book review: The Wall and the Wing

taken from Goodreads:

"A few, nicknamed leadfeet, are forced to forever spend their lives closer to the ground. But one night, a girl named Gurl—a leadfoot, an orphan, a nobody—discovers that she can do something much better than fly.

She can become invisible.

Along with a new friend, a boy named Bug, Gurl begins a quest that takes her on a wild ride through the magical city, all the way to the handsome but lethal Sweetcheeks Grabowski—the gangster who holds the key to Gurl's past . . . and the world's future."

Ruby has written a charming story, one that takes place in a city quite similar to the New York that we know, but with enough changes to keep fantasy fans interested. It's definitely targeted at a young adult audience -- I'd say ages 8-12, primarily. I thought that Gurl's character was nicely developed, and the story from her perspective is interesting and involving. The other characters were more one-dimensional and fairly sterotypical, but not to the point where they were distracting or annoying.

There were places where the story seemed a bit disjointed, and I think the author would've done better to have included more information about this world (there are hints that things weren't always this way, but no real explanation is offered). That's always been my main complaint with novels that depend on world-building; there's a delicate balance that has to be achieved between telling too much and not telling enough. As far as plot is concerned, events seem to move along at a nice pace; there were a couple of instances where I thought the plot was handled poorly (there's a key event at the end that really needed more information), but for the most part, I was caught up in the story and enjoying it, so I really didn't mind.

The reviews on Goodreads seem to be split pretty evenly on this one; I think a lot of the negative reviews are from adults. That's always an issue with books that are written with a specific audience in mind. As I said earlier, I do think this novel was intended for upper elementary and middle school readers; there's a certain lack of sophistication in the novel that allows some YA literature to appeal just as strongly to adults as it does to kids. I think kids would be much more likely to overlook some of the issues with the writing and plotting of this novel, because the story itself -- the characters and action -- are enough to keep them engaged.