GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: WINDHAVEN BY GEORGE RR MARTIN AND LISA TUTTLE

Windhaven
Author/Art: George RR Martin/Lisa Tuttle/Elsa Charretier
Publisher: Titan Comics
ISBN: 9781782763543
Type:Hardback
Pages: 240

Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

"Don't try to be something you're not."

Maris wants more than anything to be a flyer after seeing them as a child. Her harsh days spent foraging for clams with her mother were eased if only a little by watching them on the beach. Maris even befriended one, but she found early on that she would never be a flyer as only the firstborn child is allowed to inherit the metal wings as their birthright.

Her brother, Coll is the one who inherits the wings and as such has a big responsibility to become a great flyer, though he falls on his first flight, deciding he doesn't want to be a flyer. His father in response threatens to disown him if he does. Maris can't understand why the wings are awarded to those who have no ability to be flyers; Maris can fly well, but she is not to inherit the wings in her family. What happens later in the story changes Marris's life when she disagrees with her father.

Being a flyer is the one occupation Maris would love to be, but only those who are named as inheritors ever get to take the wings and as it is the law, it can never be changed. Maris remembers her mother telling her the story of Woodwings. This is a story used by parents to dissuade their children from wanting to take to the skies with makeshift wings. Maris, on the other hand sees the story of a boy who wanted to be a flyer against all odds, even willing to die for what he believed in though he was seen as foolish by others.

This hardback edition boasts writing from winning combo George RR Martin and Lisa Tuttle with some richly coloured art from Elsa Charretier who debuted at Image Comics and brings the characters to life through some clever panel work. This is the story of how we have to live with the choices we make if we want to change how we live our lives.

Game of Thrones author George RR Martin and Lisa Tuttle team up to give us a story with a brilliant twist; the one who does not want to be a flyer inherits wings, while the one who can fly is unable purely by birth. When Corm lends Maris his wings in secret, she tells what she has done, a council is set up and she is tried for defying the law of her people. It is what happens during this council meeting that kept me reading right to the end.