Blog Tour: On a Dark Wing by Jordan Dane (Review)

I’m so excited to be one of the first stops on the On a Dark Wing Blog Tour! The tour runs until January 2^nd, with 10 of the blogs hosting giveaways for copies of On a Dark Wing.

Jordan Dane is also giving away a Kindle Fire to one lucky grand prize winner! The winners will all be announced during a live chat with Jordan on January 5^th.

You can visit the other tour stops and enter to win the Kindle Fire here at YA Bound.

On a Dark Wing

By: Jordan Dane

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: December 20, 2011

Genre/Age: YA Paranormal

Pages: 384

Source: ARC from NetGalley & Harlequin Teen

The choices I had made led to the moment when fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn’t prepared for. And Death would be my willing teacher.

Five years ago, Abbey Chandler cheated Death. She survived a horrific car accident, but her “lucky” break came at the expense of her mother’s life and changed everything. After she crossed paths with Death – by taking the hand of an ethereal boy made of clouds and sky – she would never be normal again.

Now she’s the target of Death’s ravens and an innocent boy’s life is on the line. When Nate Holden – Abbey’s secret crush – starts to climb Alaska’s Denali, the Angel of Death stalks him because of her.

And Abbey finds out the hard way that Death never forgets.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this book, and although it took me a little while to get into it, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. On a Dark Wing takes a very interesting approach to death and what happens in the afterlife. The mythology surrounding Death was unique and intriguing, and I really enjoyed his struggle between death and humanity and the effect it had on both him and Abbey.

I also loved the setting. I’ve always been fascinated by Alaska, so reading a YA novel set there was awesome. Some of my favorite scenes were when Nate was climbing Denali with the rest of the expedition. I’d probably be too chicken to ever do something that dangerous myself, so living vicariously through him was just enough for me.

The decision to have alternating narrators throughout the novel was very effective, and I enjoyed getting to see bits and pieces of the story through different characters, rather than just through Abbey. Some of the transitions were a bit confusing, but hopefully this is just because I read an advanced copy and it will be cleared up in the final version.

One thing I did have an issue with was that I didn’t understand some of the characters’ motivations – a lot of the things they did and the decisions they made felt kind of random, Abbey’s in particular. I also felt like the paranormal aspect of the book was accepted too easily by the characters. There was no question or confusion about what was going on, Abbey just knew something was happening.

That said, it was a very refreshing and welcome change to read a paranormal novel where the main character didn’t suddenly discover she was a faerie or a vampire or some other supernatural creature. Except for the fact that I wish the characters had questioned it more, the paranormal facets of the novel were well integrated into the feeling of the story and weren’t overwhelming.

On a Dark Wing is a unique paranormal read, and one I really enjoyed. Death is a topic we can all relate to on some level, and Jordan Dane has handled it with both sensitivity and creativity.

*Thanks so much to Trisha Wolfe and Jordan Dane for letting me a part of this blog tour! And thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for providing a review copy of the book. :)*