Review of The Gryphon

[Stephanie Runyon]

[i][Following is a volunteer review of "The Gryphon" by Paula Grover.][/i]

[rwc=id403744-125]4 out of 4 stars.[/rwc]Reading [i]The Gryphon[/i] was like taking a step back in time to my childhood imagination. I remember writing and playing out the events similar to this novel. I can honestly state that I thoroughly enjoyed Paula Grover's fantasy tale.



Sunsky is depicted as being overwhelmed with her impending destiny as queen of the Gryphons. She wants to please her family feels as though she hasn't truly experienced life yet. After a brief interlude with Dreamspinner, her intended king, she flies away from the mountains. During her flight Sunsky becomes injured and she is unable to fly. While healing she is protected by Nightsky, a winged horse. They become lovers until Sunsky heals and decides to fly home. The choices she has made will impact the future of the Gryphon society dramatically.



I found that the story moved quickly from chapter to chapter. Sunsky's banishment occurs from her decision to raise her hippogryph and keythong young after her gryphon son is seized from her. She chooses to no longer fly and changes her name to Suunground. Throughout the rest of the book, she learns and her thoughts evolve. She eventually understands the predictions that the Oracle, her mentor, told her before being banished and starts her inner healing.



Grover went into great detail to describe each character's appearance. She includes descriptions of the hippograph, the young from a forbidden mating of a winged horse and gryphon; keythongs and kryphons which are a subset of gryphon but are wingless; and "hophas" which are humans. With the amazing detail, I can envision what each character looked like, how they moved, and their surroundings. Grover accomplished her descriptions effectively without being too wordy.



There are no profane words but I found that Grover had created the Gryphon's form of profanity with phrases such as "are you out of your hippographin mind!" There is mention of mating but, not described in detail, so this book would be proper for young adults. There is plenty of action and the elements of danger which kept this book as a page-turner.



The ending of the book left me questioning exactly what event was taking place. That is the only part of [i]The Gryphon[/i] that I disliked. The book is well-edited, as I found no grammatical errors. I am rating this a [b]4 out of 4 stars[/b]. I recommend this book to readers that enjoy fantasy stories. The storyline kept my attention and has become a favorite book in my library. I find that Grover's writing style was able to open my imagination, reminding me of my childhood make-believe stories.

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[i]The Gryphon [/i]
View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=403744]on Bookshelves[/url] | [amazon=B07SQ48W94]on Amazon[/amazon] | [itunes=1467027478]on iTunes[/itunes]

[María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda]

It's always nice to relive the fantastic worlds we used to build as kids and I'm glad books like this rekindle our sense of wonder and our imagination.
Thank you!