hostage
desert
Holim
wings
maze
precipice
blowhole
wound
painting
infiltration
intervention
promise
flight

“You who read this book will soar high.
“A beautiful story about boundaries and distinctions.” - Da-hye Lee (Cine21 reporter and writer)

"A world in a novel more vivid than a movie, one that can be felt vividly even if you can't see it, and touched intensely even if you can't touch it." - Yoon Ga-eun (director of the film "Us")

"This book is like two warm, large wings that embrace the abandoned me of today." - Choo Min-ju (director of the musical "Laundry" and the play "Bad Magnet")

Imagination that soars over cliffs!
The flying 'Ikin' and the power of healing

"Bird Strike" is a YA novel that begins with a conflict between winged "winged people" and city dwellers, and tells the story of small and insignificant protagonists who grow up while facing the world.
Author Gu Byeong-mo has broadened the horizons of Korean literature with his exceptional sensibility, unique imagination, and outstanding narrative ability.
If the debut work, "Wizard Bakery," is considered to have laid the foundation for English adult novels, "Bird Strike" confirms the evolution and current state of English adult novels with its fantastical elements of "Ikin" and dramatic developments that follow a cinematic style.
Opening the book, “A man with outstretched wings stands under the moonlight.
The moment the reader's eyes stop at the phrase "I am a stranger" (page 8), they will already be on a flight that will continue nonstop until the last chapter of the novel.


The story opens in earnest with the main character, Pio, being held captive in a police station.
One day, the Iks from the highlands fly to the city and attack the city hall building.
Born with small wings and lacking the ability to fly, he is captured by city dwellers shortly after a rainy raid and imprisoned in a government building.
A city boy named Lou comes to visit Pio, and Pio manages to escape from the building with Lou as a hostage, returning to the highlands with Lou.
Why did the Iks attack the city? What is the future of Lu, who has been sent to the highlands? The long history of enmity between Iks and city dwellers and the secrets surrounding it are revealed in a thrilling way, while the small beings who walk, fly, and heal each other grow together are movingly portrayed.


Small but proud, different but special
The story of wings that destroy great hatred

The main characters, Lou and Vio, are somehow different and lacking from others.
Lou lives a lonely life, isolated from the rigid space of the city hall that governs the city.
Born with a different appearance from the average Ik-in, he is ignored and ostracized by the traditional Ik-in community.
The wings of the Ikin have the ability to heal the sick, but even that is lacking for the small wings of Biyo.
Sharing similar experiences and emotions, Lou and Vio recognize each other's pain points and gradually become closer, asking, "Can we touch? Can we face each other?" (page 218).


In particular, the female protagonist, Lou, is a bold teenager who speaks her mind and takes action, and is a charming character who transforms the contempt and injustice she experiences into meticulous consideration, respect, and action toward others.
While with Pio, Lou realizes that the stranger in front of him is not a mysterious dream or illusion, but is simply “a human being who looks different from himself” (p. 63).
The author creates subtle cracks in the rigid stereotypes of our society through these protagonists who grew up in a mutually exclusive society but gradually close the gap and open their hearts.
It leads readers into a world of new possibilities beyond disgust and distinction.


Transitioning from child to adult
A heart that blesses all of that leap together

The conflict between the Ikin community, which lives in harmony with nature and values ​​traditional discipline, and the city dwellers, who engage in exploitation and violence based on advanced technologies such as weapon manufacturing, is sharp.
But the focus of the story turns more often and more deeply to the people who live there.
The pressure felt by a city leader whose power is questioned and whose position is threatened, a researcher with a strange obsession with the existence of aliens, and an alien family that accepts a stranger from the city, are all characters that enrich and diversify the story.

The sight of characters who must prove themselves, even by resorting to mean or cruel means, is sometimes heartbreaking.
The author portrays, with an unbiased eye, those who remain children without ever truly becoming adults.
Moreover, the gaze towards the teenage protagonists who are going through a period of growth is warm and charming.
The fever that one must go through as one grows up, the deep-seated innocence one still retains and the courage that comes from it, the sadness of young love and things that cannot be achieved are all portrayed in a sympathetic way.
As we see the courage of those who do not hesitate to leap over the cliff while accepting the reality that “one cannot fly without shaking and staggering” (p. 203), this novel can also be read as a fervent encouragement for healing and growth.
Bird Strike is a novel for all of us who want to live fully in this world as it is.