Fantastic book, great change from potter! - Rated 
This is one of the most original childrens books I have ever read. Truly different and utterly brilliant! Nicholson is an Oscar winning screenwriter and his foray into kids books is fab! If you hate exams and the current culture of examining and testing everyone from a young age, this book is for you. Not like the derivative Potter books at all. Pongo to that! The city of Aramanth is divided into sections, and it depends on how well the entire family, even toddlers, perform in citywide tests to designate where you live and what social status you are. In the middle of the city is the mysterious Wind Singer...protecting everyone from the Zars.... Kestrel Hath is quite rightly fed up with all the constant tests and judgements and rankings, so she rebels and gets everyone in her family punished. Kestrel and her twin Bowman end up on a quest for the nutty emperor, locked in his tower. Along with their odd friend Mumpo they have some serious adventures and face terrible dangers! All for their close family. But this is just the start of something bigger, and more epic..... This is great, read the full trilogy!
Great addition to the kid's fantasy genre - Rated 
I loved this book when I was younger. I read it in the space of two days at the age of 11. However, i agree with Bill of Norwich that this is a kids book and is unlikely to captivate older teenagers or adults.
The novel delivers for its target audience though- its main charcter is a child who rebels against the rigid society in a fantasy city. Definately a winning formula for a kids book. The Wind singer is not without depth as it satirises bureaucracy, the class structure and modern society's tendency to put academic qualifications above all else. These are unusual themes in the fantasy genre, let alone children's fantasy.
Other parts of the story annoyed me as I found them unneccessary. The underground mud people and the sail-powered moving cities who went to war without a single casualty just seemed to be there to add spectacle and fantasy to the book, rather than move the plot along. The unstoppable army which threatened the city of Aramanth was laughable and not scary- how could they be with a name like the Zars?
Great book,great trilogy - Rated 
I actually listened to this on tape and I thought it was brilliant. Gripping story, good characters.
Slightly Predictable Ending, but a Great Read. - Rated
This story starts off very imaginatively, with loads of clues thrown out and a lot of mystery, some of which is developed later in the book and some of which is never explained. The three children at the centre of the story evidently have a zest for life and refuse to live in the norm of the society, which is great. I wasn't enthralled by the long section involving life in a sort of below-city sewerland (too much detail) but the cities which fought across the plains in wind-propelled boats and without anyone being killed was very well imagined. The journey continues and gets rather involved and a lot darker - some of the images are very bleak, but it all ends happily in the fantastic predictable fashion of a fairy story. It would have been nice to have had a final twist to complete the story. However I think I shall read the next in the series, because the characters and their development over time is so well developed.
A promising start - Rated
This trilogy is in a similar vein to Phillip Pullmans His Dark Materials trilogy. It isn't too childish for an adult reader to enjoy. This first book portrays some very interesting ideas as to the nature of testing and constantly being assessed (something I am sure a lot of people are not too keen on!). The people are assisgned different levels of housing and opportunities etc depending on their ability at taking and completing tests.
There are two main characters, brother (Bowman) and sister (Kestral) of which I preferred Bowman. Their roles were reversed according to the more sterotypical ones. Kestral is the energetic, go-getter and Bowman is the empath who is easy to upset. Secondary character Mumpo is also very interesting.
A good start to a new series, I am looking forward to reading more.
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