next chapter continues with their escape from Carnassial. They find themselves in a cave, where there were saurian eggs that were laid by an adult saurian which was dead. Dusk and Sylph argue whether or not to destroy the eggs, after which Dusk finally agrees. Just as they are about to destroy the eggs though, Carnassial and Panthera arrive. Dusk and Sylph barely make it out of the cave alive, as they were saved by the saurian as it attacked Carnassial, and killed Panthera, just as Dusk and Sylph themselves were being attacked by Carnassial and Panthera.

With the book reaching it's climax, and near its end, I can't help but think about how well this book relates to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and Secondary and Primary Concerns. Everything from the characters' desires for safety and security (evident in their constant struggle to find a suitable and safe home), Dusk's desire to fit in with the others and belong to a group, to what happens when our needs are over satisfied. With just one more chapter to go, I feel excited to finish the book.

Chapter 20 - Abandoned / Chapter 21 - Soricids

Despite being abandoned by his colony, Dusk finds that Sylph had stayed behind to wait for Dusk. She reveals that their colony split up when Nova convince part of the colony to return to Gyrokus's colony and repent for their past. Many follow Nova, but some stay behind for Dusk. The remaining colony decides to follow Dusk's advice and go with him to the place that he had found. They quickly plan to cross the grasslands, where they are most vulnerable.

This flows into the next chapter, as they make their journey across. During their crossing though, they encounter Carnassial and his pack of hyaenadons, and try to hide in a hollow tree trunk, but are attacked inside by poisonous creatures called soricids. Dusk and his colony barely escapes, although many chiropters perished, including one of the elders.

Within these two chapters, we see that there is once again a theme of trust, and also of loyalty, between Dusk and Sylph. Sylph has been shown constantly throughout the story so far to be very loyal to Dusk, even when it seemed they were mad at eat other. She trusted him, and was loyal to him. To Dusk, she was one of his few companions, and therefore, helped satisfy his need for love and companion, especially after their parents had passed away.

Chapter 18 - A New Order / Chapter 19 - Chimera

The realities of Icaron's injuries are finally realized, as he soon passes away shortly after their escape from the tree runners two days later, from his injuries. Before dying though, Icaron reveals to Dusk that the dead saurian nest he had seen on the island was indeed caused by Icaron, which surprises them both, that their father had been lying all along. Nova then takes over as the colony leader after getting permission from the next leader in line (Auster, Icaron's eldest son).

We once again follow Carnassial, this time only with Panthera, as they travelled with the hyaernadon pack as they go to the place where the saurian nest was. Carnassial admires their hunting ability, and realizes that he can only become a the ruler of all creatures if he uses his wit, rather than strength. He plans to manipulate the hyaenadons.

Chapter 19 is when things start to get very interesting. After Nova became leader, it was decided that the best thing to do was for Dusk to go search for a suitable home for his colony. Since he was faster than the others, he could scout areas faster. Dusk could see from the top of a tree a suitable home in the distance, but it is far away across barren land (no trees for the chiropters to land on). Dusk goes to see if it really is suitable first. There, he meets other creatures, who look exactly like him. They called themselves bats. He meets a female bat named Chimera, who offers him refuge within her own colony of bats, just like Dusk. Dusk agrees, but must first go back to inform his colony. When he returns, he finds no one is there.

These two chapters have a common theme of trust, and betrayal of trust. Icaron's confession that he did indeed kill those saurians on the island went against his beliefs, which had gotten the colony in a lot of trouble (being rejected by the previous chiropter colony). Dusk, and indeed the whole colony trusted Icaron, that his beliefs were right, and that Icaron practiced these beliefs. Instead all along he had killed those saurian despite his beliefs. This in a way, also took away from Dusk his sense of security. Another act of betrayal was also when Dusk's colony seemed to have abandoned him when he returned to them.

Chapter 16 - Tree Runners / Chapter 17 - The Feast

We now follow Dusk and his colony as they try to find themselves a new home. This is a difficult task, as no creature would let them stay int heir territory. After the Saurians were gone, the creatures that inhabited the world now no longer had any predators to hunt them, and many species flourished. This posed a problem though, as there can only be so much food to go around for everyone. The creatures were now competitive for territory. The colony eventually finds the perfect place, in an area inhabited by tree runners (they seem to be early forms of apes). They offer the colony refuge, and help Icaron with his wound from the felids. This place seemed perfect, as the tree runners didn't eat the same things as the chiropter, and were friendly to them.

The next part of this chapter follows Carnassial and his prowl. After leaving the island, Panthera, a felid who was once a companion to Carnasssial, returns to him. The prowl then travels north, until they finally find a place to call home.

The next chapter, The Feast, sees Dusk and his colony, as they prepare for a "feast", organized by their new hosts. It turns out to be a trap though, and that the tree runners intended to feed the chiropters to another large creature, a diatryma, who demanded food from the tree runners in return that the creature will protect them.The chiropters barely escaped, this time with several casualties.

After wards we follow Carnassial and his prowl, as they meet another new creature, called a hyaenodon, which are four times the size of felids, and are also carnivores. They seek the help of the felids to hunt for saurian eggs, which still remained even though they thought the saurians were gone. The two groups form an alliance.

A comparison of size between Carnaissial (on the left) and a hyaenodon (on the right)

Once again, from reading these two chapters, I saw Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in action. This was shown in Dusk's colony, and Carnassial's prowl, as they searched for a new. They needed food, security, shelter, and safety, which they attempted to find as they traveled along the mainland, and eventually found it.

Another thing I noticed too, were the primary and secondary concerns. I noticed how after the saurians became extinct, that all of the other creatures, no longer preyed upon by predators, began to flourish. This resulted less food and land for all of the creatures. This was what happens when their primary needs are over satisfied (food, shelter, etc). As a result of this over satisfactions, there was now poverty, some violence, and inequality.

Chapter 15 - True Natures

We now follow Carnassial and his prowl as they hunt for food on their island. A few days after the chiropters left the island, Carnassial slightly changes his plans, as he was originally planning to hunt the chiropters. Fortunately there was an abundance of other prey on the island. Carnassial is completely shocked though, when he discovers he was no longer the only predator. While hunting, a giant owl suddenly swoops down, and kills one of the felids. Carnassial and his prowl decide to leave the island.

A felid carried away by a large owl

The next part of the chapter once again follows Dusk. His colony finds a safe and secure place to stay within Gyrokus' colony, where there is constant guard throughout the perimeter. The day goes well, until the Gyrokus discovers that Dusk's colony was the one which broke from the Pact. The mood immediately changes, as Gyrokus criticized the colony for doing so. In the end, Icaron turns down the offer made by Gyrokus to allow their colony to stay, and decides to leave their place of refuge.

The chapter once again changes characters as it goes to Carnassial. Carnassial and his prowl were beginning to leave the island when they were stopped by Patriofelis and a small army of warriors. Patriofelis gives Carnassial and his prowl one last chance, but they refuse. Suddenly an owl comes and attacks the felids. In the confusion, many felids are taken away (including Patriofelis), and Carnassial and his prowl reach the mainland. He escapes, because his prowl now outnumbered the other felids, many of which were carried away.

The more I read this story, the more I see how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs relates to all of this, and how the characters in the story are constantly trying to meet their needs. For example, after Carnassial discovered that the island was not safe even to himself (his security was taken away), he decided to leave the island in search of a safer place. The same can be said for Dusk and his colony. The island was no longer safe to them, so they left in search of a new home. There is the constant struggle to meet their needs.

Chapter 14 - The Mainland

After barely escaping the felids and the dangers of crossing the water, Dusk and his colony finds himself in a completely different world, unlike what was on the island. Upon landing, the colony is greeted by other chiropters, who look a bit different that what Dusk is used to. He notices that the new colony has soldiers, something his colony didn't have a need for. The colony is introduced Gyrokus's colony, where they learn about some of the things that have happened since Dusk's colony began living on the island. such as new carnivorous species appearing, the actions of Carnassial, and how life has been since the Pact was fulfilled. Gyrokus offers the colony refuge.

In this chapter, Dusk is for the first time complimented, by chiropters other than his close family, for his idea of using the thermals, which may have saved the entire colony. For the first time, Dusk felt special, and was not shunned, or avoided by others. Immediately afterwards, Dusk began feeling elevated emotions, despite all that has happened. This shows how important it is for our needs to be satisfied, for our emotions to be stable. Before, Dusk constantly felt lonely and rejected, but now he was special, and felt satisfied with himself.

Chapter 12 - To the Coast - Chapter 13 - The Crossing

After the attack on their tree, the leaders of Dusk's colony decide it is best to travel to the mainland, where they can enlist the help of other beast to try and prevent Carnassial from harming other creatures. The colony then proceeds the next day to the coast, guided by Dusk (whose speed and agility were extremely useful). His job was to warm of the colony of any danger ahead. At the coast, the elders try to figure out how to glide to the mainland, but are weary as the wind is against them. They don't have a choice though, but have hope as Dusk suggests riding the thermals above the water to cross. Dusk tries this himself, but sees a felid who appears to have gone back to warn the others.

In the next chapter, the chiropter colony attempts the crossing, while riding the thermals. Many struggle, but eventually it works. They barely escaped the felids as they took off. As the chiropters glide over the crossing on the thermals, the birds arrive, and attempt to use their wings to disorient and slow the chiropters down, while shouting insults such as "egg-eaters" at the chiropters. The entire colony barely makes it across the clearing.

After reading these chapters, I realized once again another connect in this story to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The chiropters the previous night were driven out of their beloved sequoia tree, and no longer had a suitable shelter, one of their primary needs. Since they had not shelter, they all decided that they must go to the mainland, and find a place safe enough to shelter them, so they could once again have safety and security, one of the primary needs of life.

Chapter 10 - A Change in the Tide / Chapter 11 - The Massacre

Finally, the book starts to get into some real action.

After Dusk's encounter with Sylph, he finds his only companion within the colony was now shunning him too. Dusk goes off into the forest by himself, where he once again meets Teryx, who tries to explain what the birds had done. Teryx then reveals to Dusk all of the things that had been happening on the mainland, regarding Carnassial and his prowl, and warns Dusk that they may cross a land bridge onto their island. Dusk tells his father, who ignores him. Late at night, dusk hears some strange noises, and goes to investigate. He discovers paw prints leading to the island, and hurries back to inform his father.

The next chapter follows Carnassial and his prowl as they begin exploring the new island that they just arrived at. They find a giant sequoia tree with chiropters on it, and scheme to hunt the chiropters. The chapter then goes back to Dusk, as he tries to convince his father of what he has found. His father believes him, but feels they are under no threat as the felids are the allies of the chiropters (as conditioned in the pact). He is proven wrong, as their tree is infiltrated by the felids. After a frenzy of panic and fear, during which the chiropters attempted to escape the felids, the chiropters find refuge in a different tree. During the attack, many chiropters lost their lives, including Dusk's mother, Mistral.

A felid hunting chiropters

Throughout these chapters, I once again noticed that Dusk was continually deprived of his need to belong to a group. Although he was still loved by his family, he did not feel a part of the colony. His feelings of loneliness were multiplied, when even Slyph shunned him. Carnassial, on the other hand, seemed to have his needs over satisfied, as feeding on creatures on the ground was not enough for him. He decided to go to the island where he planned to hunt every creature there, and take over the island. He clearly lusted for power, as his needs became over satisfied.

Chapter 8 - Teryx / Chapter 9 - Outcast

In this chapter, Dusk meets a bird named Teryx, which, although not forbidden, was not something he wanted others to know. He gets to know his new friend, who revealed shocking information about what others thought of chiropters (egg eaters, saurian killers), and also revealed the location of a dead saurian nest as proof. They are discovered though, by Teryx's mother, and Dusk barely escapes her beaks. Dusk goes and finds the saurian nesk, and on returning, finds his father trying to fly. He tells his father of what happened, who tells Dusk it is nothing to worry about. The chapter then goes to Carnassial, who, after being driven out, is found by other fellow felids who feel the same way as him, and decide to join together into their own meat-eating prowl.

The next chapter is where this book begins to get more interesting. The next day, the dead body of a fellow newborn chiropter, one of Sylph's friends, is found, with his wings ripped off his body, and beak marks in his wings. The colony view this as a threat from the birds as a result of Dusk's flying, and makes his stop flying. After wards, Dusk is virtually shunned by everyone in his colony except his close family. Dusk decides to go off on his own and become a loner, during which he licks mushrooms (which he was told were poisonous). Dusk then gets a hallucination where he sees felids, chiropters, and other creatures like himself, all fighting. Waking from his vision, Dusk finds Slyph and some friends attempting to destroy an egg, which he stops them from. This chapter also ends by going to Carnassial, as he devours a bird's nest.

These few chapters seem to show the results of Dusk and Carnassial's satisfaction and denial of needs. After Dusk's needs were satisfied, he suddenly becomes deprived of it. As a result, he goes off, and tries to participate in self-destruction. Carnassial, on the other hand, previously had his needs taken away from him, but quickly, he is now over satisfied. The result is exploitation of other creatures, evident as he devours an entire birds nest, knowing the birds cannot do anything.

Chapters 7 - Way of the Future

Throughout chapter 7, we follow Dusk and Carnassial, respectively, as their differences are finally discovered by the rest of their colony, both of them having very different outcomes. After Dusk's adventure and discovery of his ability with his sister, he got her to promise him never to tell anyone. Despite that, Dusk unintentionally flies in front of his whole colony. His father, though, surprisingly approved of Dusk's unique ability. Later that day, Dusk overhears his parents talking about his differences, and discovers that his mother can see in the dark as well, which reassures Dusk that he won't be shunned by his colony.

Dusk

The remainder of the chapter follows Carnassial as he returns to the Prowl, were he is ostracized from his colony after he refuses to renounce his cravings, and driven away from his prowl.

In class, I learned about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. One of the primary needs of any person, besides the obvious physiological needs, are love, belonging, safety, and security. In these two chapters, we clearly see that these needs are either met, or taken away. For example, regarding Dusk, we see that he has a fear that he will be shunned by his colony, because he is different, and therefore denied the need of belonging to a group. Fortunately his father defends him, and in doing so ensure Dusk security. Carnassial, though, is denied security, and his identity with the prowl. I wonder what the outcome of such outcomes will be.

Chapter 5 - The Prowl / Chapter 6 - The Expedition

In these two chapters, we are following two separate characters, Carnassial, and Dusk.

Chapter 5 follows Carnassial as we are introduced to his own colony, called The Prowl, and where Carnassial lives. The Prowl is made up of a species of animals called "felids", which seem to resemble cats. They are omnivores, feeding on plants and insects. Carnassial and Panthera return to the Prowl, were they are greeted with great respect, as they are two of the best hunters. Carnassial claims that he might have destroyed the last saurian eggs, which is confirmed from reports that no more eggs have been found. The Prowl celebrates, and as Carnassial and the Prowl leader, Patriofelis, converse Carnassial reveals of his urges to kill and eat other beats, which is he reprimanded for, and told to stop.

A felid

Chapter 6 follows Dusk, after the events of the previous day. The elders arrange for an expedition around their island in search of saurian eggs. Dusk and his sister, Slyph, decide to sneak off on their own in their own expedition against the wishes of their parents. During their little adventure, Dusk finally discovers that he can really fly (unlike the other Chiropters), which greatly elates his mood. This is short lived though, as this means he is even more different than everyone else in the colony. The chapter ends in a different way, suddenly following Carnassial, as he gives into his instincts, and kills another beast against the Prowl leader's wishes.

Throughout both chapters, I noticed that the story is similar in many ways to the novel, "The Giver", by Lois Lowry. In both novels, the characters seem to be living in a utopian society, where everything is perfect (or close to perfect), and where being different was highly discouraged, and looked down upon. This is interesting, as I noticed this fits with Northrope Fyre's theories, that literature comes from other literature (or from common conventions). I definitely noticed a bit of Fyre from reading these two chapters.

Chapter 4 - The Pact

After Dusk's encounter with the creature that fell from the sky, he is saved by his father, along with several of the other elders in the colony. He returns to his nest to his waiting mother, Mistral. She talks to Dusk and Sylph about using the thermals to fly, and tells them not to do it again. Afterwards, an assembly of the colony is called by Dusk's father to discuss what had just happened. During the assembly, a secret that the elders had been keeping was told to the whole colony, after one of the elders, Nova, broke her vow of secrecy. The Pact, was an alliance that was made between the beasts (which seems to refer to anything that is not a dinosaur), which was aimed at completely eliminating the saurians from the world. The saurians were predators to the beasts, and as a result, the beasts lived in fear. Eventually, the beasts all decided to form an alliance against the saurians.

Although they could not physically attack the saurians, which were many times their size, they targeted the eggs of the saurians, hoping to wipe out the next generation of saurians. This all happened at the right time, as it was when the dinosaurs were on the edge of extinction, and when other animals began to flourish. This seems to refer to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago. Dusk's colony though, was different, in that the elders felt that The Pact was wrong, and so they decided to colonize on an island away from the mainland.

A saurian

This chapter is interesting, in that it reveals secrets which were previously not known to the members of Dusk's colony. The Pact reminds me of the Holocaust, in that there was a hatred towards a group, and through that fear and hatred, the beasts formed an alliance to destroy all saurian eggs, even the ones which were not meat eaters. Amidst all of that hatred though, there were some people who felt it was wrong, just like Dusk's father, and avoided participating in such acts.

Chapter 2 - Dusk / Chapter 3 - Carnassial

Six months after the events in the previous chapter, we find ourselves following Dusk's day. After his first ever gliding lesson, Dusk had always had the urge to fly like a bird, instead of just gliding, but cannot openly express his desire as he would be made fun of. As a result he climbs to the very top of the tree in which his colony lives in (a giant sequoia tree) regularly to observe the birds and attempt to fly himself. His friends come to greet him unexpectedly, and challenge him to a game of who can catch the most insects. Dusk accepts the challenge, and despite his "disability" (heavier upper body), he wins. His friends, jealous , pick on  him for being different and leave. His sister, Slyph, who was also part of the game, stays behind, and challenges Dusk in a race to their perch. Dusk accepts, despite knowing he will lose. As his sister speeds off, Dusk suddenly gets the idea to ride the thermals coming from the ground in order to get lift, and "fly" to the top. His idea works, to the amazement of others. His sister, jealous, quickly joins him. As they ride to the top, they suddenly see a huge creature fall from the sky. The creature falls towards them, and in its wake, drags them both down. The chapter ends with Dusk near the bottom of the sequoia tree, shaken, but uninjured.

It is clear that even though Dusk is respected throughout his colony because his father is the leader, that doesn't stop others from making fun of him anyways because he is different. It seems that a theme of jealousy and being different is present through the chapter. After reading the chapter, I was even more interested in the book, as there already seems to be a lot of action going on so far.

The next chapter introduces new characters into the story, who are separate from the main characters. We are introduced to Carnassial, who is a different species of animal, and Panthera, who is of the same species as Carnassial. The chapter follows them as they hunt for saurian eggs (saurian most likely referring to dinosaurs). Apparently, saurians  were beginning to go extinct, and as Carnassial devourers an entire saurian egg nest, he thinks to himself that he might have just destroyed the last known saurian.

Carnassial devouring a saurian egg

In this chapter, we are introduced to a new character, with a different storyline that is separate from, but related to the main story. Carnassial is portrayed as a ruthless hunter, and killer. It appears that he will be the antagonist in this story. The fact that he took pride in being the one to kill the last saurian shows this, and hints that we has a lust for power. I wonder how his story will unfold.

Overall these 2 chapters were great chapters to read, and I learned a bit about some of the characters. Reading the book, I feel very familiar with the way the book is unfolding, which is very similar to Kenneth Oppel's other books. Hopefully, like his other books, it will only get better.

Chapter 1 - Jump

 In the very first chapter of this book, we are introduced to the main protagonist of the novel, and the kind of world that this story takes place in. Based on the synopsis, this story takes place millions of years ago, long before humans existed, in a world inhabited by prehistoric animals. The protagonist is a newborn chiropter, who was just born not too long ago, named Dusk. Chiropters are one of the many organisms inhabiting this world, and are the main focus of this book. They are small organisms which most likely resemble modern day bats, except they are only capable of gliding, and have fur on their wings. Right from the beginning, it is evident that Dusk is different from the rest of the other chiropters. Unlike the others, his wings aren't covered in fur, and his upper body seems to be much larger than the rest of his body. As a result, he was very different from the other chiropters.

A picture of Dusk, as shown in the book

The chapter follows Dusk's first ever gliding lesson, from his father, Icaron, who just happens to be the leader of their colony. The lesson goes well, but during his first ever glide, Dusk feels the urge to flap his wings. His father reprimands him for doing so, saying that chiropters aren't supposed to fly, and that trying to fly will only make Dusk even more different from the others.

From reading the first chapter of this book, I noticed many reoccurring themes from other books by Kenneth Oppel, and many similarities between the protagonist in this novel, and the one in Silverwing. They are both very different from the others in the colony, yet, because of the status of their parents, are respected, and at the same time envied by others. This reminds me a little bit of the story of David and Goliath, how someone who was never supposed to win the battle, did. This is similar to what happens in the Silverwing books, and I expect the same will most likely happen in Darkwing. This first chapter takes us through Dusk's first ever experience doing something in which he was very anxious for. I think many of us can relate to this.

After reading the chapter, I found that I really enjoyed it. The book starts off straight into a tiny bit of action, and sets the stage for the rest of the book, which I really like. Overall, I am enjoying the book so far.

Welcome To My Blog! (An Introduction To What This Blog Is All About)

Welcome to my blog! I am a high school student doing a blog for a school assignment in which I will be reading a book of my choice, and keeping a blog of my thoughts on the book as I am reading it.

Although I am not a blogger, this is actually not the first time I have done a blog, and is also not the first time I have done this as a school assignment. Last semester in my music class, we also kept blogs, where my teacher would post blogging assignments, and certain pieces of music which we had to analyze and comment on. The blogs turned out great, and was a great experience for me. I am actually excited to do this blog, as this is the first time I have done anything like this in English class, and I am interested in how it will turn out for me.

A little about myself:
I am a student attending high school. I enjoy doing many things, and have many interests. Out of all of my many interests, music is probably at the very top. I enjoy listening to many kinds of music, and play a couple of instruments, my main instrument being the guitar. Besides music and playing guitar, I also genuinely enjoy reading books. Unfortunately, due to things such as school, I find that I don't have as much time to read the books that I want to anymore. That is why I am very excited for this assignment, as it will allow me to finally read one of the many books I have been planning to read for a long time.

The book that I have chosen for this assignment is a book titled "Darkwing", by one of my most favourite authors, Kenneth Oppel. Kenneth Oppel is a Canadian author living in Toronto who has written quite a few books, many of which have captured my imagination. He most notably has written the Silverwing Trilogy, which follows the story of a colony of silverwing bats, set in a fictional anthropomorphic world, and their struggles throughout the series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the trilogy, and wished for more.

Fortunately, my wish came true when I discovered Kenneth Oppel had written another book, Darkwing, which was also a part of the Silverwing Saga. This time, though, the book was a prequel to the Silverwing trilogy, and follows the story of the earliest bats, just as they began evolving into the bats that we know today. I was very excited when I found this, but unfortunately had not been able to read the book, until now.

 "With Dusk comes the dawn of a new era

Dusk can't help it. From the moment his father pushed him off the tree, he has yearned to flap. But in a colony where being different means being shunned - or worse - Dusk knows he must glide like the rest of them and keep his secret to himself.

Carnassial also has a hidden desire. And when he finally gives into his instincts, a vicious predator is born. He knows the world is changing, and he's determined that his kind will take over as rulers of the beasts.

The battle for survival - and the future - has begun..."

From reading the synopsis, I noticed a common theme which is found throughout the Silverwing Saga, and throughout most of Kenneth Oppel's novels, in fact. That is the theme of being the one that is different, or the outcast, and having to prove yourself to the others. I will hopefully further expand on this in later blog posts.

Hopefully you enjoyed reading my introduction to my blog, and are interested yourself. I will continue to post more blog posts as I read more of the book. There are 24 chapters in this book, and this assignment is due in 8 weeks (on the 20th of May). I plan on reading 3-4 chapters a week, and will post a blog post every 1-2 chapters, twice a week.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.
-Paul