Rating: 
Summary: Very funny!
Review: A Review by Drew
"The Wind Singer" is a very fantasy type book. It starts out with a young teenage girl who lives a city run by The Morah, a very powerful god. The city is based on class, if you lived in the White part of town you were considered like a queen or king. Now if you were the Grey part of town you were the lowest of lowest classes. In the city of Aramanth you were placed in your classes by yearly exams. A young teenage girl named Kestrel Hath, Bowman (her twin sister), and Mumpo. (A friend) Are sent on a journey to go out a find a piece of wood that fits into the wind singer, to make it sing again. The wind singer is a windmill type of object with a organ in it, so that when the wind blows it blows through the pipes to make a very pretty sound. As they go through the quest to find this piece of wood, they travel through strange lands and strange cities. They know that they must fight the Morah in order to get the piece of wood. In order to find out what happens, finish the book to see.In my opinion I thought was an excellent book. It kept me on my toes at all times. The author was very good on describing things, in fact on of my most favorite lines is how the Hath's family talks when they are angry, "Saga hog!!!! Pompaprune!!!! Saga-saga- HOG!!!" (p.235). This is a very funny line!! Also another great way the author talks is when he talks about the new land that kids have never seen before, "Now the children watched in a fearful wonder, a third level of wooden buildings loomed into view. This level was a far more elaborately constructed, a classical sequence of houses with beautifully carved windows and handsome porticoes, gathered around three buildings, and up through the two father levels above. Now the wheels on which it moved became visible, each one higher that a house." Now if that were not descriptive I wouldn't know what is. Yes, indeed this author is a very good one. He is also famous for the screenplays, Gladiator, Shadowlands, Sarafina!, Nell, and First Night.
Rating: 
Summary: Pullman-lite
Review: An insightful and thought provoking fantasy work. Comparisons with Philip Pullman's Dark Material's trilogy are fair although it needs to be made clear that this book is intended for younger readers and adults approaching The Wind Singer need to make the necessary mental adjustments in order to truly enjoy what is a wonderful story. Like Pullman, Nicholson is not afraid to include dark layers in children's fiction. The Wind Singer has elements of Kafka and Orwell in its descriptions and creation of an ordered society driven by constant personal examinations. For younger readers some sections must be truly very frightening but equally full of wonder. As an adult reader I found the first half of the book - the 'set up' if you will - where the city and society of Amaranth are explained and described and the fates of the central characters set in motion as far more rewarding than the second half in which the more fantasy elements of the adventure unfold. My criticism would be that a great deal of time is spent creating a sense of real tension and a story with dark layers while the characters are within the city but once their adventure takes them outside the city walls things happen a bit too fast. Adult readers will find the last half low on real tension and drama but high on fantasy and invention. You feel as if a book half as long again which dwelt more on the adventures of the children searching for the voice of the Wind Singer would have been far more rewarding. Nonetheless this is an excellent children's book which will appeal to adult readers as long as expectation aren't too high.
Rating:
Summary: The Wind Singer-one of the best books I've ever read.
Review: I recommend it, one of the best books I've ever read. Makes you wonder what would would happen if the story cam true...
Rating: 
Summary: I liked some of it...
Review: I think I liked this book until I got about halfway through. Then things started to go downhill. Without giving too much away for people who might want to read it, some of the story elements seemed corny, and parts of the ending are hackneyed and contrived. I had such high hopes for this book (and the next ones in the series), but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think I'll be reading the next one... if I do, it'll have to be awfully good to hold my interest through another 300 pages!
Rating:
Summary: Very Good!!!!
Review: At first I really didn't want to read this book, but a librarian suggested it to me and since I had nothing better to read I checked it out. I finally started to read this book one day when I had nothing else to read and I stayed up late just to finish it. I thought it was a book that probably wouldn't interest everyone. It's like Phillip Pullman's Golden Compass, meets Louis Lowery's The Giver. I thought it was a well done book and I can't wait for the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Better for young adults rather than for adults
Review: I only realised that this was not a full adult book when I started reading the other reviews. This book does not have the richness of, say, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, or the Harry Potter books, which are "young adult" books that have successfully crossed over for an adult audience. But it is fine for a young adult audience. I blazed through it in one evening: the story is highly gripping, and keeps your attention throughout. Teenagers will respond well to the story of two young people, one concerned with action (Kestrel) another with feelings (Bowman), who rebel against a structured life of exams and rigid classes. Sound like school? It's also a nice touch that the feeling character is male, and the action one is female, although the book is not politically correct in a heavy handed way. Kestrel's rebellion and wilfulness land her in trouble, and also bring her face to face with the hidden emperor of their world, who tasks her with bringing back the wind singer, and saving the nation. This involves a perilous journey out of the walled city, Aramanth, to the mountains in the North, and brings her, and her brother, in contact with interesting and dangerous people. The story is simple, and pretty linear, but that is what will keep a young person's attention. The morality is not heavy-handed, but the values it preaches of individuality and tolerance are just the right ones. Not particularly recommended for adults therefore, but a great read for younger readers.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: I have NEVER read a book that was so, so..... Intricate! Each detail seemed so real in such a fantasy way. It was like a giant tapestry... A million threads that make a big picture.... And it only made sense after you combined everything! I await the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: The book of adventure and description
Review: The Wind Singer is clearly a book of adventure. I am not a reader who loves adventure, but when you read this book it pulls you in right away. The plot is so amazing . I was amazed about how all of the peices fit together. I really had a clear picture in my mind about how EVERY part looked. I also really got into the characters head. I would recommend this book to almost everyone. It increased the importance of leadership and you never want to stop reading.
Rating:
Summary: Darn good read!
Review: In the driven city of Amaranth, the motto is Better today than yesterday. Better tomorrow than today." And God help you if you strayed from that, as the central part of your life. But there are some people in that city who care more about dreams and useful knowledge than irrelevent ratings and scores on a series of tests. (People who score the highest live in great White mansions, while the lowest-rated live in Gray one-room tenements.) Perhaps the most prominent of these is the family of Kestrel and Bowman, who defy many rules and the lifestyle of those around them. Kestrel is kicked to the bottom of her class, alongside amiable idiot Mumpo. But after she snaps and shocks many people in a public display alongside the wooden Wind Singer, she is banished to an entirely different kind of school - one populated by "old children." She escapes and is given a mission by the ancient, hermit-like Emperor: Find the voice of the Wind Singer, and defeat the demonic Morah and its evil Zar army. Kess does so, with Bo (and Mumpo) in tow. Her father is arrested and put in a prison with other men who dream but cannot ace the tests. Kess, Bo, and Mumpo must brave underground sludge civilizations, evil government officials, warring plains tribes, and the life-draining "old children." Will they triumph over the Morah? Why four stars? Aside from the repeated references to bodily emissions, the writing style was quite stark and did not give us much insight into the characters' inner thoughts. Though perhaps since Nicholson is a screenplay writer, this is unsurprising. In addition, the last fifty pages feel like Nicholson was told, "You've got to speed things up, you're almost through the allotted pages!" Very fast. There was also a bit too much of a happy ending for everyone concerned, but somehow it fitted. However, the concept and execution are delightful. We are transported into a whole other world with a rigid caste system (I get the feeling that Nicholson really hates "overachiever yuppie moms"); to the underground "mud" village; to the plains of the Baraka/Omshaka. His descriptions are really stellar. And the "old children" are the most horrifying supernatural henchmen I've read of since the Black Riders; the Zars are chilling. This book is an excellent read for any fantasy reader! A must-buy...
Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: The adventure of three different children raised in a city divided into a severe caste system is what attracted me first. I hope I can get to know the characters' personalities in the next two books. This wonderful book really expanded my love for the genre of fantasy. This newly released book is not very popular now, but I intend to expand its popularity at my own school. I would recommend The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings to any reader who enjoyed The Wind Singer.
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