BLOG TOUR: His Black Wings

HIS BLACK WINGS
by Astrid Yrigollen
2012
ISBN: 9781300298533
YA Fantasy/Fairy Tale Re-telling
ARC e-copy provided as part of blog tour. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Claren Maidstone has been forced to flee her childhood home after the death of her parents and a vicious assault from a sadistic young man who intends to marry her. Claren changes her identity and finds employment as an assistant to the handsome Fredrick Lowood, a generous yet mysterious benefactor. However, she soon finds out his generosity comes at a price. Fredrick wishes for Claren to befriend his disfigured son who resides in seclusion at their estate, Westwind.

Fredrick Lowood knows what the history books do not teach, that the Grand Council built this new world of peace and beauty on hidden blood and greed. He has plotted for years to bring down the family that enslaved his own people. Suddenly, he has the last living heir in his grasp.

Etrigan Lowood rejects the world that forces him to hide. He is powerful, plagued with a terrible dark beauty: WINGS. It is these wings that carry him out only at night to watch the unwanted intruder in his home. A creature of refined instinct yet little social grace, he is strangely captivated by Claren but knows nothing of how her family’s dark past is intertwined with his own . Through their blossoming friendship, Etrigan realizes he still retains his human heart and yearns for Claren’s love.

Kurten Wandsworth is the only son of the Mayor of St.Marhen. Kurten lives his life fueled by cruelty and lust. Whatever he wants he takes and he wants Claren to be his wife even it if kills her. Scarred by Claren he hunts her down mercilessly until he can set a trap which she will never be able to escape from.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Astrid started her writing career when she begun work for the international video game giant, Sega of America. Working her way up the ranks, she began writing companion guides for games. With a love for writing fiction since childhood, she took her short stories out of storage and had her first story ever written published. It was only after that she found out that first stories are never published!

She has resumed writing full time and has succeeded in putting out the titles, The Doughnut Tree, Mysterious Pootkins, and The Mosswoods to name a few. Her short stories have appeared in the literary Threshold Press, and Shock and Awe Magazine.

She finds writing for young adults both refreshing and challenging. She always wishes to provide examples of positive role models, conflict-resolving methods and communication for young adults with their parents or guardians.

REVIEW


A fascinating take on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, Yrigollen treats the reader to not only a retold fairy tale but so much more.  It's a story about love and hate, forgiveness and revenge, and a supposedly utopian society that isn't so utopian.  The beast, Etrigan, cannot leave his house, his big, black wings would make him stand out anywhere, he would never be left alone.  But being only able to come out at night and having a very bitter father leaves Etrigan, a lonely, angry, and afraid young man.  He doesn't know what to make of Claren in his home.  Etrigan is physically strong and powerful, but can he handle the emotions she raises in him and what about when it is revealed the connection between the two families, what then? 

While I enjoyed the story and the characters, I'm hoping all the errors in the ARC have been corrected. Not just grammatical errors, but the errors in who is telling the story.  The perspective changes were definitely awkward in places, not to mention confusing. But I'm going to assume those problems are corrected in the finished version.  Also I would like to have seen more description in the story and the writing wasn't as smooth as I hope it has since become.  Other than those issues, I can recommend the story heartily.