A great thing about being a panelist or judge for the Cybils award is that you end up reading and enjoying a lot of books you may not have picked up otherwise. Black Wings Beating by Alex London is one of them. It’s about falconry, which I can’t say is a topic that interests me normally, but it’s not really about falconry. It’s a unique fantasy with compelling narrators that does a lot of creative things in terms of both plot and world-building.

In the Six Villages in the country of Uztar, falconry is more than just a sport: the people revere the magnificent birds of prey, and a religion has even developed around their worship. The story is told in not-quite-alternating chapters by teenage twins Brysen and Kylee, who run a falconry business together since their father died a few years ago hunting the Ghost Eagle, a prized bird that would have brought wealth to the family. They don’t miss their father much; he routinely beat Brysen for not being an acceptable son, and Kylee feels insurmountable guilt for not being able to do enough to protect her brother. Kylee hopes to give up falconry once they make enough money; she’s gifted at the sport, but hates it. Brysen loves falconry, and while he has grown good from practice, his natural talent doesn’t match Kylee’s, which causes friction between the siblings.

When Brysen learns that his falconry teacher and sometimes-boyfriend has made a deal with the cruel de facto rulers of the town to capture the Ghost Eagle, Brysen decides to undertake the quest in his place in order to save his life. Kylee eventually follows, and the journey will take them deep into treacherous mountains where the most dangerous thing may not even be the Ghost Eagle itself.

The basic storyline (a quest to find something valuable) will be very familiar to fantasy readers, but the elements the twins encounter on the quest are what sets this book above much of its brethren. The mountain setting is vividly drawn, both its beauty and its hardships. A community of women called the Owl Mothers live within the mountains, and London’s depiction of this matriarchal society – neither traditionally “good” nor “bad” – is creative and thought-provoking. Along the journey, the twins find out more about the night their father died, and learn that each had been keeping secrets from the other. Their relationship is close but not stereotypically “we’re twins so we’re always on each other’s wavelength” close. During one particularly tense argument, London shows how these two people fiercely love each other even while intentionally hurting each other sometimes.

I loved the world London created, which provides many different conflicts that Brysen and Kylee have to tackle. Aside from the Ghost Eagle, the world itself provides additional conflict for the twins. In response to the religion that worships the birds (which their mother belongs to), another sect has arisen that views birds of prey as evil and their worshipers as people to be converted or killed. An occasional chapter is written from one of these people’s perspectives as he marches closer and closer to the Six Villages, intent on violence. Kylee’s natural talents with falconry are magic-based, and she runs into people who want to use her for their own ends. Others who want to capture the Ghost Eagle are on the hunt, too, and there are people within the mountain with nebulous motives who may also do the protagonists harm. London ratchets up the tension so well, I didn’t want to stop listening to the audiobook.

Brysen is gay and open about it, and there’s an interesting and sweet mini-romance between him and another boy they find on the mountain. Queer people seem to be the norm in the Six Villages, with the only prejudice against Brysen’s sexuality coming from his father (who never uses slurs, but indicates that Brysen isn’t “manly enough” when he beats him). There are indications that Kylee is asexual/aromantic, but I can’t be sure from context.

I was especially impressed by the way London wrote his ancillary characters. Brysen and Kylee are deftly characterized with two distinctive voices (expertly performed by Michael Crouch and Brittany Pressley), but so are all the minor characters: Brysen’s love interest, the leader of the Owl Mothers, even the sister of the ruling despot who shows up midway through the novel and has only a few lines. Since we meet everyone through either Brysen or Kylee’s point of view, our opinions of people shift and grow as their perspectives do. What once had seemed like a rescuer turns into a captor, and just when we’ve decided the captor is unredeemable, London provides another facet to them that makes us reassess yet again. Real people are like this, too: motivated by a variety of factors (both selfless and not) that are not apparent upon first acquaintance. This is a deep novel with deep characters and a story that will keep teens on the edge of their seats; the sequel can’t come fast enough.