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Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
Wings Unfolding by A.J. Bast is the first book in The Heritus Saga, a chilling supernatural mystery that keeps you racing through the pages. Seventeen-year-old Sabrina Evans has a terrifying moment when she glimpses her elderly neighbor as a gray-skinned, sharp-toothed creature, just hours before police announce his death. She is pulled into a mystery she never asked for with the enigmatic brothers, Olden and Kai, and Pietro, the neighbor’s grandson and an eighteen-year-old curse tied to the night of her birth. Then she meets David, a math teacher who loves numbers in a way that hides clues to everything. What follows are vivid dreams of a Picasso moth and hints that Sabrina is a piece of the puzzle. Friendships strain, romance gets messy, a magical mirror shatters, and the creature’s host might be someone most unexpected.
A.J. Bast’s YA supernatural novel beautifully balances emotional conflict with the disturbing features of a terrifying creature. Character work is a charm on its own, with a heroine who is genuinely flawed: impulsive, sarcastic, and scared. I enjoyed how cleverly the author builds the Heritus mythology in the book, including Pythagorean numerology and lunar events, which result in a magical world that is irresistible to fans of the genre. The tender relationship between Sabrina and Kai is so brilliantly written that it doesn't overshadow the mystery. The pacing in Wings Unfolding is measured, and the author allows you to feel the small-town drama before building an atmosphere of dread and then propelling the story with chilling scenes. You have high school drama, witty dialogue, crisp writing, and unforgettable characters all wrapped in a riveting read.
