Reviews

This novel manages to combine elements of adventure, survival, action, and mystery. Oppel deftly creates animals characters that invite readers into their story. Fans of Brian Jacques's Redwall stories and Watership Down will enjoy meeting Dusk and the other animals which populate this ancient world. 

– VOYA (starred review)

In this companion to Oppel's prize-winning fantasies about bats, Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing, he imagines what the origins of modern day bats might be. The setting is the early Paleocene epoch, 65 million years ago. Dinosaurs are dying out, and mammals are increasing in number. Small creatures called chiropters live in trees and glide like flying squirrels from branch to branch, but among them a mutant is born named Dusk, who has the ability to fly and to see in the dark. When catlike predators called felids arrive on their idyllic island, led by a vicious hunter named Carnassial, Dusk must guide his companions to safety in a new environment. Filled with adventures and characters both sympathetic and fearsome, this exciting fantasy convincingly brings to life a long-ago world at a time of rapid change

– Kliatt (starred review)

Kenneth Oppel's new novel tackles many classic themes of the young-adult genre - family, identity, finding a place in the world - and addresses them thoughtfully. Does that make Darkwing a sober, sedate read? Absolutely not. Because this is a story about bats. Better yet, prehistoric bats.

– Globe & Mail (Toronto)

This is a thrilling page-turner that will captivate young and old alike. Oppel’s consummate skill at inhabiting the minds of non-human creatures is on stunning display here as Dusk’s story races from thrilling discoveries to heart-stopping perils. Like many of Oppel’s protagonists, Dusk is the outsider who struggles to find a place for himself in his world. But Dusk’s story is interwoven with that of Carnassial, the newly evolved meat-eater whose determination to survive and dominate mirrors that of other creatures in this turbulent world and complicates the moral landscape of the novel. Dusk’s deep attachment to his mother, father, and loyal sister Sylph adds depth to his character and emotional resonance to the story of his quest for belonging. Fans of the Silverwing series will find this prequel immensely satisfying and will be clamouring for more.

– Quill & Quire (starred review)

In his Silverwing series Oppel spun a contemporary fantasy about the world of bats. In this ambitious new stand-alone fantasy, he turns the clock back 65 million years to imagine the world of the bats’ earliest ancestors, which he calls “chiropters.” These tree-dwelling creatures are flightless, using their wings (which they call “sails”) to glide through the air, from tree to tree. Only Dusk, youngest son of the colony’s leader, has made an evolutionary leap; not only can he fly, he can also see at night, using echo vision. Predictably, the others regard him as a mutant to be shunned—all but his father, who wisely considers his son’s differences as gifts. Dusk’s real nemesis, however, is a beast (a “felid”) called Carnassial, who is the first of his kind to be carnivorous, and like Dusk, is shunned by his own. Clearly the world is poised on the brink of remarkable change, and the future belongs to these two. Oppel writes with keen insight and empathy about the condition of being “other” in the context of a richly plotted, fast-paced story that—though sometimes too heavily anthropomorphized—is captivating reading from beginning to end.

– Booklist (starred review) 

Dusk is a misfit in his colony, a freak. He has only two claws instead of three, weak legs, unusually strong chest and shoulder muscles and the ability to see in the dark. And where other chiropters glide, he has the urge to flap his sails. He is a pre-bat, perched on a new branch of evolution. In the age when the saurians are dying out and mammals are on the rise, Dusk is a new kind of animal, and his is the story of the misfit finding the courage to spread his wings and fly. When his colony is attacked by a prowl of rogue felids led by the evil Carnassial, Dusk uses his skills to lead the survivors to a new homeland, with many adventures along the way. Rich sensory details bring to life the Paleocene epoch of 65 million years ago—the steamy heat, heady fragrances, giant sequoias and vast grasslands. Lively prose and sheer imagination make Oppel’s fourth bat story another winner.

– Kirkus (starred review)

"captivating reading from beginning to end" 

- Booklist (starred review)

​​​​​​​"this exciting fantasy convincingly brings to life a long-ago world" 

- Kliat (starred review)

"Lively prose and sheer imagination make Oppel’s fourth bat story another winner." 

- Kirkus (starred review)

"a thrilling page-turner that will captivate young and old alike"

- Quill & Quire (starred review)

Dusk is a misfit in his colony, a freak. He has only two claws instead of three, weak legs, unusually strong chest and shoulder muscles and the ability to see in the dark. And where other chiropters glide, he has the urge to flap his sails. He is a pre-bat, perched on a new branch of evolution. In the age when the saurians are dying out and mammals are on the rise, Dusk is a new kind of animal, and his is the story of the misfit finding the courage to spread his wings and fly. When his colony is attacked by a prowl of rogue felids led by the evil Carnassial, Dusk uses his skills to lead the survivors to a new homeland, with many adventures along the way. Rich sensory details bring to life the Paleocene epoch of 65 million years ago—the steamy heat, heady fragrances, giant sequoias and vast grasslands. Lively prose and sheer imagination make Oppel’s fourth bat story another winner.

– Kirkus (starred review)