Tentacle and Wing

Title: Tentacle and Wing

Author: Sarah Porter

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Genre: Sci-fi

Release Date: 10th of  October

Pages: 272

Format: eARC via NetGalley

Order your copy here.

*I wanna thank HMH Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn't effect in any way on my opinion on book*

Tentacle and wing is a book about kids. But not just any kids. This is about kids who are left alone because they are different. But that only made them stronger.

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. Because being a “kime” is believed to be contagious, she has kept her condition—complete with infrared vision—hidden. But a surprise test outs her, and Ada is shipped off to a quarantined school for kimes.

There Ada meets kids of many different shapes, stripes, and appendages, such as a girl with dragonfly wings and a seal-boy. As she adjusts to her new life, Ada senses that the facility is keeping a secret that could upend everything the world knows about Chimeras. But will someone put a stop to her efforts to uncover the truth?(source:goodreads)

Tentacle and wing is a very special book. It gives us a story about Ada,twelve year old girl who has some kind of powers. But she is not exactly a human. There was an outbreak and because of that,some kids become Chimeras - a kids who have parts of animal DNA. And THAT makes them a lot different.
I loved this book because it somehow showed us what people think about someone who is different in any way. Chimeras have tentacles or wings,some seem normal,but all of them are abandoned and they must live apart from other people,so they wouldn't caught what they have. And that part of the book was heartbreaking. Because even though it's not that extreme,different people do not easily become a part of community in real life. This book showed us how cruel society can be.
Beside that,characters were good written ones,but they didn't act like children. If it wasn't mentioned that Ada has 12 years I would've thought that she easily has 16,17 years. And that's the thing that really bothered me. She even have some kind of love interest? I didn't think it's normal for a 12 year old girl to act like that,but if she was 16,17 I wouldn't mind. But since she wasn't,it felt wrong.

Overall,this book is really charming but creepy as well. I loved style,characters (although not all of them,you'll see why) and I loved the world building. And even though it felt like some kind of prison to Ada I liked the home where kids live. It reminded me to the house from Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children. All in all,if you love a good story that contains children who are extraordinary with a pinch of friendship and love,then this is the book for you. You will dive right into it and have a good adventure with Ada. And other children who have some different body parts from you. Like tentacles and wings. But you'll see. They are just like you.

Rating: 4 🐞

About author

I write stories that seem to me to be quite true enough for all practical purposes. Among them are VASSA IN THE NIGHT, THE LOST VOICES TRILOGY, and the forthcoming WHEN I CAST YOUR SHADOW and TENTACLE AND WING. Realism makes little sense to me and I experience more truth in the fantastic. I always have new novels underway, both Young Adult and Grownup/ Literary/ Speculative. When not writing my own weird stuff, I can often be found leading creative writing workshops with amazing young NYC public-school writers via Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Or I might be drawing, or gardening, or wandering wraithlike through the streets. I live in Brooklyn, land of mystery, with my awesome husband Todd and our two cats, Jub Jub and Delphine.  

You can find her at twitter @wateryden.

*picture belongs to Azul Paulina