"Sunwing" written by Kenneth Oppel is a fantasy book about the adventure of a group of bats. Shade and his friends have to save many bats from the evil clutches of the cannibal jungle bats and also save the sun from going out. The heroes of the story travel through many places on their journey, but most of the story takes place in the jungle where the cannibal bats dwell. It was a rather easy book and I finished it in a short amount of time. Nonetheless, it was a very creative book with more than enough action and suspense.
The main character of the story is a young Silver winged bat named Shade. He is very persistent and is always acting like the hero. He has very good ears and can actually move objects with sound. Shade's best friend is a female Bright wing named Marina. She is very intelligent and is always helping Shade on his adventures. Some other minor characters are Ariel, Chinook, Caliban, Frieda, Cortez, and Cassiel. The antagonist in the story was a cannibal bat named Goth. He was the one tried to make the go out. Throughout the story the characters don't change very much. But Shade realizes that he doesn't always like playing the hero, because it's dangerous. Though, he still help s everyone out. The characters in the story are pretty realistic. It was easy to relate to Shade, because he missed his family when he got separated from them.
I believe the author is trying to teach us that no matter what species or race someone is, we can all live together in peace. I think that is a very good lesson that everyone should learn, because there is so much racism in our world. In "Sunwing" the owls, bats and rats were enemies for a long time. But they all teamed up and fought to stop the cannibals despite their differences. Their working together helped saved the world and after the battle they all lived together in peace. That is why I believe the author was trying to tell everyone that it does not matter what race or species you are.
I admit this book was below my reading level, but I think other people my age will enjoy it. It has a lot of action and suspense in it. Readers will be sitting on the edge of their seats! I recommend this book to anyone who likes animal fantasy. It has many different animals trying to survive through many difficult challenges, like the jungle's heat and predators, trying to release their own kind from big cages, fighting off thousands of cannibal bats and it goes into detail about how bats see using sound.