On Silent Wings

Wings #1

by Don Conroy

This is the first book in the "Wings" wildlife fantasy series. Kos, a young and inexperienced barn owl, is left alone and terrified when his mother is killed by a hunter's trap. As he fights to survive he is helped by animals of the woodland, who know the constant dangers that surround them. But a new evil threatens to destroy them all - the rat Fericul and his monstrous army, who plan to take over the world. Can no-one stand against them? This is a compelling story of suspense, danger and tremendous courage.

Genres: Animals, Birds, Childrens, Fantasy

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Don Conroy is a man of many talents — a writer, a television presenter, a naturalist, an environmentalist and a working artist who has had many exhibitions.

Perhaps best known to the young people of Ireland for his appearances as Uncle Don to Dustin, Socky and Zig & Zag on RTE’s The Den, Don has also had a several TV series of his own – “Paint for Fun”, from which came a successful book and “The Art of Don”.

Don studied life drawings and culture at the National College of Art and then worked as designer and illustrator for advertising agencies as well as in the theatre.

A keen naturalist, he is actively involved in conservation. Don played an important part in the highly successful project to reintroduce the Golden Eagle to Ireland as well as establishing a sanctuary for Whales and Dolphins in Irish waters (the first of its kind in Europe).

Don is the author of many books for children and young adults. He travels the country promoting the message of art and conservation.

Don lives in Wicklow, Ireland with his wife. He has five grown up children and nine grandchildren.

Reviews

[WolfLover · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book features pretty much everything I hate in animal fiction. Full of factual errors, like shrews being called rodents and water buffalo confused with African buffalo. Riddled with inaccurate, tedious cliches, like rats portrayed as evil and zoos portrayed as cruel places that capture and torment wild animals. Animal characters that know human terms and concepts like what writing is and the names of countries, and indulge in anthropomorphic behaviour like tying each other up and holding trials for “criminals.”

On top of all this, the writing is terrible. The book seems like it’s about ordinary animals in the real world until over halfway through, when a magical feather is suddenly introduced. This comes totally out of the blue and changes the tone of the story completely, since there is no prior indication of anything fantastical existing. There are endless contrived coincidences, rescuers showing up in the nick of time, individuals knowing things they couldn’t logically know, etc. The characters are so bland and boring that you feel nothing for them, and the plot plods predictably along to its obvious conclusion.

Basically, I loathed everything about this book.

[Gia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful story!

[Hanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

its about a bird who died... >;3

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these books as a kid. Kos' story is sad but really brings the reality of hunting to light.

[Kitty Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me cry... Well done to the Author.Lots of hard work in paper. Amazing.