Review: ... wondrous, poetic, and romantic.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2012
This is a story of discovery. Iris is an ashmatic with amnesia living in a bubble world. Her father and caretaker are all she knows and they protect her from EVERYTHING, including her past. When her father takes a risk and decides a remote island is better protection for her condition, her sheltered life is shattered, the truth is revealed, and Iris discovers not only a new world but also herself.I found this story wondrous, poetic, and romantic. I often analyze possible influences when reading fantasy and mythology.I could not pinpoint much because this was highly original. "We are just normal people only our souls are a little bit different." (that's eerie and yet fascinating.) I especially loved the symbolism. Such as the apple's introduction was the foreshadowing of Iris' knowledge. I also loved the many fowls referenced. I found myself googling the names to see pictures. It was especially cute when the bird species were used as terms of edurement. I loved it when they talked birdie to me! *LOL*This was written in third person.The pace of the story was abit stop and go. It was a quick read yet it lagged on the conversations, where the author took the liberty of explaining the hidden world of the Society of Feathers. I though the history lesson world building could have been distributed a little more even. There were also poems and songs that I adored. I wish I knew the tunes to them as well.When the romance angle appeared, I found myself groaning, "not another psycho heart-throb". Surprisingly, it didn't play out like any other book I've read. Falcon, yep that's his name (cool isn't it), wasn't some bad boy or evil menace. I really liked Iris' character. It's rare that I've read a novel where the heroine wasn't perfect. It was refreshing that Iris had a normal medical condition. Iris' asthma made her appear delicate.One thing I didn't understand was how Iris could be so forgiving when everyone was lying and keeping information from her.I felt bad for her. Everyone has lied to her her whole life and her ailment doesn't make it easy for her to show extreme emotion.I would be interested in continuing this series out of curiosity. This novel was just the beginning and it ended with Iris' fate still unknown.*Thanks so much to the author and publishers for entrusting me with an honest review.