Shade is one of the smallest in his bat colony- a runt. He’s always feeling ignored and pushed around by the other young bats. Wanting to satisfy his curiosity and do something no one else would dare to, Shade stays up through the dawn to catch a glimpse of the sun- which is strictly forbidden. He’s roundly chastised for that and still smarting under the punishment when a new challenge arises- travelling on his first migration. Shade gets separated from the others in a storm and blown off course. Finding his way and reuniting with the colony becomes a nightmare of obstacles as Shade has to cross large bodies of water, figure out navigation by the stars (using memories his mother had shared with him), avoid the dangerous owls (that have a centuries-long grudge against bats) and more. He finds an unlikely companion from another bat species- she’s been ousted by her colony, for wearing a silver band bestowed by humans. Her colony sees this as a curse and a threat. Which confuses Shade, because in his colony, the few bats that got banded were viewed as special, wearing a symbol of peace to come and bats being allowed into daylight in the future (and humans were supposed to help this legend come true). This is part of the book that I found really intriguing, that the different bat groups had their own ideas about what the bands meant- they had to attach meaning to it somehow (kind of like the elephants did in The White Bone). Later in the story Shade and his companion encounter some large predatory bats from the jungle- and they have an entirely different take on things, with a different belief system. Shade is awed by the larger bats’ physical prowess and hopes to enlist their help but something sinister is going on . . . and things get worse when they find themselves in a city and end up underground confronting rats. I won’t relate more, but let’s just say it all ends well, even though there’s tension up to almost the very last page.
This story just blasted along. I liked the characters and found their struggles interesting, even though some things were a bit far-fetched (the owls possess fire, for example). Yes the bats talk to each other and some mystical things happened in the story, but it didn’t feel too out there like some books, just part of a good story. I’m glad I finally read this one, and wish I’d picked it up years sooner!
Borrowed from the public library.